I have been avoiding this post for a while now.......don't worry! It's good. Amazing actually. The stuff of miracles. I just couldn't figure out what to say and after receiving some news this past weekend I now know why.
We have some wonderful news and some sad news. It seems as if GBM stage 4 cancer is popping up allover the country. We have met quite a few people who are fighting it, one in particular is someone we consider part of the family, (family, though not technically related, can be made up of people you choose for yourselves). We have known the McLaws family pretty much our whole lives, ever since Camille rode up on her purple bicycle to say 'hi'. We have been through a lot with them...good times, and bad. We love them. I hardly have a memory of Spokane without them in it. As we have gotten to know them, we have also had the pleasure of meeting their huge and wonderful extended family who was fighting our same fight. Angela's sister-in-law Lisa was diagnosed with GBM Stage 4 about four months before our mom was. I remember hearing the news and being so saddened by it, she was so young! You never think things like this will happen to your family, and then it does.
This past weekend, Lisa's fight came to an end. She fought and so did her family. She and my mom had been keeping track of each other's progress. It was good to get updates, to know that other people knew what we were going through. But the updates gradually tapered off and we were told it was to protect us, to keep us going strong. Thank you for that. Lisa's battle was much harder than we would ever know. The chemo regimen was too hard on her body. I don't know the specifics. I want the Forsey family to know that your courage and faith with Lisa's fight helped ours and still does. We love you, think about you constantly and and know that Heavenly Father is in charge. We know what it is like to lose a parent, and with the utter devestation comes an overwhelming understanding of the Plan of Salvation that you can only learn through an experience like this. As we always say in our family about losing our dad, you never move on, you only move forward. Prayers and love are being sent your way.
Mom and I received the news on Saturday. It was awful. We too are fighting this fight. We immediately put ourselves in their situation and it was just awful.
Mom is fighting hard on her own, her faith her attitude and her desire to kick cancer's butt is amazing, but so was Lisa's. It's hard to write this, and out of respect for Lisa's family I will be short. Mom's Avastin is working. Her last MRI showed that the tumor is shrinking, that it's hardly visible. The tumor is being starved of it's blood supply and mom is responding incredibly to the treatment. Her white blood cells are perfect, her health is stable. Her chemo treatments aren't going as well and her body is kinda rejecting the 'poison' that is chemo. She breaks out in MAJOR hives allover her body after treatment, but her doctors are working with the research team to get that under control. The doctors are learning so much through mom's expirience and we hope they can help others with that knowledge.
The lady who schedules mom's avastin drips has this stuffed bear on her desk and it says 'Cancer Sucks'. So true little bear, so true.
There is joy to be found in the world, even during trials and tribulations. Life truly is beautiful.
Thank you for your prayers, They keep us going. Heavenly Father hears every single one of them.
Lindsay
