Tracy had her annual kick-off meeting for our Relay for Life fundraiser yesterday. The meeting was well attended with good food, good friends, and lots of great ideas shared for raising money in the fight against cancer. Last year, our Hair Raisers team raised over $11,000 and earned "Rookie Team of the Year" for the Haymarket Park Relay event. So we have set a high bar for ourselves, but I am excited about the potential of our team this year. We have some returning members who did very well last year and some new members with new ideas.
The area of focus for me will be online donations again this year. Last year, I was touched by the generosity that I saw as donations started to come in. I could tell that cancer has cast a wide net as far as affecting the lives of so many people. Friends, co-workers, family, and neighbors alike donated money online and sent in checks to help us in the fight against cancer.
This is a fight that we can win. This is a fight we have to win.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
March Madness
As a life-long basketball junkie, this is one of my favorite times of the year-- March Madness, the NCAA basketball tournament. I love the excitement of each game as the best teams in college basketball participate in the one loss and you're out tournament. The fact that March Madness comes at a time of year when days are getting longer and weather is warming up only makes it that much better.
One team that I will be pulling for is BYU. I did pick the Cougars to win a few games in the tourney so that's a reason for rooting for them. But the other reason is their coach, Dave Rose, who is currently winning in his battle with pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed last year and was fortunate enough (if I could use the word "fortunate" and pancreatic cancer in the same sentence) to have a rare type of pancreatic cancer that actually progresses more slowly. And Rose appears to be winning, even getting a clean cancer scan last fall. Coach Rose is an inspiration to BYU fans everywhere and I'm going to be pulling for his team this month.
One team that I will be pulling for is BYU. I did pick the Cougars to win a few games in the tourney so that's a reason for rooting for them. But the other reason is their coach, Dave Rose, who is currently winning in his battle with pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed last year and was fortunate enough (if I could use the word "fortunate" and pancreatic cancer in the same sentence) to have a rare type of pancreatic cancer that actually progresses more slowly. And Rose appears to be winning, even getting a clean cancer scan last fall. Coach Rose is an inspiration to BYU fans everywhere and I'm going to be pulling for his team this month.
Monday, March 15, 2010
How's Tracy?
I came back from basketball last night and all of the furniture downstairs had been rearranged.
The "Busy Body" is back. When the oncologist said that they were going to be "aggressive" with their treatment, my natural reaction was "good, let's get this cancer." But what I didn't realize is how long it would take for Tracy to recover. The example I use is hair growth. Just as I takes hair a long time to grow back, it takes the rest of the body just as long.
Yesterday was the best evidence that I have had to date that Tracy is getting back to her old self. We went to the early church service and had lunch at her Mom's house. She walked/ran three or four miles at the gym, cleaned the house for several hours, and rearranged the furniture. My busy body wife is officially back. The most telling sign was her being able to work out without feeling ill or some sort of physical ailment.
I get asked about her all the time. Many people have prayed for us and kept her in their thoughts. It's a long road back. But we are getting there!
The "Busy Body" is back. When the oncologist said that they were going to be "aggressive" with their treatment, my natural reaction was "good, let's get this cancer." But what I didn't realize is how long it would take for Tracy to recover. The example I use is hair growth. Just as I takes hair a long time to grow back, it takes the rest of the body just as long.
Yesterday was the best evidence that I have had to date that Tracy is getting back to her old self. We went to the early church service and had lunch at her Mom's house. She walked/ran three or four miles at the gym, cleaned the house for several hours, and rearranged the furniture. My busy body wife is officially back. The most telling sign was her being able to work out without feeling ill or some sort of physical ailment.
I get asked about her all the time. Many people have prayed for us and kept her in their thoughts. It's a long road back. But we are getting there!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Surgery goes well
We journeyed to Omaha early last Friday to have Tracy's power port removed. This was the 5th (and hopefully final) surgery that Tracy has had, and it proved to be the easiest. The surgery took around 45 minutes with the actual removal of the port taking only 10 minutes. After getting home, Tracy took it easy for the rest of the day. But she was pretty active on Saturday, slowing down to rest on the couch several times.
With the weather improving and days getting longer, I can't help but feel that the improving weather mirrors our outlook on Tracy's health. The future looks brighter. We look forward to having a more active spring together. One thing that we are now gearing up for is this year's Relay for Life. We're getting some final details in place for our fund raising efforts for this year.
There will be no shortage of motivation for fund raising this year. We continue to see the effects of cancer all around us. Saturday, I attended the funeral of a cousin who passed away after battling late stage pancreatic cancer. He had already lost his wife nine years ago, and they leave behind a 13-year old son and 11-year old daughter.
It is time to find a cure.
With the weather improving and days getting longer, I can't help but feel that the improving weather mirrors our outlook on Tracy's health. The future looks brighter. We look forward to having a more active spring together. One thing that we are now gearing up for is this year's Relay for Life. We're getting some final details in place for our fund raising efforts for this year.
There will be no shortage of motivation for fund raising this year. We continue to see the effects of cancer all around us. Saturday, I attended the funeral of a cousin who passed away after battling late stage pancreatic cancer. He had already lost his wife nine years ago, and they leave behind a 13-year old son and 11-year old daughter.
It is time to find a cure.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
What I Learned... in Kauai
In keeping with an earlier theme of this blog, I thought I would reflect on what I learned from my experiences in Kauai. The first thing I noticed was that a spouse's morning crabbiness can exist even in the Hawaiian Pacific time zone. That's four hours of difference, folks. Theoretically, 7:30 am in Kauai is almost noon in the Midwest! I had hypothesized that no crabbiness would exist, but the test proved my hypothesis to be false! Morning crabbiness can travel across land and sea!
I also discovered that my wife is has world class ability in the area of packing and organization. We haven't had the opportunity to travel since the diagnosis and I had heard her allude to her packing prowess, but I admit that I was skeptical. But I am now a true believer. I was amazed at how much she was able to fit in her travel bags!
And one last thing, there are a lot of chickens on Kauai. I'm not sure how they got there. I don't believe they are native to the island. But there are no predators to the chicken on the entire island so you can find chickens everywhere-- in forests, on mountain tops, and in parking lots.
I also discovered that my wife is has world class ability in the area of packing and organization. We haven't had the opportunity to travel since the diagnosis and I had heard her allude to her packing prowess, but I admit that I was skeptical. But I am now a true believer. I was amazed at how much she was able to fit in her travel bags!
And one last thing, there are a lot of chickens on Kauai. I'm not sure how they got there. I don't believe they are native to the island. But there are no predators to the chicken on the entire island so you can find chickens everywhere-- in forests, on mountain tops, and in parking lots.
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