Dear fans,

I spoke to Nathan last night over the phone and it was so great to hear his animated voice. He is so very precious.

He had a sports day at his school and they ran races and did the leap frog race. He could not do the leap frog race but he was willing to run again in place of the leap frog race. He said they were told 1,2,3 GO! He has always loved racing like that.

He told me the sky looked really black and stormy but they do not have ‘hails’ there. He asked “Have you had any hail storms”. I told him fortunately only small ‘hails’.

He does not want ‘hails’ there because they have a vegetable garden.

Nathan told me how he ‘jaags’ on his bike – he is such a joy to chat to!

We love you precious Nathan and we miss you terribly!

Nana, Grampa and Granny Sheila

NANNA’S ANNUAL DAY WITH HER GRANDCHILDREN

My darling Nathan,

Its nearly time for the annual Christmas day with all my grandsons – I hope and pray you can be with us all darling Nathan!

We need you with us for decorating my tree and your cousins miss you terribly. We will be playing games with all your cousins and making something nice to take home.

I ENJOY THIS TIME WITH YOU DARLING BOYS SO VERY MUCH.

Perhaps this year we can make something in the food-line to enjoy for Christmas ..... yummmmmmyyyy

I am trying hard to think of a new game for us all – maybe all you boys can do a little concert for me ha ha! That would be such fun (well ...... for me anyway)

Your cousin Mark is doing so well in soccer – he plays for a private club now. Damien and Donovan miss playing cars with you and Sean can't remember when last you played soccer together!

All the boys send their love to you and pray to have you with them on our special, fun day!

We ALL miss you terribly and long for you precious Boykie - Granny Sheila sends hugs and kisses too.

All our best love and hugs precious Boykie

Nanna & Grampa

Nathan playing games with his cousins at last year's party with Nanna & Grampa

Nathan and his almost-brother...

These two little dudes get on like a house on fire!
Little Joz will soon be Nathan's step-brother, and he thinks the world of Nathan. He cannot wait to see him when Nathan visits some weekends.
These pictures were taken on their trip to the zoo a little while ago.

Nathan Fund Donations!!

Geyser Boys

Qmuzik

94.2 Jacaranda Good Morning Angels

Gerda, and numerous anonymous benefactors

We, as Nathan’s family, simply cannot get over the generosity of strangers!

Nathan’s mommy and Nanna were in tears for most of Wednesday as they received news and updates about donations and offers.

Almost R20,000.00 was donated in one day, as well as a new laptop for Nathan to use at school!

There were also several offers of aid in some form or another, and pledges for future financial assistance!

The donations will cover what the medical aid doesn’t pay for with Nathan’s hearing aid, as well as covering future medical aid excesses.

Nathan will also possibly be able to get a spare pair of glasses as his often need repairs (if he falls down- he falls on his face)!

And with the future donations, we’ll be able to upkeep his laptop properly, and invest in a decent printer for him too!

Its mind boggling!

Thank you so much!

A Visit With Nana

My sweet Nathan – here is a memory for you!

Once again we had a happy weekend with Nathan visiting. Nathan your happy nature infects us all – you are like a tonic to us!
As usual Caesar cat was happy to see you and had fun playing with you. That’s because you are really gentle and the animals love it when you visit. Caesar and you play together and hr loves to sleep on your bed at night.

Nathan would not be Nathan if he did not like or ask for music – he loves dancing and making rhythm.

