One year ago…

One year ago today, I got some of the worst news in my life.  My father had thought he was suffering from shingles and was instead diagnosed with leukemia and our lives have never been the same since.

I have seen and heard lots of things I wish I could take away from my head…Dad without hair, Dad shaking from the medicine, my mother sobbing on the phone to me, hearing that my father’s heart had stopped, that my 7 year old nephew asked “Why did you have to get cancer?”

I have to start looking at the positive side, though. My dad is still alive and cancer free…we are well on our way to Dad’s first birthday year, we have raised over $3000 for leukemia research, and I have discovered that I am much tougher than I thought I was.

Today is when I start changing my attitude…I need to stop being so depressed and actually get things done. Life could be much worse…last year this time was horrible, but today is better than yesterday so far and that is a start.

Please consider donating to my Light the Night team mate and help to further cancer research!

Grace and Laughter

Tomorrow is an important day for my family.  Not only might my newest neice arrive, but my dad is getting a second chance tomorrow.

Me and Dad

8 months ago, I received a weird phone message from my sister asking me how I was and when I talked to our mom. I hadn’t, though, and had no idea what she was talking about. So, I started calling my mom…who was avoiding calling me. I finally got in touch with her around noon and that is when I was told that my dad was diagnosed with Leukemia, specifically AML. That was one of the worst phone calls I have ever gotten…worse than the one telling me my grandfather had died last year, worse than having to make the phone call to friends telling them that a classmate died. I was devestated and haven’t recovered yet.

But tomorrow, tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow is the day that my father gets his bone marrow transplant; and hopefully, back to normal and healthy.  The donor is a European woman, that is all we know of her, but she is definitely one of my heroes right now. The fact that someone is willing to get a huge needle in their hip for a stranger makes me feel like the world isn’t as bad as the media and some leaders make it out to be. There are good people out there doing good things. You just have to look a little harder to see through the grime.

Either way, I hope that if I have to deal with something like this in my life, I can do it like my dad. He has been incredibly brave and graceful about this whole thing and has even kept his laugh.  Without laughter, you have nothing.

So, please…if you stop by here tomorrow or the next few days, keep us in your thoughts. We can only get so far on our own; other people are always needed to provide the structure that keeps us upright and going forward. And that is the only way we are going, forward…even if this doesn’t work at first we will still go forward and try again, because there is no going backwards.

grateful

Today is a good day.

My father has been in the hospital for 7 weeks being treated for Leukemia (AML specifically).  They let him go about 2 hours ago and now we can move forward onto the next steps of treatment.  This has been a horrible 7 weeks…hopefully the next steps will be easier.

Either way, today is a good day.