Paul explained at our second annual Celebration of Life where exactly the money we raised goes. Here is the speech he gave:
Two weeks ago tomorrow, Ella had her tonsils and adenoids removed. It was deemed necessary and so we headed back into a medical setting.
Everything went well. It was all a familiar in terms of pre-surgery and post-surgery. The whole process brought back a lot of memories for Paul and I.
It also brought them back to Ella. She was brave and did very well. The next day, however, I found her in her room hysterically crying. I asked what was wrong and she just turned and looked at me and said “Shaney.” “I miss my Shaney so much.” We talked it through which is what we found works best for our kids.
Around the same time, I saw a post about a local 9th grade boy who was fighting cancer. It was his birthday and he was asking for people to donate toys to CHOP’s oncology unit. How incredibly selfless and an amazing idea! It’s not the first time I’ve witnessed this about children who have cancer, but I’m always amazed how they put other people ahead of themselves.
I told Ella about him and we took off on a shopping spree. She made sure to get the things she remembered most about her time spent at CHOP. Most importantly, she picked out a special toy that she thought Shane would love the most. We delivered the toys to him to distribute and she was one proud sister.
In our family, we celebrate birthday weeks.
Monday, Jully 11th, was Shane’s 3rd birthday. Chase and Ella did a wonderful job planning our day.
It was full of soccer, the zoo, cake and a sunset balloon release. It was busy, which is how we like it. The rest of the week was full of soccer and friends. It ended with a family trip down the beach. The whole Metzgar family was together in Shane’s favorite place.
I wish I could say it gets easier, but really it doesn’t. The feelings get softer, but the pain runs deep. Paul and I listen as Chase and Ella converse. Their conversations are ones that at their age, we never had. We either weren’t exposed to the reality of death or weren’t mature enough to emotionally handle it. These two are truly wise beyond their years.
Thank you for all the warm wishes to Shane and our family. We truly appreciate you remembering our sweet little man!
Side note: I grabbed three candles to light Shane’s cake. Yellow, red and green. We sang “Happy Birthday” and after blowing them out, one candle re-lit. It was green, Shane’s favorite color.
Out of a pack of 28, only 8 were re-lighting. The kids got a kick out of it.
Most nights, I am thankful for sleep. Today, I woke up early. I looked at the clock, even though I didn’t really have to know what time it was. It was 3:00 am. Of course, it was. Today, is Shane’s 3rd birthday. That little stinker.
On the day you were born, our family was complete. You were beautiful and perfect. Your birth was the smoothest of the three. I felt so much love on that day and every day I had with you.
One birthday is all we got to celebrate with you. Looking at pictures and seeing how happy and healthy you looked warms my heart. Your spirit comes through in those images. I can hear your sequels of joy. Feel your love.
We celebrate you today.
Chase and Ella were left in charge of planning your big day. They had so many ideas and plans. It seemed fitting to let them be in charge. Ella’s master plan is to tie your favorite toys onto balloons and send them up to you in heaven. Chase immediately squashed this idea, as it’s not “logically” possible. A few days later, he came up to me and said, “Mom, you know Ella’s balloon idea? It’s really a fantastic idea.”
Happy Birthday son. We miss you beyond words and thoughts.
Love,
Mama
Sometimes after big events, it knocks the wind out of you. The months leading up to them, you are hustling and working around your everyday life. The day comes and then BAM. You need some time to decompress. Well, I guess we took that time to decompress and now we start again.
Chase is busy planning his second annual Chase and Shane’s Future Days Alex’s Lemonade Stand down the shore. He was so proud (us too!) of his stand last year, that he wished to do it again. This is Chase’s way to honor the memory of his brother, Shane and our family’s good friend, Antonio.
The planning for this event comes at a time tender to our hearts. Shane’s 3rd birthday is approaching in 2 days and the one-year anniversary of Antonio’s passing is in 6 days.
The paths of these two are intertwined. Forever. We are comforted knowing that Shane has a big brother up there watching out for him as well as helping him pull jokes on us down here.
Paul and I are also planning on visiting Dana Farber in Boston. We traveled there with Shane for a second opinion to make sure we were doing the very best we could in terms of his treatment. The money raised from our #tailgateforgood will go there.
We just wanted to update everyone on our continued efforts. There will be more details coming soon. Thank you for the support!
We are proud to announce that our second annual Celebration of Life raised $10,000! We had less people attend, but raised the same amount. Thank you for making Shane’s Future Days a philanthropic priority. We are incredibly humbled and overjoyed to be able to continue our mission.
We have no doubt Shane is smiling down on us.
Shane, we do this in your memory and for children like you. We need to keep fighting for a cure.
