rigorousintuition.ca

Project Willow wrote:...the movie has caused an identification with some neglected internal issue that needed my attention.

^ Powder | Mary Steenburgen, Sean Patrick Flanery, Jeff Goldblum,
among others

Norman Maclean wrote:"Now nearly all those that I loved, and did not understand in my youth are dead, even Jesse. But I still reach out to them. Of course, now I'm too old to be much of a fisherman. And now I usually fish the big waters alone, although some friends think I shouldn't.

"But... when I'm alone in the half light of the canyon, all existence seems to fade to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise.

"Eventually, all things merge into one — and a river runs through it.

"The river was cut by the world's Great Flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the Words, and some of the words are theirs... I am haunted by waters."

norton ash wrote: Up --the sequential flashbacks, the smashing the change jar, climbing the hill, as the couple ages. Beautiful.

... When your life starts out in front of the camera as the 2002 Nashville New Year’s baby, a Hollywood red carpet appearance is only natural.

On the heels of his first movie appearance, 8-year-old Gabe Sipos shakes off a walk down the red carpet in Hollywood as just something “very cool” that happened in his lifetime. The red carpet event, held during the second week of December, was to mark the limited release of the movie “Country Strong” starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw and featuring Gabe as “Travis.” The limited release in Los Angeles, Nashville and Franklin, Tenn., precedes the national release of the movie on Jan. 7, 2011.

According to the young Spring Hill resident, he said participating in the movie was, in a word, “exciting.” He plays a Make-A-Wish child who is stricken with cancer – not so much of a stretch from the real world. Gabe was diagnosed with cancer just a few days shy of his first birthday, but today is six years cancer-free.

Gabe’s mom choked back a few emotions as she watched her son play the role he knew so very intimately in real life. “It was so hard to see him like that again,” she said.

Although he continues to have surgeries as his body grows, Gabe is now a healthy kid, who goes to public school every day and enjoys building a Lego village to rival any model city in the country. He is a typical kid who just happens to have a speaking role in one of the latest movies to hit the big screen, currently sweeping the nation.

Parents Rob and Lu Sipos have done a great job of keeping their little man focused on a being a typical child. In fact, Rob and Lu had several conversations with Gabe prior to attending the movie premiere in Hollywood. The movie deals with adult themes. His mom said, “We talked about how grown up it was.” She told him there would be some swearing in the movie and that things sometimes get complicated for adults. Then she used her hands to cover her eyes, saying, “We did a few times during the movie.”...

... Gabe Sipos and his battle with cancer are the inspiration behind his the nonprofit organization named Gabe’s My Heart, featuring Chemo Duck – a stuffed duck with a working chemo port. Visit http://www.chemoduck.org for information.

Posted on: 12/30/2010

... Chemo Duck is a 12-inch stuffed duck, dressed in hospital pajamas and a bandana wrapped around his head. Secured to his chest is a bandage with either a central line or a port (the vehicle used to take chemotherapy directly into the blood stream). And on his arm he wears an arm immobilizer called a "No-no." The arm immobilizer protects peripheral IVs and discourages children from bending the arm to pull at bandages, etc. The stuffed animal is a both a comfort item and a teaching tool used to familiarize the patient with cancer protocol and procedures.

For Lu Sipos, it's an endeavor fueled by her heart and a way to help other pediatric cancer patients the way her own son was helped. Soon after Gabe Sipos was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of fibrous cancer, on Christmas Day in 2002, his mother dressed a favorite stuffed duck in hospital pajamas and a do-rag and added a central line.




"When a child becomes chronically ill, all parental roles are stripped and somebody else is in charge of your child's life," she said. "You don't have much to give as a parent. I changed the duck into a tool to help Gabe, and it gave me back my role as a parent.



"It empowered him and me," Sipos said. "It helped him understand what was coming up and helped him work through it all. He seemed to get more at ease over time and became much less nervous about all he was going through."

After sending her husband out to buy every duck he could find like the one Gabe received, she doctored the ducks to look like Gabe's and handed them out to other children in the hospital, until "eventually the money and the ducks ran out." Then, after Gabe was successfully treated at Children's Hospital, she created a non-profit organization called Gabe's My Heart.

Sipos has promised Children's Hospital 300 Chemo Ducks over the next two and one-half years. Another 200 are available through the organization's Web site, http://www.Gabesmyheart.com.

"Children's Hospital has been fantastic," she said. "We have very, very strong links to the hospital and owe them so much. They were so instrumental in helping us pilot this program."

Sipos and Gabe recently attended a party at Children's Hospital launching the beginning of the Chemo Duck giveaway. "It was a precious, precious moment seeing that kind of light in a child's eye," Sipos said. "One child told his mom, 'that duck's sick like me.' That's exactly what this is about - a strong bond with a friend, and helping parents educate their child."

Sipos is seeking more donations for her organization, and is applying for grants and looking for a major sponsor to take the project nationwide. "It's a dream," she says.

Meanwhile Gabe is doing well, two years after therapy, and has no signs of recurrence.

chump wrote:These days I find myself in my mother's home; doing what has to be done. The house is lonely quiet; a hollow reminder of happier days gone by.