Courage to Continue Chemo

We are still battling cancer and Madey still doesn't like being in the hospital. Friday her Oncologist met with us and told us that since her chemotherapy is having such a positive impact on the cancer cells in her hip, he recommends that she continue with her chemotherapy, in addition Madey will start receiving radiation treatments in conjunction with her chemo. The feeling is that the two together will be the best treatment for eradicating the tumor from Madey's hip. He also informed us that it appears from the scans that the bone in her hip has already begun to repair itself. We are thrilled with Madey's progress, but are a little discouraged knowing that we are still not quite half way done with her treatments. Madey knows it will be a long journey, but hopes that as she continues to improve she may be able to begin to participate in 'normal' activities again, like attending school or maybe going to girls camp.
Lindy is done with school for now and still working at America First Credit Union, she is a huge help when Mom and Dad are traveling back and forth to the hospital. Hillary has one more AP test to take and then she hopes to breath a little before starting a six week 8 credit chemistry course at the University of Utah this summer. Landon has been busy playing baseball (watching from the right field) his Red Sox team is 2 - 0 so far, he is also in the school musical this week, he plays President Roosevelt in the musical Annie. We look forward to watching his performance.
We definately feel blessed, the Lord is taking good care of us and we are continually surrounded by people that want to make a difference for Madey and our family. Thank you.

Good News and Gratitutde

Life is definitely a roller-coaster ride and for the last three and half months we feel like we have endured most of the twists and turns that could be thrown our way. From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs. We were so overwhelmed by the turn out two weekends ago for the MilesforMadey fun-run that we didn't know if we could feel more gratitude for amazing friends, family, neighbors, community and church members. From the messages of love and support, the prayers, the kind words and the meals we have received, it has been obvious that there are many good and generous people in the world that want to bless a 14 year old girl and her family. All we can say is thank you and do our best to be genuinely grateful for all the blessings our Heavenly Father gives us and work to pay it forward.
This last week we received some good news. Madey went to the hospital on Thursday and had several scans done to assess the effects of her treatment on her cancer. We were thrilled when Friday afternoon her oncologist called and told us that her tumor has been reduced by about 70%. Yahoo! We did the 'dance of joy' quite a site if you haven't seen it before, and were immediately filled with gratitude for the progress that Madey is making and the hope that this report gives to us. We know we are not done, but the news was definitely huge. Madey went to PCMC today to receive a blood transfusion and we are hopeful that she will have her final Chemo treatment of this series at the end of this week. Our cancer team is meeting on the results of her scans today to determine what our next course of action will be, please pray for her and for the doctors that they will make the right determination for the best possible results for Madey.

Getting Ready to Run!
Wow! What a week! We are truly blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends, family members, church and community members. On Saturday April 24th a 5K fun run was sponsored in Madey's honor, MilesforMadey. The attendance was unbelievable and the feelings of love and goodwill were contagious as was Madey's smile. The race started and ended at Fairfield Jr. High. I think the highlight for most was to see Madey as she stood in back of a pick up truck, thanks Chad, with a big grin on her face and sounded the air-horn to signal the start of the race. It was also great to have her sitting in the yard swing waving to all the runners as they passed by our house. George and Lindy had trained for the race and both set a goal to not only finish their first 5K but to do it without any walking, they both met their goal, although Lindy finished a little ahead of George, young legs run faster. We cannot even begin to thank all of the people that made this possible. But we do need to give a huge shout out to Stacy Hardy and Rick Smith for chairing this thing and making it happen, your whole committee is amazing! Madey had a wonderful day and although she was exhausted when it came time to go to bed she still had a smile on her face. It was fantastic for us as a family to see Madey being Madey again, laughing and enjoying her friends and family, a priceless gift for us. Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude for the love and kindness of others, thank you somehow seems insufficient, nonetheless, Thank You! Madey's Number One Support Team "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Hebrew 12:1)

Pizza, a Party, and Precious People!

