WalkingYourWay

30/09/2025

DIPG - Looking for the Positive...

What do you do when your child is going to die?

Talin was 5 years old when diagnosed in 2012... it was the 11th of April...

Talin would die in my arms on the 17th of July that year...

We didn't get the 9.5 months, there was no Honeymoon period...

We had ~13 weeks...

Talin is one of the worlds first live cell lines in at the Children's Cancer Institute...

And two people are seeing out of his eyes...

He asked me in one of our final conversations before he died...

'Can you make a difference...'

I try and do this with my work in the last 13 plus year working in brain cancer in Adults and Children...

I have created specialised DIPG groups and work with DIPG Support created by Paul Miller...

We have groups that cover: Support: Research: Parents Only, Angels and Adults...

Our groups are FREE and Active...

We look after over 13,700 people a day now and it is sadly growing...

Our groups are referred to by most major foundations around the World...

We try and make a difference...

I would like to thank all the medical researchers that try and make a difference to all our cohorts over the years...

Without you we still would be nowhere...

It is boots on the ground, get out there and do something, anything...

You never know when it will cause change that is effective for all...

Childhood Cancer is not a month, a year or a day...

It is a lifetime...

Our children were supposed to be a lifetime too...

Lets make it worthwhile...

Gerry Tye

"Silent Warriors" is a series of 13 sho...

07/09/2025

It's Father's Day in Australia...

For some of us this is a celebration, for some a difficult almost impossible day...

Father's are the generally background hero's in the relationship...

Of course there are the good and the bad ones...

But lets focus on the ones that are there...

Are Present...

Listen, care and hold you when you need it...

Sadly when they lose a child to distance, estrangement and the terrible aspect of death...

They break, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot...

Do we see it...

Probably not...

Father's care just as much about you...

They may not show it so much, but they are just as fragile as anyone with the most important people in their life...

You...

Please spare a thought or a hug for those Dad's that suffer in the Silence of Loss...

You are their greatest achievement in life...

You keep them alive...

They Love You...

Even when you are not there...

Even when they are not there...

Special Hugs to the Father's that have lost a child...

There is nothing worse...

Gerry Tye

05/09/2025

Wearing the Ribbon is great - doing something is Better...

I was reading a post about this recently and that was the general message...

Sure Awareness is a good thing, but getting involved is what truly makes a difference...

Being in the Adult and Children Brain Cancer Arena for the last 13 plus years has taught me that boots on the ground has the most effect...

Volunteering for a Cause is a great way of helping it...

There are so many ways that will cost you very little and sometimes it gets noticed...

Through the many and variety of Groups / Organisations I do work with includes Cancer Voices, Brain Tumour Alliance Australia (BTAA), Rare Cancers Australia, our own Worldwide groups are just some of the few...

I don't do it for the recognition...

I do it because I made a promise to my son, just 6 year old, Talin to make a difference days before he died from ...

So...

Please support your Cause...

It can be in anyway that makes a difference...

If you can lift a feather weight off someone in need - you have achieved an amazing thing...

So wear the Ribbon, and then put it into action...

Pictured: The Hon Mark Speakman leader of the opposition for NSW Australia and some guy trying to make a difference...

Gerry Tye

01/09/2025

It is the 1st of September and importantly - Childhood Cancer Awareness Month...

Why is this important?

Without Children here is no Future...

We are their Voice in all things especially in the Medical Arena...

They depend on us, as one day we might them...

For Rare Diseases such as they have no one except us...

For parents looking after a sick child all we want to do is see them get better...

In Cancer there sometimes is No Better...

In Cancer there is long term side effects from the disease and the treatment...

We carry our Children through life and sadly sometimes in death...

Learning how to treat these diseases helps Adults with Cancer as the treatments are different and can have an effect in adult studies...

Adult Clinical Studies do not apply to children...

The cohort is different as well as the developmental milestones...

Children are the Gold in our Lives - Wear the Gold Ribbon...

They are our most Priceless Gifts...

I hope that you don't lose yours...

Please do what you can for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month...

We need more than a Month...

Childhood Cancer is relevant every Single Day...

Gerry Tye

17/07/2025

Hi Talin...

Hi Dad...

We are here again...

The day you Died...

It has been 13 years since you died in my arms from Brain Cancer...

13 weeks before you were enjoying Easter at home with your brothers and Grandma...

I remember the chocolate cake smeared across your faces...

The concern as my alarm bells were ringing that there was something wrong...

I couldn't put my finger on it...

No one could...

In 2 days time you would be in Sydney Children's Hospital...

In 6 weeks you would be at Bear Cottage Children's Hospice...

7 weeks later I would be holding you as you died...

In the middle we escaped with your brothers, down to Cronulla Beach for fish and chips...

You were happy to sit in the sand and feel the earth under your feet...

It was a warm night...

Other kids were playing on the swings and laughing with each other like life would last forever...

Sadly, I knew it was not for you...

There are not enough grains of sand on the beach to count the times that I miss you and wish you were here...

These sandy moments in time are just there...

In that instant...

For you and my memories...

There were worse things to come...

But in that moment you were content...

I wish I could hold onto that...

But the sands of time drift through my fingertips...

As you drift away from the memories of those left behind...

Sadly it seems like the brightest lights go out in life and memory...

I will Always See You...

Wishing you were here Talin...

Loving you to the Stars and Back...

Plus a little bit more...

Love

Dad...

Missing you too dad...

I watch from afar and see the work done in the DIPG Community and are thankful you and your friends are there to help so many come into this journey....

Love you too...

Talin...