December 2005 Archives

Two thousand five was a very good year.

We started 2005 laughing.

Andy saw the World Series Trophy and received Tim Wakefield's autograph in his pillow case.

Abuela Marilu talked about Andy in the radio.

Andy's new immune system got stronger.

He demonstrated that he's capable of fighting infections.

Andy was able to go to school, make new friends.

We started selling the LIVE IMMUNE orange bracelet.

We received cool bracelet pictures .

On a sad note, one of the best doctors I've ever met, my teacher and my friend passed away.

I decided to write a book.

Our 'one fit savior' isn't walking.. she's running. Sofia turned ONE.

Elyse Top-Poirier ran the Boston Marathon in honor of Andy and for Children's.

Kelli Cole ran the Boston Marathon in honor of Andy and for Children's.

Tio Victor talked about Andy in the radio.

Kelli Cole gave her Boston Marathon medal to Andy.

Andy turned six.

Andy & Sofia made the cover of Dream Magazine.

Children's Hospital Boston included links to andy.org.mx.

Children's Hospital Boston opened a new building with Andy's name on its iron beams.

We met Jack who will will soon get a cure. Cure 4 Jack website went live.

Jason Varitek invited Andy to a Red Sox practice & game.

Kelli Cole got married.

Andy & Sofia skated with Champions.

We celebrated 525,600 minutes.

We met Ron Elberger and his family in person.

We were on TV at the NBC News 7 News program.

Sofia & Andy lighted Children's Hospital Boston Christmas tree.

Andy & Sofia at Children's Hospital Boston website homepage.

We met Mark Porter.

A new member of the family arrived.

Abuelo Victor's letter to St. Johns Northwestern Military Academy was published at "The Beacon".

Mark 4 Andy website went live.

Happy TWO THOUSAND SIX!

The address is: http://www.mark4andy.com

It contains the rest of his fundraising letter mentioned 7 days ago.

Mark's website has pictures, a guest book and links for donations.

Make your gift today!
Mark Porter: Miles for Miracles Profile ID = PM0031.

Andy Trevino: Miles for Miracles Profile ID = TA0001

In today's New York Times 36 Hours travel section Ed Morales (the reporter) offers this description:

WHEN the Spaniards arrived in the Valley of Mexico in the 16th century, they found the sprawling Aztec city of Tenochtitlán, destroyed it and built a new one on top of it. But they never really succeeded in burying the past. Mexico City became the largest city in the Western Hemisphere, a nexus of Latin American art and political thought. Today, after difficult adjustments to globalization and the precipitous devaluation of the peso from around 3 to the dollar to nearly 11 over 12 years - often cited as a cause for a spike in crimes like kidnapping and robbery - the city remains a teeming, vibrant and joyful place. Even the skies are blue again because of new laws that restrict auto use. Despite all the layers time has imposed, from the colonial past to the present day of "nuevo cine Mexicano" and "techno-rave en Español," even a weekend visitor will still feel the spirit of the old Aztec capital ever present alongside the new.

Read Mexico City via The New York times here.

I tried this once with Andy's pacifier and a oxygen tube in the hospital when Andy was not eating due to one of his bad stomach infections.

Now there's the "pacifeeder"!

A hands free baby bottle which promotes semi-upright feeding. Nipple stays full of liquid. Nipple won't leak. Bottle attaches to any car seat, stroller, etc., which prevents bottle dropping and tossing.

More via bonnybabies.com here

This one for Dr. Pai and her family.

Sehe Bokmanee Bateuseyo

.

According to Christopher Rowland from the Boston Globe Massachusetts teaching hospitals are asking for help to Ritz-Carlton consultants.

Boston teaching hospitals -- known for their world-class medical care, but sometimes brusque treatment of patients -- are responding to increased competition among themselves by trying to make patients feel more like valued customers.
..
Mass. General brought in a consultant from Ritz-Carlton, the global hotel chain known for its luxury service, to stress what may seem obvious: the importance of a warm smile and addressing patients by name.
..
Room-service meals -- served at the time of day requested by a patient, and featuring an expanded variety of choices -- have become common in smaller community hospitals. The practice has been slower to catch on in urban medical centers, though Children's Hospital Boston and Tufts-New England Medical Center make it available, as do certain areas of other hospitals, like the maternity ward at Brigham and Women's.

Read via Boston Globe here.

Every parent should have one of this.

Or maybe not...

