Backtracking

Whew…where to begin. I think I’m at that point that I can’t decide if I should backtrack to catch you up on the last several weeks…or if I should just cut my losses and start from today. But, since the last several weeks have been so amazing, I’ll do my best to backtrack.

Nation’s Triathlon in Washington, DC

Two weeks ago, I went to DC with 11 friends for the Nation’s Triathlon, an Olympic distance race where we swam a mile in the Potomac River, biked 25 miles by the National Mall and out to Maryland and then ran 6 miles with a finish line facing the nation’s capital. Training with 11 amazing ladies for the last several months and watching each and every one of them finish the race was nothing short of inspiring and amazing. Even more, we all participated in the race through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training…and raised $70,000 for the LLS in the process. Together, all the TNT participants in the race raised $3 millon for the LLS. And, thanks to the generosity of many of you, I was the fourth largest individual fundraiser with more than $13,000.

There is really no way to capture in words how inspiring and emotional our time in DC was. For months, I trained with these friends and we encouraged each other as we fought through fear, doubt, discouragement and exhaustion. Most of the ladies had never attempted any physical accomplishment like this race. For me, it was the first time in a long time that I’ve been able to spend “fun” time with a group of friends. These were the friends I talked with after I dropped Gage off for Kindergarten, the friends I cried with when the second week of school was much harder than the first, the friends who saw the up & down roller coaster of our life right now…and the friends I rejoiced with over a beautiful sunrise at the lake as we biked, the friends I laughed with as we joked around at swim practice, the friends who made multiple workouts every week something to look forward to and the friends who inspired me by their perseverance and determination.

There was nothing sweeter to watch each of them cross the finish line…knowing all that we accomplished individually and as a group.

As you can see, I could go on & on…but I’ll just share a few pics:

Swimming in the Potomac…we’re off!

The back of my race day jersey…every member of our team had the same picture of Gage on the back of their jersey too.

Our team escorting our final finisher, Marge Montgomery (Leigh’s mom), during the last quarter mile with the capital in the background

You can see everyone’s pictures of Gage on their backs…

Leigh Montgomery, me, Ashly Cothern & Kate Meyer…with our finisher’s medals!

Our entire Texas team at the finish

A week at home

A complete whirlwind of laundry, bill paying, errand running & packing to get ready for Disney. We decided to leave Wesley at home (instead of confining her for a week to her stroller at Disney), so I also coordinated all the details for the five people who took turns keeping her! (Thanks everyone!)

Disneyworld!

Several months ago, the Make-a-Wish charity asked Gage what his wish would be…and his answer was a family trip to Disneyworld! So, early Saturday morning Blake, Leigh and I left with Avery, Gage & Ellie for 6 days in Florida. We stayed at an amazing place, Give Kids the World, that provides lodging and coordination for kids worldwide who “wish” to visit Disney. It’s a magical place where free ice cream is served all day long, train rides around the property are unlimited, every Thursday night is Christmas and Mickey & Minnie visit for breakfast. Gage also had a “Give Kids the World” button he wore each day that allowed us to skip all the lines for the attractions…and even ride the best ones multiple times in a row! Blake and I laughingly said to each other that we hope the kids never forget how amazing the trip was, but that it doesn’t ruin their expectations for future trips.

And again, we were incredibly blessed by the generosity of many…from those who give to financially support Make-a-Wish and Give Kids the World to the countless volunteers who make GKTW run each day to the free airline tickets, rent car, meals and more that we were given. It was truly a magical trip…and hard to imagine how far we’ve come in the last year that we could enjoy a week like that together. Our memories of last fall are full of long hospital visits, incredible family stress and separation, weekly spinal taps, painful side effects and so much more. So, it was almost surreal at times to watch the kids run, laugh and play together Disneyworld.

The last pic is Leigh carrying Ellie (asleep) in one hand and Starbucks in the other on our final morning at Disney…it was only 9:30 a.m. and we weren’t sure we had the energy for one more day…but we did!

