For the 5th year (every year since Garrett was diagnosed) Garrett's best friend, Jason has assembled a fine team of 24-hour relay walkers to raise money and support for the American Cancer Society in Garrett's honor. My relay-for-life-donation-taking website is up if you would like to make a monetary donation this year, but in the event you can't donate or want to do more please consider some of the other ways you can support the intent of my efforts - reducing the burden of those who have to face cancer:
-Share my donation page with others who might want to contribute.
-Donate blood or register to be a stem cell/bone marrow donor.
-Write your politicians to encourage them to fund cancer research, protect cancer patients and further health care reform.
-Schedule your own cancer screenings. (Just being diagnosed early can greatly reduce suffering) And strive for a healthy lifestyle with activity, variety and everything in moderation, the best preventative so far.
(I will be emailing my website link too, my apologies if you receive this info twice!)
Friday, April 22, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Research, reform and relay!
Health care policy and cancer research will probably be on top of my social priorities for the rest of my life as a way to honor Garrett’s fight by helping those who must follow after him suffer less. The following link is about a specific research project and clinical trial by Tgen that I have been following the progress of for more than a few years. It is one of the best chances other people with advanced basal cell carcinomas have to finding successful treatments. Although it will always be frustrating when research could have helped Garrett, this is outweighed by my appreciation for researchers getting closer to treatments that will work for others, so they must not go without targeted treatment options.
"New drug effective against the most common form of skin cancer"
This kind of progress is also a great reminder why support for medical research should remain a high priority in our agendas and budgets. We can all keep research of importance funded by writing or calling our politicians or making financial donations as we are able to organizations like Tgen, Stand Up To Cancer or American Cancer Society - Cancer Action Network which all support collaborative research in important ways.
Also, my favorite economist and health care policy advisor has a new blog article highlighting how our current employment-based health insurance system works by publicly subsidizing community rated insurance and how the health care reform recently passed is not radically different, but expands the system to be more available and affordable to all Americans instead of just those employed by companies who choose to or are large and thus required to provide health insurance to their employees. Getting the rest of us closer to the insurance model which members of congress enjoy.
"The economics of privately sponsored social insurance"
Soon Garrett’s friends and I will be starting the 5th year of fundraising for the American Cancer Society through Relay for Life… look out for that post and then make your tax deductible donation, donate blood/stem cells/bone marrow at your local blood bank or get your own cancer screenings done for the year in honor of Garrett and all those who must fight cancer after him!
"New drug effective against the most common form of skin cancer"
This kind of progress is also a great reminder why support for medical research should remain a high priority in our agendas and budgets. We can all keep research of importance funded by writing or calling our politicians or making financial donations as we are able to organizations like Tgen, Stand Up To Cancer or American Cancer Society - Cancer Action Network which all support collaborative research in important ways.
Also, my favorite economist and health care policy advisor has a new blog article highlighting how our current employment-based health insurance system works by publicly subsidizing community rated insurance and how the health care reform recently passed is not radically different, but expands the system to be more available and affordable to all Americans instead of just those employed by companies who choose to or are large and thus required to provide health insurance to their employees. Getting the rest of us closer to the insurance model which members of congress enjoy.
"The economics of privately sponsored social insurance"
Soon Garrett’s friends and I will be starting the 5th year of fundraising for the American Cancer Society through Relay for Life… look out for that post and then make your tax deductible donation, donate blood/stem cells/bone marrow at your local blood bank or get your own cancer screenings done for the year in honor of Garrett and all those who must fight cancer after him!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Last Days
Not sure how to start this post since it has been now nearly five months since Garrett died, but I wanted to let anyone still checking this blog know that myself and those closest to Garrett are living onward and recovering from our losses as healthfully as we can. Just as Garrett wanted us to do. It hasn’t been too hard for me to talk about these events, or Garrett‘s life, but writing them down seemed to trouble me for a while so I am glad to be able to now write a bit again.