WHEEL OF RESPONSIBILITY

The US House on Saturday December 20th. passed 413-0 an amended version of a bill (HR 2520) that would authorize $79 million in federal funding for the collection and storage of umbilical cord blood.

Objective: To provide for the collection and maintenance of human cord blood stem cells for the treatment of patients and research.

A press release said:

The objective is 150,000 units, which would mean 90 percent of patients needing them would have a match.

Read via National Marrow Donor Program here.

White House PDF here. (PDF Format)

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I received this story today about Greg Lipski a medical student at the University of Washington who had a stem cell transplant last August. He received stem cells from his sister who turned out to be a full match (lucky guy..).

I guess this is what it would be like if Andy could write about his transplant:

He talks about his central line infection (Andy had eighteen central lines):

I suffered a line infection from my central line catheter (Hickman line). That day and evening was the most torturous experience I've ever endured. I had fevers to 104, sweating buckets, while feeling like I was freezing, for about 14 hours before it started to abate. At the clinic, they pulled the Hickman line, and yes, they do it by just pulling, really hard. I knew I was screwed when the PA said, "take some deep breaths."

Big news back in May about the south Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk who claimed to have made stem cells tailored to match an individual.

Then big news again claiming that Hwang used the same picture for what was supposed to be different cells.

So now the race is on according to Gareth Cook from the Boston Globe.

And George Quentin Daley, MD, PhD, Associate Director, Stem Cell Program at Children's Hospital Boston is one of the main players.

Cloned stem cells are created by placing DNA from a patient into an egg cell that has had its nucleus removed. This is stimulated to grow and embryonic stem cells are harvested. Researchers can also get embryonic stem cells from frozen embryos, left over from fertility treatments, but cloned stem cells can be created with the DNA of patients who have diseases, giving scientists a new way to study how those diseases develop.

Read the article via Boston Globe here.

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Best wishes for the holiday season!

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The Christmas Index:

AT HOME = three and a half times
IN THE HOSPITAL = three and a half times

1999 - in the hospital (Hospital ABC)

2000 at home with NG tube and parenteral nutrition (nutrition via his veins).

2001 in the hospital (Children's Hospital Boston - Seven East)

2002 at home

2003 at home

2004 in the hospital (Children's Hospital Boston - Six West)

2005 at home.

Following the NY Times article "When Health Insurance Is Not a Safeguard", here's very good advice regarding gamma globulin infusions I received via email.

Gammaglobulin prices vary greatly depending on how much insurance pays, the number of grams used and the place of the infusion. The least expensive option is to have the product shipped to your house and do the infusion yourselves. For blood work there are some parents that ask the doctor for a lab slip and they either do it themselves and drop off the blood or take them to a lab. Hospitals charge the most followed by clinics and lastly home care. Many insurance companies have a set fee of what they will pay. So even though the charge may be $120 per gram the payment can be $80 to $90 per gram and be considered paid at 100%. The rest is written off by the provider. Some insurance companies pay 80 to 100% of the bill. It is not uncommon to see higher prices in those cases. Yet another variable is supplies such as tubing, pumps, needles etc. Because reimbursement rates are declining some providers will now charge more and seperately for the supplies to try and recoup that loss. Then of course you have a nursing fee and or the newer term "administration fee." Insurance allows providers to collect that whether or not you use a nurse. Not all companies take advantage of that but many do. Don't be afraid to ask for a detailed statement. Know where the money is going. You are the consumer and like it or not healthcare is a business. The main thing to know here is to know what you are being charged and for what. Hospitals get to charge a room fee, paid by the hour, in addition to supplies, nursing, doctor visits, lab work etc. Figure out what you really need and what is over kill. The money you're spending may not be yours directly but it will most definitely affect you at some time. Know what the life time cap is and where you stand in relationship to it. Be a wise consumer. Don't forget healthcare is a business. Like any business providers will charge what ever they can get away with, especially if no one is keeping an eye on it.

I've never done blood work for Andy...I don't do well with veins... I'm ok with NG tubes and G tubes...

Just received the following comment,

Andres - You do such a fantastic job putting relavent information on Andy's web site! I learn so much here! This NY Times article is exactly what we are dealing with. Our son has been rceiving IVIG for 14 years and we have amassed many bills like the article describes. Thanks for the info!! From our family to yours, we wish you all a very happy fun Christmas and a Healthy New year!!!

We did this last year from Six West, Andy's hospital room at Children's Hospital Boston, we used Google Earth to track him.

This year Google (visit Google Blog - This just in) negotiated the rights to track S. Claus on his big trip again.

