♥ 3 Years Ago ~ Our Life FOREVER Changed ♥

3 years ago today, was just like any other "let's go to the back doctor and see what we can do for his pain" day. Once he was at the doctor's office, our world, as we knew it, came to a stop. After his x-ray to check his hardware in his back, Michael could not walk on his own. This was very disturbing for us and the doctor. I will never forget the look on the doctor's face when he walked into the room. He said Michael was a freight train out of control and he was stepping on the tracks to stop him. He immediately admitted Michael to the hospital and began running a series of tests.

August 27th, after all the tests they found a tumor inside Michael's spinal cord entangled in his nerves. They removed the tumor on August 29th. At that time, we had no idea what type of tumor it was. We were so thankful that Michael was still alive and was able to walk again!! A month later, we received the news of the "C" word. Michael had Ewing's Sarcoma. Michael still to his day has no recollection of those first two weeks.

In the past 3 years, we have been tested time and time again. We have had our high of highs and our low of lows. Some no one could ever imagine unless they had to fight this monster. But in the mist of all of this, we still have each other! It has been 23 months since Michael completed his very last round of chemo. But a day does not go by that I don't think about the fight he had to endure. The same fight that all of our sarcoma warriors have to face, the fight that their loved ones face each day with them.

I have heard many times, "how could you do this? You are such a "strong" person doing this for your husband." I think a great friend; another sarcoma wife said it best. She said “I came to the conclusion that God trusts us with this because He knows we will still bring Him glory though it in the end, no matter what the result. He is forging us into something greater and stronger than this world... so I guess for that, all of the pain and tears are worth something.” My answers to everyone were, you just do it. But now I couldn’t agree with the above statement more.

With this, my birthday is this Sunday and my birthday the last few years has a different meaning. To me, it makes me stop and think, I could have lost my husband 3 years ago and I have been given the life of my husband. So each year I only have 1 wish. That wish each year is to bring more awareness to this cancer called sarcoma. This beast is taking too many lives each day. If the past 3 years, we have found a large community of sarcoma warriors and we follow their stories. Many families are not as lucky as ours. Some are!

And for those of you that know Michael and me, we are big NASCAR fans and will not stop entering this contest until we finally WIN!!! Yes, we have entered the Toyota Sponsafier contest again for the 4th time. The last three cars we included the names of all the warriors associated with Nick & Friends Sarcoma Foundation, however, this time, we could not use the same design and of course that list of names continues to grow. Please, if you haven’t, go check out Nick & Friends at www.fightsarcoma.org or find them on facebook (Fight Sarcoma). They play a vital role in many of these sarcoma warriors fights as well as ours. We love you Nick & Friends!!!

With that, our car this time is “N&F Fight Sarcoma”. Please we only have a few more days to get as many votes as we can. The website to vote for our car is www.sponsafier.com/share/40721. Please be patient as the page does load slowly this time. Please vote every day and share this page with everyone you know. Just imagine if we could let the NASCAR community know about sarcoma and what it is doing to our loved ones.

With that, I will try to write again soon and not leave such a large gap in-between updates. Thank you for supporting us through Michael’s journey!

Scan Time!!~

Just a quick update!! It is that time again; Michael is scheduled to get his scans on Tuesday, February 15, 2011.

Other than the normal going crazy waiting on these scans, life has been pretty good for us lately. We have been trying as much as we can to be "normal". We have finally moved (YEAH), we have been trying hard at getting my side business off the ground (he is such a great helper), and other great things. I promise to update everyone more once we hear back on his scans. (Have to get back to work as I am "working from home" in this lovely Texas cold ice / snow storm).

Thanks for checking on Michael and say an extra pray we get a visit from NED soon!!

Lots of love from Texas,
Mel ~

PLEASE VOTE ~

Please help us once again by voting for our car, “Nick & Friends 2”. We have 13 days left on this one. We are trying extremely hard to make sure we get at least one car into the top 10 so we can move on to the next round. www.sponsafier.com/share/370029

If you are on facebook, we have an ongoing event you can join SARCOMA AWARENESS - NICK & FRIENDS 2 . This event is done from your computer. It is just a friendly reminder to vote daily for this car. It is going on now through September 6th. With that being said, we have many people not understand why people are saying “NO” to this event. You don’t go anywhere, and I am sure you spend more time reading others statuses, playing games, etc.

But here is my take. Either your friends on facebook don’t understand what we are trying to do, don’t understand what sarcoma is or what it does to our loved ones, they may be too busy, they may of their own set of problems, maybe they don’t need a reminder (wow, I wish I didn’t need reminders), or they just don’t care.

So with that, here is what we are trying to do:
1. We are trying to raise awareness to a horrid disease that affects our loved one, a rare pediatric cancer called sarcoma.

2. Our loved ones go through some very extensive treatment. Sarcoma can be very aggressive and can be disfiguring, painful and often is resistant to treatment.

