I Am Walking...Broken Foot and All

As I prepare for the Light the Night Walk on Oct. 18th I wanted to give you a little more perspective on my commitment.

• I am walking for my nephew Ryan and his friends Larissa, Trey, Stef and Tyler who are each fighting their own battle.


• I am walking for my Mother’s dear friend Diana who is a survivor and my co-worker’s parents and friends.


• I am walking for the countless parents of J5 who just learned their precious child has been diagnosed with cancer.


• I am walking because the current chemo treatment is barbaric, especially in children. Today’s cell-killing chemo is indiscriminate…it kills the good cells and the bad cells. Tomorrow’s chemo will act more as a smart-bomb, killing only the cancer cells while leaving the good cells alone.


• I am walking to give hope to the next generation of undiagnosed.

I want to send a big “THANK YOU” to all of you that have already contributed to the walk…I am almost half way to my goal. For those of you that would still like to donate, I need to have contributions made by October 13th. Thank you for your support and thoughtful consideration.

http://www.active.com/donate/ltnColumb/2276_bsalmonsLTN1

God Bless, Barry

Back in for Chemo

Just a very quick note to let you all know that Ryan went back into Children's yesterday for his 5-day Chemo. He'll be there until Saturday. I also believe that he will be getting his last two radiation treatments this week as well. Barry saw him last night and he seemed to be doing well. Please pray for Ryan this week and that he will not have any complications with the radiation or the chemo. I'll post again with any new updates.

God Bless,
Aunt Amy

Wednesday update 10/1/08 and a prayer request

Ryan is enjoying his time at home. He is still on fluids and I think will be until his esophagus is fully healed. He began to eat a little bit of food over the last couple of days.

Ryan's best friend, Eric, came home this past weekend from school and stayed with Ryan the whole weekend. It was just want Ryan wanted and needed. Thank you so much Eric!

He'll go back into the hospital today for labwork.

I do have another prayer request...for Trey Martens and his family. Trey is a beautiful 9 yr. old boy that stayed 2 doors down from Ryan when Ryan was first in the hospital in April - June. Trey was diagnosed in January and has been fighting Acute Myeloid Leukemia, another rare form of cancer in children. Ryan and Trey, as well as their families, have formed a bond during this time. I ask that you please pray hard for Trey and his family. I'm praying for God to grant this family a miracle. This is tough. There are so many questions. But, I will continue to pray for miracles and pray for strength. Praying is what I can, and what you can, do. And, I will always trust in God...even with all of these questions. Cancer is evil. We must find a cure!

Barry is participating in the Light the Night Walk on October 18th. This Walk benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for additional research for blood cancers such as the one Trey has. Barry's goal is to raise $2,008. If you'd like to help support Barry and help to provide further research for this devastating disease, you can donate funds through this link:

http://www.active.com/donate/ltnColumb/2276_bsalmonsLTN1

Thank you so much!

God Bless,
Aunt Amy

Ryan is home

Thankfully, Ryan is now home. He left Children's Hospital yesterday afternoon. He is hoping it will be a few weeks until he has to go back in again. The time he was in the hospital this past week was not great for him. Ryan dealt with a lot of pain. He had also lost some weight because he was unable to eat or drink. So, the doctors had him on fluids and nutrients to help that.


He was originally scheduled to have his 5-day chemo on Monday. But, it is being pushed back until his esophagus can fully heal. He will continue to take medication for that. I think it is expected to completely heal in a week or two.

Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for Ryan.

God Bless,
Amy

Add'l update from yesterday

As an update to yesterday's post, I wanted to let you know that they re-admitted Ryan to Children's Hospital yesterday. They needed to keep him there to get him the nutrition and fluids as well as the pain medication that he needs. And, I wanted to make a correction to yesterday, it really isn't his throat but his esophagus that has been "burned" by the radiation which is causing his pain. The pain management care team at the hospital has been working with Ryan to keep his pain down. Ryan told Barry today that he may be in there for another 3-5 days. Please keep him in your prayers.

Thank you!
Aunt Amy

Wednesday 9/17 update and a special thank you

Ryan has not been feeling well at all these last couple of days. His throat is very painful due to the radiation that he has been receiving. He was supposed to receive his last two days of radiation yesterday and today. But, they stopped it after Monday's treatment because of Ryan's pain. Brad and Ryan will go to the James today and consult with the doctors to decide what is the best course of action with the radiation. Because of the pain, Ryan has been unable to eat or drink so he has been on fluids this last day. Please pray for healing on his throat.



I hope that many of you have received your power back. Brad, Susan and Ryan were without power for awhile the first day after the windstorm. They were able to restore power with a generator and all power is back on now.



On a bright note, I have wanted to thank publicly a special young girl who was very gracious to Ryan over the summer. Lainey is a friend of my oldest son. For her 9th birthday party over the summer, she requested that she not receive any gifts for herself. Instead, she asked that the kids instead please donate to the Ryan Salmons Donation Fund for Ryan's care. She even went to a couple of area businesses and asked for donations. She is an amazing little girl. She ended up raising over $400. Isn't that incredible?!? She is quite a blessing to our family. Here is a picture of Lainey with Ryan.

Thank you all so much for your continued support and prayers for Ryan.

God Bless,

Aunt Amy

Thank you Jerry and Jeff for a great weekend - Go Bucks!

A very special thank you goes out to:

Jerry VonDeylen
Jeff Patrick

We can’t thank you enough for helping Ryan have such a great weekend at the OSU vs. OU football game. Jerry donated 2 club seats as well as a parking pass to the West stadium lot. Brad and Ryan parked within ten spots of the entrance to the stadium and were able to easily access the entrance. Jeff got Ryan field passes and 2 club seats as well. While on the field, Ryan spoke to Beanie Wells, Coach John Cooper, Bo Delande and Chris Spielman. The accommodations were excellent for Ryan’s needs and we can’t thank those two enough for the time Ryan got to enjoy! Roland, Jeff, Ryan and Brad were together and shared time throughout the game. After the game, Ryan got to return to the tailgate spot to enjoy a close victory with his friends. Go Bucks!

On Sunday, Brad, Susan and Ryan were at the Buckeye Cancer cruise party with Chris and Stefanie Spielman, Craig Krenzel and Jack Park. Ryan got to speak with each one in detail and he won a picture of the Horseshoe for his Buckeye Room! The link for the cruise is www.buckeyecruise.com for anyone interested in attending.

Ryan is at Children’s Hospital this week for another round of five day chemo and is also doing 5 days of radiation at the James. He will again have radiation next Mon-Wed. of next week. But besides that, I believe that with the exception of one day of getting his Vincristine, Ryan should be home for a couple of weeks before he has to be back at Children’s.

I was lucky enough to spend the day with Ryan today at Children’s. He has been feeling pretty well. He wasn’t able to sleep much last night and tried to catch up on some sleep this morning. But, I don’t know if he got too much rest. But, he looked great and I’m glad that he has so far been feeling better this time around versus the last chemo round.

We thank you all so much for your prayers and your support. We are working on a system so we soon should be posting to this blog on a more routine basis. Thank you all so much again!

God Bless,
Aunt Amy