Pushing the Pedals

I have been really delinquent and not kept up with my blogging.  Good thing is that I have kept up with my biking!  🙂 

I had dinner with my friend Michelle tonight — her mom is Joan (pictured here).   

Joan has been fighting cancer for about six years now.  First Joan was diagnosed with breast cancer and luckily beat that.  Then, about three years ago, Joan was disgnosed with Leukemia.  Joan was treated and went into remission.  This past spring Joan came out of remission and underwent another full round of chemotherapy (five weeks hospitalization) and then she had to go to Hospice for three weeks because this round of chemotherapy really took a major toll on her.

 I have been up to Michelle’s house several times in the last few months and so I see Joan weekly.  Joan just has not seemed to bounce back from the last round of chemo. 

(During this last round they needed to administer treatments to her spinal fluid/marrow and the option was spinal punctures for each delivery of drugs, or put a port in her head.  They opted to put the port in her head because it seemed too cruel to make Joan suffer spinal punctures weekly.  In order to install the port in her head, the doctors had to drill a hole through Joan’s skull and insert it past her brain so that it would connect to the base of her spine.  In doing this, Joan experienced swelling in her brain and the pressure caused her to have stroke-like symptoms.  Sadly, she never fully recovered from that.)

 Tonight at dinner Michelle turned to me and told me that the Leukemia is back.  I nodded and said, “I know.”  I have spent too much time around Joan these past several weeks to not see the changes and know that the disease is winning.

I have hope for Joan and her family.  Michelle lost her dad to a brain tumor in 2000.  It’s times like this that we feel so helpless.  Cancer makes people feel helpless.  I can’t make Joan better or change her destiny.

But, I can put effort into making a difference.  Riding my bike for 109 miles will hurt.  Maybe for a few hours I will come close to understanding what cancer patients feel every moment of every day.  The fundraising provides millions of dollars for blood cancers research every year.  It will make a difference.

To all of you reading this … to all of you who have contributed to my Team in Training campaign … THANK YOU and stay hopeful!

Filed under: Uncategorized