MAJOR MILESTONE: Rilley has made it to one year!

Rilley, left,  just after surgery one year ago and today, right.

One year ago today Rilley underwent brain surgery to remove the meningioma that was threatening his life.  This was the first step in his amazing recovery and thanks to the groundbreaking work being done at the University of Minnesota he is still with us today.  By the time we return from his fourth and final visit to Minneapolis this month we will have driven almost 12000km (close to 7500 miles) but seeing the smiles on our daughters faces whenever they see him has made it all worthwhile.

Rilley is celebrating this day in his usual style...lying around the house.  Yeah, high energy, I know.  I don't think he realizes just how far he's come.  Just look at the pictures above...his shaved head and stitches which earned him the nickname "bacon-head" because of the colouring and the one that was taken today where he looks like his old self.  The only indication of the fact that he had surgery is the slight black line in the white highlight on his head.

While we observed this special date in our household today, over the coming weeks we will be celebrating this monumental milestone on the blog.  It will be getting a facelift and we plan on creating special posts where we will look back over the events and people from the past year and provide updates on the last trip for his final exam and MRI.