Our Birthday Bear Group have celebrated another birthday. We went to Baan Thai Restaurant, Springwood. The food is good, the price is normal and the service only just okay.
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| (L to R) Bob, Bill, George, Paul, Birthday Bear, Helen, Chris, Mary, Ann and I'm behind the camera. |
Our group was complete this time because Bob and Chris were in town on a break from their nomadic travels. Bob had to have back surgery but as you can see he is making a good recovery.
It was Paul's 79th birthday. We were all so happy for him to have seen this birthday arrive. Paul was diagnosed with mesothelioma (malignant cancer caused by exposure to asbestos) in 2010. There is no cure and the average survival rate is twelve months. As you can see, Paul has survived for five years and he is the longest surviving patient in Queensland. He is such a stoic fighter and will not give in to this dreadful illness. He has had surgery, many, many chemo treatments and radiotherapy as well as a new trial treatment. He has been in hospital many times and he suffers a lot of pain. It has been a long hard road for both him and his wife Helen.Because Paul can't do very much he enjoys doing jigsaw puzzles and stamp collecting. So Birthday Bear thought it would be nice to give Paul a hand at organising stamps. Luckily, Bear borrowed some stamp albums and equipment to bring along to dinner and surprise Paul.
For any new readers not familiar with our Birthday Bear Tradition click here.
That must have been an extra special birthday meal.
ReplyDeleteAmazing he is still able to celebrate his birthday with this terrible illness. As always a very creative Birthday Bear again. Hope you can celebrate many more like this.
ReplyDeleteThat's a happy first picture.
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
Filip
What interesting things you and your friends do ... judging from all of the interesting things Bear gets up to.
ReplyDeleteHello Diane, what a cute Birthday Bear post. Happy Birthday to Paul. You friend must be a very strong fighter, it is great he has beaten the odds with his illness. I wish him another 5 years and more. Enjoy your day and the new week ahead!
ReplyDeleteNice post and so good that your group is still connecting. Good luck to Paul.
ReplyDeleteIt's lovely to see everyone looking so good and having a fun time...
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Paul! Great to see him celebrate another birthday. Love the first photo - all look so "together" and happy.
ReplyDeleteA very special birthday. Happy Birthday Paul. Have a great weekend t'other Diane
ReplyDeleteAlways love the Birthday Bear celebrations. Happy Birthday to Paul!
ReplyDeleteI do love your birthday bear events! What a fun way to celebrate with friends on their special days
ReplyDeleteanother great party
ReplyDeleteWow he is doing well my pop was diagnosed with the same cancer in July 2010 and died on the 4th November 2010 so didn't last long but he was unable to have treatment as it was too far along for treatment.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really nice tradition. Happy Birthday, Paul.
ReplyDeletehappy 79th birthday and that is fantastic news. i think your bear has had more birthdays than in other bear. i got a good laugh at my self, my first read at the beginning i saw Ban That Restaurant. had to go back.
ReplyDeletehappy birthday to paul and birthday bear who is so lucky to have multiple birthdays a year instead of one like the rest of us. :)
ReplyDeleteBirthday bear seems to be having quite a few outings recently, Happy birthday to Paul - he sounds a real fighter and I'm so glad for them that he can celebrate another birthday with his friends.
ReplyDeleteA very special birthday! Hooray for surviving five years!
ReplyDeleteThat bear certainly does get around - I almost feel as if I am part of the group now.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about Paul He is quite a hero. You must be very strong to go such a long and difficult road.
ReplyDeleteNice he has such a great group of friends and then of course bear He looks gorgeous
A fabulous Birthday Bear & I just love those shoes. Good that you could all be together for Paul's Birthday.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to Paul, he' s certainly a fighter!
ReplyDeleteHappy belated birthday to Paul! So glad to see him going strong and making the best of his time. Someone put a lot of work into the birthday bear this time--well done!
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