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December 1st-December 31st: Things went from to getting out of hand with the case of Nicholas vs NYC DOE physical therapy department. After Nicholas' father asked for a evaluation from the physical therapist and did not get one, he asked the PT supervisor and he could not get her to get one from the therapist. With no evaluation letter, Nicholas' therapy finally showe his goals as yed or no. The big blindside out of the blue moon came from the principal at PS11. After speaking with Nicholas' father and having a meeting with Nicholas physical therapist and the therapist supervisor, at the end of the day, Nicholas father was thrown under the bus and run over twice. The physical therapist accused of not feeling safe around Nicholas' father, but still wants to work with Nicholas. Funny how since the mediation meeting back on October 31st, Nicholas' father has kept his distance and not said nothing to the therapist, but for her to do this accusation leaves Nicholas' father name looking bad around PS11. The three years Nicholas has beign a student at PS 11, his father has never had a problems with non his teachers. Nicholas' mother was not happy with all what is going on. During alll the meetings and making sure the physical therapist feels safe, nobody decided to give Nicholas' mother a update about how Nicholas' therapy is going on. The DOE focused of making sure to make things hard on Nicholas' father, but nobody picked up the phone or speak to Nicholas' mother before or after school. With all with the therapys problems with the DOE, therapy outside was going strong and Nicholas is improving. Both therapist are doing a good job, but when a parents fights to get something back for a child during a meeting and sometimes things get emotional and people will think its attacking, but it is more defending what is right for your child. Nicholas' outside therapist, recommended that Nicholas to start wearing new foot braces to put some arc into his foot. He is walking flat footed and she wants to put the strength back into his left foot.During the month of December the Nicholas Modestin Toy Drive collected over 200 toys and donation from local professional sports teams for the Brooklyn Hospital Cenbter Pediatric Oncology/Hematology Unit Party and for kids in the hospital around the Christmas Holidays. Nicholas could not attend the party, his grandmother had a pacemaker operation. With the help of Father Ceriello and the special and caring people and parishioners at Queen of All Saints Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, Queen of All Saints Catholic School, NFL New York Giants, NFL New York Jets, NHL New York Rangers, Tom Coughlin/Jay Fund, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and family and friends for all the caring, support and overall making the 6th Annual Nicholas Modestin Toy Drive of having aanother great year and making lots of kids smile full of joy and happiness. THANK YOU. Christmas and Santa brought lots of joy to Nicholas. He got most of toys from his Chrtsomas list and was happy to spend Christmas with his cousins upstate New York on Christmas Day. Christmas Eve Nicholas sang with the youth chior during the Children Christmas Eve mass at Queen of All Saints. The perfomance for the kids was outstanding and they will be singing next for Three Kings Day. Nicholas' father made it official by signing up with Team in Training and will be running the New York City Marathon 26.2 2 miles on November 2, 2014. He has been training and everyday he is running longer, but for now he is running about 2 or 3 miles a day. 

November 1st-November 30th: After finishing off the month of October in case of Nicholas vs NYC DOE, the family thought things will die down and we will just focus on Nicholas physical therapy and getting back 100%. Things came up back up, because daddy asked for more details in Nicholas' progress report, he did not get a answer in two weeks after asking the Physical Therapist for more information. The only information mommy and daddy know what Nicholas is doing every Monday and Wednesday is from Nicholas himself. After not getting no answer from the school physical therapist, daddy wrote a letter to the therapist supervisor. With no answer yet on the details of Nicholas' therapy at school, daddy gets a call from the school principal on how the therapist and supervisor are feeling uncomfortable around daddy. Daddy was a little emotional during the mediation meeting and was defending Nicholas, but now daddy is rude, loud and now getting labeled as the angry black man by the therapist and supervisor. Since the meeting on October 31st, who ever took Nicholas in the morning for therapy, dropped him off on time and went on there business. Now to hear this from the principal just open up a can of worms. Daddy will now see if the physical therapist and the supervisor broke any confidential laws that occured in the mediation meeting and wait to see how the meeting was between the principal and the therapist and the supervisor. Funny how after speaking to the principal, the supervisor sends daddy a email to let hom know if any concerns about Nicholas to call or send a email. Good news happen when you wait. After wasting and missing two of physocal therapy poutside of school, Nicholas was back with Lima and back in the groove. Right away Lima picked up that Nicholas is walking flat footed with a no arc in his foot and now needs a brace to put some arc in his foot to make him walk better. Thank god the great people at Support By Design found us two days for Nicholas to get his 2x45 workouts. The best news of the month was on mommy's birthday. The parent teacher conference with Nicholas' second grade teacher Ms. Frazier brought smiles to mommy on her special day. Ms. Frazier spoke highly of Nicholas and how he doing a solid job inside and outside of the classroom and brought home a solid report card. The biggest suprise for Nicholas and a early Christmas present came from mommy and Santa. After spending a beautiful Thanksgiving upstate with his Grandma and mommy's family, the family drove back to Brooklyn the same day. The next day Black Friday, daddy went to work, while mommy helped Nicholas with some home and have not think of his surprise until it was time to meet daddy at Madison Square Garden Theatre. The big surprise was the Fresh Beat Band and Nicholas was excited to see one of his favorite bands in person. He sang, danced and jump up and down. Just watching Nicholas beaming of joy and his face full of happiness made the day special and mommy was just beside herself. Daddy started to train for the 2014 New York City marathon. daddy is running two or three miles a day and getting back in shape before he joins Team in Training. Nicholas started practicing with the church choir for the big show at the 5pm Christmas Eve mass at Queen of All Saints. They're going to sing five songs. Nicholas was scheduled to have a MRI on his brain, but to insurance conflicts, he would not be able to take the MRI. Now mommy and daddy have to go back to the neurologist and see what he can do to get the much needed MRI. The 6th Annual Nicholas Toy Drive is doing great and picking up the pace of collecting toys for the kids at the The Brooklyn Hospital Center Pediatric Oncology Unit. The great people and parishioners at Queen of All Saints is doing a spectacular job of donating gifts. With a week left before collecting the last set of toys, the toy drive is super.       

October 16th-October 31st: The month of October finished off on a beautiful note as mommy and daddy fought and won the case of Nicholas vs NYC DOE to get Nicholas' PT session back. After researching and getting advice from educational lawyers and advocates who deal with IEP and the NYC educational system the hard work paid off. The advocate that went into the Mediation Meeting at PS 11 on Halloween did a solid job of finding loop holes in Nicholas' IEP that was in favor of Nicholas and a outstanding job representing the Modestin Family. The advocate gave mommy and daddy all the room to talk during the meeting so the mediators could hear the side from the parents and stepped in when she had to explain the technical side of the IEP and were the PT went wrong writing her report. The first one was moving the mandate meeting from November 26th to October 7th and other loop holes were found that was illegal. The meeting has its up and down on both sides of the table. Daddy had to take a break when he got frustrated and took a timeout to catch his thoughts. After the therapist said Nicholas was a normal kid after scoring a 94 out of a 100 on a school base assessment. Once back in the room daddy was warned for his tone and just sat back listen to the PT and the PT supervisor and spoke his points. The big moment came when mommy spoke from the heart and got her point through that she will be the first one to tell the PT that if Nicholas was 100% he will not need and make sure to get the kid that needs the PT. Right Nicholas needs his PT to get the gait off hos body and his left side of his body strong and healthy. After mommy spoke, the DOE side took a break came back with a answer. Going into the meeting Nicholas' PT session was cut 4x45 to 2x30 and just school based. with no RSA packet for outside therapy. After going back and forth and watching every speak the important points and looking for the best of Nicholas, the Mediators came to a conclusion at the end of the meeting after the DOE made a decision. The DOE split Nicholas PT time. Mommy and daddy knew coming into the mediation that Nicholas 2x30 in the school was going to stay, because of the school law once a school has a therapist in the building. Nicholas' new PT session will be 2x30 in school which will be Monday's and Wednesday's 815am-845amd and 2x45 at Support by Design. This was a big win for the Modestin and shows that when you see that your son is getting cheated in therapy time, fight till the end. Couple days before the meeting, Nicholas had a appointment with the neurologist. Nicholas was checked out and the neurologist saw the left side still weak and a little on the right side. After the check up, the doctor would like to give Nicholas another MRI on the brain to see if the brain is clean and no black spots. Since Nicholas' brain got swelled up during the early part of the chemotherapy treatment, that affected his left side of his body, the neurologist wants to see if the brain is back to the normal side. The upcoming months he will get a MRI. Nicholas is a fighter that continues to beat and jump over the obstacles that he has faced. The glasses finally came in and Nicholas wil be seeing better from a distant and at night. There was some fun, games and running around between all the meetings and appointments as Nicholas spent a day in a cancer event raising founds for other kids battling cancer and helping out families. Nicholas, daddy and mommy ran and walked a 1.5 miles around a park. Nicholas did most of the running and felt good after run and walk. Once he got to the fnish line, he took a break and went to the obstacle course. The tires gave him some problems, but the highlight was watching Nicholas jump to the ground and crawl and dig in the mud under the railing and fnished off with a big run crossing the finish line. Great day meeting new families, Nicholas meeting new friends which a fun loving kid like him is easy to get along with and happy to see the social workers who helped the Modestin Family during difficult times at the early stages of Nicholas' battle with leukemia. Thank you to the lawyers the deal with educational cases, para legals, advocates, leukemia & lymphoma NYC society, the advocate the respresented the Modestin Family and the oncologist, neurologist and therapist that wrote letters in favor to let Nicholas get back the time he needs to get back to the 100%. Solid job by mommy for speaking from the heart and daddy doing his research and working hard and listening to all the positive advice and bringing it to the table for the Mediation.   