The 2nd annual Celebration of Life was wonderful and successful! We are so thankful to all the people and families who came out on a beautiful day and supported Shane’s Future Days and our mission to assist funding for rare pediatric cancer research and families going through a similar journey.
We are especially thankful for our friends for all their volunteer efforts. We couldn’t do this without you, Thank you.
This week we are taking a much needed rest. We will announce the amount raised as soon as we settled our costs for the event.
So far, it looks good!
Today is a day to recognize those children who lost their battle and are currently fighting rare childhood cancers. Today, is our second annual Celebration of Life event at VE soccer club in Warminster, PA.
We began acquiring donations as early as December 2015. The generous Park Hopper passes granted to us by the Walt Disney Company set the tone for what an amazing event this will be. Thank you to all the companies, businesses and sports teams who kindly and generously donated to our event.
- Southwest Airlines, Dyson, Whole Foods Philadelphia, Hilton at Penn’s Landing, Sunset World, Elite Island Resorts, Mario Lemieux Foundation, Bounce U Horsham & Langhorne, Rebounderz, Sky Zone, Flyers Skate Zone, Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia Union, Philadelphia 76ers, Upper Dublin Golf Club, Abington Club, JC Melrose Country Club, Planet Fitness, Bibou BYOB, Sbraga, Molly Malloy’s, Walnut Street Theatre, Adventure Aquarium, The Philadelphia Zoo, Longwood Gardens, Philadelphia Art Museum, Riverhorse Brewing Co., Victory Brewing Company, Panera Bread, AMC, Kaleen Wolfe designs, Heather Milano Photography, In the Mix events, Jules Thin Crust Pizza, Painting with a Twist Jenkintown, Club Tabby, Chase’s Hop Shop, Jenkintown Hot Yoga, Burholme Golf James Minerva Hair Salon and independent consultant donations from Plexus, Arbonne, Usborne, LuLaRoe, Norwex and Origami Owl.
Events like this enable Shane’s Future Days to provide research funds to assist with purchasing of laboratory equipment, as well as funding pediatric preclinical cancer trials. It also helps us support the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Palliative Care Team who provide the world’s best care to patients with currently incurable childhood cancers. Additionally and most importantly, it permits us to expand our footprint, enabling us to provide for families affected by rare childhood cancers with support that they need along their journey.
So, today we celebrate and remember our amazing little man who taught us all to live life to the fullest. Shane, we miss you.
FAMILY FUN DAY HONORING
SHANE’S FUTURE DAYS
MAY 21, 2016
9am-12pm
The Max Challenge of Cherry Hill
2240 Marlton Pike W,
Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
856-267-0533
Registration
Adults $25
Children 5-12 $15
Kids under 5 FREE
Join us for a morning of fun as we raise money for Shane’s Future Days. There will be face painting, glitter tattoos, family fitness classes and a Tricky Tray Auction with prizes from different vendors including Panera, WaWa, Chipotle, Spa Services, 50/50 raffle, 10 Week Max Challenge, 2-4 hr Nutrition Consultation and more!!!
*GRAND PRIZE AUCTION – 1 YEAR FREE MAX CHALLENGE MEMBERSHIP – worth $1000*
Itinerary
9am – Check in and Registration
9:30am – 10:15am Fitness Class
10:30am – 11:00am – Family Fitness Game Workout (kids welcomed:-)
11:15am – 12:00pm – Tricky Tray
12:00pm – Closing Comments
Registration includes $20 worth of raffle tickets and light snacks.
Additional raffle tickets will be available for purchase until Tricky Tray begins.
100% of all proceeds will be donated to Shane’s Future Days.
Checks should be made out to Shane’s Future Days
Thank you for your patience as we tallied up the funds raised from the tailgate.
It was a perfect day.
The tailgate, the people, and an epic concert. These were our first shows since losing Shane. It was way more emotional then either of us expected.
While “Ten” songs are played in most shows, it’s an entirely different energy created when it happens as a complete album.
A reflection on life…the past, present (tense) and future.
A special thank you to the Phan Cave! We are so fortunate to have met you. Your events are amazing and we are thrilled with the results. Thank you to our generous food and beer donors: Victory Brewing Company , The Capital Grille Philadelphia, Chase’s Hop Shop, Pastificio Homemade Pasta Co., Rieker’s Prime Meats, and Giant Food Stores. Thank you also to the Holiday Inn Philadelphia Stadium for allowing us to host our event on site.
We had 65 people in attendance and were able to raise $1,000.00. These funds will be donated to rare pediatric cancer research in memory of Shane. Thank you for all your support!
We truly felt our 😇.
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