We celebrated a happy 20th birthday with big sister Lindy this week!
Make a Wish came calling, now deciding what to wish for - hmmm.
This week was definitely full of nice surprises. Madey's platelet counts were low so she wasn't able to go in for treatment on Tuesday as anticipated. It was a blessing in disguise because this allowed her to attend the year-end basketball banquet with her team. It was nice to see her interacting with teammates and taking time to express our gratitude to the girls and coaches for dedicating their season to her. The Fairfield Girls basketball team and coaches will always have a special place in our hearts. Madey also received student of the month honors at school in Social Studies and was honored by her teacher Mr. Carter at a breakfast Wednesday morning, she wasn't feeling up to attending but was very honored by the recognition.
Having chemo delayed also allowed Lindy to celebrate her birthday twice in one week, since Madey was going in for Chemo on Friday she would miss Lindy's birthday, so Thursday night George grilled steaks and Michelle made a cake and we had an impromptu party for Lindy and even allowed her to open one gift early. We followed that up with a Little Ceasar's pizza (the only thing Madey eats in the hospital) party @ the Hospital on Saturday where our little family was able to gather and watch Lindy open her other gifts. Although conditions were not ideal it was sweet to be together.
Madey was also able to finally meet her friend and fellow Ewing's Sarcoma patient Kaitlin, who was admitted to the hospital on Saturday for her next round of chemo, Madey was pretty tired that morning but was pleased that Kaitlin stopped by her room before beginning treatment to get to know her and say hi. Sunday afternoon one of George's former missionary companion Darryl Mason, who has been battling cancer for several months was able to come by and visit with his sweet wife. It was a such a blessing for us and Madey to have him come and share his experiences with chemo and radiation, when he left Madey commented several times on how much she liked him and appreciated the support of someone battling a similar disease. Also Sunday evening Lindy graduated from the Ogden LDS Institute, yeah! We are so proud of her.
Madey came home Sunday night just before midnight and has spent much of Monday sleeping and recovering. We are happy to have her home and have the whole family under the same roof. We just wish to again say thank you for all the prayers, love, and support. We look forward to seeing many of you at the Miles for Madey fun run/walk this Saturday, you can come cheer George on as he attempts to run his first 5K, should be entertaining if nothing else.

Spring Break, Transfusion, and How to Train Your Dragon

We are finally starting to understand that nothing goes as planned, ever. We had hoped to start round 5 of Chemo this last week, but Madeline's blood counts were too low, so after a blood transfusion we were told to wait until next week. So we are hopefully going to go in this Tuesday (although we may have to miss the year end basketball banquet, tear) to take care of Chemo treatment #5. I don't know why we act surprised I don't think we have started a single treatment on the day it was originally scheduled. Of course last week was Spring Break for Hillary and Landon, so they were home looking for something fun to do. On Wednesday George took the day off and took Hillary, Madey, and Landon to see "How to Train Your Dragon" while Michelle went shopping all by herself. They all had a good time at the movie and Madey really enjoyed doing something 'normal' like going to a movie in a theater. Later that afternoon it was Hillary's turn for some medical treatment, she got to have her wisdom teeth pulled (Lucky). The rest of the day was spent lying low and recovering from the dentist.
Saturday the weather was nice enough to go to Layton Park, where we had a small picnic, George and the girls spent time throwing a softball around, yes Madey can still throw hard, while Landon played on the playground with a friend. George grilled burgers for dinner that night and we spent the rest of the evening watching old family videos and laughing at each others idiosyncrasies.
Today has been a good day, everyone made it to church, Madey even felt good enough to attend Young Women's, we sure appreciate our priests for bringing the Sacrament to her after the meeting. All in all we continue to be optimistic and look forward to the conclusion of our next two rounds of chemo. We hope to be done with them by the first week in May, but as I type that I am reminded that nothing ever seems to go according to my time frame. We are still in training for the MilesforMadey 5k being held on the 24th of April, hopefully someone will be driving behind the pack to pick up those of us who pass out (hehe).
We are truly grateful for how blessed we are as a family, we are surrounded by so many amazing neighbors, friends, and family members that it is hard to get discouraged. Thank you for your continued love, support, and prayers.
We just needed to make a quick addendum, Madeline's Platelets are too low so we need to delay treatment #5, we will let you know when she actually makes it to the hospital. Looks like we will make it to the basketball banquet after all!