October 1st-October 15th: The new physical therapist at PS 11 after four sessions with Nicholas, came to the conclusion that Nicholas does not need no more PT outside of the school and dropped his session from 4x45 minutes to 2x30 minutes. One session will be a 1-on-1 session and the other will be in a group session during the IEP review to define if his PT seesion should be cut down or stay the same as it was for the last three years. During the meeting all rthe NYC Board of Education reps wre just saying that Nicholas is ready by school base terms and did not think about the medical side. That means anything after school, is on mommy and daddy to find a way to get Nicholas his PT or a exercise plan. The great physical therapist at Support By Design who got Nicholas were he is now will have to wait until the NYC BOE decision of getting therapy outside of school. This hurts Nicholas.  All they kept saying was that Nicholas was closer to school base terms. Which means walk with his classmates at all times to another class, to lunch, to gym and leaving school instead of leaving a couple minutes early, he will run on the outer circle with classmates during gym instead of the inner circle to improving his speed. The other one was improve his walking down the stairs by himself instead of having help from his Paraprofessional. Daddy represented Nicholas and once he heard what the NYC BOE wanted, he just did not sign any paper and will take this case to a mediation to get the minutes back. The reps of the NYC BOE did not even take the oncologist letter that Nicholas PT session should not be cut, because it would be crucial to his recovery of getting back 100%. With all the going back and forth, Nicholas is missing quality time of recovery in which he now has 2x30 every morning before class from 815am-to-845am, because mommy does not want the PT taking Nicholas out of class during school tome. The mediation meeting is on Halloween October 31st at 10am. Nicholas was back the oncologist to get his three month check up. He gained a pound in which he is now at 92 pounds and is 52 inches tall, which is 4'4. The next appointment  for Nicholas is January 17th, 2014. Mommy has ask the oncologist for a sonogram of his stomach to see if it's clean from the time the doctor's found a tumor while Nicholas was in the hospital for month during the early stages of his chemotherapy treatment. The hospital staff was happy to see Nicholas growing and getting better both mentally and physically. Good news for the Nicholas Modestin Toy Drive. Several organizations donated gift cards to the hospital to buy gifts for the Toy Drive. The Toy Drive kicked off its Toy Drive at Nicholas church. Queen of All Saints Roman Catholic Church is hosting the Toy Drive from October 6th-to-December 1st. Nicholas also paid a visit to the orthapedic and came away with good results. The orthapedic saw a good change in Nicholas and a recovery that if he continues with hard work and intense physical therapy, he get back the strength that he lost. School is going good and Nicholas is doing a solid job in Ms. Frazier's class. With the help of mother nature giving Brooklyn good weather, Nicholas is walking more to school and to mass on weekends that is helping to improve his stamina and endurance of walking a long distance. The one thing Nicholas must continue to learn is to walk and don't drag his left foot when he feeling tired. The best is to stop and catch his breath and start walking again. Everyday Nicholas continues to get stronger and putting in the determination on the road to a full recovery.

September 1st-September 30th: With a extra week before schools started, Nicholas had a few things to do before entering 2nd grade. Labor Day weekend Nicholas spent time with family and friends having a blast and giving mommy and daddy some rest time. No physical therapy so Nicholas ran around the track and playeed soccer with daddy. Daddy saw improvement of him kicking the ball and using both legs to move the ball around. The goal is continue having Nicholas be more mobile and losing weight. The month started off with Nicholas on WCBS Channel 2 New York to kickoff September Childhood Cancer Month that he was invited by the Francesco Loccisano Memorial Foundation. Always great to see the Loccisano Family that helped the Modestin's during tough times during Nicholas early battle to beat his luekemia. Nicholas met some new friends that beat cancer and are now going through the tough fight to beat out the deadly disease. The next day the Modestin family took a trip to the Bronx Zoo. Nicholas had a blast checking out all the animals and he even passed a zebra and giraffe test that was given to kids by the zoo officials. Mommy and daddy were happy watching Nicholas pace himself walking around the zoo and not getting tired. Once he got home mommy massaged his legs to relax his body from a long day of walking. The next couple days before school, Nicholas read some books, did math and wrote to be prepared for Ms. Frazier, his second grade teacher. During daddy's summer freelance job, he got a free VIP pass for karate classes. Daddy and mommy decided to take Nicholas to the four free classes to see if he liks it. Even though he can't lift up his legs to kick, you could see during the classes that Nicholas gave a 100% and everyday, his legs rose more and more. The one bad thing you could see the left side of the body did not give Nicholas a strong stance duing his fighting position that he was knocked down easy by the opponent. That is another goal for mommy, daddy and the therapist is to work hard around the clock to build back up the left side of his body. Once the last class is over during the first week in October, mommy and daddy will decide to send Nicholas to karate o swimming o a fitness place to lose weight and loosen up the body to make stronger and mobile. SCHOOL STARTS. Nicholas loves school and he was excited to walk to school and having nice days for the first three weeks of school, he walked to and from school. Ms. Fraxier is a very structure and discipline teacher that is going to continue getting the best out of Nicholas. The Board of Education did something that was not professional. PS 11 finally got a physical therapist in the school. The school did not tell or call  the Modestin family that PS 11 was getting a physical therapist, the therapist did not call and to top it off, the physical therapist took Nicholas out of class for the first two sessions without the parents okay and not even asking Ms. Frazier. Nicholas came home and told mommy how he was taken out of class. After hearing what the PT did with Nicholas, daddy took a day off to find what is going on and why nobody decided to let the family know and why was Nicholas taking out of class. For all the years Nicholas has been going to therapy, mommy and daddy always told PS 11 and the therapist that Nicholas should not be taken out of class without the parents permission. After talking to the officials at the PS 11, mommy and daddy decided that Nicholas will have his PT session Monday and Wednesday from 8am-to-845am and go straight to class. Also Nicholas' IEP meeting will be held on Monday October 7th. Let us hope this year the BOE does not try to cut something back or try something now that they have a PT in the school we want to cut something or a session. So daddy who will going to the meeting will be prepared for the NYC Board of Education. The Sunday after school started, Sunday School at Queens of All Saints started and Nicholas is getting ready to take his first communion next year in May. The 6th Annual Nicholas Modestin Toy Drive for the Brooklyn Hospital Center Pediatric Oncology/Hematology Unit has started. Nicholas sent out the letters to organizations around the country and this year, Queen of All Saints Roman Catholic Church will be hosting the Toy Drive from mid October till December 1st right before the hospital christmas party for the kids. Thanks Father Ceriello for letting Nicholas host this great event that brings joy and happiness to kids at TBHC.  The one thing that Nicholas enjoyed in September, was the Light at Night Walk sponsored by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of New York. Nicholas walked about 20-to-25 blocks walking south of 15th street on the west side highway walkaway. He got tired a little and sat down. The family took pictures, spent time with friends, Nicjholas got his balloon that lights up at night and sowed off mommy and daddy his survivor t-shirt that was giving to him by the great people of LLS of New York City. This event was special and seeing the big turnout, we must continue researching to find a cure to kill childhood cancer, cancer period and medications to continue saving lives.

August 1st-August 31st: August was a healthy and trong month for Nicholas. The only bad note for the month is that Nicholas will be wearing glasses just to read from a distance. For the last several weeks in July and August as he was watching television or reading from a distance, he started squitting and squitting, mommy picked it up and decided right away to get a total pediatric eye examination. As the letters got smaller he started to squint and the optomologist knew the problem on the spot. So with school starting on the 9th of September, Nicholas will have to sit in front of the class to read the board, until his glasses comes in. First physical therapy finished with Diony and for the classes, Nicholas had, Diony gave him a solid workout that saw him continue to progress and continue to the road to bbe back 100%. Summer Cap finished on a high note as Nicholas made a big splash in the swimming pool with his instructor. He came home talking big how he went uner water for about a minute and kicked by himself with the help of the board. Going to camp Nicholas lost a good chunk of weight and increase his speed in running. His left leg still drags, but he is running a longer distance. Once camp was daddy started working out with Nicholas at a local field that had a track and was empty in the morning. Once daddy finished off his summer freelance job and with two and half weeks left for school, the workouts were in the morning, because daddy had to work at night. The workout for Nicholas was to put strength in his legs and get him to start learning how to play soccer again. Nicholas did the basic soccer drills, by starting out kicking the bals right left, right left, walking first and picking up a running pace that made him feel comfortable of controlling the ball. Then he went into the kick and run which that he got a chance to shoot into the net. After the kicking, he will finish of with kick, pass and stop the ball with daddy twice up and down the fiedl. To finish off the workout he would run and walk three laps with daddy who is starting his training to run the New York City Marathon in 2014. The one thing that made Nicholas's daddy was the endurance and stamina of Nicholas around the track. He wasn't tired, but you could see his left legs that when he lost somne strength he will drag it. After picking up the lost