Hi everyone It’s been a while since I’ve seen many of you for a variety of reasons! I hope you can all make it and have a great night with me celebrating and having fun! Just a bit of background around the motivation for why I decided to celebrate this milestone in this way. As many of you know I spent my 48th birthday, alongside James, Amelie, Joan and Suzy watching Jeremy commence his first of 6 gruelling rounds of chemotherapy having receiving a diagnosis 18 hours earlier of Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma, after Jeremy had spent many weeks seriously ill in hospital. It was, without a doubt, the lowest point of my 50 year existence and I remember vividly thinking how on earth was I ever going to feel good about anything again. My amazing husband, James’ mantra, is “pick yourself up and get on with it. If you can’t help yourself no one else will” so digging deep for positives I found one – a new friend for life, Georga (and husband Paul) who unfortunately are also members of our elite club, that no one wants to be members of. Her kindness from her 2sqm “blue curtain radius” across the ward is something I’ll never forget. Now we are back in the real world, having survived caring for our respective sons receiving treatment, remain regularly in touch. A big thank you also to Narelle (and Martin), another member of the club, for her pure “frankness” about what to expect during treatment, that paved the way for my expectations to be set, from the outset, which then inspired me to evaluate, question and at times persecute every member of staff responsible for Jeremy’s treatment to make sure he was receiving the best treatment he could. A special thank you also to Emily & Kristy who provided constant support for me when the chips were down. Jeremy was fortunate enough to qualify for a clinical trial. It is my wish for every future child to have the opportunity to receive this form treatment, as opposed to some. Whilst the treatment was more intense than the usual rounds of chemotherapy Jeremy, as usual, took it bravely in his stride never once complaining despite a few complications along the way. Jeremy continues to remain well today. James regularly gives blood and plasma as his way to give back and help others with the Red Cross, however my blood doesn’t qualify for donation (it must be my occupation that prevents me from doing so!). Therefore, after much mental debate with myself for months, I have decided to utilize my milestone birthday as an opportunity to say THANK YOU to all our friends and work colleagues, who supported myself and our family in our time of need. It's my birthday wish that I receive NO GIFTS BUT please donate generously to Lymphoma Australia so it can help other kids for the future. There’s nothing I wish for, when I have everything I need, a healthy happy son! Your generous donation to Lymphoma Australia will help to assist all future children diagnosed with this disease receive the same treatment Jeremy received. For all my corporate friends invited, for whom I rarely ask for anything, this is a totally tax deductible expense, so I encourage you to donate generously. Your donation can be elected to be anonymous when you donate, and I encourage you to donate, what you can, to a good cause to support my birthday wishes. I can’t change the past – but I can contribute to changing the future! I’ll see you soon to cut loose! Justine x