Johnny's naming of the lion cubs has reached many places.  Just wanted to aggregate some of the links here.

Shaw Cable interview with the Zookeeper about the contest.
Shaw Cable interview with Johnny about the contest - very relaxed interview, great job Johnny!
Clip of the lion cubs playing - this is who got named, can you pick them out?
John Gormely naming Johnathan as his hero of the day.
Tammy Roberts article from page 10 of the July 2nd Saskatoon Express
   - here is a picture of the article since I cannot link directly to it.

Roar Like A Lion!!!

It has been awhile since I've posted something but we just had to share this...

Two lion cubs, a boy and a girl, were born at the Saskatoon Zoo on Sept 24, 2011.  The Zoo had a Name the Cubs contest which received over 2800 submissions. Our nephew Johnathan McLeod submitted one of those entries with a letter and pictures suggesting the cubs be named Nathan and Shadow.  Johnathan's submission has been selected as the winner by a panel of representatives from the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo, Saskatoon Zoo Society, Saskatoon Zoo Foundation, and PotashCorp (they sponsored the lion enclosure). The lion cubs will be officially named Nathan (boy) and Shadow (girl) Thurs June 28th, at 4pm during a presentation with Johnathan at the Saskatoon Zoo.  I can't begin to write how honoured and touched we are by this gesture and know Nathan would be absolutely thrilled.   I have posted Johnathan's letter, photos and the official news release below.  What a wonderful job Johnathan did in writing this letter...

Hi – I’m Johnathan.  I was wondering if the lion cubs names could be “Nathan” and “Shadow.”  I want to name the boy lion “Nathan” because my cousin’s name is Nathan and he had Leukemia which is a type of cancer.  He died 2 years ago on July 23rd. Nathan was 6 years old.  I want to name the girl “Shadow” because Nathan had a stuffy dog named Shadow.  Shadow went with Nathan to all of his doctor appointments, chemo appointments, and surgeries.  Now Nathan’s family has a dog named Shadow.

It would mean a lot to our families if the lions were named “Nathan” and “Shadow” because we always went to the Saskatoon Forestry Farm and Zoo together.  We liked to go in the summer and in the winter.  I’ve included some pictures of us together at the Zoo.

The lion cubs should be named “Nathan” and “Shadow” because our Nathan was brave and strong like a lion.  When he had to go for surgeries and chemo Nathan had to be really brave and strong – but sometimes he would get upset and roar like a lion!!!

Another reason the lions should be named “Nathan” and “Shadow” is that for the Skating Carnival one year our Nathan was dressed as Simba the Lion!  So, he has a close connection with Lions.

If the lion cubs were named “Nathan” and “Shadow” it would remind us of all the fun times we had together with our Nathan at the Zoo.  And would be a way to help us remember our cousin and how much we love him.

Thank-you,

Johnathan McLeod

Here is the news release from the City of Saskatoon - they captured my favourite part of the letter!

“NAME THE CUBS” CONTEST WINNER ANNOUNCED

The Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo is pleased to announce that the two lion cubs born at the Zoo on September 24, 2011, have been officially named Nathan (male cub) and Shadow (female cub). The winning entry selected for the “Name the Cubs” contest was submitted by 10 year old Johnathan McLeod of Saskatoon. 

Johnathan’s entry form was accompanied by a heartfelt letter explaining the meaning behind the names he selected.  The name Nathan was chosen in honour of Johnathan’s cousin, Nathan, who died in 2010 of leukemia at the age of 6.  Shadow was the name of Nathan’s stuffed animal that he brought along to his many doctor appointments, chemotherapy treatments and surgeries. Johnathan has fond memories of visiting the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo with his cousin Nathan and their family. 

In his letter Johnathan wrote, “The lion cubs should be named Nathan and Shadow because our Nathan was brave and strong like a lion.  When he had to go for surgeries and chemo Nathan had to be really brave and strong, but sometimes he would get upset and roar like a lion!!!”

Johnathan will receive a prize package that includes a one-year family membership to the Saskatoon Zoo Society, a framed photo of the lion cubs, and two plush lion toys.  An official presentation will take place on Thursday, June 28, 2012, at 4:00 p.m. in front of the Zoo’s PotashCorp Ark exhibit.  Media and Zoo patrons are welcome to attend. 

The “Name the Cubs” contest ran from April 24 to June 1, 2012, and received over 2,800 entries.  Submissions were carefully reviewed by judges from the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo, Saskatoon Zoo Society, Saskatoon Zoo Foundation, and PotashCorp.

"It was very difficult to select just one entry with all of the fantastic names that were submitted," said Moran, "we were very pleased to see the number of people who took part in this special contest.”

Nathan and Shadow are currently enjoying life as a pride with their parents, Dobi and Cooey, in the PotashCorp Ark exhibit at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo.  The lion family will remain in Saskatoon until October 2012, when they will then be returned to their permanent home in Ontario.
For more information on the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo, please visit www.saskatoon.ca/go/zoo or call 975-3382.

