Clear Scans

I waited and waited and waited......finally Chase called and told me that the preliminary look at the scans was clean. YEAH! However, what he was most excited about was the new cancer wing at the UNC Chapel Hill Hospital. "Mom, it is awesome, you have got to see it" he says, before he even told me about the clean scans. Typical Chase, he is more excited about everyone or everything else than he is for himself. I love him..... He then goes on to tell me about how bad parking is and how he wants to do something to help those families that have to come and visit their children and pay for the parking time after time. They don't even sell the discounted passes anymore. He couldn't imagine me going and paying ever day and then his Grandmother and Aunt coming and paying also as many times as they came to visit. "Those bills add up" he says, I want to do something to try and help that situation. His mind is always rolling. He did hand off some Friends of Jaclyn pamphlets to the right people in the hospital. We really do hope to get more of those children involved in the program.
Ta ta for now, with a happy day. :D

Chase will have an MRI tomorrow night, it is his first since March. I have been asking and asking him to get this done and he kept putting it off. They are not any fun, he will be quick to tell you that. But with his schedule of baseball, school, summer of baseball and then school starting again, he just couldn't tie down a time.

Please pray that the scans are clear as they have been in the past. This October 4th marks the third year since his diagnosis. We have been lucky that he has been strong and healthy since chemo and radiation was completed and I would like him to stay that way.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

September is officially deemed ‘Childhood Cancer Awareness Month’. Unfortunately for those of us living with childhood cancer it is a lifelong fight for awareness and not just 30 days. Breast Cancer Month is in October and you will start to notice the color pink everywhere and many companies will be showing their support with monetary donations to breast cancer funds when you purchase their products. The breast cancer folks run a fabulously successful campaign and I think everyone now associates the color pink with breast cancer. And please don't get me wrong, I think that is wonderful as my own mother has battled breast cancer.
However, gold is our children's color. The best character color in my opinion. It stands for quality and excellence and being second to none. EVERY CHILD with cancer exhibits these characteristics and children above all else should have our attention, our concerns and our promise. They are our future, our inspirations, our hopes and dreams, our daughters and sons, brothers and sisters, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. We owe them our best and we have to commit to finding a better quality of treatment, less invasive and toxic treatments and ultimately a way to stop these mutant cells from continuing to grow out of control and taking lives. I am going to take a guess that at least 85% of the people reading this had no idea that September was Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Well, now you know. Welcome to the party!
I do hope this grassroots movement continues to pick up momentum and September will be filled with gold ribbons and bald headed little kids asking for your help. The color gold will decorate Oreo bags, Barbie packages, diaper packaging and all sorts of other products. Millions of dollars will be raised and significant improvements will occur on all fronts. Awareness. Having knowledge of how widespread pediatric cancer is and how little funding it receives on the federal level and on the commercial level is crucial.
I know childhood cancer is not pretty. It’s heartbreaking and sad but we need to get over that and look the beast in the eye and make a commitment to help these kids. I am usually not a soapbox kind of guy but this is personal and on occasion I need to drag that box out and take to the airwaves. If you can, please make a little change for the next 30 days. I am sure you agree that we all use email every day. Please add this line after your signature "September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month." It’s the small steps that turn into large steps that turn into change. Just getting the word out and making people think, even just for a moment, about kids having cancer, is effective. If you have a blog, could you mention that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month? If you Tweet on Twitter, tell your followers that it’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Face bookers, tell your friends.
Spread the word.

Summer of Baseball

Let's just say that Chase had quite the summer with baseball. The College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska was his third in a row, the team's fourth, but still not the outcome that all would have wanted. The guys were so disappointed, but even more so in knowing that those games would be the last that they would play together, ever. Many were drafted or graduated and so the friendships will move on in different directions. A sad time for them in so many ways.

After a day's rest.....Chase joined up with Team USA in Cary and had a thrilling time. They played in Cary, NC until July 6th and then went on to Tokyo, Japan and finished up in Prince George, Canada where they won the World Challenge! He arrived back home in late July just in time to help his roommates move into the apartment and have a couple weeks before classes started again.

As for his health, Chase is doing very well. He had a scheduled MRI during the summer that he missed due to being out of the country. I keep hounding him to set up another one, but you know most 21 year olds, they have their own schedules and if they feel fine, he really doesn't think it is necessary. But, as his mother, I disagree!!! :-( We will see who wins this battle. hee hee

On another note, Jake, Chase's younger brother has now started college at UNCW and so the two of them are doing more chatting, aka. texting. I am happy that they are in touch with each other and both doing well. Jake will be a part of the baseball team down there as well. We are thrilled to be pulling for both the Heels and the Seahawks!

I will post pictures at another time, school has started and there is much to do.

September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, please help spread the word and wear a yellow ribbon if you have one.

College World Series

Well, we all thought that this would be the year for the Tar Heels to win it all....but it wasn't. Much to our dismay, after a what seemed like a short week, we were headed back home from Omaha. Chase was out there for his third year straight and what was University of North Carolina's fourth. We joined him after the opening ceremonies and before the first game. The drive was long but well worth it as we loved every moment we had with him. The atmosphere out there is something to soak in and will not be the same after the new stadium is built. Many of the team's and Chase's thoughts and feelings can be found by reading his Post Card From Omaha articles that he wrote for the News and Record while they were there. Clicking on that link will get you to the first of this year's articles. After that you can click on his name and find other articles that he has written. Who knows, maybe journalism is in his future.
One thing I know is that I am a proud mom of a 21 year old, brain tumor survivor, who has really made his life into something special. Right now, he is in Cary, on the Team USA Collegiate baseball team and will be traveling abroad this summer to such places as Japan and Canada. A mother couldn't be any happier to have a healthy, happy, young man.
May God Be The Glory....
Judith~mother of Chase

Clean Scans!

Whew! God is Good!

After a few days of being sick and a mother being worried, Chase was given the great news of "clean scans" once again. AMEN! For the two days prior to his scheduled MRI last Friday, he had been sick as in nauseated, vomiting and even missing classes. That is highly unlike him. He also knows that when he tells his mother he is not well, he better have a plan in tact for getting better. So, he did go and see the UNC Team doctor who advised him to stay at home, drink fluids and rest; it was probably a virus that was going around the team. That was Thursday. Friday morning he went in to the UNC Hospital for his scheduled MRI at 8:00 and at 2:00pm he was finally able to call me and tell me he was leaving and was feeling better. (After all, they had a game that night, a weekend series against Duke.) Seems like they are doing his spine in three sections now with contrast and then the brain. So it is taking much, much longer than it usually does. Then, the brain takes about 45 minutes itself.

When all that was done, he goes over to the clinic to meet with Dr. Gold, his oncologist, and discuss all of life's challenges. :-) Chase shared about what he has been doing with his speaking engagements and how he is supporting the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation. Dr. Gold is quite supportive of all that Chase does and will do what he can for this foundation too.

The weekend series against Duke did not turn out as well as we would have liked. They won Friday night, but lost Saturday and Sunday. I did enjoy seeing Chase all weekend and spending time with my mom who came to the game on Saturday along with Buddy's Mom. Then on Sunday when Jacob and Kailey came along with Buddy's sister Rene.
After the game on Sunday I took us all out to eat to celebrate Jake's receiving the Teaching Fellow's Scholarship for UNC Wilmington. We are all proud that he wants to follow in our footsteps and be a teacher and especially a coach. There are many out there that know that Jake will make both a great teacher and a great coach.

All in all a great weekend, we just wish UNC could have pulled out a few more wins. Oh, and if you look in the picture to the right of me....you will see Coach Roy Williams. He was just another guy in the stands watching the game. Kinda cool, huh!

Judith~ mother of Chase

DC and Friends of Jaclyn

We could not have asked for a prettier weekend for March 7th and 8th! The temperatures were in the 70's as we walked around DC, saw the sights and enjoyed each other's company. We visited many places that meant different things to the three of us such as the Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and of course, even took a look through the fence at the White House. All of these things were just amazing to Chase, a place he has wanted to visit for many years. However, as you can see by the look on Chase's face, the White House just wasn't ready for him yet. Drats!