If you have Google Earth you can too.

Get Google Earth here:

This one for Dr. Pai and her family,

Chuk Sung Tan / Sung Tan Chuk Ha

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Coming soon...

The fundraising letter from Mark Porter who will run the Marathon in honor of Andy.

Here's the title of the letter and the first paragraph:

LOOK AT THAT IDIOT
We have all made the above statement one time or another mostly in the winter when it is snowing or raining from the heavens and while sitting in traffic we see that lonesome person coming running through whatever inclement weather we may be enduring and we say look at that idiot out running on a day like today when the dogs won't even venture out un less they have to.

And also coming soon...

The Mark 4 Andy website

Here's the logo:

Make your gift today!
Mark Porter: Miles for Miracles Profile ID = PM0031.

Andy Trevino: Miles for Miracles Profile ID = TA0001

Families with children that need treatments for primary immune deficiency have to cover a lot of medical bills. A huge amount of money. Gammaglobulin infusions can cost up to $12,000 dollars, this includes the room fee & all the labs taken during the visit.

Andy used to get gammaglobulin infusions every two weeks before receiving Sofia's stem cells.

This story from the NY Times talks about the Dorsett family from Indiana that filed for bankrupcy when the bills started coming in..

Mr. Dorsett, who works on commercial heating and air conditioning systems, sometimes stitching together 90-hour weeks, earns $68,000 a year. It is more money than his father ever made, but not enough to cover the bills, especially with the monthly infusions starting.

Read the article via New York Times here.

Mark Porter and two of his children, Connor and Shannon visited yesterday evening, they helped Andy design Mark's running shoe at NIKEID.com.

Mark will compete in the 2006 Boston Marathon in honor of Andy.

Mark is in remision from cancer and he said,

"while sick I realised that you have to give in order to receive so I decided that when I recovered I was going to be more active and I always wanted to do the Boston Marathon and by doing so raise money for a good cause".

Help Mark!

We received an email from Mark for Andy a few weeks ago that explains why he's running.

Hi Andy how are you doing? My name is Mark Porter and I am running the Boston Marathon this year for the Children's Hospital and I asked them if they could get me someone very special to help with this tough task and they said that after much searching that the found me the best possible partner and that is you! So I hope that you are willing to work hard and help me as I definitely need all the help that you can give and the people at Childrens said that you are the best patient that they ever had... so they have appointed you to help me... Mark Porter

Here's Mark's running shoe designed by Andy, Connor and Shannon:

Make your gift today!
Mark Porter: Miles for Miracles Profile ID = PM0031.

Andy Trevino: Miles for Miracles Profile ID = TA0001

More to come soon.

Subscribe to the Andy Blog and receive an email notifications to alert you of a new post.

When you subscribe you will receive email notification alerts when any of the categories at The Andy Blog is updated.
The Andy Blog has the following categories,

Andy's Update - News about Andy after his stem cell transplant.
Autographs - Autographs I gather for andy.org.mx
Book - Status of the book that tells about our story
Ectodermal Dysplasia - Everything I know about ED. News about ED.
Family & Friends - Fun things we do with Family & Friends
Glossary - Glossary of medical terms I know and new words I run into..
Hospitals - All I know about hospitals. Including the councils where I participate.
Invitro Fertilization - All I know about IVF. News about IVF.
Medical Gadgets - Cool gadgets I find on the web.
Medications - Medications I know about.
NEMO Gene - Everything I know about the NEMO Gene. News about NEMO.
News and Blogs - News I find related to all the categories in this blog.
Other - Other fun things.
PGD - All I know about Pre implantation Genetic Diagnosis. News about PGD.
Primary Immunedeficiency - All I know about PI. News about PI.
School - News about Andy & Sofia @ school.
Sofia's Update - News about Sofia.
Stem Cell Transplant - All I know about SCT. News about SCT.
Stem Cells - All I know about Stem Cells. News about Stem Cells.

And more categories to come..

Umbilical cord stem cell bank in the UK is marketing to grandparents.

A British-based company says grandparents looking for a gift with a twist are increasingly investing in stem cells for their grandchildren...The reason to store stem cells is future applications for stem cells. You only get one chance to get these cells in a non-invasive way. It's like a healthcare insurance policy.

Read the article via CNN here.

The Beacon, a school community magazine from St. Johns Northwestern Military Academy published a letter from my Dad.

It's a very inspiring letter!

He sent the letter back in August.

