What an emotional day.  It is always rough around this time.  I can’t believe next Tuesday marks two year since Julie died.  It seems like just yesterday I was holding her hand in her hospital room and praying.  Today was especially hard because there was a TV show, Classmates with Cancer, that aired about 3 of my fellow classmates who have/had cancer.   The feature showed 3 different women in three different stages in their fight against Cancer.  Naturally Julie was featured in this as the classmate who passed away.  One of my dear friends since Intermediate school, Kathy Voigt Nuernberg, was featured as the classmate who is a cancer survivor.  And then one of my classmates, Michelle Tull Bynum, who I knew in passing but have grown to know via this lovely Cancer Sorority discussed her fight against terminal breast cancer.  Each of these women have small children and everyone of them did everything they could to protect their children during this fight.  It was an amazing story because it spread the word about early detection and the need for you to be your best advocate when it comes to cancer.  Every one of these women were told not to worry about their symptoms by their doctors.  EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM! 

Unfortunately, I could not watch the piece because it aired on Fox News in Houston and it aired live online but I was in a meetings.  When I got home tonight I sat down and watched the segments online.  What a wonderful piece, but I was a bawling mess.  Everyone did so well!  It is already a rough time of year and it was hard to see Julie’s husband and kids and my friends talk so openly about Cancer.  It brings back so many memories and it makes me really miss Julie.  After I watched the special I immediately called Kathy to tell her what a great job she did..however all she heard was some strange woman crying who was calling from a phone line that registered as a Church on the caller ID.   We had a good laugh over that…my home phone comes up as a Church.  Would that be the Church of Kerberism?  If so, we are all in trouble.

Anyway, I think we could all use some extra prayers to get through the holiday season. If you want to see the TV Special that aired, check it out at http://www.bthomelanoma.com/news

 

For a good laugh, check out this photo: 12 Years old, Bowling Trophy (no idea how we got this) Julie’s on the top left, Me top right and Kathy bottom right.

Today on the House Floor today a resolution was offered to honor the “2560th anniversary of the birth of Confucius and recognizing his invaluable contributions to philosophy and social and political thought.” 

Congressman Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) voted against the resolution and offered this statement:

“He who spends time passing trivial legislation may find himself out of time to read healthcare bill.”

Well Said Congressman Flake, Well Said.

I have SERIOUS concerns when a government official (The pay czar) goes into a private company and dictates the pay scale.  That is what happened today.  The Administration went to some of the financial firms and slashed some executives pay as much as 50%.  Doesn’t that set off alarm bells with anyone else?  A government person dictating compensation for a private sector firm????  It scare the crap out of me!   

 

On another note…this makes for some great Theater… A Fake Press Conference!

This is why I love Politics!  So the US Chamber of Commerce has always been the MAC Daddy of Lobbying organizations.  To have all those “business” interest backing you…you have to be heard on the Hill and in an Administration.  So the new administrations takes office with the Chambers support. Then things start to go off course. Obama becomes a bit more non-business friendly and he starts to grow and expand government…all things that are against the core mission of the Chamber.  So like all 800 lbs Gorillas, the Chamber starts to exert their power and speak about their dissatisfaction with the current administration.  Great article in the Washington Post about it here: Rift between Obama and the Chamber of Commerce Growing.  

But what really makes for good theater is a fake press conference.  There is this fringe group called the Yes Men and they decide to host a fake press conference where they pretend to be the Chamber.  It makes for Great TV.  Check it out as the REAL Chamber rep breaks in on the fake Chamber press conference.  This looks like an SNL Skit that couldn’t get any better! 

 

I knew we would be paying for the mild summer weather.  We are suppose to have a Nor’easter in the next few days…or perhaps I should say the weathermen are salivating at the prospect of us having a nor’easter.  It also seems that Pennsylvania could have a snow storm tomorrow.  It would be the earliest snow storm on record for Pennsylvania. 

I have already turned on the heat at the house and have been using the toasty bun feature of my car.  Just glad I am headed to sunny California today!

I spent a lot of time today reflecting on Jaymuns death with friends.  I feel like so many of us were invested in Jaymun’s wellfare.  As I have said before, Jaymun’s parents were very kind in praying for Julie and Julie followed their blog.  Also, Jaymun showed me my first miracle and he made me believe that if I trust in God he will take care of everything. 

Today I spent a lot of time talking with friends about Jaymun, his little smile, his fighting ability, and his amazing family.  It made us think about what his parents and siblings are going through.  I know they must be numb and trying to comprehend this.  It reminded us of Julies last day and what that was like. 

When Julie started to die I was desperately trying to get to Texas from D.C.   I knew she was basically gone but I could not get a flight home until Saturday.  It was bad weather in Texas and I was worried I wasn’t going to get to the hospital in time (Lucikly I had a church praying for me to get there).  I made it to the hospital in time.  I have to say the flight was miserable.  Almost 3 hours stuck on a plane and I know the poor peopl e sitting beside me must of thought I was having a breakdown because I just cried to myself the whole time.  (The one thing I hate the most about living so far away from my family is that when something happens, I am stuck on a 3 hour plane ride trying to get home.  If I were in Texas I would be a short drive away).   When I got to the hospital  I was given some time with Julie to say my peace, but the fact was, there wasn’t anything I needed to say.  I had said it all in the previous 14 months when I was traveling back and forth to Texas.  I just wanted to let her know I was there and she could cross over whenever she was ready. 

When she died I was by her side along with her family.  It was the first time I actually cried loudly.  I was chest heaving bawling.  It was an amazing way to go…we were all surrounding her praying with her favorite priest.   When she died we kind of hung out in the room and in the hallway for an hour or so waiting for them to come take the body.  I don’t think we really knew what to do.  I remember looking at her family and thinking, “And then there were 3” (3 siblings).  Such a strange thing to think about when for 27 years I had only known 4 siblings.  Today I read Jaymuns blog about an hour after he passed and I thought, “Are they still waiting for someone to come take Jaymun away?”  Are they still wondering what they are suppose to do?  Are they madly thinking about who all they need to make sure knows?

I drove the 40 minutes home that night just numb.  I was driving slow and I don’t even think I had the radio on.  We hadn’t really eaten much that day so I stopped at the grocery store. This scary looking girl with puffy eyes and tear stains on her face checked out with a Bottle of wine, a pack of Pizza Rolls, and a box of Grasshopper cookies….the dinner of champions.  I went home, curled up in a leather chair, ate bad food and drank a bottle of wine.  I stayed in that chair for about 24 hours and then it was time to deal with details.  There were friends to get in town, funeral details to plan, picture slides shows to make, etc. etc. 

So all day to day I thought…is this what Jennifer and Dave are doing?   Do they even have time to do this? They have 4 other children.  You can’t shut down when you have children.  One thing I do know about this time is that we really enjoyed reading the blog posts.  It was almost theraputic.  In fact, the post where we told everyone she passed actually had 333 comments.  Why is that significant?  3 was Julie & Brendan’s special number.   We found comfort in all those 3’s and we knew it meant that Julie was okay. Thank God we had Brad to post that passage of Julie’s passing, I don’t think anyone else could have done it.  In fact, it was 4 days after Julie passed until we could post something.  So I look at Jaymun’s blog and I think about how only his family has ever posted on that….how long will it take them to find the words to communicate what they are going through?

I wonder, have Jennifer & Dave seen a sign from Jaymun?  Do they see God’s power in this tragic situation? On this sad day I can only pray that Faith will help heal the Kaat family, that Jaymun’s siblings cherish the memories they had, and that Dave’s research on natural therapies can help others fighting this awful disease.  But most of all, I pray God will take away their pain and give them peace.