On Saturday we had a real adventure didn’t we Nathan? Daddy, you and I to visit your Auntie C at her new home to help her unpack. They are just 20 odd km’s away (so nice to have them close!) We hit traffic on the highway going home and it crawled along slowly ……. Your Daddy had fun with some guys selling hats in the lane next to us and they were having fun fitting hats and finding change in the slow moving traffic. We sang and bopped along to the music on the radio and waved at friendly drivers. We were not aware that the entire highway was cordoned off due to an accident and that the off ramp we needed to take had ALL the traffic from the south peeling off on it L …. Seemed as though the entire province was going in our direction. But you Nathan were happy to watch all the vehicles going by so slowly. More than an hour later we were just getting onto the off ramp to head for home when my faithful old Mercedes stopped dead. No lights, no power, no nothing! I ran through the traffic to the cops who were blocking the highway and they helped us push the car out of the heavy traffic stream. I contacted OUTSURANCE (who were so amazing and supportive – thank you OUTSURANCE!) and then we had to wait. Outsurance and Grampa called us every 15 minutes but we were safe and having fun watching the cars.
Well, precious Nathan -our 20 minute trip turned into 4 hours because the tow truck was also in the traffic jam. But you, precious Nathan, were the BEST! So good, NEVER COMPLAINING – it was a pleasure spending the time with you precious boykie! You had the best fun climbing from the back to the front, testing all your climbing skills in the safe space of the car where you could not fall far. You had such fun showing me all the different ways you could climb across and back.
And then we had a long discussion about why the highway was closed – was it an accident or road works. If it was an accident then we prayed that there were no deaths and that the injuries would be minor.
Out of the blue the guys selling the caps arrived and they had a Spiderman cap to fit you Nathan – how cool of them! Whilst we were chatting you told about your girlfriend named Donnae and you are going to marry her when you grow up.
You said your school friends climb in the tree house at school but you can’t because you have small hands. Remember the meerkat I told you about? The meerkat lookout. While all the others look for food and play the meerkat lookout is on watch all the time. He watches for hawks, foxes, snakes – any danger and he calls out to his meerkat friends to warn them. While your friends are in the tree house you are the lookout – you watch that they climb safely and you shout if they need help. They need you there Boykie – to be their lookout!!
Nathan, you had the most fun checking the cars, trucks, busses crawling past for hours – slowly, slowly, slowly. You examined each mag wheel, truck tire and air brake system, the overloaded busses. Remember the one bus that looked as though it was going to just flop over ……. you named all the cars and pointed out those you liked. We had fun checking out the different lights on the cars – some of them are really stunning. You were very excited about being a Lotus racing car driver when you grow up!!
And then the flat bed tow truck arrived with rows of yellow flashing lights. You stood in the back of the double cab tow truck and watched as my dear old merc was winched onto the flat bed and then we drove home in the tow truck! You were fascinated. And like an egg I had no camera with me. I would have loved to catch the look on your face throughout that traffic jam. Car addict heaven for you precious Nathan! You stood in awe and watched as the tow truck t ipped and lowered the merc onto our drive way – what an adventure we had darling!
Needless to say you spent Sunday morning lining all his your cars up like the traffic jam. You spent ages lining them up and towing a car on the flat bed trailer like the merc had been. I found some old doll house furniture and you played we was moving like his Auntie C – this you enjoyed too, loading up the furniture and delivering it to the house, packing and unpacking with your nimble feet.

Thank you once again precious Boykie, for a stunning weekend with you! We love you dearly, dearly.

As ever yours,
Nana and Grampa

How Blessed Are We!!!?!

94.2 Jacaranda's

Good Morning Angels

project has given Nathan no less than R12,000 towards his hearing aid!!!

This will cover the costs not included in what the medical insurance is willing to pay!!!

They called this morning and spoke to Nathan's mommy Annie, and his daddy Gareth, and asked a little about Nathan, and then Cindy Nel came on the line and told them they were donating the money!!
Then they spoke to Nathan too, and he told them he's a Sharks fan and he asked them to play a song for him!!

Darren Scott then told Gareth that since he and Nathan are Sharks supporters, they're going to send them to the game at Loftus on Friday!!!

How cool is that!

I tell you, Nathan fans, without your love and attention and forwarding emails and tweeting Nathan's needs- this would NEVER have been possible!!

And the awesome part- if there's any money left after the medical aid has been paid, as well as with some other donations- we may be able to buy Nathan a new laptop for school!!!

Email nathansfanclub [at] gmail [dot] com if you would like bank account details.

Thank you all!!!

Nathan Needs A Hearing Aid

Shortly after his birthday, Nathan has minor surgery to check on his ears.

He had a grommet removed from his left ear that didn't fall out like it was supposed to, and a build up of wax and such was removed, which cleared up his left ear nicely.

His right ear- the small one- was also tested to try and work out how much hearing he has in that ear. The small bones inside the right ear are slightly malformed, as is his eardrum (a typical symptom of his disorder) and it turned out that he has no hearing in his right ear at all.
The decision was then made to get him a hearing aid- which is good because its non invasive and fairly easy to maintain.

The problem of course is the cost. Hearing aids do not come cheap at all.

I started asking on Twitter for fund raising possibilities, and several people came forward with some fantastic ideas, and I have now even been put in contact with a few people who can make a real difference in terms of Nathan's treatment and getting the hearing aid.
We have once again been blown away by just how much strangers actually care about an amazing little boy that they've never even met (you know who you are)!!

I would very much like to organise an event where people can meet Nathan, and be as blown away by his incredible intelligence and personality as his family is on a regular basis- I'll keep you up to date with what's happening.

Thank you all for caring.

Nathan is visiting his daddy this weekend!

His aunty C popped in after work quickly and Nathan related the following story:
“You know, the other night Nanna phoned, and we were at the Ocean Basket in Secunda. Man oh man (rolling his eyes ever so dramatically); they took 45 minutes to bring us our food! But don’t worry, I work there at night, and I tell them to get a move on!”

He is such a card!

NATHAN LOVES TO DANCE!

This is Nathan doing his break dance thang!
He loves to dance!
He is such a joyful little guy.

Love you precious boykie.

As ever your Nana!

Visiting Nanna!

Nathan & Jozhua have the most fun in a tent under the garden table at Nanna's house.

They love to have a snack and juice there. We have to knock on the table if want to deliver anything to them!

Everything goes into the house with them – wheelbarrows of sand, cars, shovels and even the cat likes to join them there!

Nathan opens some of his birthday gifts, his great Granny Sheila was so excited to have a birthday party with him!