Super Ryan

TGIF!! It has been a long week, and I probably owe apologies to more than one person that has crossed my path this week. I have been more than frustrated by the number of children who are suffering from Cancer and the lack of funding, awareness, and essentially better treatments and a cure!!! Then with Catie's passing, I was just so angry. And then our little friend, Nathan, in Colorado received bad news of his cancer progressing, too. Our friend we went through treatment with, Caroline, got questionable scan results, and has been having some possible symptoms of relapse. All of that, combined with the constant dread of relapse that any family who has had a child with cancer lives with made for a really bad week. Fortunately, the week ended on much happier notes. Our friend, Patrick, whose family had traveled all the way to Philadelphia to prepare for MIBG treatment, got the awesome news of a clear MIBG and won't have to go through that terribly intense treatment. I literally sat at my desk at work and cried. I needed that almost as much as they did. Almost. Caroline got a beautiful, clear bone scan report, and today- the best news. Catie's mommy gave birth to a BEAUTIFUL, HEALTHY baby girl!! Please continue to pray for them, for Ryan, and for all his friends. Please do what you can to raise awareness, to raise money, to bring these chilren their hope and their cure. Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan PS: Ryan is doing great! I signed him up for soccer today!

The horrible beast has taken yet another of our little friends. I was heartbroken to hear of Catie's passing last night, and now I am so very angry. I am just so tired of these small children having to live with and die from Cancer. Where is our cure?? When is it coming?? Why aren't they doing more to get it here now?? The extravagance and waste that I see on TV everyday just absolutely sickens me. Catie's parents are very strong, but certainly need your prayers. They are to welcome their second child into this world in about a week. Please pray that they will be able to feel the joy that the birth of a child should bring. I know I have posted a link to their website before, but if you can't find it in previous journal entries you can visit their site at http://www2.caringbridge.org/ga/catie/ .

Happy New Year!! The kids all managed to stay up to welcome in the new year. They were bummed that with the rain they couldn't have a heyday with their fireworks. We did a few, anyway. We had a great break from school. The kids didn't go back until the 8th! We got together with our friends, the Howards, at Jillians. We had such a great time with them, as always. Ryan went back to the allergist. The doc is going to monitor Ryan's immunoglobulin (IGG) level every 3 months to see if there is a trend in the number going up. Next month will be the second blood draw for that. Cross your fingers it is going up. It's difficult to explain, but they are happy with Ryan's IGG level and wouldn't treat him for any type of deficiency. I just think this has to be the cause of all the BMT kids having a constantly runny nose. We are hoping to round up support for a new car tag to support pediatric cancer. If you have a car in the state of Ga, you can register for this new tag. Just download an application at www.supportcancerkids.org and take it to your local tag office. Registration started Jan. 2 and we already have 81 applications submitted. Tags won't be made until 1000 applications have been received though, so please go ahead and do it now. We would also like to round up some prayers for some friends of ours. Catie is feeling pretty rotten and was moved to ICU today. Please pray that this heavy dose of chemo she just had will significantly reduce the amount of disease so she can move on to a stem cell transplant. Also, please pray for our friend, Caroline. She went through treatment with Ryan for NB. They have had a scare with her last set of scans, and will be having more scans in the coming weeks. Please pray that whatever showed up turns out to be nothing. Thank you all for all your prayers for Ryan. He hasn't had any complaints lately, and is busy as ever. Hope you all have a happy, healthy 2007! Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan