jwsqrdplus2
<font color=green>I suddenly got inspired<br><font
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2003
- Messages
- 5,265
I have told part of this story before, but I will retell the whole thing so people understand.
DH's has a couple of cousins. One of them that he is particuarly close to is Patrick. Pat is 28 years old, married to Shana with a 4 yo DD, MacKenzie. In Aug 2003, while I was blissfully planning a complicated WDW trip with my 2 DDs (then 4 1/2 yrs and 22 months), DH had to go to another cousin's wedding in St Louis. While there, MacKenzie had a small growth on her face, but no one seemed too concerned about it. Shana was pregnant again, and they had the world by the horns. Shortly after the wedding/our WDW vacation, MacKenzie had the growth (most of it) on her chin removed and biopsied. Unfortunately the results came back malignant. Not only that, it was a rare form of childhood cancer (not too sure of the details) not easliy conquered. Shortly after the MacKenzie's diagnosis, Shana miscarried.
MacKenzie immediately started treatment and her parents were very guarded in their optimisim on her recovery. Eventually, they had to remove the rest of the tumor which included removing a signficant portion of her chin. She faces a long haul of chemo, radiation and reconstructive surgery. She is an incredible child with an awesome will to live thanks to her parents.
A couple of months later, her dad, Pat, was having problems breathing. It was winter (Nov/Dec timeframe), so he thought it was the flu, etc. Finally, it got so difficult to breathe Pat ended up in the ER with what they thought was pnuemonia. You can probably guess where I am going at this point. After a few days in the hospital, Pat was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. He is 28 years old, never smoked, and had never done anything "wrong" in life. Shana was beside herself. Now, both her husband and her daughter have cancer.
Pat started a very aggressive program of both chemo and radiation which successfully shrank the tumors in his lungs. As guarded as the whole family was about MacKenzie, they were very optomistic about Pat. MacKenzie got a trip to WDW thru the Make A Wish foundation, and they had a wonderful time! Shortly after their return to St Louis (where they live), some wonderful family friends hosted a fundraiser for them including an auction. DH and I donated a Cajun Goodies Basket to the auction that fetched a ridiculous amount of money considering what we spent on it, but it was all for a good cause. This was late Apr 2004.
According to family members who attended the fundraiser (we were not able to attend), Pat did not look good, but he had put on a brave face. Within a couple of weeks, we heard that Pat had another pet-scan and the news was not good. The cancer had invaded most of his systems, and he was given, on the outside, 6 months to live.
We are currently on a 2-week vacation to visit various relatives including all 3 sets of grandparents (DH's folks are divorced and both remarried), as well as various extended family members including Pat and his family (DH's uncle, etc). We are in St Louis right now visiting with DH's mom, and have plans to visit DH's uncle tomorrow evening. As you can probably guess by now, those plans have changed. Pat died 2 hours ago (approx 6 pm Central time). He was surrounded by his wife, daughter and parents when it happened.
As a side note, Pat's father is a recovering alcoholic. After many years (more than 10) on the wagon, he fell off when Pat was diagnosed. Despite his illness, Pat was concerned about his father. There was an intervention scheduled tonight at 7 pm at Pat's request. I don't know if and when that will happen right now. Of course I can barely see the keyboard right now as I type.
So I ask my DIS friends for prayers pixie dust for this family. Shana and MacKenzie need all the strength they can muster, not to mention Pat's parents. Any good thoughts to be sent their way would be greatly appreciated.
DH's has a couple of cousins. One of them that he is particuarly close to is Patrick. Pat is 28 years old, married to Shana with a 4 yo DD, MacKenzie. In Aug 2003, while I was blissfully planning a complicated WDW trip with my 2 DDs (then 4 1/2 yrs and 22 months), DH had to go to another cousin's wedding in St Louis. While there, MacKenzie had a small growth on her face, but no one seemed too concerned about it. Shana was pregnant again, and they had the world by the horns. Shortly after the wedding/our WDW vacation, MacKenzie had the growth (most of it) on her chin removed and biopsied. Unfortunately the results came back malignant. Not only that, it was a rare form of childhood cancer (not too sure of the details) not easliy conquered. Shortly after the MacKenzie's diagnosis, Shana miscarried.
MacKenzie immediately started treatment and her parents were very guarded in their optimisim on her recovery. Eventually, they had to remove the rest of the tumor which included removing a signficant portion of her chin. She faces a long haul of chemo, radiation and reconstructive surgery. She is an incredible child with an awesome will to live thanks to her parents.
A couple of months later, her dad, Pat, was having problems breathing. It was winter (Nov/Dec timeframe), so he thought it was the flu, etc. Finally, it got so difficult to breathe Pat ended up in the ER with what they thought was pnuemonia. You can probably guess where I am going at this point. After a few days in the hospital, Pat was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. He is 28 years old, never smoked, and had never done anything "wrong" in life. Shana was beside herself. Now, both her husband and her daughter have cancer.
Pat started a very aggressive program of both chemo and radiation which successfully shrank the tumors in his lungs. As guarded as the whole family was about MacKenzie, they were very optomistic about Pat. MacKenzie got a trip to WDW thru the Make A Wish foundation, and they had a wonderful time! Shortly after their return to St Louis (where they live), some wonderful family friends hosted a fundraiser for them including an auction. DH and I donated a Cajun Goodies Basket to the auction that fetched a ridiculous amount of money considering what we spent on it, but it was all for a good cause. This was late Apr 2004.
According to family members who attended the fundraiser (we were not able to attend), Pat did not look good, but he had put on a brave face. Within a couple of weeks, we heard that Pat had another pet-scan and the news was not good. The cancer had invaded most of his systems, and he was given, on the outside, 6 months to live.
We are currently on a 2-week vacation to visit various relatives including all 3 sets of grandparents (DH's folks are divorced and both remarried), as well as various extended family members including Pat and his family (DH's uncle, etc). We are in St Louis right now visiting with DH's mom, and have plans to visit DH's uncle tomorrow evening. As you can probably guess by now, those plans have changed. Pat died 2 hours ago (approx 6 pm Central time). He was surrounded by his wife, daughter and parents when it happened.
As a side note, Pat's father is a recovering alcoholic. After many years (more than 10) on the wagon, he fell off when Pat was diagnosed. Despite his illness, Pat was concerned about his father. There was an intervention scheduled tonight at 7 pm at Pat's request. I don't know if and when that will happen right now. Of course I can barely see the keyboard right now as I type.
So I ask my DIS friends for prayers pixie dust for this family. Shana and MacKenzie need all the strength they can muster, not to mention Pat's parents. Any good thoughts to be sent their way would be greatly appreciated.
I am so sorry. 
. My heart goes out to you and your family 
.