strength in the leg, daddy called one of Nicholas' aunt to see if a family friend is still practicing chyropractor to get a second opinon and to see how Nicholas'ds bones around his waist down and functioning and holding up. Mommy came up with a good suggestion of trying out kick boxing for Nicholas and just focusing on gathering back and building up the power in his legs. During daddy's summer job, one of co workers was happy to help out Nicholas and got all the information on a local fitness center that helps and trains people with a disability to regain what they lost. Starting in early September, Nicholas is going to have a session so the trainer can see what is the problem and we can take it from there. The family took a trip to the movies to see Planes which was great. No camp, no physical therapy during the week, Nicholas started getting for 2nd grade by reading more books and working on math, reading and answering questions and writing. Going into 2nd grade, Nicholas will have Ms. Frazier. She is one of the top teacher's at PS 11 that is very structure and discipline that will get Nicholas to continue working hard in/out the classroom. The one big part that stood out for Nicholas was a day with his friends at Mets Kids Day sponsored by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of NYC at CitiField. This year Nicholas wanted to run the bases and play catch with the players without wearing his braces and he did a great job without the braces. He ran the bases with such speed that he ran it twice, because the first time he missed touching 2nd base. After the bases he took a break and helped the grounds keepers fix the field for the game at night. With mommy and daddy in the stands, Nicholas hit off the tee and there you could see if he had more power in his left, he could hit the ball farther. He still hit the ball far and was happy getting tips from one of the Mets hitting coaches. He finished off the day playing catch with Mets pitcher Dillion Gee. When the day was over, mommy gave his legs a massage and he went to bed.  He also took a weekend trip to upstate New York to spend time with his grandmother and cousins, went over to Queens to play video games and run around with his cousin Christiaan and finally visiting his aunt Dahlia and cousin Jasmine. 

July 1st-July 31st: School is over and Nicholas knows that three days of summer camp, two days of therapy and Tuesday night when daddy if off from work is movie night. One of Nicholas' aunt back home in Panama, made a late donation to Team Nicholas and Sunrise Day Camp. The family made a donation of a $1000 that brought the total of $1615 that Team Nicholas raised for Sunrise Day Camp. Nicholas was so happy to head to Summer Camp and this year he promised mommy and daddy that he going to learn more to swim and float by himself and stay under water for more than 20 seconds. For everyday he came off the bus, he gave mommy and daddy on his swimming lesson on how he is kicking more and floating better by using his legs more and stayiong under water. Nicholas asked daddy if he could get a mask and snorkle and daddy told him, before camp is over, you will learn to use a mask and snorkle froma camp counselor. With the swimming and running in camp, along with the physical therapy, Nicholas is losing weight and you can see his running speed is getting stronger and faster with much practice and hard work. Last year around this time, Nicholas was waiting to get his mediport out of his body and was careful how he was swimming, even though he was swimming and in good handss of his swimming teacher. Now today he loves the water, except on the days when the water is to cold to swim. Diony has Nicholas for the summer PT and for two days he has him working out for 90 minutes. The one good thing about the 90 minute workout different from the 45 minute therapy, he gets to stretch out a little more and work on his tight points of his body. Sometimes Diony gets the best of Nicholas during stretch out time, that he sometimes tries to get out of it when he feels the pain. This time pain is good, because the stretching is needed to make his body more flexible annd mobile moving around. Mommy and daddy have made one goal that Nicholas will keep his weight down and continue his hard workout away from therapy and when camp is over. He has done a solid job of picking up his speed and feet when he is running. Daddy will be taking out to the field to kick a soccer ball around and shoot baskets. Nicholas went to the hospital for a check up and he came away looking good. He did not gain no weight and is still at 91 pounds and grew a 1/2 inch to 51/5 inches. The next appointment will be in October. July was also a month were Nicholas had to choose between Mexico and Panama soccer team during the Gold Cup, as both teams played each other twice, which Panama came away with victories. When mommy asked Nicholas who are you going for, Nicholas said, let me think about it and I will come back to you. His answer left daddy laughing and later on in the day before the game was over, he told his grandparents, uncles and aunts the same thing and added, may the best team win and I will always love my mommy and daddy. His aunt Jonelle came over to spend a day with him and the family. She brought over some late birthday gifts that included another train set and lego toys in whcih he completed and builts right awat. The family went to see the movie Turbo, ate a nice dinner and finished off the night playing games and talking. Nicholas was happy to see his aungt Jonelle.  

