Merry Christmas

We hope all of you are having a Merry Christmas. It is 82 degrees here and Mark, Neal and Amy are out on the kayaks, leaving me with London :) It's a great day for sure.

Mark came through his surgery great. He is up and around and the only thing that really bothered him was the tube down his throat. But even that is getting better. Thanks for all your prayers...keep praying, it is not over yet. The radiation is working and then he will undergo more radiation treatments for 5 weeks straight - everyday - starting in February. It is good to finally be on the journey because the sooner you get started...the quicker you can be done!

Tonight, Megan,Ryan and the kids arrive here. Then on the 27th, we leave for Disney World and all the madness there. We are looking forward to it and spending the time together as a family...and I personally will be glad to get a new family picture.

We love you - let us hear from you this season and take care.

Mark and Cathy

Mark's surgery

Today, Mark and I will leave for the hospital at 1pm and he will have his surgery at 3:45pm. They will insert about 80-90 radiation seeds into his prostate to begin treating the cancer. They fully expect this treatment process to get all of it -- but our journey begins today. Thanks for praying with us.

Neal and Amy have been with us and baby London. We have had a great time. If you have facebook, you can go online and see pictures of Neal and Mark fishing in the kayaks. Neal caught a big red - about 3lbs and was so excited...they had a nice calm day for fishing on the water.

More later.

Diagnosis of what was found in Mark's back.

This is the medical term for what was found in Mark's back...we are glad it is not cancer and this hemangioma will not cause him any problems in the future as well. Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers.

Here’s what I found out about my situation (from Mark)

Bone hemangiomas are benign, malformed vascular lesions, overall constituting less than 1% of all primary bone neoplasms. They occur most frequently in the vertebral column (30-50%) and skull (20%), whereas involvement of other sites (including the long bones, short tubular bones, and ribs) is extremely rare.
Bone hemangiomas are usually asymptomatic lesions discovered incidentally on imaging or postmortem examination and mostly encountered in the middle-aged. The symptoms are largely nonspecific and depend on the site, size, and aggressiveness of the tumors.1, 2
Hemangiomas are slow growing, and malignant degeneration is virtually unknown. Rarely, locally aggressive growth patterns are recognized; hemangiomas with these patterns can mimic malignant lesions.

New Cancer update on Mark

Many of you have been praying with us regarding the news we received that Mark had Prostate Cancer. During his testing to get ready for radiation treatment to address this cancer, they found a spot on his back. Yesterday, he had a spinal biopsy on this spot to see if it was cancer as the doctors were very concerned that it could be.

We got the results today and he DOES NOT have cancer in his back...we are truly grateful for this news. He can now begin the radiation therapy to treat the prostate cancer. They caught it early and feel this treatment he will go through will get it all....we are praying for this.

We appreciate all your notes, calls, emails, facebook messages and texts to let us know you were praying with us...it is humbling. Even as they announced the good news at our church tonight, there were two men in the audience who have terminal cancer so though you are glad for your news...it still makes us feel so humbled because we feel their pain. Each of us have our journey with God and even if Mark would have had cancer in his back, we would have to praise HIM. We deserve nothing, but are thankful for all we get and are allowed to experience on this path.

We still need your prayers as Mark has a road before him with the radiation treatments for the prostate cancer. They should begin on December 22nd. We are ready to get that all started and will keep you updated with the progress. Feel free to share our news/story with those you know who will pray. We have a world map with all the places marked where we have friends and family praying for us...what a wonderful visual on depressing days...just looking at it cheers you up!!

Thanks again for your love, care and prayers on our behalf...keep it up, I swear, we have the biggest prayer group ever!! And the best people in it!

Cathy and Mark

Family Update

Dear everyone:

It has been awhile since I sent an update but so many things have been going on – and finally, I am getting to sending out a letter.

Most of you know by now that Mark was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in late October. After the initial shock of hearing the word CANCER….we came back to our senses and began a plan to see the best doctors we could. Of course, God worked it all out and used friends here to help us! What in the world would we do without friends and family to help us “live” life?!

On December 9th, Mark will also have a spinal biopsy on his back. During the process of getting ready to treat the prostate cancer, they found a spot on his back and they are concerned enough about it to see what it is. So…we are preparing for this test and hoping for good results. On December 11th, Mark will start his radiation therapy for the prostate cancer. It is a good option, one of the most aggressive but with few side effects….he feels really good about this treatment plan. The men at church have been a great support to him/us so even though we are not near those of you in KC, God is providing new friends to us that give us great love and care….our family is growing once again and we are blessed.

Speaking of family growth, Neal and Amy had their baby boy, London Kai on November 23rd. Amy did great…so did Neal. I hope you enjoy the pictures – he has the most adorable fat cheeks. We spent Thanksgiving with them and it seems cliché’ but we were very thankful for so many things.

It just worked out this Christmas that all our kids will be with us. We just can’t believe it and still find ourselves pinching one another to see if it is true! Neal, Amy and London will come around the 17th, then on Christmas evening Ryan and family will be here. On the 27th, we are all headed for Disney World to make some memories this season! We plan on enjoying every minute.

We hope things are well with each of you….thanks to so many of you who write, pray and call about Mark and just to see how we are doing. It means so much. We think of you often and when we do, we pray for you too. I will keep you updated through the process with Mark.

Love ya lots,

Cathy