3. Their survival rate is very low. And if they do survive the first round of treatment and has a chance to be “in remission”, they have an extremely high rate of it returning.

4. Families’ lives are turned upside down, some even fall apart completely. Moms and dads lose their babies, children lose their mommy or daddy, men / women lose their spouse, we lose our friends.

5. If you don’t know what sarcoma is, or if you want to learn more, please visit the Nick & Friends website at www.fightsarcoma.org, ask me or any of the administrators on the event page on facebook.

We are just asking for a few seconds each day. Just a few clicks, click the link, click the vote button and that’s it. If we can get this car through this round and into the next two rounds, we have a great chance of bringing sarcoma and Nick & Friends into the NASCAR spot light.

AWARENESS = FUNDING = RESEARCH = CURE


Thanks and please vote.
Mel ~

PLEASE HELP WITH VOTING DAILY ~

I copied this from Fight Sarcoma.org's facebook page. Please read below and help.

We need to have AT LEAST 10,000 by now if we are going to compete with the top car. If every person who follows this page votes once per day, we should have around 4,000 by now, but we don't. This means that a lot of people who CARE about this CAUSE are not doing anything about it! www.sponsafier.com/share/360505

I don't quite know how to express the importance of this. I think most of you know that sarcoma only has about a 20% survival rate. There is very little funding for sarcoma research. Sarcoma tends to strike children more often than adults. Sarcoma is not like other cancers. It is more aggressive and disfiguring and painful and often resistant to treatment.

Families’ lives are turned upside down, some fall apart completely. Moms and daddy's lose their babies, kids lost their moms and daddy's, and we lose our friends. People have awareness events all the time, and hopefully hundreds of people learn about sarcoma at those events, BUT...

This car winning will mean that hundreds of THOUSANDS of people will see the word sarcoma. They will see yellow ribbons. They will see names of warriors...some still fighting, others whose battle has ended. YOU have the power to make hundreds of thousands of people aware! YOU! Every one of you can personally take credit for doing something big for this cause.

Be a sarcoma warriors hero today...right now...step up to the plate...be activists in this cause...let YOUR voice be heard. Tell those people at Toyota and NASCAR that Sarcoma is the cause they need to pay attention to!!! Vote daily and ask everyone you know to do the same.

We are not asking for your money here...we are not asking for hours of service...we are asking for 2 clicks of your mouse each day for 15 days. That's it. Couple of seconds...couple of clicks... AWARENESS

Now from me, Just think for one minute what this could do bringing sarcoma infront of hundred's of thousands of people. Think of the smiles on each warriors / families faces.

Love ~
Mel

NASCAR VOTING

Yes, it is that time again for us to start voting for our fabulous Nick & Friends NASCAR designed car. We only have 13 days left. So please vote every day from every computer you can log in to. The more votes we get, the better chance of bringing more awareness to Sarcoma.

http://www.sponsafier.com/share/360505

Last time, we were able to get a little ove 23,000 votes, placing us in 11th place. We need to get more votes than this. Please help bring a smile to the face of those families who's warrior is listed on this car. This time, we have over 450 names on this car.

Thanks!!
Mel ~

Latest Update on Michael ~

Sorry for the delay in updating. Since Michael has been in remission, life has gone back into full speed. I would not say normal, I would just say back to the busy schedule I have… Between working full time and helping mom run her flea market; trying to get a business started and off the ground; taking care of the house, cars, animals or other odd jobs; trying to find time to jump in the pool to play with my nieces and nephew, spend time with Michael, spend time with our daughter or just to enjoy life; time just gets away. Days just run together. I cannot believe it is already July.

First, Michael is doing pretty well. He has his days if you know what I mean. He just had his second haircut since completing treatment in October. Before, he would have to get a haircut every 3 weeks, now it’s more like every 3 months. He has lost some weight over the past few months, which is a GREAT thing. He is down 2 pants sizes and still has a few more to go. He continues to work on his weight loss. He still has spells of weakness and overall fatigue. He still has pain on and off in his back, which at times can get pretty severe, and still gets his headaches every now and then. He still has not gone back to work as they will not let him be a mechanic with all his back problems.

He saw his oncologist, had labs and a chest x-ray in April. His counts still are low and the doctor said it may take a while still before they start to climb back towards his “pre-chemo” levels. His chest x-ray looked good. We will go see his oncologist again in October and have labs and another chest x-ray unless any problems arise before then. He’s not schedule for any scans until January 2011. I have been trying to talk him in to going and seeing his orthopedic surgeon about his back pains, but he just brushes me off… Men what are we going to do with them.

Michael has been doing “odd jobs” around the house to keep himself busy. He did finally get his 454 re-built and in his truck (for the second time) and it looks like they are working on another project out in the shop now. He can spend all day and night out in that shop. You still can not get him away from working on cars.

