Saturday, July 14, 2012

Good news and Sad news

Last Friday, I heard something that I never wanted to hear. My cousin Alan, 39 years old this year, passed away at a hospital in Chicago.  He had been fighting cancer for several years now.  He had come back from so many scary situations that I was convinced that he always would.  Not this time.  He and I were very close as children and I have some hilarious stories I could share.  Unfortunately after our grandmother passed away in our teen years we didnt get as many opportunities to spend time together anymore. He always had a smile on his face and I never once heard him complain.  He had his bad days, weeks even, but he suffered well.  His best friend unexpectedly passed away 2 months ago, and our family is convinced that they had this all planned out in advance.  He leaves a big hole in our families life. He has given our family a wonderful example of how to battle cancer. Please pray for my aunt and uncle, his brother and sister and his beautiful wife and children.  They have an Alan sized hole  that only God can fill for them. So thankful that he is no longer in any of the chronic pain he has experienced the last few years.
Chris had chemo last Friday and had a shot on Monday that increased his WBC count to normal levels. ( To our children's delight this meant we were able to go out in public and eat fast food together!) The shot's side effects were painful and long lasting.  Its unclear if he will need these each chemo round  or just as needed. Chris' brother Jeremy and his wife Lanette came to visit for several days and did everything from babysit the boys to making meals to cleaning our air vents. Pretty sure this elevates them to sainthood status- they endured Going Bonkers... 'nuff said.

1 comment:

sweetsong said...

I'm going to write that I love you and your family. I'm sad for you and the loss of your cousin. I'm thankful for sweet memories. Brian and I love both you and Chris. Brian doesn't say things like "We love you"...I do it for him. :)