Flashes of Hope

We had a family photo shoot today at MassGeneral, part of a program called called Flashes of Hope. What a great experience.. it will be a few weeks before we see the pictures, but I'm sure they will be amazing.

All the kids have now finished school, and this Thursday night we're headed to the Cape to kick off our official summer vacation, hoping for a turnaround in the weather, but its not looking that promising.

Liam finished up his series of doctor's appointments last week. In addition to his scan he had three other appointments; a vaccination "catch up", a visit to his radiation oncologist, and a three year check up with his pediatrician, needless to say, he's done with doctors and "ouchies" for a while. The concern shared across all of the physician involved with his care is on the growth of his spine, which may (probably will be) impacted by the radiation treatments he received... this will be watched closely over the years to come. Given the removal of much of his right lung, they were also asking about shortness of breath, which to date, we've seen none of, and believe me Liam can certainly keep up with his brothers!! Again, all things that will be watched over time, for now, we are hoping for a SUNNY, relaxing, summer!

Whew

A long day...starting with the alarm @ 4:45am, but finishing on a good note, the scan was clear. We head back next week for followup with Dr. Yock (Radiation Oncology) to check on Liam's growth...he's still a bit groggy... in the back seat of the car now eating a bag of Peppercorn Ranch Sun Chips :)

Not your typical 3rd birthday

What did we do to celebrate Liam's third birthday today??? Sent him off to his first day of preschool!! We dropped him off about an hour ago, my eyes are still red. Liam never looked back, Jack on the other hand seemed a little nervous about getting Liam to the "blue" room safely (Jack is in the red room).

Oh what a big week.

Updates soon, I promise. Just need to make it through Thursday, then I'll be able to focus!

Sleepless nights...

must be getting close to a scan date...

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, all of my training, blood, sweat, and tears came to an end yesterday after running 26.2 miles in 5 hours, 10 minutes, and 29 seconds! I can't even begin to describe to you what the day was like. It was truly an AMAZING experience. I was so mentally ready for the day, as I headed to the starting corral at about 10am and then finally crossed the starting line at about 11AM. The sight of thousands of people waiting for that gun to sound was unbelievable. I tried to enjoy the moment as I ran through Hopkington into Ashland and onto Natick and Framingham and before you know it I was in Wellesley at the 1/2 marathon mark. At that point I was making such great time I shocked myself. I then lost a little steam as I headed into the Newton Hills and hit a mental block at miles 17, 18, and 19 but I quickly regrouped as I knew that the MGH family was at mile 20 and of course that handsome boy named LIAM was there waiting for me with open arms as I ran to him and gave him the biggest hug ever. That gave me the momentum that I needed to tackle the next challenge....."Heartbreak Hill". Once I crested at the top I physically hit a wall and for the next two miles (mile 21 and 22), my knees were not moving. I did all I could to run to the Mile 23 marker where Owen, Jack, and Troy were waiting for us...that again gave me a little boost to get to the end. At that point I made the decision to run the next 3 miles and not stop......and we did just that and when I took that final RIGHT onto HEREFORD street and LEFT on BOYLSTON, and when I turned and saw that finished line, I had chills all over my body. The sight of that blue finish mat that I was about to run over as I raised my hands and smiled for the camera........again it was an AMAZING day. The help that I got from a variety of people all day long was a HUGE help to me and Meg did awesome the last 6.2 miles as she took me to that finish line. Wow, what a day!!!!!!!

wow

what an incredible day... i'll let bridgett post an update on the details... but she did great!! thank you everyone for the support getting us to, and through, this day!

www.baa.org

One week and counting.........

So here we are one week out from the BIG DAY.....yes Marathon Monday. It is about 4:30pm now so hopefully by this time next week I will be finished with my amazing journey. Well here are a few pics from yesterday on Easter Sunday from Myrtle Beach, one shot after church and the other from the beach.

Gps was only off by an hour and 40 minutes ...

GPS bug

According to our Garmin, we will be in Myrtle Beach by 11am tomorrow morning. GPS programmers appearently forgot to account for children in their eta calculations.

Here's a look back of the past week.............

So it's been a while since we've updated the site, so here are a few notes from the week... The boys had a blast on St. Patrick's Day. We went to Maguires to celebrate with the family. Liam slept for the first hour, then woke up to have a few sips of Guinness then do some Irish dancing.

My marathon training is going well, a little sore occastionally. I actually ran a half marathon this past weekend down in New Bedford. The first eight miles went smoothly, then I hit a wall for the next three, but in the end, I finished strong and had a time of 2 hours and 13 minutes.

The boys are doing well and we are all sooooooooooo excited for the nice weather to come so that we can be outside all day long. I wanted to thank all of you who have donated to our "first giving" marathon site. We have reached the committed amount and now I am looking to be one of the top three fund raisers on the MGH team.... only 32 days to go!!

Snippets anyone?

It might be time for a haircut again, but since I got into a lot of trouble for sneaking Liam out for a second one, I'm staying out of it this time....

It's official

Bridgett is on the The MassGeneral Marathon Team Fighting Kids' Cancer ... One Step at a Time .

Our fundraising page has been set up!! Thanks to Sharon, Liz, Mark & kids for being the first to donate! Only 68 days to the Marathon, so we have a way to go to meet our goal. Thanks to all who who have donated in the past to team team Julie and Liam. Although we'll miss not being paired up for a third time with Julie, we are so excited to have Bridgett running. You can use the link above, or the widget to the right to get to the page. THANK YOU!!

The time between scans goes so fast, compared to the days leading up to, and the day of the scan. This last one was no different. December and January flew by, and it wasn’t until about a week ago when the sleepless nights started.. but we made it through another one. Everything was good, and its hard to believe it’s been almost a year since finishing chemo. We now move into a new scan schedule, instead of every three months, Liam will now be going every four months, so we (hopefully) won’t be back to Mass General until June.
Liam can now resume getting his vaccinations; he made it up to the six months schedule before halting those. He can even go see his regular pediatrician now… wow. Next time in to Boston, we’ll meet with Dr. Yock, the radiation oncologist. They’ll be keeping eye on chest and surrounding areas… For now, we’re back to the snow and counting the days till spring!

Everything is looking good...

Initial look at the scan is stable. Liam is his typical loopy self following the sedation, Full report later this afternoon..