Please send your prayers to the Kaat family.  They lost an amazing little boy this morning.  Jaymun you were an inspiration to us all in the short 3 years you were on earth.  Feel free to leave your prayers on Jaymun’s website: http://www.jaymun.com/journal/2009_10_13/

This is something I just can’t comprehend and I really cannot fathom what God’s plan might possibly be right now.  I guess all I can do is trust Him. 

This weekend I went to Florida to hang out with “The Florida Girls”.  We had big plans for Sunday.  You may remember that my friends 16 year old niece, Katlyn, suffered traumatic brain injury from a car accident on May 20. (You can learn more about it on her website: Katlyn’s Climb)  She remains in a semi-concious state and it has been difficult on the family.  Today (Sunday) there was a large benefit organized in upstate New York for Kate.  It was a climb, to represent Katyln’s climb to recover.  Everyone met early this morning and participated in an  organized hike on a cool fall day in upstate New York.  My friend could not afford to go to NY, so we held our own “climb” in Orlando on Sunday.  We walked 4 miles and would throw in some stairs whenever we passed them.   As we did this we talked about Kate, we talked about Julie, we laughed and we cried.  But best of all, fate intervened and we met an amazing person. 

We were trying to get someone to take a picture of us so we can show the family back in NY that we participated as well.  After several attempts we found this nice woman named Jill.  She took our picture then she asked about our shirts (we were wearing our Katlyn’s climb t-shirts from the benefit we did in early summer).  We explained to her that Katlyn was still fighting for her life and we were walking for her recovery in our mini-climb since we couldn’t be with everyone else.  We expected her to leave and get back to running but instead she asked if she could do a lap with us, for Kate. 

So we walked with Jill and as we chatted we learned several things:

·         She runs with some friends who like to say prayers for people as they exercise. They get together, talk about someone who needs a little help and then together they pray.  This reminds me SOOO much of another group of incredible ladies I know in Houston.   They would often run and pray with Julie.  Jill offered to add Katlyn to the prayer group.

·         Jill’s running partner (who was not there today) is a 36 year old man who lost his wife to Melanoma shortly after their first child was born.  His wife had melanoma and while she was pregnant it spread.  He is now a single father.

She left us after one mile to finish the 10 miles she was doing that day.  As she left she asked if she could hug Debbie.  It was just a really great moment in time.  Here was this total stranger with so many parallels in her life that we just happened to run into today.  As she left, she said she will pray for Katlyn’s recovery.  

Our angel Jill and Debbie

The Florida Girls

The Lake we walked around

I wanted to draw your attention to two other blogs today. 

Jaymun’s Journey,

 We have been following Jaymun’s Journey since Julie started her blog.  (See old post: http://kerberism.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/miracle-needed/) His mother offered words of encouragement on Julie’s blog.  He is a 3 year old child who has been fighting a rare form of cancer since he was born.  As I have said in other posts, he showed me what a miracle was in December 2006 and it gave me hope for Julie.  I have always followed the blog because his parents, Dave and Jennifer, have such faith.  They showed me the power of turning it all over to God and trusting in his path.  Jaymun had another relapse a few weeks ago and this time it is bad.  I keep checking the blog every day worried the worst has happened.  But this morning we had the first good post in a while.  He is making some improvements in his condition, but he is still very critical.  This little boy is a FIGHTER!  He is amazing and I hope you will add Jaymun and his family to your prayers. 

 

Laura Talks

I know many of you won’t follow Jaymun’s blog because it is just too depressing.  On a lighter note one of my writer friends has started a blog. (Some of you may know her as that crazy friend of mine with the hilarious videos on facebook).  I find it hilarious and good for a mid afternoon break.  She isn’t exactly sold on whether she will keep up with a blog or not.  But I think you should check it out, I think you will enjoy it.  (I especially liked the Gum-Fight-Movie post).

