You could probably guess this post was coming. :)
This is where we ask for your help.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that Eric and I are training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. We cannot believe that we are training to run 13.1 miles! It seems almost impossible! But when we think of what our little Hannah has had to go through this year (and the other families we've met in the same circumstances), it doesn't seem that impossible at all.
Unfortunately, most everyone's life has been affected by cancer. Will you help us by donating to this most worthy cause? Your donation will help bring support to those affected by blood cancers and help us reach the ultimate finish line of finding a cure for blood cancers. Just one example - research funded by the Leukemia and Lymphoma society is responsible for medicines like Gleevec. We personally know children whose lives are being saved because of this new medication. This is your opportunity to help save a life!
I hope you will consider making a donation. All donations are 100% tax deductible. To make a donation online, quickly and securely, please visit my TNT homepage. Your donation is appreciated more than we will ever be able to express!
If you know of anyone who would be interested in donating to the LLS mission, please forward the link to your contacts. We are incredibly grateful for your support!
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Lighthouse Family Retreat
We had the privilege of attending the Lighthouse Family Retreat for a week in June. (I've waited to post about it because I was waiting to get some pictures in the mail.) It was one of the most wonderful weeks our family has ever had together! The LFR describes what their mission is as:
"Lighthouse Family Retreat serves children with cancer and their families at a seaside retreat to help them laugh, restore family relationships and find hope in God."
We had heard from other families how great the retreat was, but we had no idea how much fun it would be and how good it would be for each one of us. There are no words to describe how amazing the volunteers were! We were assigned two families as our personal volunteers and there were many more there to cook, serve, do the music/worship, play with the kids and help with activities. There was a whole group of Summer Staff volunteers. These were college students who had given their entire summer vacation to serve the families at these retreats. This is a picture of just some the volunteers entertaining us at dinner:
We definitely had the best family volunteers assigned to us. Here is us with Nate and Lindsey:
Lauren and Hannah fell in love with one of the college volunteers, Carly. She spent hours playing with them and was so incredibly sweet! All of the volunteers took a week of their vacation time and paid their room and board expenses to serve families like ours for a week. Who does that? We are blown away from this and the love that was poured out on us!
Our kids had the best time playing with the children of the volunteers and other retreat families. They had lots of time to play on this big open area. There were games of football, nine-square and tag going on all the time.
This is the group photo of all the retreat families. Look how many people were blessed by this ministry!
We are so thankful to this ministry for allowing us to have a week to relax and have fun at the beach! Each morning the kids went to their fun activities and the parents went to a group time. It was such a unique and healing experience to be in a room full of parents who are also walking through this journey of childhood cancer. We enjoyed every minute of our week and hope to be a volunteer family one day!
"Lighthouse Family Retreat serves children with cancer and their families at a seaside retreat to help them laugh, restore family relationships and find hope in God."
We had heard from other families how great the retreat was, but we had no idea how much fun it would be and how good it would be for each one of us. There are no words to describe how amazing the volunteers were! We were assigned two families as our personal volunteers and there were many more there to cook, serve, do the music/worship, play with the kids and help with activities. There was a whole group of Summer Staff volunteers. These were college students who had given their entire summer vacation to serve the families at these retreats. This is a picture of just some the volunteers entertaining us at dinner:
We definitely had the best family volunteers assigned to us. Here is us with Nate and Lindsey:
We somehow didn't get a picture of us with our other family volunteers, Bob, Barb and their granddaughter, Molly. (I'm very sad about that!) Lauren and Hannah quickly became great friends with Molly.
Lauren and Hannah fell in love with one of the college volunteers, Carly. She spent hours playing with them and was so incredibly sweet! All of the volunteers took a week of their vacation time and paid their room and board expenses to serve families like ours for a week. Who does that? We are blown away from this and the love that was poured out on us!
Our kids had the best time playing with the children of the volunteers and other retreat families. They had lots of time to play on this big open area. There were games of football, nine-square and tag going on all the time.
This is the group photo of all the retreat families. Look how many people were blessed by this ministry!
We are so thankful to this ministry for allowing us to have a week to relax and have fun at the beach! Each morning the kids went to their fun activities and the parents went to a group time. It was such a unique and healing experience to be in a room full of parents who are also walking through this journey of childhood cancer. We enjoyed every minute of our week and hope to be a volunteer family one day!
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Team in Training
Eric and I have decided to do something we are very excited about. We signed up for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. We have formed a team and will be running in the Savannah Rock 'n Roll 1/2 Marathon on November 9. We will be running in honor of Hannah with all proceeds going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to fund research. Does anyone want to join us and be a part of our team? Let me know if you are interested and I will give you more information. The LLS explains it better than I can, so here is the description from their website:
About Team In Training
Our athletes have walked away with new friends, amazing accomplishments and the sense that they did something even more important than getting in good shape.
How serious is blood cancer? Every four minutes, someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer. Every 10 minutes, someone dies.
In exchange for training and support, you help raise money towards cures for blood cancers like leukemia -- the No. 1 disease killer of children -- lymphoma and myeloma.
The Reason
- Coaching and training
- Travel to a major marathon, half marathon, century, hiking adventure or triathlon in exciting locations
- The opportunity to make your athletic goals a reality (an unbeatable offer with great personal rewards)
- A connection with an honored patient so you know just who and what you're doing it all for
As the largest endurance sports training program in the world, we will provide you with the experience of a lifetime.
Team In Training Benefits
Join the thousands of runners, walkers, cyclists hikers, and triathletes who will participate in the world's major marathons,half marathons, centuries, hiking adventures and triathlons this year.