Click here to read The Beacon (PDF Format)

Last Friday we received a note from Andy's Teacher,

Really a nice week, he seems to be more interested. Please read the new book of Goldie Locks to him.

I did read Goldie Locks to him..

And when I read,

"Patooie!" cried big old Papa Bear.
"This porridge is scalding!
I've burned my tongue!..."

Andy turned his eyes toward me and said,

"No Papa, asi no se dice!" (In English: Dad, you're not pronouncing it right..)

Then he said,

"It's not 'porridge'... Its 'pooaahhrridge', 'pooaahhrridge'..."

"Ah ya veo!" (English: Oh I see!), I told him.

"Pooaahhrridge..so its almost like saying Booaahston..." I added.

Wicked awesome..

My two readers can now comment on this blog.

About a year ago I disabled the comment feature because I was getting a lot of spam.. I will give it a try again..

If you would like to comment click on Comments.

The Swiss National Bank launched a competition for the design of a new banknote series (10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 1000) at the beginning of 2005.

The bank invited twelve artists were invited to present their designs on the theme “Switzerland open to the world”.

The first prize was announced recently and it went for artist Krebs Manuel from Zurich.

One Embryo: 100 Swiss Francs

Eleven Red Blood Cells : 10 Swiss Francs

More designs here.

Makes Benjamin Franklin look somewhat boring and horizontal..

Benjamin Franklin: 100 US Dollars

Back in May there was a lot of talk about a paper from a Korean scientist that claimed he was able to make stem cells tailored to match an individual for the first time...The paper was published in the journal Science.

"The resultant cells were a perfect match for the individual and could mean treatments for diseases like diabetes without problems of rejection", a BBC News article said.

From the BBC:

Now, the Korean scientist is retracting his paper.

Scientist of landmark paper on stem cells urges retraction
Two colleagues said data were misleading
By Gareth Cook
'After analyzing the data, our team concluded that the results . . . could not be trusted," Hwang wrote in a note delivered to Science. The note was read to journalists at a press conference yesterday.

Read the article via Boston Globe here.

This one for Jordan, Katie, Audrey and Marlaina,

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say,
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day,
That's the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway,
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright,
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night,
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way
To say "Merry Christmas to you."

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say,
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day,
That's the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway,
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright,
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night,
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way
To say, "Merry Christmas,
A very Merry Christmas to you."

One of Andy's worst enemies before receiving Sofia’s stem cells was cytomegalovirus. A virus from the herpesvirus group that remains dormant within the body. CMV reactivates if the immune system is weak or dysfunctional.

I found a news release from researchers at the City of Hope Cancer Center that are giving a “booster shot” to the donor before transplant. They are using an “altered form of poxvirus that can coax the body into making large amounts of certain CMV proteins”. They say that this activates the donor’s immune system prior to transplant. And they hope that this immunity is passed to the recipient.

Read the article here.

Bienvenido Alfredo d'Argence Pamanes!!

Peso. 2.7 kg
Nacio. 14 Diciembre, 2005
Lugar. Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas

Felicidades !

The tree lighting event was featured on page number one of Children's News.

The article says,

Children's Hospital Boston's Main Lobby was filled with singing and holiday cheer at the annual Season of Hope concert and tree lighting on Thursday, Dec. 1. This year's tree lighters, patient Andy Trevino and his sister, Sofia, were warmly welcomed by Children's President and CEO James Mandell, MD, while patients, families and employees enjoyed cookies, eggnog and the rousing vocals of Youth pro Musica, a Boston area youth chorus. Andy and Sofia were featured in an article in the summer 2005 issue of Dream magazine. Visit www.childrenshospital.org/dream/ DreamSummer05 to read their amazing story.

Warm welcome indeed!

We've always had warm welcomes at Children's Hospital Boston! Since the first moment we arrived there, directly to the ER in September 11th. 2000.

Here's an scanned image of the publication:

And there's also an online version of the publication:

Visit the online version here.

Children's News is published monthly by the Department of Public Affairs for Children's Hospital Boston employees, staff, volunteers and visitors.

I read about this on June 16.

The procedure is permitted in many European countries including Britain, Denmark, Norway, France and Spain.

The Swiss Senate has followed the House of Representatives in voting in favour of lifting the ban on screening human embryos for genetic diseases.

Read article via SwissInfo here.

Mark Porter will compete in the 2006 Boston Marathon in honor of Andy!

To run the Boston Marathon is a very special accomplishment.

We know it from our heroes, Jorge Luis, Elyse, Brian & Kelli who also ran in honor of Andy.

