Good News From Italy

Today we received word that Sebastian has passed all of his tests required to move forward with his treatment. We were anxiously awaiting the results and are now thrilled. We look forward to boarding a plane and returning to Italy when the new batch of vector has met the approval process. We miss hearing and speaking Italian, it is now time to practice learning more. Sebastian looks forward to seeing his "friends" (the hospital staff) in Italy.

We would like to thank our families, the Italian hospital (the AMAZING doctors and staff), his American doctors and staff, our Canadian friends (go Parker!) and all the kind people who have helped us get to this point. The journey is still not over, but we feel extremely fortunate to be able to pursue his treatment with your support. Thank you all for the positive thoughts and prayers.

We're Home

We returned from Milan yesterday. We flew from Milan to Frankfurt, Germany (1 hour flight) and then from Frankfurt we flew directly to San Francisco (11 hour flight). Both flights were smooth and uneventful. Sebastian watched some movies on his dvd player, which took up 4 of the hours. It's a long flight for anyone, but for a 5 year old, it's extremely long. He slept for a couple of hours, with his head on my lap, until I had to use the restroom and he woke up. That was a mistake on my part, because the last 1 1/2 hours of the flight, all we heard was, "I want to land now. We're never going to land." Once we did land, he was thrilled to be home. Chris's dad picked us up and my mom came by to bring us groceries (thank you both). Sebastian was happy to have his grandparents here playing with him. We also want to thank our mom's for keeping our place clean and in order, and to Chris's mom for keeping our bills in order.

We should know Sebastian's final test results in the next 2 weeks, and we will update the blog again with that information. Other than that, we will get back into a routine here until we leave again on August 28. Although we are no longer in Milan, our thoughts will still be there with our new Canadian friends. Their son just underwent the same gene therapy procedure that Sebastian will have. They were a great support to us while in Milan, especially in the beginning. Our shared experience gives us a special bond.