Aidan was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumor, on December 19, 2009 after a very brief illness. He endured multiple surgeries and five rounds of high dose chemotherapy.
Our sweet, very brave boy lost his battle and went to heaven on July 30, 2010. He was 3 years old.
Please follow Aidans journey through the blog entries below.
We will contine to share stories, post pictures and make memories in his honor. Aidan will forever be remembered.

Support pediatric brain tumor research. Visit www.AidansArmy.org


Saturday, July 31, 2010

Aidan Manning Arrangements

Dearest friends,

Aidan's arrangements have been finalized. His death notice will be in the Sunday Chicago Tribune.

Visitation Tuesday 3:00 to 9:00 pm at Williams-Kampp Funeral Home, 430 E. Roosevelt Rd., Wheaton (1 block east of Naperville Rd.)
Funeral home prayers Wednesday 9:15 am then to St. Michael Church, Wheaton. Mass 10:00 am.

Donations to Aidan's trust are very much appreciated:
You may make checks payable to The Aidan Wayne Manning Trust
(Please write the account # 2910 0745 0433 in the memo line).
Bank of America
P.O. Box 29966
Phoenix, AZ 85038-0966

Every cent in the trust will benefit childhood Medulloblastoma research and treatment.

We sincerely appreciate your thoughts and prayers during this time.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Aidan 7/30

Hello dearest friends,

I am deeply saddened to share this news...
Our strong, brave, gentle boy has left this world. Aidan passed away this afternoon at home in our arms. I felt his little soul leave his body.

We will be making arrangements tomorrow (his wake will be Tuesday with a funeral mass Wednesday). I will share the details with you after they are finalized.

"When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight."
~ Kahlil Gibran

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Aidan Update 7/26

Hello Everyone- Update from my sister below. If Kitty is unable I will try my hardest to keep everyone up to date. Please keep my entire family in your thoughts and prayers.
- Patty

Dearest friends,

I write with a heavy heart...
We are at Children's. Aidan had his MRI today. It showed significant tumor spread both in his brain and spine (much worse than when he was initially diagnosed). It is hard to imagine that just 6 weeks ago, his MRI was clean.
We have had discussion with his oncologist who stated that treatment at this point will unlikely be curative, but possibly extend his life for a little while.
We are sad beyond words...how does one even begin to say goodbye to their child?
I will update with more info as I am able.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Prayers for Aidan

Hello dear friends~

I hope this e-mail finds you well and that you have been enjoying this hot summer. Aidan has been feeling relatively well. We have been so happy to have him home...he has managed to stay out of the hospital since June 14th (a record for this little man).

We are asking for you to keep sweet Aidan in your prayers.
He has an MRI of the brain & spine this Monday 7/26. It is essential that we have a clean scan to move forward to stem cell transplant.
Unfortunately, we have received some discouraging news...Aidan had a CT scan a couple of days ago that may have showed some disease progression. However, the quality and resolution of the film was low (the scan was done to evaluate the fluid in his ventricles, it is not the ideal film to interpret disease status- MRI is the gold standard). Of course, this news was frightening to us nonetheless.

So, we lift little Aidan up to God and ask that He goes before him to the MRI scan. We pray the MRI results be clear and encouraging and show that Aidan is improving.

We thank you for all of your prayers and support during this very difficult time. I will update next week with results.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

Monday, July 5, 2010

Sleepover 6/28

Uncle Matt and I were very happy to have Aidan and Kitty over for a sleepover on 6/28. We live pretty close to Children's and Aidan was having his CT scan the next morning. We can't wait till he beats this so he can come over and play all the time!! We love you buddy!!

Aidan Pics 6/26

Aidan was very happy ... he had visitors to entertain!
Uncle Matt and I went to visit and Aunt Sandy came to visit too!
What a busy boy!

Could his smile be any bigger?!?

Doing a puzzle with Aunt Sandy.

Cheese!

AIDANS ARMY BRACELETS!

Linda Lindstrom is making "Aidan's Army" bracelets as a funraiser!!!

The bracelets are $25 a piece. If you are interested please email Linda at linlin8@comcast.net



I love my bracelet and wear it all the time!

Linda- We THANK YOU for doing this!!

Linda also makes other jewelry ... her website is http://crystalgoddessonline.com/

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Aidan Update 7/01

Hello dear friends,

I write with very good news...
Aidan has been home for 17 consecutive days. That is HUGE for him! The last time we could say that was in December prior to his diagnosis.

He had his CT scan yesterday to evaluate the status of the fungal infection in his lung. It looks clean...no evidence of fungus. It's truly amazing as fungal infections typically take months of treatment before seeing good response. God is good...He is watching over this sweet boy. Thankfully, that means Aidan will not require any surgery.

The plan now is to do oral chemo at home beginning today for 5 days. Once he recovers from that (approximately a month from now), he will probably be ready to move to stem cell transplant.

We are so very thankful to be able to have him home and provide him some "normalcy".
We are also thankful to have all of you as friends. You have all been such great support for us. We truly appreciate all of your prayers and kindnesses.

We wish each of you a happy and safe holiday weekend.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular