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Holidays 07- May 08
Thanksgiving 07
Well,
the holidays have come and gone and in the DeLuca homes with the usual
Italian fan fare. To start the holiday season off, Thanksgiving over at
sister Norma's was filled with family and food.
And you can be assured that it is always dinner and a movie over the
Bravo's home with a little nap thrown in for old times sake. And, we are
so happy to announce that Sergio still eats just like always. That
really means a lot when you have ALS. Sergio with his
"favorite" sister, Sonia.
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Party with the Pals 07
In December, Norma helped to organize a get together with a lot of Sergio's friends- old school chums, soccer buds and a few others pals sprinkled in for good measure. There was lots of people in and out of "DeLuca-land" wishing Sergio and the family their holiday best. There was a karaoke machine there for those American Idol want-a-bees and who could forget the chocolate fountain. Because Sergio has been wheelchair bound for about a year, he hasn't seen his upstairs in quite a while. So a few of his "studdley" friends grabbed on and slowly but surely managed to bring Sergio up his curved staircase. Once upstairs, Serg took a look around, smiled and mentioned that things really haven't changed that much. A nice thought! Much thanks to Norma, and her team (Donna and Heather) for pulling off a fun evening for all.
Check out the pictures of that evening on the photo gallery link below.
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Christmas 07
Sergio
and Kelly hosted the annual DeLuca Christmas party (the Saturday before
Christmas) as before. Kelly's dad, Bear, and his wife, Nancy, were there
to add to the fun. When the whole DeLuca group gets together, it's a lot
of people and when you add all the food and cameras flashing and the
presents and wrapping paper and .... well, you get the feel for it- it's
a party!
Thanks to both Serg and Kel for such a fun evening for the families.
Check out the photos on the link below.
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2008
The new year started out nice and quiet but with great anticipation of Spring Soccer for Alyssa. But hopes and prayers were answered when they got the call that Alyssa will be on the same team as Rachel Tice and that Bill Melanson will be the coach of the Corona Girls Under 16 team. This was a dream come true for all concerned. And what it team it is! Winning is just what these girls do week after week, tournament after tournament. As of this posting, they won every league game and won 95% of all tournament games but one game will be set in memory for a very long time.....
Here's
a shorten version of it......It was an extremely hot weekend- 100 +
degrees and the team was in Hemet to play in a tournament. From the
start, both teams came out strong with Hemet scoring first. Lots of very
rough playing lead to some unfit language from the other team which got
Sergio's attention and he was trying to get the ref to notice what was
going on. Now, let's remember that Sergio can't really yell over all the
other people these days but one of the other players went to the ref and
yelled at him- saying (pointing to Sergio in the wheelchair), "If he
doesn't shut up, I'm going to punch him in the face!". Well...... Alyssa
heard that and something snapped and she had to have 2 refs holding her
back while she was screaming, arms flying around and yelling back at the
girl. If you ask Alyssa about it, she will tell you that she isn't sure
what happened but she one minute she's playing soccer and the next, she
had to be restrained from attaching the other player. Alyssa will stick
up for her dad even if it means getting tossed out of a game. Luckily,
she didn't get tossed out of the game but the other player did and
because of that (among a few other things), the team was disqualified
from the rest of the tournament. The moral of this story- Don't mess
with Alyssa!
But
that wasn't the end of it. At that point, the Corona girls were down by
one
point. Then they said "We have to win this one for Serg!" (You see,
there are a lot of girls on this team that played for Sergio in the past
years and loved
him a lot.) Just before taking the field, they all went over to Sergio
and gave him a big group hug and when the girls took to the field, they
played a strong game that lead to scoring 2 goals and winning the game-
FOR SERG! Guess who had tears in his eyes?
Alyssa and Frankie
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Just wanted to help...
There are people all the time who ask if there is anything they can do to help Sergio and the family. It is very hard on all of us who truly can't do much of anything to make Sergio better but there are always things to help make the time a little less stressful.
Thanks you to all of you who help in all the ways you do with the daily and weekly help. To the Tice family for making sure that Sergio and the family get to the soccer games (no matter where they are at). This is a huge help and greatly appreciated.
Thank you to the Bob and Debbie Osborn of Brea and Kevin and Leslie McCarthy for their very generous donations which help to offset the high costs of Sergio prescriptions that he needs every month. Insurance only pays for so much and the out of pocket cost can really add up quickly.
To Donna Tice and her gals who gathered together to give Kelly a big "Happy Basket". You will never know just how much that meant knowing people care enough to help Kelly take care of herself so that she can take care of Sergio.
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Good News
After months of not being able to drive and relying on family and
friends to get the family around, Kelly got her drivers license back!
Because of her seizures back in August, the DMV suspended her license
until Kelly could be put on the proper medicine to control her seizures.
Since then, Kelly's doctors have monitored her
closely and found the right stuff for her.
Kelly doesn't drive often but just knowing that she doesn't have to ask someone to take her or the family anywhere is such a relief for her nowadays. A big thank you for all of you who came through for her when she needed a little help with the driving.
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Just a few notes about how Sergio is doing physically these days:
He still eats and eats well. Kelly feeds him foods that are not only good for him but keep his weight up.
Sergio spends all his time in the wheelchair these days but he can control that thing like no buddy's business. Just watch him take it from room to room and he loves to have races with his niece, Breanna.
He is on a couple of medications. Baclofen 10 mg- a muscle relaxant and he takes Ambien CR so he can get a good night's sleep.
He recently got a ByPap machine which is used when he has a hard time breathing. But, thank God, his breathing is pretty good and hasn't had the need to use it yet just knowing that it is just feet away is comforting.
Sonia's family doctor, Dr. Joseph Longnecker called her to let her know of a study that he heard of in which the ALS patient take Lithium. Sergio and Kelly will be seeing Dr. Longnecker in the next few weeks to hear what he has to say and see if it is something that Sergio should consider for his own health. Check back to see how the appointment went what steps Sergio is taking.
And, Sergio can always be found in front of the TV or radio watching or hearing about his beloved Lakers.
A BIG thank you to all of you who have kept in contact with Sergio with a visit, cards, letters, emails, and phone calls. Just knowing that you are thinking about him and the family truly touches the heart with joy.
For those of you who have wanted to visit Sergio, just contact Sergio at his home or email him at delucaland@yahoo.com . He is always happy to see or hear from old friends.
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