Mark, Katie, Connor, Paulina, Sofia, Andy & Andres:

We will help with fundraising. Last year the team raised 1 million!

Lets root for Mark on race day!!

More about Mark and his running shoes soon.

Make your gift today!
Mark Porter: Miles for Miracles Profile ID = PM0031.

Andy Trevino: Miles for Miracles Profile ID = TA0001

Last Saturday we attended the Jimmy Fund Winter Festival.

The Jimmy Fund [website] invites patients and their families to a big party with music, food, children's games and gifts. The event took place at the Newton Marriot Hotel.

The highlight of the festival is the arrival of Santa and his Elves. All the children sit on Santa's lap (and some parents too!), chat with him and take a picture. There must have been more than 250 children in the event.

Andy and Sofia couldnt wait long to go meet Santa... we waited in line very excited.

Santa and his elves looked familiar...

Santa had an incredible resemblance with Dr. Holcombe Grier! [website] He's the Clinical Director, Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber, he's also a member of the Pediatric Patient and Family Advisory Council at Dana-Farber where Paulina and I participate since April this year. And his elves also looked familiar, they looked like doctors, fellows and nurses we know from Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber.

Could this be true?

But it can't be!

Santa has a double identity? During winter he takes care of the Santa stuff and when it's not cold outside he helps children with cancer? Santa is busy.

One thing I know, I'm sure that after the event Santa needed a pump like this one for his legs.

Morphine pump.

He had more than 250 children and sometimes parents sitting on his lap!

I received a check from GOOGLE!

Cool! a.k.a. Wicked awesome!

The sum of one hundred ten and 49/100 U.S. Dollar.

Here's an image from the check:

This check comes from the Google AdSense program. In January 2004 I added some links on this blog and to andy.org.mx that show some ads on each page and blog entry. Adsense from Google gives me at least $0.05 each time someone clicks on one of their ads through andy.org.mx.

The AdSense traffic since January 2004 is the following:

Jan '04 - $1.71
Feb '04 - $4.57
Mar '04 - $3.26
Apr '04 - $1.33
May '04 - $1.07
Jun '04 - $3.58
Jul '04 - $3.77
Aug '04 - $5.85
Sep '04 - $4.56
Oct '04 - $3.89
Nov '04 - $6.21
Dec '04 - $9.89
Jan '05 - $2.58
Feb '05 - $4.39
Mar '05 - $1.49
Apr '05 - $2.27
May '05 - $5.69
Jun '05 - $3.29
Jul '05 - $1.89
Aug '05 - $11.68
Sep '05 - $14.60
Oct '05 - $12.92
Nov '05 - $12.88

The jump from $1.89 in Jul to $11.68 in Aug must be related to the Dream Magazine article and links from Children's Hospital website.

I will use the $110.49 dollars to buy Mark Porter's running shoes for the Boston Marathon. Mark Porter will run the 2006 Boston Maraton for Children's Hospital Boston and we will raise funds for the hospital together.

Andy and Mark will design the running shoes tomorrow in Nike ID. Image of the shoes soon...

Mark Porter is 38 years old, a carpenter and he lives in Quincy, Ma.

He wants to run "because its for a worthy cause" and his efforts will "help children's achieve more success".

"To help other families when they need it most by running and raising funds for Children's" he added.

Mark has three children,

Shannon (12)
Katie (9) and
Connor (7)

Mark is in remision from cancer, he said "while sick I realised that you have to give in order to receive so I decided that when I recovered I was going to be more active and I always wanted to do the Boston Marathon and by doing so raise money for a good cause".

We're going to meet Mark and his family tomorrow. Pictures will come soon!

This is the first time that Mark will run the Boston Marathon. As a matter of fact, this is the first time that Mark will run in 18 years!

Help Mark!

We received an email from Mark for Andy today that says,

Hi Andy how are you doing?
My name is Mark Porter and I am running the Boston Marathon this year for the Children's Hospital and I asked them if they could get me someone very special to help with this tough task and they said that after much searching that the found me the best possible partner and that is you! So I hope that you are willing to work hard and help me as I definitely need all the help that you can give and the people at Childrens said that you are the best patient that they ever had... so they have appointed you to help me... so me and my family are looking forward to meeting you and your sister and your mom and dad tomorrow!

Mark Porter

Make your gift today!
Mark Porter: Miles for Miracles Profile ID = PM0031.

Andy Trevino: Miles for Miracles Profile ID = TA0001

Cool!

