THE MIRACLE
Enter stage left : the miracle treatment called CAR-T-Cell therapy . To cut a long story short , Grace was thrown another lifeline with this revolutionary new treatment , becoming only the fifth child in Australia to receive it and the first down syndrome child to be trialed on it , so I guess you could say she was a pioneer .
To this date , and as I pen this story , the treatment has worked . We don ’ t know for how long or when she may relapse , if at all . But for now Grace is 100 per cent well , with no sign of this terrible , insidious disease in her body .
As we went through this treatment , I vowed to take Grace on a motorhome holiday when we got through the worst of it , where we could just escape the memory of hospital beds and treatment rooms and I could allow myself to break away from the day to day grind of managing a media group .
Grace in ICU battling pneumonia .
Grace celebrating her grade 6 graduation .
After a few attempts , and a little thing that kept getting in the way called covid-19 , we managed to plan a trip to follow the Murray from Echuca to Swan Hill , and up to Mildura , and work our way back down through Shepparton , Vic .
Thanks to the team at Lets Go Motorhomes and Jayco Australia , we were lucky enough to be loaned a six-berth Jayco Journey motorhome for a week for our trip . As a family , and coming from a strong background in recreational vehicle media over the past 30 years , I have been very lucky to have had the opportunity to be a caravanner , taking the family on a few trips over that time ( including Grace , I have four beautiful children – Lavinia , Isabella and Patrick , who is now a key team member at GoRV ). Motorhomes , however , were never my choice of RV , having always opted for the towable version .
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