Our story , About Kessia , What Kessia knows , About Kessia and Joshua , Kessia's rules , Denise and Geoff's rules , How you can help , Contacting us , Acknowledgments , Brain tumour information |
Our family (Denise, Geoff, Kessia and Joshua) recently resettled in Canberra,
Australia, after living in Vanuatu for three years.
 Family on bed, 2 February 2002 |
On 18 September 2002, Kessia (7 yrs) was diagnosed with an inoperable brainstem glioma. Read about the events which led to this diagnosis in our story so far.
We have chosen not to tell Kessia about the life-threatening nature of her illness. We ask that you carefully read about what Kessia knows, and to keep this in mind in any interactions you have with her.
We welcome visitors to our house but ask everyone to please observe Kessia's house rules. This list was first devised by Kessia on 24 September at Sydney Children's Hospital to help her control what happened in her hospital room. Similarly, we have drawn up our own set of rules, Denise and Geoff's rules, which mainly relate to situations involving Kessia and Joshua.
For those of you who haven't had the delight of meeting or knowing Kessia, you can get a glimpse of what a sweet, fun-loving and lovely girl she is in our section about Kessia. For those of you who do already know her, you'll enjoy reading and remembering her sense of humour.
 Kessia escapes from hospital and goes "bungey jumping" at Darling Harbour, 22 September 2002 |
 Kessia in car, 12 October 2002 |
And Kessia isn't really complete without her brother Joshua nearby, so it was highly appropriate that we include something about Kessia and Joshua.
 Kessia and Joshua on the waterfront, Port Vila, Vanuatu. 10 May 2002. (click for larger image) |
An incredible number of people have been offering us assistance, and to help organise this in some way, we have put together a page on how you can help. Please contact us if you wish to help in any way.
The remaining section of Kessia's website is devoted to a range of acknowledgments and information about brain tumours for those who, like us, know very little about them. Our acknowledgments and thanks go out to countless people who have supported us, guided us and cared for Kessia these past few weeks. A brain tumour information page has been put together by our dearest friend, Michael Smith, who not only thought about creating this website, but actually surprised us by creating and maintaining it so well.
Lastly, a guestbook has been the most recent addition to the site. We look forward to hearing from you.
With love,
Denise and Geoff McConnell
Canberra, Australia
14 October 2002
 The family at Commonwealth Park, Canberra. 12 October 2002. (click for larger image) |
| Site updated 13th November 2002 | Site hosted at immir.com. |