Dear Team Idan,
Thank you for your continued support of Idan’s fight for a cure. Over the last few months, over 1300 have donated to Idan’s cause and thousands more have shared his story with their friends and networks. Idan’s story has been covered by many news outlets and has reached millions of people worldwide. Your kind words of encouragement, your support and your prayers have allowed us to face this challenge knowing that we have an army behind us. We are forever indebted to you.
Here are a few updates on what has been going on with our son:
Before Idan loses his hair to chemo, we wanted to give him something to remember his signature style by (and remind him of all the people cheering him on) while he undergoes his bone marrow transplant. So we started the Idan-Do Mohawk Campaign, where people can post pictures of themselves, their children, pets, or even stuffed animals, sporting Idan’s signature hairdo, the Mohawk. We are creating a large poster for Idan’s hospital room, a piece of which is included above, so that he has a constant reminder that he has an entire army behind him helping him through this difficult time.
Dozens of people have joined in the effort to raise awareness for Help Fight for Idan by sharing a photos sporting Idan’s signature hairdo. You can join in on the fun as well. The instructions are available at here for those of you who are on Facebook, and for those who do not have Facebook, you can email us a photo at akiva.amanda@gmail.com and we will be sure to include it!
Transplant update:
After a few very challenging weeks dealing with insurance-related issues that threatened to throw us completely off track, it seems that we are finally moving forward again. Yesterday, we received the good news that the insurance company finally determined that Seattle’s treatment protocol is medically necessary and has given the hospital the approval to move ahead with identifying the donor. We hope to have a date for the transplant within the next few weeks. In addition, the insurance company is working very hard to arrange for additional coverage for Idan to help fill some of the substantial gaps in coverage that exist under our current plan. They informed us yesterday they are making significant progress, and we pray that it all works out! So, after losing 10 years of our life to the stress and even fearing for a while that the whole transplant might not be covered, things are starting to look much better. If all goes well, we are back to our original goal of $250,000, which was based on the assumption that the transplant would be covered, rather than the incredibly daunting figure that we thought we might be looking at last week.
We do not know how we would have gotten through the last few months, kept our resolve and kept fighting for Idan to get the treatment he so desperately needs without all of you. When our legs are about to give out from underneath us, you have been the arms that have held us tall. Thank you for giving us the strength to go on fighting. As we now move toward transplant, our family will need all the strength we can get in the months to come.
Yours truly,
Amanda, Akiva and Idan
P.S. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook for more updates and cute pictures of Idan.