Andy & Sofia's picture is on Children's Hospital Boston home page.

And it says,

Patient Andy Treviño is winning his six-year battle with a primary immune defficiency thanks to his sister, Sofia, and the doctors at Children's Hospital Boston.

Check out a still picture of the website here.
And visit the website here (don't know how long they will have it there though).

If you would like to help other children win their battle against terminal diseases click here.

Here are some details about the hospital:

Children's Hospital Boston is a 342-bed comprehensive center for pediatric health care. As one of the largest pediatric medical centers in the United States, Children's offers a complete range of health care services for children from birth through 21 years of age. (Our Advanced Fetal Care Center can begin interventions at 15 weeks gestation, and in some situations we treat adults.)
Children's records approximately 17,000 inpatient admissions each year, and our more than 160 outpatient programs and emergency services care for more than 450,000 patients annually. Additionally, the hospital performs 22,000 surgical procedures and 170,000 radiological examinations every year.
The hospital's clinical staff includes approximately 875 active medical and dental staff, as well as 775 residents and fellows, 1,235 nursing and patient personnel as well as 4,613 other full and part-time employees. We also have a diverse, trained team of more than 764 volunteers.
Children's is the primary pediatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, where most of our physicians hold faculty appointments.

Contribución de Lupita Z. d'Argence

Contribución de Lupita Z. de d'Argence

Last Thursday December 1st. Sofia & Andy received an invitation to the Season of Hope Tree Lighting event at Children's Hospital Boston.

Thank you Children's Hospital Boston!

There was a huge christmas tree in the lobby. The event was scheduled for 4:00 pm, we arrived there around 3:30 pm. It's the first time that Andy wears a tie (green with colored frogs) and a suit. Sofia was wearing a beautiful dress and her new shoes.

"Papá, quiero ir a Six West!", Andy told me as soon as got there.

Andy with Susana in Six West:

When we returned to the lobby from Six West we said hello to Bess Andrews who is the Director of Public Affairs. We also saw Michelle Davis [web page] the Vice President of Public Affairs and Marketing at Children's.

Matt Cyr was not there because he was busy taking care of 30 Fingers and 30 Toes.

Michelle Davis introduced us to Dr. James Mandell [web page] President and CEO of Children's Hospital Boston.

He's the chief of the best hospital in the world for children!

And most importantly he's the chief of the hospital that saved Andy's life!

As expected, he's a very nice person.

Here's Dr. Mandell's speech,

Welcome everyone, to the Children's Hospital Boston "Season of Hope" celebration.
I am Jim Mandell, President and CEO of Children's Hospital Boston.
We gather every year to begin the holiday season by lighting our tree in celebration of hope.
On a daily basis, our patients and their families inspire hope in all of us who work here and during this season especially, we take time to celebrate that hope.
I'm pleased to welcome Youth pro Musica who'll be performing this afternoon.
Youth pro Musica's singers hail from over thirty communities in and around Boston.
These talented children - ranging from grades 3 to 12, attend weekly rehearsals throughout their school year.
They're an outstanding group and we're thrilled they are with us for our tree lighting.
Each year, we ask one of our patients to help us celebrate by lighting the tree, and this year we're lucky enough to have TWO young people to light the tree!
It is my pleasure to introduce you to the Trevino family, Andres and Paulina and their two wonderful children, Andy and Sofia.
Andy is a 6-year-old patient of Children's Hospital Boston, and Sofia is his 19-month old sister. Andy and Sofia were recently on the cover of our own Dream Magazine. Sofia donated stem cells to help her brother's immune system.
Andy has been a patient of Children's for 5 years, and like many boys his age, he loves to play with other children. Since his transplant, Andy is finally able to go to sschool with other children. His interests are computer games, movies, and toy cars. Sofia is also a fun-loving child. She loves to run, climb, sing and dance.
We're so happy to have you Andy and Sofia - to light our tree.
Are you ready to light the tree?
ONE -- TWO -- THREE [Tree lights on]
Great job!
Please everyone stay and enjoy refreshments and the lovely sounds of Youth pro Musica.
Thank you for coming, and have a wonderful holiday season.

In the middle of Dr. Mandell's speech Andy got a little overwhelmed.

But a few moments latter he was happy again...Dr. Mandell told us not to worry, he knew about that from his grandchildren...

We saw lots of friends during the event, Kelli Cole, George R., Karen, Jillian, Melinda, Kendall and others.

And here are some pictures,