"Runway" Success in Oakville!

I felt like a kid trying on my Mom's glittery jewelry and gowns she'd wear to the Princess Ball every year at HMSC Star. I remember how she looked like a real princess and I couldn't wait to look like that one day!

While belly dancers balanced sparkling chandeliers on their heads, I wore them on my ears last night! I've never worn such gorgeous earrings!

Oakville Carmen's "Arabian Nights" Fashion Show for the Charity of Hope raised an equally sparkling $40,000.00 for children in need throughout Halton and Hamilton and boy do they ever do it with CLASS!

Top-notch dining perfectly matched the middle eastern theme along with the most exotic fashions from area boutiques: Tofano's of Ancaster (I wore 2 of Sylvia's stunning gowns and those incredible earrings and bracelets by "Karen". Word has it Michelle Obama has indicated an interest in her work!). Other fashion retailers featured included, Mainstream, the Oyster, Poise, Harry Rosen and Jonathon Quinn for Men. Yes even the men sparkled!

Morris Mercanti started the Charity of Hope in 2003 with a group of hand-ball friends and since, with his committee and Co-Chairs this year wife Lynn Mercanti and niece Jennifer Mercanti (shown in photo), has raised a total of $300,000.00.

The $40,000.00 raised this year will go to HALTON FAMILY SERVICES, THE HALTON LEARNING FOUNDATION, JOSEPH BRANT HOSPITAL, KERR STREET MINISTRIES AND OAKVILLE TRAFALGAR HOSPITAL.

For everyone there last night, it was a sparkling affair.

For our children and our community: a brighter future.

For me: a chance to work with Sandie Krueger's incredible Vogue models and strut down a runway with chandelier earrings, without a care in the world...just like being a kid again.

Birthday Sharing

We share birthday parties in our family.

Part of it is pragmatic; part of it for the fun of it, inspite of the challenges this presents!

A lot of us were born on each other's birthdays. I was born on Christmas Day, the same as you-know-who. My sister was born on our father's birthday; my one nephew on his mother's birthday; my son on my grandmother's birthday.

Then we have this huge cluster of these mass birthdays, Mother's Day and Father's Day within a month or so of each other.

The photo shows from left to right, niece/God-daughter Candice, June 4th, my Dad, Bob, May 29th, my brother-in-law Randy, April, sister Barbi May 29th, and her daughter Sierra, just because she always helps everybody blow out their candles...and open their presents. She has taken over that job from her older brothers (not shown) and my son, Calvin whose birthday is next month.

Our birthday parties are huge fetes (like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving etc), with more food than anyone can ever eat, at least five conversations going on at once with the younger set normally retreating to the video gaming area of the house while Papa (my Dad) finds a good war movie on one of numerous televisions in the house whose turn it is to host. (We rotate between the three sisters and are waiting for the eldest niece, Candice, now married, with a big enough house, to join the rotation...any time Candice...)

Two of the so far three venues have hot tubs so there are always damp and towelled bodies moving in and out of the house...and the inevitable, "Can someone grab me a towel" and "Don't sit on that chair, you're wet!"

Our biggest challenge these days is getting everyone fed at the same time while the hot food is still hot and cold food still cold. We've experimented with the buffet model, the runner/server model and the platters on the table model. The jury is still out on the winning approach.

We're working on refining the present-opening ritual but it's a work in progress...just like the Christmas present ritual. Every year we decide, we will open one at a time but it always ends up a free for all with Sierra, yes the same five-year old in charge of candle-blowing and present-opening, also ripping open cards that often get separated from the gifts, making for a game of match the card to the present! (please note: every child in this family has played this role! It is mandatory!)

When all is said and done and those last cups of tea emptied from the teapots, our family inevitably attempts to exit all at once. Keep in mind our numbers usually top 18 now, counting new husbands and children, sometimes aunts and mothers-in-law! Now, there is an inherent problem in squeezing a dozen and half people through a normal-sized front hall and doorway all at once! Add in the good-byes and kisses, often repeated because in the melee, one often forgets who has been kissed and said good-bye to, plus, looking for and putting on shoes/boots and other outer wear and pandimonium results!

My Dad's approach is to somehow be first out. He starts looking at his watch during dessert and puts his hat and coat on within moments of the last present-opening. Trouble is my Mom is usually last out. Thus my Dad is left to wait outside in the nice weather or in the car during wind storms and snowsqualls. Sometimes, we're left wondering if he's still out there or just where is he?

After the last car honks the horn in the expected, traditional fashion, much to the on-going chagrin of all our neighbours, I am sure, the host family is left to marvel at how this scene is replayed time and time again....and marvel at how marvelous it all is! Until next time....I can hardly wait! And I think it's my turn!

Flowers for Aly

There is a little girl with a big bouquet of flowers on her bed side table today. That bed side table may be at home but it may also be at McMaster Children's Hospital. I met her last night in a magical quiet moment in the lobby of McMaster Children's Hospital.

It had been an incredible 12 hours...up earlier than usual on a Sunday morning...a quick breakfast...drop off Dave (my husband and producer of the Celebration telethon) at the mobile production truck, followed by Tilly (our dog) at my sister's for the day.

The adrenalin is pumping by now. After so many years, it's still the same. The hospital lobby is buzzing by 10 a.m. The production crew are checking their equipment, hospital staff and volunteers sprinting the halls with last minute changes and challenges.

For me, there are notes to check as I review our young patient stories in preparation for their live interviews. There is make-up. There are rehearsals for the show "open". As the last minutes tick down to "live", I take some deep breaths and marvel at how the years have gone by...so many beautiful children...so many happy endings. Even the stories of children with tragic outcomes that can only be described as bitter sweet, inspire us and make us more determined to make it better for another child in their memory.

And now, more beautiful children to fall in love with...

Liam is our "poster child" this year. He has incredibly big brown eyes and is thriving after an equally incredible surgeon named Dr. Sheila Singh extracted a tumour from the middle of his brain. He introduces Dan, my co-host and former co-anchor and me. We are off and running and I mean running!

There is Sarah: gorgeous red hair on a tiny frame; she rinses her own feeding tube, now removed, for a time. She will live with brittle bones, a bleeding disorder and Crones Disease her entire life. She adores her Dr. Bob Issenman, swam with the dolphins at Disney World earlier this year and wants to be a teacher.

There is Taylor: his smile is absolutely infectious! His appendix now serves as a ureter to allow himself to drain his malformed bladder. I can't even spell the medical term for it. He can though, and even makes jokes about it. He also has mitochondrial disease. Taylor alone has raised thousands of dollars for MacKids. He wants to be a doctor.

There is Desiree: We can only see her photos from the neonatal intensive care unit. She was brought into the world early because her Mom, a diabetic, was in endanger of losing her eyesight. Desiree had an infection and trouble feeding. A tube still helps her breathe. She may go home in two weeks.

I re-connect with Will. His "Will-power" brought him from a bald and very sick and frail cancer patient who could barely hold his head up last year to a normal kid who takes great delight in seeing himself on camera, checking out both profiles complete now with a shock of sandy brown hair.

I re-connect with Damian, making huge strides in overcoming neuromuscular disease. MacKids is world famous for its research in this area. His face lights up when he sees me. It takes a few tries because he is laughing so much but he finally says my name!!!!

Shane is also back this year. Now that his doctors have found the right medication, the young teen is taking control of the tics of Tourette Syndrome with confidence and humour. He is a gifted musican and photographer who has already sold some of his work

There are cookies from Liam, a homemade card for Sarah's "awesome doc" two cheques from Taylor and mementos from the nurses who are taking care of Desiree. Doctors literally join us on the set straight from the O.R. After saving a life, they tell me they are nervous about going on tv.

In six hours it's done. A climactic grand total reveals almost $6 million dollars raised through private and corporate donations in a year wracked by a recession. There are tears of joy, relief, exhaustion.

At a wrap party downstairs this now intimate community of health care professionals, young patients, families, foundation executives, production crews and on-air personalities embrace, pay tribute and take photos for special scrapbooks.

After an emotional hour or so, it's time to leave. We reluctantly say good-bye...

Upstairs in the now empty lobby, where the TV cameras are shut-down, lights turned off, and endless kilometers of cable rolled back up for the next production, a lone wheelchair approaches: a Mom and her little girl. Her name is Alyssa... Aly. She reaches for the flowers presented to me just about 30 minutes ago.

This is my magical moment.

Aly is every child whose fight for a "normal" life goes on after the TV show is over. I crouch beside her. I don't think she can speak and her movements are spasmodic. Together we pull out a beautiful blue iris but she motions to another, then another.

It turns out Aly was a healthy little girl who loved to sing and dance until March of last year when a mysterious neurological condition robbed her of all of her abilities. She has been a Mac Kid since and her family is hoping for a diagnosis and then hopefully a cure.

Aly may have to stay in hospital tonight. It's not the first time or the last. The bouquet is hers now. Her Mom says thank you. Thank you Aly for your innocent beauty and reminding us why we were here today.

We were here not just for today...but for tomorrow. We will do all we can to enrich your tomorrows Aly so you can sing and dance again. I will always remember our special moment. I will look for you next year...