- Name: Ryan
- Location: Athens, Ga, United States
Our son Ryan was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma in 2004. In 2007, my wife Missy was diagnosed with stage 2 triple negative breast cancer. On July 8th, 2009, Missy lost her battle to this horrible disease. 2 days later, on July 10th, Ryan also lost his. Together forever, they both watch over our family now from the heavens above.
Below is our families journey through Ryan's treatments, along with the joy and laughter we tried to instill into our daily lives. Those days helped us all cope with the pain and suffering that comes with cancer and it's deadly treatments. Both Missy and Ryan endured high doses of chemo, radiation and surgeries. Over 150 nights spent in the hospital and many, many more days. More transfusions than I could count. Yet both Missy and Ryan took on each day with a positive attitude and warm smile for all their friends. We miss them terribly. They will always be a shining light in our lives.
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Monday, April 11, 2005
Spring Break Was Just What We Needed
We had such a great week together! We spent Monday at Malibu Grand Prix with my friend of more than 20 years, Diane, and her kids. She is one of Ryan's favorite "I Spy" and Rat-a-tat-cat buddies. We rode go-carts, bumper-boats, and played 36 holes of mini-golf. Whew! We hit Six Flags on Tuesday. I will post some pics soon. We took Matt, and he and Ryan had a blast. We were stopped by a pastor on the way to the little boy's room who told us that while watching Ryan play, the Holy Spirit had spoken to him and he asked to speak to Ryan. It was very moving and I will never forget it. He told Ryan that from this day forward he would start to feel better and that he would have a long, full life. I just got the boys to the bathroom and boo-hooed while I stood outside waiting. That is what we pray for everyday. We stayed home on Wed. and got our chores done (well, at least I did). Ryan had a check-up at the clinic on Thursday. We had a great visit with Brady, Conner, and their mom. Ryan's counts continue to go up and down which doesn't concern the docs. We finally got to see Dr. Rapkin's bald head!! The kids spent Thursday night at the farm with Nanny and Grand-daddy and played there for a while on Friday. We had friends over Saturday for a bon-fire and marshmallow roast, or rather burn. They just liked setting them on fire. So this week is back to soccer games, and the kids have testing at school (no homework, yea!). Next week will be rough. Ryan already had a dentist appt. on Friday, a check-up on Thursday, and a re-check with Dr. Marcus at Emory on Wednesday. Now, they've added follow-up scans: a CT on Tuesday, which means an IV (#@$%!!!), and another MIBG on Wednesday. This test is particularly unpleasant for Ryan. He hates having his feet tied together and lying still for so long, and he has to drink iodine for 7 days to protect his thyroid. Please pray for his tolerance and for clear scans. We want a nice dark MIBG. Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan
# posted by Ryan @ 4/11/2005 09:15:00 AM