This week

In keeping with the roller coaster of our life right now, we returned this weekend from Disneyworld and then had a long clinic appointment for Gage at Children’s on Monday (yesterday). His 7:30 a.m. appointment lasted until almost 1:00 p.m. and he endured a spinal tap with chemo placed in his spinal fluid, chemo in his port, a breathing treatment and the beginning of a week of steroids, in addition to his regular nightly chemo. Then, I came home to find Wesley covered in hives…and took her to an after-hours visit to the pediatrician. The culprit? A reaction to medication for an ear ache. The good news? It’s not contagious.  This morning, as I wrote this update, I’ve been with Avery at the dentist while she has a tooth pulled. So, it’s already been a busy week at it’s barely lunch time on Tuesday!

Thanks for checking in and please pray for Gage especially during his week of steroids and increased chemotherapy.

RH

Intermission

I returned from DC on Monday night. I finished unpacking tonight, Friday night, as I simultaneously began packing for Gage’s Make-a-Wish trip to Disney. We leave in the morning.

So, no time to blog…hence, “intermission.”

Thanks for checking in though, and I’ll try to have a full update on both the DC triathlon and our Disney trip once we return. I think I’ll need a full day to reflect and write about both events.

Please pray for safe travels, no sickness and sweet family time for us all.

Thanks, as always.

RH

Wonder Woman!

My wife never ceases to amaze me!  Tomorrow, she will compete in the Nations Triathlon (Olympic distance) in Washington D.C. in order to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (TNT).  She and a team of close friends are racing in honor of Gage and other families like ours who are fighting cancer.

One of Rebecca’s friends, Missy Richardson, also has a blog, and you can follow the team’s progress by viewing www.weheartchickfila.blogspot.com.  Missy’s brother, Blair, is updating the blog . . . Check it out!

Not to be out done, I’m flying solo while taking care of 4 kids!  Now, you decide who faces the greater challenge!

Go Team Holmes!

On the road to a cure . . .

Blake

Quite a party

Today, we celebrated Wesley’s first birthday! I’m only sharing this year’s pictures tonight, but, as I often do, throughout today I pictured this time last year in my mind: the many tears shed at Wesley’s birth, Gage bald from chemo, my sister in town to stay with me at the hospital because Blake could not, continued separation from Avery & Ellie, and so much more.

Thankfully, today was a wonderful family celebration that reminded us of how far we’ve come this year, by God’s grace. Avery & Gage planned Wesley’s party today during a crazy morning trip to Party City, and all their cousins were able to join in the fun:

Gage “sticks the nose on Elmo”…think he can see thru that bandanna??

Wesley adds her “nose” at the end, with help from Leigh and Ellie

Wesley, queen of the party, sits on the deck as the real craziness begins

First, a pinata…filled with candy of course!

Then, a silly string war…followed by a water balloon fight

Throughout, Wesley just smiled and laughed from her high chair on the deck…as if it were all a show for her personal entertainment. She even screamed when the first pieces of candy flew from the pinata. I have a feeling that Avery & Gage will be in charge of her party for years to come… I’ve certainly never seen a one-year-old birthday party like it! As Gage said to me this afternoon, “Mom, that was quite a party!” (And, I almost forgot to mention the Easter Egg hunt that got the party started!)

And, of course, thanks so much for your prayers for Gage (and us) this last week. It was certainly a challenging, emotional week…much more so than the first week. The effects of the steroids were easy to see and hard to counteract, as usual. So, we had many teary mornings, heart-wrenching drop-offs, mid-day visits to the school nurse, calls to Children’s and more. There is no way to really explain the challenge and emotion of it all except to say that being a parent of a child with cancer is by far the hardest thing I have ever done…and it’s often a minute-by-minute experience. Thankfully, Gage was able to stay at school most of each day, which was a huge achievement and praise.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as he “detoxes” from the steroids and as we begin another week of school on Monday. As we face challenges daily, it’s so encouraging to know that you are praying and that God can give Gage (and us) the wisdom, strength and courage that we need for each day.

Thanks.

RH