And if you're looking for a program to fit your busy schedule, now there's TNT Flex, a flexible, customized, online training option developed by TNT's renowned coaches.
If crossing the finish line after running or walking 26.2 miles or 13.1 miles, cycling 100 miles, completing a triathlon or hiking adventure while helping cure deadly diseases are things you've always wanted to accomplish, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training ® will make them happen.
LLS's Team In Training (TNT) has become the leader in endurance sports training for charity, funding significant therapies like chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants, which have a significant impact on blood cancer patients.
Today, LLS funds only the most promising advances; targeted therapies like Gleevec®, Velcade® and Dacogen® take aim at cancer cells, and destroy them. Immunotherapies use a patient's own immune system to kill cancer. And the repurposing of existing drugs for arthritis and antifungals to fight specific leukemias are breakthroughs that allow patients to live their best life, today.
TNT and LLS fundraising efforts through marathons, triathlons, cycling and hiking really are making cures happen. Coaches will expand your fitness level with workouts, nutrition and hydration clinics. And you'll have staff members to help with fundraising support.
www.teamintraining.org
June
I am once again late posting on here. For what is supposed to be a relaxing summer, this month has been very busy for our family. Hannah had a good appointment for this month. She had to have her sedation where they insert the chemo into her spinal fluid. Her favorite nurse who usually does these procedures had a baby, so Hannah was sad that she wasn't there. But there was another wonderful nurse to fill in for her. This picture is Hannah before she woke up from her sedation. For as "normal" as all of this hospital stuff has become for our family, Eric and I will never like seeing all of the tubes and wires hooked up to her.
We stopped at Callaway Gardens on our way back from Atlanta. The kids loved the butterfly house.
While taking pictures, a butterfly landed on Evan's leg. Don't you love how Lauren doesn't let the butterfly distract her from posing for the camera! :)
We stopped at Callaway Gardens on our way back from Atlanta. The kids loved the butterfly house.
While taking pictures, a butterfly landed on Evan's leg. Don't you love how Lauren doesn't let the butterfly distract her from posing for the camera! :)
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
One Year
Today is one year since Hannah was diagnosed. It seems like yesterday. It has been interesting, today, to think back over what we were doing on this day a year ago. It hit me that I remember the details leading up to and following her diagnosis more vividly than I remember the details of our wedding or the births of our children. I think that must be because events like births and weddings are happy, natural things. I asked the kids what they remember about it. Lauren remembers crying with my mom when she told her that Hannah was very sick and had to go to the hospital in Atlanta. Evan remembers Aunt Maria explaining to them what Leukemia is. Hannah said she remembers everything, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I'm hoping that she will forget most of the yucky stuff.
We are not quite halfway finished with her treatment. It feels like forever. But if she keeps handling everything as well as she has been, we're not going to complain! Most of all, Eric and I are just thankful. Thankful to have her with us, thankful that she feels good most of the time, thankful for friends and family, and thankful for access to good doctors, nurses and medicine.
We are not quite halfway finished with her treatment. It feels like forever. But if she keeps handling everything as well as she has been, we're not going to complain! Most of all, Eric and I are just thankful. Thankful to have her with us, thankful that she feels good most of the time, thankful for friends and family, and thankful for access to good doctors, nurses and medicine.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Our Street
This is the view of our street (there are Pray for Hannah signs all the way down it). I can't express how much it means to us to have this kind of support. From the first few days of Hannah's diagnosis to now - our friends and family have been incredible! It's not just our street that has all of these signs. They are all over town and lots of other places too. I remember, a few years ago, the first signs I ever saw to pray for a little boy with cancer. The signs really did remind me to stop and pray for him. It amazes us that people are still supporting us and still praying for Hannah - even almost a year later. We will never be able to say thank you enough!
May
We have had some wonderful, uneventful weeks this month. Hannah has felt really good and life has even felt normal! Hannah had a good appointment. All of her blood work and labs were just where the doctors want them. It was such a relief to go into her appointment and have no concerns. We do not take the good days for granted!
This is Hannah waiting to go back for the appointment. That sweet volunteer in the background is almost always there on Fridays to do crafts with the kids as they are waiting. This makes such a difference to distract Hannah from being nervous about being there.
Hannah's hair is finally long enough for a bow! Most of the nurses will come in and "pet" her head because her hair is so soft. Eric and I tease her that we want to keep it this length forever (with it being short, she looks younger and we're not ready for her to grow up). She says, "No! I'm going to let it grow as long as Rapunzel's hair - all the way past my feet!"
Can you believe she's gotten so much hair back after just a few short months? It's hard to believe that it was only Christmas when her hair looked like this:
This is Hannah waiting to go back for the appointment. That sweet volunteer in the background is almost always there on Fridays to do crafts with the kids as they are waiting. This makes such a difference to distract Hannah from being nervous about being there.
Have I said lately how amazing the nurses are at this hospital? This is the room where Hannah gets her dreaded finger prick. Hannah wanted her doll, Dorothy, to get checked out first and this nurse is always so kind and patient. She did everything to the doll before doing it to Hannah.
Hannah's hair is finally long enough for a bow! Most of the nurses will come in and "pet" her head because her hair is so soft. Eric and I tease her that we want to keep it this length forever (with it being short, she looks younger and we're not ready for her to grow up). She says, "No! I'm going to let it grow as long as Rapunzel's hair - all the way past my feet!"
Can you believe she's gotten so much hair back after just a few short months? It's hard to believe that it was only Christmas when her hair looked like this:
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)