My mother had surgery on her hand about a month ago for the arthritis in her hand and is in a cast for a few more weeks, so on the weekends, Michael and I have been going out to Quinlan, TX to run her booth at the flea market out there. We will continue to help her with is until she gets her cast off and goes through her rehab. That seems to be the only time now that Michael and I get to see each other, which could be a good thing or a bad thing…

July 4th is fast approaching. We wish everyone a safe, happy 4th of July. And remember to thank those serving our Country. Because of these brave men and women, we can continue to celebrate our freedom. THANK YOU! We usually have a big 4th of July / birthday celebration but will put that off once again. We still don’t have a place of our own yet and we aren’t in the celebrating mood lately. I am just looking forward to having the 5th off of work, but I am sure I will be busy that day. This year, most of the nation will get a day off work to celebrate my son’s 19th birthday. How great is that!!

We have a few birthdays coming up in the next two months. Our son Michael will turn 19 on July 5th. Happy Birthday Michael, we love you and hope you have a fantastic day. Time sure does fly, it seems like yesterday he was this cute lil’ guy running around enjoying the 4th with us. Now he’s off doing his own thing. Hopefully you will read this message and know we think of you daily, we pray for you, we love you, and miss you. You have been on our minds a lot lately. We would love to see or hear from you soon.

My brother in Kansas City has a birthday on July 7th. Happy 38th birthday Steve. Wow, you sure are getting up there in age… Kyle, my nephew (one of Steve & Julie’s boy) in Kansas City, has a birthday on July 8th. Also, our nephew, Anthony, will be turning 1 on July 21st. Lil’ Turkey is already walking or should I say running. He is such a hoot and calls his Uncle Mike, Dodge… Yes, Michael has already taught the boy how to say Dodge. He has to teach these kids early of what a real car is. Then August 2nd, my sister-in-law will have a birthday and then I get to turn the big 4-0 towards the end of August. Yes, I am looking forward to it!!

I am working extremely hard to bring our NASCAR Nick & Friends car back. Yes, you heard it right. Be watching here, on facebook, and on twitter. Be sure to watch on Nick & Friends Sarcoma Foundation website or their facebook page. We will be once again asking everyone to vote to help us bring more awareness to this dreaded disease. We MUST get this car into the TOP TEN this round so we can get this car on the track in Phoenix this fall. Yes, that is almost right in the back yard of Nick & Friends!!

If you are on facebook, please go and friend “Fight Sarcoma”. Right now, they have a few other voting contests going on to bring more awareness to Sarcoma. Once is the Chase Community Giving and the other is one of our Sarcoma Mom’s (Ronda) asking for votes for her myown Oprah audition “ Ronda's Recover and Redecorate Audition Video” where she wants to help cancer patients by giving them a little piece of “heaven” while they recover. Go check them out and vote!!!!! You can also find those links on my facebook page.

With that, please continue to keep all these beautiful warriors in your thoughts and prayers along with their families. These warriors go through so much.

Sending everyone big warm Texas hugs and I promise not to be so long before our next update!!
Love ~
Melodie

Latest Update ~

First, as you all know, our NASCAR did not make the top 10. We were only 320 points behind the 10th place car. Well guess what we found out this morning….

We can still vote on the car to keep it the No. 1 spot of the “Most Likes”. Yes, right now our Nick & Friends car is sitting in #1 of the Most Likes Gallery. What does this mean? Don’t know yet. But all I can say is please click the link and give our car a thumb up by saying you “Like this Design”.

www.sponsafier.com/share/201541

Some how, some way, we will find us a way to get a NASCAR Race Car designed like this featured. Please help us find a way!!

Second, Michael is coming up in his next set of 3 months scans. All we are having done this time is just a chest x-ray, lab work, and visit with the oncologist. We will go to the imaging center next Wednesday morning (April 14th), have a nice lunch, go see he favorite vampires (the lab), and then see his favorite oncologist. Not to worried about this visit.

Michael has been trying to keep himself busy. He has an older truck he has been working on re-building. He still has his good days and bad days. His legs and back bother him at times, but I think he just don’t want anyone to know. He just learns to live with it. He knows he will have back pain for the rest of his life. His hands and feet bother him still a bit.

He keeps telling me it’s time for a haircut. If you know my husband, he has always since he was in the military worn a very short hair style. Since he finished chemo last October, he has not had his first haircut yet. I am just in “LOVE” with all the curls that have come back this time. So we like to discuss back and forth whether or not he can get a haircut. I finally caved in this past week so today he went and got his first haircut since it has grown back. It will be interesting to see if he will have to keep it cut as much as he use to. It’s still not as thick as it was.

As always, please continue to keep all these beautiful sarcoma warriors in your thoughts and prayers. Also, please help us help Nick & Friends to bring much needed awareness to this dreaded disease that is taking our loved ones, and invading our lives.

Sending you beautiful warm Texas hugs!!~
Melodie