Walk and Run For Wishes

4/20/2013:  8:27 PM

We participated in the Make-A-Wish's Walk and Run for Wishes today in Fairview Heights.  Davis was the honorary chair. It is a costumed walk and run, so there were all kinds of characters running around.  Although Kyle would disagree, I am thankful for the rain, because it kept him out of the fields and allowed him to spend the day with us. (Now it needs to dry up!)  Grandma and Grandpa Arnold rounded out our "Team Davis".

 

I just love this picture. Davis was obviously Batman.

 



 

Annakate took advantage of the face painting station and was transformed into Hello Kitty.  There was also a guy there making some pretty impressive balloon creations.  Oh, and Davis was in his element when the Star Wars 501st Legion showed up.

 



 

Adam, the event coordinator, and Mike Montgomery, DJ for WBGZ radio, buddied up with Davis, and made for an impressive trio.  After welcomes and thank you's were said, Davis gave a little speech.  I was so proud of him.  He told everyone what his diagnosis was, what his wish was, all the different things he did on his Wish trip, and he thanked Make-A-Wish. 

 

Davis was also the judge for the costume contest.  It was very hard for him to choose, but he managed to pick his favorites from the line-up.

 

 

After some quick stretches, everyone geared up for the walk or run. Davis counted off with the traditional, "On your marks, get set, go" and the runners were off,  and then he led the walkers out. He and Annakate quickly gained ground from the rest of the pack of walkers. I would see them briefly on a distant trail, and at one point, Annakate yelled, "Hey Mom!" and then they were gone again.  They had a blast! 



 

 

 

By the time I made it back to the pavilion, Davis was getting a back massage from Dr. Rice, an area chiropractor.  A super nice guy. 

 

The festivities concluded with a raffle.  Davis was the ticket announcer.  There were all sorts of prizes. A lady who had bought several tickets had to leave before the raffle started, so she gave all of her tickets to Davis. He was ecstatic! Amazingly enough - and no, it wasn't rigged - Davis pulled his number and won a birthday party for 20 kids to the Great Godfrey Corn Maze. Davis was talking about possibly donating the party to the Hem-Onc Life Specialists at Children's because it is a bit unrealistic to take 20 kids to a corn maze two and a half hours away from home. But he hasn't decided anything yet.  He was just tickled to win.

 A special thanks for all of the supporters of Make-A-Wish. I think there were fifteen or so different teams represented today, and I am sure that most of those teams represent someone - a child - who has been affected by cancer or other life-threatening disease. We are looking forward to next year's Walk/Run for Wishes.

 

 

Today, there was a moment of silence taken for those we have lost this year due to cancer/illness. I couldn't help but use my moment of silence to pray for Cory's family. I have felt so burdened for them lately. Could you please lift them up in prayer if you get a chance?  And as always, thank you a million times over for inquiring about and praying diligently for Davis and my family. God continues to keep His hand on him and bless us everyday.

 

We will keep you posted. 

Another chemo down . . . a gob more to go

4/13/2013:  4:00 PM

Well, Easter weekend was a bust.  Davis fell ill on Good Friday. I took him to the pediatrician; she said he had a cold and that he needed to ride it out. Davis ended up spiking a fever (a high one - 103 degrees) on Saturday before Easter. Kyle took him to the ER as is protocol.  Luckily, his ANC (immune system), which had been super low the week before, had spiked as well, and he didn't need to be transferred to SLCH.  The ER doc gave him a round of port antibiotics to protect his port from infection and home they were bound.  Davis continued to feel crummy and have a low grade fever through Monday morning.

Since Davis was sick, he was unable to go to church. This was the only Easter picture I have for this year.

Davis's chemo resumed last week.  His counts were up, and chemo was restarted. His labs this week revealed extremely high counts - the highest they have been since diagnosis.  His counts were all nearly in the healthy range.  I was super excited.  At chemo yesterday, the doctor revealed that his chemo will be increased to match his weight and to lower his good counts.  Having good counts, while a good thing, is also a negative at this point.  The doctors are still training his bone marrow to produce healthy t-cells.  The chemo is needed to suppress the counts while the bone marrow is being trained. . . .if that makes any sense.

 

 

Davis continues to get the breathing treatments needed to protect his lungs from infections.  He has learned to tolerate them better, which has cut down on the actual treatment time.  We no longer have to stop every five minutes.

 

Davis and a few of his friends sold bracelets at his school to raise money to donate to a good cause.  He was able to deliver that money on Friday.  The money was donated to the Life Specialists Dept. at Children's.  My school district, Oakland High and Lake Crest School, did a hat drive in the fall to benefit children fighting cancer.  We were fortunate to deliver the donations.  All of the hats will go to the children cancer patients at SLCH.  Davis couldn't resist keeping one for himself. 






 Since Davis's chemo and breathing treatment aren't time consuming, we could make it out of the hospital within a couple of hours. However, the pharmacy always takes quite a while to get our prescriptions ready.  We took advantage of the long wait and ran down the road to the Cheesecake Factory.  Quite a perk for a chemo day.

I might have mentioned it earlier, but Davis has gained over thirty pounds in the last year.  He has been working with a trainer for a couple of months on building some muscle, and it has really made a difference.  I can't help to think about where we were a year ago and how much slow change can happen in a little bit of time.  

 The picture above was taken one years and two weeks ago. The picture on the right was taken on Friday. What a difference a year and a whole lot of prayer makes. I saw a man mowing the lawn at Barnes on Friday.  I remember that the day we first went to Children's, July 5, 2011, I saw a man mowing the same lawn.  I remember thinking How can that guy mow a lawn?  Seriously? My baby might have cancer. How can he just mow a lawn? I know it sounds crazy, but at the time, I was just so hurt as to how the world could just go on and my world appeared to be crumbling.  Everything seemed so new, terrifying, uncertain. And he was surrounded with the mundane. So when I saw the guy mowing on Friday, I couldn't help to be connected to the scene in some way. Luckily, the emotions that were tied to that first experience are no longer there.  We have faced the giant. But I was overcome with a bit of tired sadness as I realized we have weathered seven seasons of the same drive, the same view.  I'm not complaining though. We are blessed beyond measure and if I had to live this every week for the rest of my life, I would.

It seems our calendar is filling: field trips, Taekwando, piano, lifting, soccer.  It's good to be busy.  Annakate loves playing soccer.  She has an amazing little team and some outstanding coaches. 

We are very ready for summer.  Kyle is itching to get in the fields.  The weather keeps teasing us.  The trees are starting to bud.  Next week, we will head to the Make-A-Wish Walk for Wishes Run/Walk.  Davis is this year's Grand Marshal and will be briefly speaking to all of the racers/walkers. I know he will do a great job.  We love to be able to pay forward all of the kindness that has been shown to us.  They put his video on their homepage.  It's pretty awesome to see it there.

Here, check it out:  Walk for Wishes

I can't help to think at times that Romans 5:3-4 were included in the Bible for my family as I often reflect on it. "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character; and character, hope." I am sure all families touched by cancer feel the same. 

Thanks for your continued prayer and support.  I couldn't imagine where we would be without it. 

We will keep you posted.