I worked up enough nerve to read my personal blog from a year ago.  I only read this week.  I decided to repost this entry...

 

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

 

I have been here reading my adoption blogs as I do every evening.  One of them linked to another blog that had adopted from Guatemala..but upon further reading they had lost a child to cancer.  Jacob.  Jacob is a triplet.  I hope that the family is okay with me linking their blog but I thought that Tommy would enjoy this story.

Another favorite Jacob memory. This one is from my mom. Boy, did Jacob love his Grandmom . . . but then again Jacob loved EVERYONE! :)

When Heather asked me to send her a memory of Jacob, my mind started spinning. I have so many precious little memories of my sunshine. As his brothers have already said, he loved getting his face painted. One memory comes to mind when we were at Disney Village in March of 2006. Again Jacob wanted to get his face painted, and he and I went off to find a face painting stand. Jacob stood for a long time looking at the selections for face painting. He had such a hard time deciding which one he wanted, but there was one that caught his eye. It was red and underneath it, it said Super Hero. I said Jacob I think you should get this one because you are Grandmom’s Super Hero. He smiled and told the girl he wanted the Super Hero one. I will never forget how proud he was to be Grandmom’s Super Hero, and how excited he was to show his brothers his Super Hero mask. That was Jacob– a Super Hero in a pint-sized package.

To read more about Jacob and see beautiful pictures of this little boy, please go here

Warm Again

A cold came in to us...

A mist filled our eyes...

Your spirit passed into immorality...

How would we live without you?

We waited...

Then we suddenly were

Warm again,

When,

In our lives

We realized you are as close as ever

We can never forget

Your love for us

And

The noble life you lived;

How honored we are

To have walked

With you through it

We are sure when Jesus saw you,

He took you in His arms and said:

"TOMMY!!!!! WELCOME HOME...

I HAVE SO MANY BASEBALL CARDS I WANT TO SHOW YOU..."

Now, that's heaven...

We will always be warm,

Because

We will always remember...TOMMY.

         ~Nancy Winsen

 

So they say that in order to get to anyone it is through six people...well, I found out today that Dr Allan Friedman, who performed the surgery on Edward Kennedy  also did surgery on Tommy when he was at Duke for a clinical trial.  hmmm....I wonder if Tommy helped Dr. Friedman with the surgery.   (Just as an aside, other than helping Tommy, the only good thing about DUKE is UK is in the middle - yeah...I am a college basketball fan....)

Also, today on Fox News they interviewed Dr.Gene Barnett...one of Tommy's doctors from the CCF. 

In all of the interviews I have heard or read on the internet they have spoken to physicians at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.  Hmmmmmm....coincidence that is another place where Tommy went for treatments.

Obviously if they were good enough for Tommy they are good enough for Edward Kennedy.   Personally, I am thinking that Tommy is helping Senator Kennedy through this time.  Tommy has been there, done that and shown us how to be a hero.  Do you hear that Senator.....be a hero...follow Tommy's lead....keep positive....enjoy the day...eat well....celebrate everything.

 

It was announced this morning that Edward Kennedy is undergoing Brain Tumor Surgery this morning at DUKE University.  Please keep Senator Kennedy in your thoughts and prayers as he begins a long road ahead of him.

Jennifer wrote a first hand account about Tommy on CNN's ireport.com.  Click Here to read.

Does anyone have a Tommy story they would like to share?  If so, leave a comment and I will put it into blog format!

 

Today I am going to keep this really short and just say I am thankful for Bob Evans and last minute lunches with friends...I especially enjoyed Biscuit Boy and his lunchtime antics!

I heard this news today and just felt so sad.  I hope that he is able to continue to do good work for the people of Boston and the US.  I did a quick search of famous people beside Tommy who have had brain tumors....I knew a few of them but was surprised about some others.  Bob Marley, Tug McGraw, Bobby Mercer, Wilma Rudolph, Lance Armstrong, Scott Hamilton, Elizabeth Taylor, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Each year approximately 190,000 people in the United States and 10,000 people in Canada will be diagnosed with a primary or metastatic brain tumor. Breakdown:

• An estimated 43,800 new cases of primary malignant and non-malignant tumors***
• An estimated 150,000 cases are brain metastases (this is an approximation as the number of metastatic brain tumors is estimated to be 20% - 40% of all cancers).

Brain tumor patients, including those with certain “benign” brain tumors, have poorer survival rates than breast cancer patients.

Metastatic brain tumors (cancer that spreads from other parts of the body to the brain) occur at some point in 10 to 15% of persons with cancer and are the most common type of brain tumor.

In the United States, the overall incidence of all primary brain tumors is more than 14 per 100,000 people.***

Let's see today, I am thankful for my dog (sorry last post on Tiger).  Tiger brings me such joy.  She has seen me through so many times.  She really is a good friend. I am thankful for Luca....  he is just the sweetest little boy!!!

I have an almost ten year old Boxer dog who is one of the loves on my life.  Last night Tiger woke me up with a seizure.  It was very scary.  This morning Tiger was acting completely normal.  I called the vet as soon as they opened at 8:00am.  I got an appointment for this afternoon.  We got in and they did an EKG and some labwork.  There is no real reason for the seizure.  There are three options - one, it was just a fluke; two, Tiger has cardiomyopathy; or three, she has a brain tumor.  I sat in the vet's office stunned by these possibilities.  I was deeply distressed about this news.  Then, I began thinking about Lucille and Dr. Tom...I can't even imagine how they felt when they were given a diagnosis for their son. 

 I have decided I am not going to dwell on the possibilities and the what ifs....but I am going to make each day count for Miss Tiger. 

Yesterday is history; Tomorrow is a mystery; today is a gift that is why it is THE PRESENT!