Buddy and Chase with Lincoln; Judith and Chase at the Korean Memorial; Chase at the Vietnam Memorial; Buddy and Chase in front of the Capitol and others.

Now on to the real reason for the trip, the Friends of Jaclyn Gala Banquet.

The banquet was in honor the the kids and their families that the foundation supports. The kids either have or have had brain tumors. The foundation matches each child up with an athletic team from a University or High Schools in their area. In return, the child gets 20-30 new "brothers or sisters" to help them cope with the illness that they are going through. The team supports them by doing a variety of different things, sending cards, phone calls, allowing them to attend games, being an honoree for the team and much more. This goes on for a long, long time, not just a quick visit, but rather as long as the team and the child choose to stay together. Chase and his baseball team, the UNC Tarheels have adopted a child, James Neubauer, through FOJ and are very happy to have the opportunity to reach out to this family. Coach Fox sent Chase to this fabulous event to do his speaking engagement as a way to represent UNC even though they were in a big series against Clemson that weekend. Denis Murphy was proud to have Chase be a speaker because Chase is a brain tumor survivor, a Division I Collegiate Athlete and is now supporting such a wonderful cause. The Murphy Family will forever be in our hearts for what they are doing for other families with kids battling brain tumors.

Below are a few pictures from the evening. The beautiful young lady in the picture with Chase, Buddy and me is Jaclyn Murhpy. What a terrific young lady!What a special evening, one that I will not forget for a long time. I am a proud mother of a son who continues to impress me with his strength and courage. His commitment to do whatever he can to help raise awareness of Pediatric Cancer is truly amazing. Even while taking a full load of classes at Carolina and playing baseball, he finds the time to do many things for others that reach beyond my own small mind's ability to grasp, "how does this kid do it all?" But I love him for it and I know that God has put him on this earth for a special reason; to help others to cope with the dreadful disease called, cancer.

Our thanks to all that attended that evening and supported the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation. Denis Murphy, you are a wonderful man doing such phenomenal things for children all over the country. To the the rest of the Murphy family, Linda, Taryn and Jaclyn, I was delighted to meet you that evening and hope that our friendship will continue. To Sarah Walsh, Denis' right hand "woman", the event was beautiful and I know you are already planning for the next one. May God bless all of you.
Judith~mother of Chase

Let the Season Begin

ACC Baseball was off to a very cold start last weekend, February 20th; however it was a winning weekend all the way around. Chase is now an official bullpen catcher and to put it in his words "I couldn't be happier!" He now dresses out with the team for every game, is in the dug out amongst all the excitement until he gets the call to go to the bull pen. That is when he goes and warms up any pitcher that may be going into the game. He can tell you what everyone of them throws, what speed, what their best pitch, their worst pitch and their favorite pitch might be. Some of these guys will be going to the majors, and he will be able to say, "I warmed him up before such and such game." What a fabulous life to be living after cancer.

The Tar Heels have played eight games and they are 7-1 right now! They are loaded with pitching and even on the off days Chase can be seen out their new stadium catching with someone because they will be throwing that week and they want to keep themselves in shape. Who do they call? Number 41, Chase Jones.....he will never say no. He loves his role on the team and continues do well academically too. He was accepted into the Business school at Carolina a couple weeks ago, and that was BIG TIME. Coach Fox even recognized him in front of the entire team before practice. That is a humbling experience for any young man, especially Chase. He has officially worked his way up to being recognized as a part of the team. I couldn't be prouder!

After one year in the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, they are now back home in the new Boshamer Stadium. You may take a tour with Coach Mike Fox or you may look at a few of the players reactions during the opening weekend at The Bosh. Much more information can be found on the Tar Heel website and it is updated after every game with photos. If you love Carolina Baseball, you may want to save this website to your favorites.

Until next time,

Judith~mother of Chase