June 1st-June 30th: Now that Ms. Gilliam is gone for the rest of the school year, Ms. Jackson continues the discipline and hard work of the students in class. For the final month, Nicholas danced away in a show that he was shaking to every beat and stepping the right way that made him feel great of his dance moves in front of trhe school. The class read two more books and had several test in math in which Nicholas came away with flying colors. The class spent a day at the playground and Nicholas was happy to spend a day with his friends running and splashing themselves with the sprinkler. Between school and physical therapy, there was a couple days that Nicholas' body was just tired that he skipped therapy and went straight to bed after eating dinner once he got home from school. Mommy and daddy just woke him up to finish up his reading and math homework and he went right back to bed. Diony was on vacation so Nicholas had two weeks off from PT, but he still had Lima who continues to work him hard and stretch out the tight points in his body that sometimes pains him. Nicholas is getting a better understanding of his body while stretching out with Diony and Lima. The last day of school before leaving, Nichola sgave out Thank You cards to Ms. Gilliam, Ms. Jackson, Ms. Brown, the school nurse Ms. Anna and the crossing guard lady. Nicholas had a solid hard working school that nrought smiles to mommy when she saw his report card when she picked him up. Mommy was especially proud with his math grades and the letter grade in reading in which Ms. Gilliam set a goal for Nicholas in which he accomplished. Daddy made a promise that with the good grades, Nicholas can now get two new nintendo 3DS games. The one thing that always brings a smile to mommy and daddy is that Nicholas gives 100% on whatever he does and it shows in his grades, his attitude towards physical therapy, school work and overall he is enjoying life after beating out the deadly disease we call cancer. The first week in July spend sometime with family and go to summer camp and start therapy the week after.     

May 1st-May 31st: Rollercoaster month for Nicholas between a school project and fighting off a nasty rash that had him going to see the oncologist first and then the dermatologist. The rash first broke out on his back only and then after a night of sleep, it spread all over his body and mommy took him to his oncologist. After a check up and blood test to see if it was a infection in his body, his test came back clean. Nicholas was sent to a dermatologist who saw him and gave him a special cream and medication to rid of the rash on his skin. Once the rash got a little around his ears, mommy ran Nicholas back to the dermatologist in which he gave Nicholas a new medicated cream that in a span pf three days, his skin was clear and clean and ready to get back to school. The week after fighting off the rash Nicholas was back in the hospital for his regular monthly check up with his oncologist. Daddy took him to the hospital and gave mommy a rest from visiting the hospital. After spending sometime with nurse Lynda and getting a check by Dr. Sedrak. Nicholas gained 1 pound to be at 90 pounds and stayed the same height at 51 inches. The hospital also gave Nicholas good news when his battle with leukemia was going to be stdy at a conference of oncologist from around the world looking for a cure to get rid of cancer out of our beautiful children and kids around the world. Ms. Gilliam sure had her students working hard during the month of May. PS 11 had there showcase and Nicholas was paired with his classmate Rayna in which they had to focus on how people in Nigeria lived longtime ago and today. After working with their parents in which the art work of Rayna's parents and the research of Nicholas' parents, the project was oustanding. Both kids gave a solid presentation to parents and family during the showcase while parents and family walked around the classroom checking out the showcase of Ms. Gilliam's class on Nigeria. The next day after the showcase was the last day of Ms. Gilliam teaching Nicholas. Her doctor gave her orders that she needed the rest and to be off her feet for the final stages of her pregnancy. Ms. Gilliam did a outstanding job with Nicholas in her first grade class. She made Nicholas stronger in reading and understanding what he is reading about along with questions after reading a full chapter. Math he did solid work and she got the best out of him in and out the class in math. The homework Ms. Gilliam gave Nicholas every night week after week got him prepared and kept a balance of consistency that he knew do a little homeowrk before therapy and finish the rest after therapy. Ms. Jackson took over for Ms. Gilliam and Nicholas was warned by mommy and daddy treat Ms. Jackson and how you will treat Ms. Gilliam with the upmost respect. The next time Nicholas goes to his oncologist is in July 25th. Mother's day was a great day as Nicholas bought his mommy a fruit tart cake in which both of them enjoyed eating after spending a day with grandma upstate New York.   

April 1st-April 30th: Nicholas started off the month with a visit to the pediatric orthapedic that was referred by his oncologust at SUNY Downstate to see a Dr. Miller. Nicholas got some solid new during his visit to the orthapedic. After mommy explained the cancer treatment to the doctor and how his legs and waist got affected during the early part of his treatment, the doctor saw right away what was going on with Nicholas. He explained how the brains works that Nicholas' swelling of the brain was the top part of his brain in which controls the motor skills and when the swelling went down it triggered a bad response down to his left side of his body. The one thing he saw was that Nicholas does not need to walk in the braces everyday and his foot is straight, but he can see the weakness on his left side and the tightness of bones around the waist. The doctor also said that Nicholas will be back to 100%, but with a a strong sense of continuing his physical therapy, lots of exercise and walking to loosen up the tightness. Right away mommy decided to have Nicholas only go to school in braces on gym days, so he run better and will stand up stronger with the kids running and would not get bump to the ground when his loses his balance. After month with the braces and walking to and from school, Nicholas health, stamina and endurance has gotten stonger and better. His teach, para and physical therapist are happy to see a improvement. Nicholas had his monthly doctor's appointment and he blood count and levels was good. He went up 1/2 a pound to 89 pounds and grew a 1/2 inch. The next appointment is next May 24th. Ms. Gilliam is getting the best out of Nicholas and with a couple weeks of writing poems, Nicholas opened up his mind and wrote couple poems. She also is working hard and math and getting a big boost from him. Nicholas likes math and enjoys doing the homework. The one thing mommy and daddy are happy about is with the difference of style of homework that is giving to Nicholas. The teacher is sure preparing the students for 2nd grade and you can see it in the homework and the quizzes. Physical Therapy is going good, Nicholas is now getting adjusted and use to the stretching out days with Diony and Lima. Before Nicholas will complain a little because his body was moving allover the place during 10-15 minutes of just stretching out. Now he knows just stretch and work hard, because everything you do it will get you back 100%. Thanks to mother nature, Nicholas is able to walk to school and get the exercise in. Once school is over, Nicholas will be going to Sunrise summer camp and next month is the walkathon.