In the previous post we shared Garrett's feelings about and reasons for taking a break from chemo and going home from the hospital with hospice care. From the start of hospice through his last few weeks of life Garrett maintained his desire to keep fighting and his hope of regaining strength so that he could return to cancer treatments. He was no quitter even in the hardest times.
We were able to spend a few weeks at home with hospice nurses and our immediate family near, but after completing an urgent blood transfusion Garrett had several seizures causing lack of consciousness at home and we had to return to the hospital by ambulance. In the emergency room they were able to wake him, but he was very disoriented while his brain reset from the electrical storm that raced through during the seizures. A head MRI showed a mass and/or bleeding on the left side of his brain which probably caused the seizures. That night Garrett was courageously trying to regain his vocabulary and communicate, he was able to speak some and acknowledge all of us there. I slept at his side and he woke to talk to me as he could and held my hand through the night.
To add to our impending grief, the next morning we learned that Garrett‘s dad, Tom, had a heart attack after leaving the hospital and died at his home that night. Garrett’s body kept fighting valiantly for a few more days while our family and his doctors tried to comfort him as best we could, he took his last breath October 24th . As proud as I was of his determination, it was a relief to see him struggle and suffer no longer.
Our family had tremendous support from extended families, friends, neighbors and coworkers so we could spend the time we needed with each other and in solitude. After the memorials we took Tom and Garrett’s ashes to the wedge in California where Garrett asked to be and we put them to rest in the ocean there which brought me great peace.
I’ve been here at home with Nacho, Kora, Kimo and Olive where the animals are the same, but everything seems different. Garrett wanted us to all go on and live full and productive lives and I am doing the best I can to do so myself. As painful and difficult as it was to lose him, he schooled me on the useful qualities of will power, love, integrity and stubbornness, and I am glad I was able to make his burdens easier to carry and help him get through this life with as much comfort as I could give. The most worthy charge of my life.
These two photos are the last I took, not pretty, but us getting through daily challenges of living with cancer and Garrett being as brave as ever.
In the previous post we shared Garrett's feelings about and reasons for taking a break from chemo and going home from the hospital with hospice care. From the start of hospice through his last few weeks of life Garrett maintained his desire to keep fighting and his hope of regaining strength so that he could return to cancer treatments. He was no quitter even in the hardest times.
We were able to spend a few weeks at home with hospice nurses and our immediate family near, but after completing an urgent blood transfusion Garrett had several seizures causing lack of consciousness at home and we had to return to the hospital by ambulance. In the emergency room they were able to wake him, but he was very disoriented while his brain reset from the electrical storm that raced through during the seizures. A head MRI showed a mass and/or bleeding on the left side of his brain which probably caused the seizures. That night Garrett was courageously trying to regain his vocabulary and communicate, he was able to speak some and acknowledge all of us there. I slept at his side and he woke to talk to me as he could and held my hand through the night.
To add to our impending grief, the next morning we learned that Garrett‘s dad, Tom, had a heart attack after leaving the hospital and died at his home that night. Garrett’s body kept fighting valiantly for a few more days while our family and his doctors tried to comfort him as best we could, he took his last breath October 24th . As proud as I was of his determination, it was a relief to see him struggle and suffer no longer.
Our family had tremendous support from extended families, friends, neighbors and coworkers so we could spend the time we needed with each other and in solitude. After the memorials we took Tom and Garrett’s ashes to the wedge in California where Garrett asked to be and we put them to rest in the ocean there which brought me great peace.
I’ve been here at home with Nacho, Kora, Kimo and Olive where the animals are the same, but everything seems different. Garrett wanted us to all go on and live full and productive lives and I am doing the best I can to do so myself. As painful and difficult as it was to lose him, he schooled me on the useful qualities of will power, love, integrity and stubbornness, and I am glad I was able to make his burdens easier to carry and help him get through this life with as much comfort as I could give. The most worthy charge of my life.
These two photos are the last I took, not pretty, but us getting through daily challenges of living with cancer and Garrett being as brave as ever.
LOVED his daily iced coffee even during doctors' appointments
The PICC line getting inserted here helped get IV antibiotics in when veins kept closing during his treatments for pneumonia/infections in early October
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