My Mom became a celebrity today. :)

Hi Everyone,

I hope that everyone is doing very well! My Mom became a celebrity today. :) She was asked to share her experience living with Ovarian Cancer on Channel 13 news today. Please take 2 minutes and watch this and please forward to any woman in your life. Awareness and public education WILL make a difference with more timely early stage diagnosis of this horrible, often "invisible" and deadly disease.

Mom, I am very proud of you for sharing your very personal experience for the benefit of so many. I pray that your words and experience help others to become educated and to advocate for their health when they know, as you did, that "something just isn't right".

http://www.wvec.com/news/health/Ovarian-Cancer-Awareness-Month-103163174.html

Love, laughter and health to all. We love you Mom.

Your Gang

Round 2 Begins

June 3, 2010 began my second "Walk on the Beach" journey. Not quite the beautiful blue water, white sandy beach and soothing sounds of the surf that I had hoped for, but a new journey non the less. My cancer has once again decided to try to take up residency ignoring my "no vacancy" posting. God and time will tell how long it will take to process the eviction this time. I have had suspicions for the past two months, but medicine, being a practice took awhile to confirm the diagnosis. I will get my CT Scan results tomorrow to and will begin my new cocktail regimen of Doxil every 28 days for 4 initial treatments. Then we will see how good it's eviction powers are or decide on another course of treatment.

I have been blessed with 9 cancer free months and memories too numerous and precious to count. Broken family relationships were healed and made stronger. Time with my precious son, daughters, and grand guardian angels were many and very dear. Long distance family relationships were rekindled and important things in life are once again important and petty things no longer matter. I became Grammy to precious little Braylon. Friends were so supportive and caring and the list goes on and on. God has proven beyond my wildest dreams how true, constant and faithful He is.

The journey has been rough and this new one in many ways is even more terrifying, but I have already seen glimmers of God's purpose and plan and I willing walk this path with His leading. Many dreams of this summer will have to be put on hold - no time in the sun, stay out of the heat (in VA Beach in the summer??). No Busch Garden trips with the Grands, no daytime swims at the pool or days at the beach. But they are only temporary No's and other joys will take their place. The long weekend trip to Illinois in July and the week at Atlantic Beach in August will NOT be cancelled. We'll just need to take naps in the daytime so we can have energy to play when the sun goes down. More time to take Lindsey, Xander, Jason A. & Sophie to the beach just before sunrise to watch the sand crabs burrow after their all night adventures, early evening walks on the beach at sunset and early morning walks to see the ocean come to life with the sun rise. We'll even be able to enjoy the ice cream cones more slowly in the cool of the evening instead of hurrying to eat them in the heat of the day. See, God doesn't close a door without opening a window - we just have to listen for and feel the breeze.

I thank all of you for your love, your support and prayers as you help me on this journey. God Bless.

Love,
Char

Spring Has Sprung!

Hello Everyone,

It has been quite some time since I have written anything on Mom's "Walk On The Beach". First and foremost, Mom is doing GREAT! She continues to amaze us and inspire us each and every day.

I wanted to take a moment and express to everyone how grateful I am for all of the wonderful love and support that Mom and our family have received from all of you. I also wanted to share a few thoughts.

There are some hard lessons of life that I have learned over the last year. I am not thrilled how I have learned them, but I am grateful that I have learned them. Though my life is busier than ever, I see, talk to, hug, kiss and love my family more than I ever have. If time lapses and I begin to miss these moments shared, I have a pit in my stomach and try to remedy that as quickly as possible. I have found that I have been working hard for "things", just "things". Now, I am working hard for "less stress", "less clutter", "more experiences", "more moments" and "more possibilities". I work too much and on that I must admit I continue to struggle.

I cherish my family and my friends more than I can put into words. I am fighting for a balance of providing what my family needs and experiencing all of the moments and joys of life that we should. It is not an easy balance. I have to remind myself regularly what is truly important in life. I have begun to question things that I previously accepted as "just the way it is". Why do happiness and satisfaction often come in second to the rat race of our days? Why do we care for ourselves, our minds and our bodies only as it becomes a requirement? Why does it feel a luxury to roll on the floor laughing with our children? Why is it a burden to "fit" a couples night in for a husband and wife? Why is it such a challenge to schedule and drive four hours for a weekend with loved ones? Why do we allow these things to accept second place? Why are we programmed this way? I have learned to value more that ever our right and our ability to question these things, to alter our path and create a life for ourselves each and every day. I am far from answering or remedying all of these questions, but I am determined to no longer accept things as "just the way it is" when it is not the way it should be. I am working to make these things "the way it should be".

Mom, every day that I see you, hear your voice, listen to you laugh, or see your smile is a gift. It is a gift that you continue to give to me daily. These are gifts that my wife, children and all of my family give to me daily. This week, a year ago, there was a hole in my heart. It was by far one of the worst weeks of my life with everything that happened in our family. Today is new. That hole is filled with love, hope, inspiration and a burning desire to enjoy the little moments and the treasures that they are in our lives.

Thank you Mom, all of my family and all of my friends for continuing to teach me these important lessons. I am a happier and I hope a better man with each lesson I learn from all of you. I still have a lot to learn...so please be patient with me. ;)

All of My Love,

Jason