March 1st-March 31st: Happpy Birthday Nicholas. Nicholas turned 7 years old this month. Nicholas wanted to have his birthday fiesta with his classmates in Ms. Gilliam's classroom. Mommy and daddy gave Nicholas and his classmates, pizza, ice cream cake, juice and a puzzle in the goody bag. The kids had a blast and were going back and forth on who is going to get the oreo cookies on the ice cream cake. Nicholas took one and the rest went to a student at each table. Before the party Ms. Gilliam had the kids reading a book and then giving themselves positive feedback on there answers and questions. Daddy and mommy stepped away from Nicholas to see him in action and he was very responsive with his classmates. Ms. Gilliam's first grade class is very competitive and she has a great bunch of students that she has each and everyone working hard to achieve the best. Nicholas has a solid report card and made mommy and daddy very happy. Holy week as also spring break for Nicholas. During the week he went birthday shopping at ToysRus with his gift card from one his aunts, to the circus with his cousin Christiaan, did two days of physical therapy which was good to get him out the house and walking around the city with daddy. You can now see that the therapy is now helping his mind and body more that he his walking more straight with more balance and a better confidence. Holy Thursday Nicholas got sick with stomach pains and daddy took him to the hospital. He got checked out by nurse Lynda and the a full check up by Dr. Sedrak. The oncologist took some test to see if any signs of gastretis and gave Nicholas some medicine to clean out his system. The following Monday, daddy had to colloect some stool for Nicholas to get tested. The test from his stomach came back negative. The family went to Holy Thursday night mass and on Good Friday the family went to a procession and mass. Nicholas walked the whole 10 blocks without getting tired. Saturday the family went to easter vigil and with daddy running home from work, the family made to mass and got a candle in which Nicholas enjoy lighting up. He stayed up the wholes mass at Queen of All Saints Church that started at 7:30pm and finished by 10pm. Mommy is happy seeing that everytime we go to mass as a family when he does not have Sunday school, Nicholas is signing and reading the book. For easter the family went up to upstate New York to spend the day with his grandmother and his cousins. Next month in April Dr. Sedrak is sending Nicholas to get a full check up on his legs with his pediatric orthapedic to get a better look at his legs and a evaluation.

February 1st-February 28th: Very quiet month for Nicholas. The physical therapist team of Lima and Diony continue to give hiom a solid workout that his body and flexibility is getting stronger. His balance is sometimes weak depending on the exercise he is doing. Liam and Diony stretch out massage before the weak is over has strengthen Nicholas' mind and body. The one thing that has changed more in his daily four day routine was that he is doing more of his class homework from Ms. Gilliam before heading out to physical therapy. Nicholas is starting more to walk without the braces on weekends to give his legs a rest and to see how much and how far he has come walking with and without the braces. Lima and Diony see improvement everyday, but Nicholas needs the therapy and exercise at home to get back 100%. Dr. Sedrak referred Nicholas to get a full check up on April 2nd with a Pediatric Orthapedic to get a full analysis on Nicholas' condition and how we can continue to get the strength back. The Brooklyn Hospital Center Pediatric Oncology Unit along with Pediatric Oncologist around the United States are going to analize and study the cancer of Nicholas. They are going to be looking to see how the tumore developed in his stomach, what caused his muscles to go weak below the waist and how his brain got swollen what triggered the after effects when the brain sweeling went down. Mommy and daddy pray and hope they find a cure, so this will not happen to a another child. Nicholas was the first patient at TBHC Pediatric Oncology Unit that his happen to. The oncologist, nurses, child specialist and staff did a solid job of keeping Nicholas alive and all the physical therapist of making him walk again. Ms. Gilliam is getting tough in class and you can see her work is getting the best out of Nicholas. He brought home a good report card that broughts smiles of joy and happiness to mommy and daddy. Ms. Gilliam has Nicholas reading chapter that he has read book "Tooter" series and the Chalk Box Kid. The good thing about Nicholas reading was the questions he gave at the end of each chapter that made Nicholas focus and realize what he was reading. Nicholas got a solid teacher and it shows in his grades and the determination and hard work in class. In the last couple months, for everytime daddy or mommy takes Nicholas to the library, he always checks out a book on animals in the jungles or Africa or the oceans. He enjoys watching the animals and is teaching mommy and dadday more about animals in the wild on land and in the water. Grandmother Floriberta is back in Newburgh after going away during the cold month to a warmer country, Nicholas and mommy took a trip to visit and spend time with her. Next month Nicholas will celebrate his 7th Birthday with his classmates with pizza and ice cream cake.