Finally !!!

Hey bet everyone thought we fell off the planet!! No news is good news at least in my mind. Jackson is doing great!! We had an awesome summer, stayed busy busy, swimming almost everyday at the pool. He attended Camp for kid's with cancer and had a blast and here I was worried to death!! He didn't even miss us, can you imagine that?

School has started and he has amazing teacher, what a relief to have someone so caring but strong enough to handle him not that he's bad, just a handful, typical boy. He's spent his fair share of time at the doctor's to, scared the crap out of everyone when he came home from camp. He apparently fell and hurt his back and has had back pain for a month, raced downtown for a quick ultrasound and thank God it was nothing. I think a large part of why I've avoided updating is because if you don't see it, it's not there and as most of you'll know I'd like to run a way for this, there's just not stopping it. We've lost some many beautiful young souls to this hateful disease. Just recently http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/samanthacrowell , beautiful young lady with so many dream's and http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/emmajordan she passed away on her Make A Wish trip and that's just two. Jackson's buddies Justin and Parker passed. It stinks, it just stinks!!!

Here's some info I've wanting to get out:

HELP ST. JUDE BY CREATING A PEPPER AT CHILI'S TO FIGHT CHILDHOOD CANCER!!!!
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Chili’s Grill & Bar® announced the kick-off of their fifth annual Create-A-Pepper to Fight Childhood Cancer campaign. Now through September 30, Chili’s restaurants around the country and, for the first time, in Puerto Rico, are marking National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month by inviting people to get creative and raise funds to help St. Jude find cures and save children with cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases.Guests at participating Chili’s restaurants can contribute to St. Jude in multiple ways:
- Make a donation to St. Jude and receive a Create-A-Pepper chili pepper coloring sheet designed for display at restaurants during the month.
- Purchase Create-A-Pepper T-shirts that can be customized with permanent marker.
- Buy a customized Create-A-Pepper key that can be cut for use at home or the office.
- Eat at Chili’s on Monday, Sept. 29, when Chili’s will donate 100 percent of profits from participating restaurant sales to St. Jude.
Visit http://www.createapepper.com/ and to make an online donation.
PASS IT AROUND!!!!
GET YOUR FRIENDS/FAMILY TOGETHER!!! TRUST ME ITS SUCH AN AMAZING EVENT!!

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CureSearch now provides a way to donate online directly to the Wilms' Initiative for research into curing Wilms' Tumor. If you are interested in donating, you can click on this link,
http://www.curesearch.org/wilmstumor/
Where you can scroll down the page to "Fund the Cure," and click on "Donate Now." Following these steps will insure that your donation is directed to the Wilms Initiative. Support the research into finding the cure!!

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Thursday, September 25, from 5-8 p.m., nearly 1,400 Cold Stone Creamery® locations nationwide, including Guam and Puerto Rico, will host the World’s Largest Ice Cream Social, a fundraiser to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

· During the event, ice cream lovers can get a FREE 3-ounce serving of either Emily or Jack’s Creation and make a donation to the Foundation.
· Emily’s Creation consists of Nutter Butter® ice cream blended on a cold granite stone with yellow cake, Kit Kat® candy and white chocolate chips. Jack’s Creation consists of marshmallow ice cream with OREO® cookies, chocolate chips and fudge mixed in.
· By visiting your local Cold Stone Creamery on Thursday, September 25, the entire community can join this nationwide effort to help grant wishes to Illinois wish children, all while enjoying mouthwatering ice cream!
The month of September is dedicated to raising funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. For only a $1 donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, you can inscribe your name on a Wish Star to be posted in stores during the month.
We hope to see you there! If you have a Cold stone Creamery near you. We'll be there around 6:00 pm.

OK and last but not least: Sept is CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH AND SEPT. 13TH IS CHILDHOOD CANCER DAY. I know I've been pretty slow lately just bare with me I'm trying to get it together. Not only did cancer rob my baby of his childhood and innocence. It robbed our family of so much that I couldn't possibly put it all down on paper. I only hope I can get my head screwed back on right but I have feeling it'll never be the same and no I don't need a doctor to talk to, although I do wish there was a magic pill I could swallow to make all the nightmares go away!! I want to leave you guy's with a poem that just hit me in the gut when I read it. Let me know what you think, I know a lot to other cancer mom's and dad's have read it. I think the general public needs to read it to.

I HOPE...

I hope you never have to hear the words, 'Your child has cancer.'I hope you never have to hear, 'The prognosis is not good.'

I hope you never have to prepare your child to undergo radiation or chemotherapy, have a port surgically inserted into their chest, be connected to IV poles.

I hope you never have your child look at you with fear in their eyes and say, 'Don't worry Mommy, everything will be okay' or 'Mommy am I going to die?

'I hope you never have to hold your child as they vomit green bile.

I hope you never have to feed them ice chips for lunch.

I hope you never have to watch the 'cure' you pray for slowly take away their identity, as they lose their hair,become skeletal,swell up from steroids,develop severe acne,become barely or unable to walk or move,and look at you with hope in their eyes and say,'It's going to be okay, Mommy.

'I hope that you never have to stay in the hospital for weeks, months, or years at a time, where there is no privacy, sleeping on a slab, with your face to the wall, where you cry in muffled silence.

I hope you never have to see a mother, alone, huddled, in a dark hospital corridor...crying quietly, after just being told, 'There is nothing more we can do.

'I hope you never have to watch a family wander aimlessly, minutes after their child's body has been removed.

I hope you never have to use every bit of energy you have left, with all of this going on around you to remain positive, and the feelings of guilt, sorrow, hope and fear, overwhelm you.

I hope you never have to see a child's head bolted to the table as they receive radiation.

I hope you never have to take your child home (grateful but so afraid) in a wheelchair because the chemo and radiation has damaged their muscles, 35 pounds lighter, pale, bald, and scarred.And they look at you with faith in their eyes and say, 'It's going to be okay Mommy.

'I hope you never have to face the few friends that have stuck beside you and hear them say, “Thank God that is over with”, because you know it never will be.Your life becomes a whirl of doctors, blood tests and MRI's and you try to get your life back to 'normal'.While living in mind-numbing fear that any one of those tests could result in hearing the dreaded words...'The cancer has returned' or 'The tumor is growing.'And your friends become even fewer.

I hope you never have to experience any of these things...Because...only then...Will you understand...(author unknown)

Now stop crying, get mad and support some of these function's.

Love to you all and God Bless

Cheri