We are very fortunate to have family like this - thanks Johnny!  Johnathan was on the radio this morning to talk about his entry with Brent Loucks from 650 CKOM - you can hear the podcast here.

Also wanted to add this picture at the end of one of the cubs on his mom's back, how many times did Shelley have to give Nathan a piggy back ride....

A Celebration for Nathan

Thank you to all of you who have followed our journey with Nathan and provided the wonderful prayers and support during this difficult trial.  This is not the ending that we had envisioned but was evidently part of God's plan.  Though we have lost our wonderful son, we certainly are rejoicing in the time that we got with him on this earth.  Nathan was a truly unique individual who dared you not to notice him.  Please come and join us in a celebration of Nathan's life.

Vigil of Prayer will be held Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at St. Philip Neri Parish (corner of Taylor St and Munroe). Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 10:30 a.m. also at St. Philip Neri Parish.  Rite of Committal will follow at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens (East on 8th Street, turn right before railway crossing) to which anyone who loved Nathan is invited.  There will be a tea immediately after the Mass at St Philip Neri and those who do not wish to attend the internment can start to reminisce about Nathan's brilliant but short life while waiting for our family to return.

Our Angel

Our angel has been called back to heaven today. 
He fought to the end but his body just couldn't keep up to his spirit.

Induction Day 25 and a bit

We are moving to ICU.  They are just making up the orders now.  They will put in a second IV line when we are there to get more stuff into him faster.

Induction Day 25

Quick blog as both Shelley and I are in the hospital with Nathan.

Dr Ali was in and indicated WBC was about the same with platelets at 38 indicating Nathan is becoming resistant to platelets.  They determined to give Nathan double doses of platelets today.  It is getting hard with Nathan's poor little IV to get three antibiotics, extra blood products and now albumin (over 4 hours) and something else... the nurses are having a tricky time determining what to go in and if it will interfere with the next item.  A double port sure would be handy about now.

Dr Saczek, the pediatric surgeon came and examined Nathan. He thinks the condition is the same as Tuesday. He isn't any worse. He just needs to rest it and wait it out. Very unusual cases would require surgery but with Nathan we need to just wait it out. That was comforting for Shelley. We need some white blood cells to come back and help and that is going slow. Nathan's abdomen is getting more distended and the pain is almost all the way around.


Lauren who is a pediatric doctor said there is no sign of typhlitis and that he has a case of neutopenic colitis.  My research is showing that they are one and the same so I'm not sure what to say about that right now.  It has us very, very concerned.   Nathan is not doing very well.  Please continue to pray for us.

Induction Day 24 1/2

We had a very long and emotional day yesterday and neither Shelley nor I felt much like posting by the end of it.

Let's start with some GREAT news.  Carter is a full match for Nathan's bone marrow and so he is an ideal donor!  That made Nathan happy, his mom and dad very happy, and Carter happy and scared (which is perfectly fine).  Carter is our deep thinker and he was mulling that over all evening and came up with some great questions.  He is still more than a little nervous but his comment to Grandma Miller before bed was "I know why I was the perfect match, Nathan always wants to do what I'm doing and now I can help him"  We have wonderful kids.

Now we just have to get through this damn setback before we can continue to move forward towards that bone marrow transplant.  We have had a ton of doctors through to see Nathan, and Nathan has gone through a battery of tests and each of those more than once.  There is more than one theory put forth but no one really knows what is going on.  What we know so far...
- Nathan's pain in his abdomen continues and they are having trouble managing it.  They had reduced his morphine but have upped it back up again.
- The ultrasounds and CT scans show a thickening in his descending large intestine (colon).  This is either an inflammation or infection - they haven't agreed on that and don't know.  What they are saying is that he essentially has Colitis right now.
- Nathan now has blood in his urine and stool - not a good sign but consistent with the colitis.
- The x-rays do not show any fluid build up anywhere, so no perforations or holes (good news)
- the are concerned about some heart beats as Nathan's ekg is showing some unusual signs in the delta waves, they are thinking wollf-parkinson-white syndrome.  Unsure what that means to us.
- He keeps spiking fevers, yesterday he was 39.8 for quite awhile, the fevers were supposed to go away after the port was removed so this is troublesome.
- the port cultures have not grown anything yet, still time but that is troublesome as well.  Did we remove it for no reason?  Where is the infection then that the antibiotics are not handling it?
- Nathan still has one pseudomons strain in his blood.  Found out yesterday that initially he had two, but now there is only one.  That must be progress?
- Nathan is no longer responding well to platelet transfusions.  Yesterday the transfusion took him from 22 to 38.  It should be (and usually does) taking him over 80.  They have to talk to the blood bank about special ones (whatever that means).  Sounds like either they have to give him platelets from a single donor, or give him twice as much as what he needs.
- Nathan has started to lose feeling right by his waistband on his left side and now his back is hot and hard.  Still consistent with the inflammation but we sure would like to be going the other direction instead of getting worse.

Shelley just phoned to say that they are likely moving Nathan to pediatric ICU.  So much for turning the corner....