Today we ran from St. Louis, MO to Evansville, IN. My
partner today was Will.
After getting lost for a while in East St. Louis – not the
happiest part of my morning – we found where we wanted to start our running.
Will and I got out first. His IT band is still really hurting him so we did a
lot of Jog/Walking. But we completed all 12 miles together!
We are staying at Immanuel Lutheren L.C.M.S. tonight. They
have organized publicity and dinner and showers for us. Upon arriving the man
in charge said he would take us to the country club for showers. Although I
wanted to nap, I went to shower because we were on a time crunch for the news
to arrive at 4:30 when dinner began.
For dinner we had hotdogs, hamburgers, and brats, pasta and
salad, watermelon and fruit salad. Before we ate they said prayer and they
skyped in a very special person to the community. Her name is Christy. She was
going to be joining us for dinner but within the past 24 hours her cancer
spread and had paralyzed her. So she canceled the plans to be there in person
but her friends had her on skype for us to say hello and for her to see us.
After dinner we were served amazing cookies and ice cream.
I then ran up and down the street with five other teammates
so the newswoman could get a couple
shots. She had interviewed several of my
teammates during dinner. You can see the news clip here: 14 News |
| Maeve's S'more |
They had invited a local with a secret recipe for pizza to come and make us some pizzas at 7:30. He came in with 18 pizzas!! We didn’t eat all of them but we all had a couple slices and it was some of the best pizza I have ever had! Then the church put on Forrest Gump for us to watch!
I think this amazing hospitality is exactly what our team
needed to keep going. We are down to our last week and you can see a change in
people’s attitudes and the looks on their face because of their support today.
We can never thank Immanuel Lutheran enough for how they served us.
Today was dedicated to Jeff Vires. He is the husband of one
of my moms coworkers, Peggy. I contacted Mr. Vires to ask about his treatment and this is the part of his story he shared with me:
Mr. Vires - I appreciate your alls support of my run. I know you have been following my blogs from the very start. I can't tell you how much it means to me that I have people I've never personally met thinking and praying for me and my team. I wish I could help alleviate the fear that every pain could be cancer coming back. I will always be thinking of you and Peggy and hoping for you to stay in good health. Thank you for sharing your story and for being so strong to help others that are struggling. God Bless.
I went in for an MRI of my left shoulder. I had been having pain in it and the doctors felt like I might have a torn rotator cuff. The MRI showed the tumor in my left upper lobe of my lung. My doctor called me immediately and ask me to come straight to her office. They took me straight in and she dropped everything and came in and gave me the news. I was devastated. Peggy immediately contacted uk Markey cancer center and got me an appointment with a surgeon. They did a pet scan and not only did it show the tumor in my left lung but several lymph nodes as well. Surgery was scheduled within 3 weeks to remove the lymph nodes . They turned out to be negative. 2 weeks later I went in for lung surgery and had the top half of my left lung removed. Also they found 2 malignate lymph nodes that they removed as well. I have no memory of the week I spent in the hospital. After 6 weeks of healing I started chemo and radiation treatments. 12 chemo and 33 radiation treatments. These treatments literally took the life out of me. I am permanate stage 3 cancer due to lymph nodes . My doctors forced me to retire and frankly I could not work. Mentally it destroys you and physically. I am still struggling with breathing and energy levels. I am being treated for depression as well. Every time I hurt I wonder if the cancer has returned, it never leaves your thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment