Friday, July 29, 2011

Time For Relay

Time flew by quickly. Its time again for Relay For Life. Tonight we meet at Barnes Park to take part in the Central Davis Relay For Life. It will start at 6 pm with a victory lap by cancer survivors. Then from there our team will keep someone on the track until noon the Saturday. I hope we are all up to this. Amanda is definitely excited. She remember how special she felt last year walking the track with the other survivors as well as how much fun she had with everyone with all the activities that were going on.

I want to thank everyone that made it to the Supporters of Amanda Swim Party we had last Friday. We had a great turnout and a wonderful amount of donations. All the spare change sure added up. I took the bucket in to the credit union this morning to use their change machine and we had a total of $248.86 donated just from the swim party. We are very grateful to all those who donated. Every penny donated is going to a great cause with the American Cancer Society. I added the amount to our team's donations that you can see at our Relay For Life page here.

Also, I got some great video of the swim party at the wave pool and posted it on YouTube for everyone to see. I'm sure some of you didn't want yourself posted on YouTube in your swim suit. Sorry. Click here.

OK, its not really our swim party. Thank goodness we didn't have that kind of turnout. I get claustrophobic just watching that. Our turnout was excellent. Amanda was about the first one in the water and one of the last ones to come out. She had a great time being surrounded by so many people that have shown love and support to her during the last couple of years and we couldn't have asked for a better turnout.

I don't have Mary Ann's camera so I will have to post some actual pictures from the swim party and Relay later this weekend. Thank you again to all those who came, to those that donated, and those taking part in the Relay tonight. If you are not signed up to walk, please come on by and cheer on our team. We hope to see you there.

Friday, July 15, 2011

You're Invited

To all the Supporters of Amanda over the years, please accept our invitation to celebrate her completing her chemotherapy. Bring your friends and family and help us celebrate. Details are below, just click on the play button. We hope to see you there.

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Sunday, July 10, 2011

FINISHED!!!

AMANDA IS FINISHED WITH CHEMOTHERAPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The final pills have been taken. And now that she's been chemo-free for 10 days there's a little bit more color to her lips, a little bit more energy to her step, and a little bit more joy in her overall demeanor. She is slowly feeling better. We went on a family outing on a Saturday for the first time in over 2 1/2 years. It was so wonderful to get out rather than sitting at home passing time on the chemo clock. Overall, she is happier. There are the occasional moments of sadness for leaving behind what is familiar. But seeing glimpses of herself slowly come back brings a happiness to me I cannot describe. As her parents we are starting to feel a large weight being lifted off our shoulders emotionally, financially, and physically. At is hard to describe. It really hasn't set in yet completely. But we can easily say we are so excited to finally be here!

I have decided to keep this blog open for a few more months. We are still in a critical time for her, as the first 3 months are the riskiest for cancer returning. I do not believe it will, and her doctors don't either. But after two years of blogging about sadness and hardships, it will be a welcome relief to record some of the more joyful events of her life. We are waiting to hear back from Make A Wish. Now that she can actually leave the house without fear of chemo migraines we'll start getting into some activities for cancer kids, and we are eager to celebrate a big party for her on the 22nd (I'll post more info in a few days)

On a different subject I want to offer an explanation as to why our house is for sale. Despite loving our home and neighbors very much, I can't deny the feeling that we need to be somewhere else and that Amanda needs to start over. A new season of our life is starting and moving feels like the right step for us. We appreciate the support and understanding that we've been receiving with this decision as we have no intention of turning our backs on the people that have loved and supported us through our trials. We will forever be grateful to those that have seen us through our darker days.