I wanted to provide you with a quick update on the BTHO Melanoma event we held this past weekend for Julie and the theft of the foundation credit card.  Yesterday the local Houston NBC news station (KPRC) interviewed Angie about the theft incident.  It was a great interview (Angie did GREAT).  We were the 2^nd story on the nightly news and they showed the video of the female criminal using the credit card.  (I think if the Huntsville School District had not shut down due to H1N1 we might have been the lead story!)  This whole thing has been a reminder that everything happens for a reason.   He has a plan, and it is bigger than we are.

The story got picked up by MSNBC and now the Houston CBS affiliate is planning to do a story.   The coverage we have gotten has really raised awareness about the foundation and we have received wonderful emails (and financial support) from concerned citizens.  

Now, let’s hope someone recognizes that girl!  I know there is a large group of people wanting to show up in that courtroom wearing BTHO Melanoma T-Shirts!

KPRC Video Interview:  http://www.click2houston.com/news/21145853/detail.html#video

MSNBC Story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33068632

It is hard to believe we just finished the 3rd Annual Beat The Hell Outta Melanoma BBQ & Silent Auction.  It was a huge success thanks to all of Angie’s hard work. She did a great job.  This year’s big raffle item was a Trip for Two to Costa Rica!  I didn’t win it (I wasn’t allowed to buy tickets) but my friends Kenneth & Janene did win.  You should have seen Janene jumping up and down when it was announced.  I think it made her week!

We had a huge crowd and everyone was so generous. I am not sure how much we raised this year.  All proceeds will go to help fight Melanoma and educate (thank you Derek) people.  This year we had 3 Dermatologists offering skin cancer screening and we got a lot of people at the event who heard about it on TV, in the Paper, or in a newsletter.  As soon as we opened people were lining up to have free cancer screenings. It is a great feeling to educate people about Melanoma.  I even talked to one lady who was dumbfounded that Julie died from a skin cancer.  Education folks..it is our greatest weapon.   We also had a fair amount of friends from grade school through high school show up.  It is always great to see who comes out to support our foundation.

Unfortunately, during the event someone went into Angie’s car (parked on the pavilion by all of us) and stole her wallet. They then headed immediately to every CVS in town and charged nearly $1000 on the JMKL Foundation Credit Card.  So, we are having a benefit for JMKL and some jerk goes and steals the foundation credit card and steals from a charity.  Who does that?  The good news is the police were pretty upset about it and immediately got video tape of the woman who did it.  Hopefully we can find this girl..but if not, Karma will take care of her.

The kids had a great time. We had one of those big Bounce Castles.  But there was a big fight for the kids over what was the best: Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers, Life Flight landing, Rocket Cheerleaders, or the Two Stepping Dance lessons (big thanks to Lisa for being an AMAZING entertainment chair!).   I can’t wait to see what we do next year. 

There were two things I absolutely loved about Sunday.  1)  When I arrived for set up bright and early I was greeted by a 3 year old running toward me, smiling and saying my name.  Those are the best hugs in the whole world. 2) I got to spend some time with old friends and honor Julie’s memory. 3) In the silent auction I won two original Jackson hand painted pottery sharks.

This is always a hard event, but so worth it.  BTW – I loved our T-Shirts this time.  Let me know if you want one. We sold them for $10 and we sold the bags for $3.00  

Here are some pictures:

LifeFlight

Taylor taking a picture with Storm Troopers guarding LifeFlight (she also got a bunch of autographs).

Darth Vader scaring the kids in the Bounce House

Connor was not afraid of Darth Vader

Even the Adults (Rob & Amanda) wanted their pictures taken with the Storm Troopers!

Kevin & Irma

Even I got captured by Darth & the Strom Troopers

Addie & Kendall watching the Line Dancing lessons

Our T-Shirts & Bag this year.  The front says: I Support The Fight Against Melanoma.  The Back: is an Image of Julie wearing her Prize Fighter Robe that Liz Made.  Great shirts!  The Bags are with the logo as well and are great for groceries!

done

LifeFlight landing

Tags: BTHO, Julie