2025 Parent’s Getaway Weekend

Hubby Bill and I headed to Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, earlier today for the Special Love’s Parent Get-Away-Weekend. We are founding members of this program, dating back to the late 1990s, and hopefully helped many parents in the trenches of childhood cancer and beyond.

Our original group of parent-led volunteers for this needed program (can’t parents run away to camp, too, but in a nice hotel?) is now led by Special Love’s Programs (and parent “board, of which I am a member ”), and we have over 110 people coming! It’s the largest group yet. That means the need for parents or caregivers’ respite is high when dealing with a sick child, coupled with Soecial Love’s outreach and social media presence.

When our son Ryan was in the throes of his cancer treatments, our small group would schedule a one-day respite where we could talk, laugh, play games, and bond with the other parents who were in the same boat as us. Most of us met each other at a Special Love’s weekend, either at the under 7 or Oktoberfest, or another event in the area.

Today, including us, four of the original couples are still involved with the planning along with the SL crew. We now have a couple of new members, so the “old guard” can step aside when the time is right for each of us.

My photo below is from tonight’s little gathering at the hotel with one of the original members of the Parent Getaway and former SL board member, Maureen Lilly and me. She and her husband moved to Philadelphia last year, but are still involved in this event which is fantastic!

All festivities begin tomorrow morning at 8:00 am, starting with breakfast! We can’t miss breakfast! I’m looking forward to catching up with the parents I know, and meeting those parents whose children have been diagnosed with cancer in the last year- the common denominator. Not a club anyone would want to join, of course, but with foundations and organizations that help people like us with camps, scholarships, and events for the siblings and family members, anything is possible. No one walks this scary path alone when involved in these organizations, especially Special Love’s, Inc. http://specialove.org

bSoleille!

Terri