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013!! January 1st-January 31st. Nicholas started off the year full of beautiful songs and smiles. After singing in the Christmas Pageant for Queens of All Saints Roman Catholic Church on Christmas Eve, he sang the last show in front of a full crowd of the 1030am mass on Three Kings Day. Nicholas sang with such joy and strength and when it was time to say his lines, the people in the back could hera his voice. Mommy, daddy and his aunt Jonelle who is up from Panama on vacation. After mass and the pageant, Jonelle spent some time with Nicholas and her Santa gift was a electrical train set. Nicholas eyes lit up when he saw his gift. Right away he built the train and with daddy having the battiries, the train was in function for the rest of day. Monday morning Nicholas was back in school. Ms. Gilliam did not leave no homework for the Christmas Break, which was a blessing for mommy and daddy. Nicholas spent of of his Christmas break going to the physical therapy and getting a hard work from Lima. Once back in class, Ms. Gilliam gave her students a family tree project with much research. This family tree Nicholas had to interview his grandfather in Panama to get information on daddy's side, grandmother in Mexico to get the information on mommy's side and finally his aunt Yvette from Boston to get information of questions from the Family Tree. Ms. Gilliam was happy with Nicholas' project and his presentation of his project to the class of his family. Class started and so was his four day physical therapy with Lima and Diony. Everyday Nicholas is getting straonger, but most imporatant he is getting more confidence of running with friends and classmates and is more flexible. The one thing he does not like sometimes, is when the therapist give him a deep stretch to rub out the tight points in his legs. Last year Nicholas started a Penny Drive at PS 11 when he was kindergarten and this year he was honored as one of the leukemia cancer surviving kids who beat the deadly disease at a Leukemia Lymphoma Society - New York City Chapter. Daddy spoke a brief speech on how Nicholas beat his leukemia and Nicholas spoke a couple words. This year Nicholas will continue and start a new Penny Drive. Later on in the month on Martin Luther King Holiday and the special day of US President Barack Obama getting inaugurated for his second term. Special day for King and Obama. Nicholas watch a little of the ceremony, but had to leave as he got invited to play basketball with the men's basketball team of St. Francis College. Frankie's Fight Cancer Foundation. The baskteball team along with the foundation, had a basketball clinic for kids battling cancer. This was a day in which got a good workout of running up and down the court, dribbling the ball and shooting baskets. He was determined to make a basket while playing with the players and other kids that he did not mind getting bumped and pushed to the ground. For everytime he fell het got up fast and played. Finally when he made a basket, he was happy and tired, but continued passing and running. The most precious time of the day for mommy and daddy was watching Nicholas run up and down the court in a relay race with a pace that you could see how far he has come from the day he could not walk or stand. When the event was over along with his friend Kevin, Nicholas ate some pizza and once he got home he went strainght to bed and slept until dinner time. The mission continues everyday to get Nicholas back 100% and walking to school every morning with mommy and sometimes walking home with daddy since it was not cold in January, has been a great help of increasing his endurance and stamina of walking. School is going good, therapy is going good. He went for his three month check up at the hospital. After giving out his gifts to the nurses and doctors, Nicholas was checked out by nurse Lynda and Doctor Sedrak. He gained two pounds and is up to 90 pounds and went a 1/2 inch to 52 inches in height. His bllod counts looked good at this stage of beating his leukemia cancer. Right before leaving Santa from the hospital gave him a Thomas and Friends Train set in which now he has four train sets to play with.  Two Thomas and Friends train set, electrical train set, Chuggington train set. With the homework and therapy he does during the week, most of the play time comes on weekends. After getting his check up, couple days later he had to get his 4 years old shots in whci he got another full check up. The only thing his missed was the eye check in which he will go back in February. The next time he goes to his oncologist is in April. Sunday school is also going good and Ms. Lisa is giving homework that brings out the best of looking up family traditions. One homework how is a Sunday dinner at the house and what special plate does the family eat. Mommy gave out her recipe of a dish from Mexico. In return the students exchange recipes and dinner for other parents to try and cook. The next visit to the oncologist is on Friday April 26th.