It's Here!!!!

I am like a little kid on Christmas Eve today.  When I was younger I would stay up basically all night waiting on Christmas Day to finally get there.  Who am I kidding I still do that to this day.  Tonight (Sunday night) is going to be the same thing.  I get so excited each year for this event to come.  It is like having our Wedding Reception each year.  I get so frustrated putting it together because it is so much work to pull it all together, but we have such a good time that all the frustration is worth it. This year we have a full house with 4 of Jenny's sorority sisters, 3 of their husbands and two of their babies staying with us. We love it.

We had some amazing help this year putting it all together.  So I wanted to say another thank you to Ali Jackson, Berkley Casazza, Megan Zapf, Alan Jones, Erin Harvey and my brother Steven.  They have made all of the stress that we normally go through much much easier.  They took the bull by the horns and really helped us this year.

On the cancer side of things for me, we haven't really updated the blog since my last scan.  We found that there again has been no significant change in the tumors and the cancer has not moved back into my pelvis as we were afraid of.  That was a great thing to hear.  I was actually a little bit nervous about getting the result from this scan, but it turned out to be great news.  Unfortunately we still don't know what's causing the swelling in my leg or my shortness of breath & coughing. The plan now is for me to get a little bit of a break from chemo, so I wont have my next round until Wed. April 30.  There was a chance that I was going to change drugs but with the results of this scan being positive we are going to stay on the same regime for a while.  I will continue to get a break every 3 months just to let my body rest.  The thought is the break will give my body time to recover from being on chemo 33 out of the last 67 weeks.  Even to me that is a long damn time!

I hope to see everyone at the event tomorrow.  Hope you've had a great Easter.

Tim

Don't forget to buy your tickets!

I know I owe you all an update but life has (once again) gotten in the way. I did want to make sure all of you remembered to purchase your BrightLife tickets as today is the deadline. Tickets can be purchased here: https://brightlife.ticketbud.com/2014-tee-it-up


Below is a list of the auction items we will have up for bid & we still have more coming in!

Experiences:
BMW Pro-Am VIP Experience
Caesar's Head Mountain House Week Vacation
Carolina Baseball VIP Experience
Charleston Golf Getaway including a stay at the Marriott, Golf for 4 at Bull's Bay and Dinner for 4 at Hall's Chophouse
Chicago Bears Pre-game Field Passes & Tickets to a Regular Season game
Clemson Baseball VIP Experience
Disney Vacation Package
Greenville Staycation including a room at the Hyatt, dinner at Sassafrass & brunch at Roost
Jared Emerson Painting (to be auctioned after his live performance at 6:45)
Kismet Photography Engagement or Bridal Portrait Session
2 tickets to a home Notre Dame game
Member for a day experience at The Reserve
Palmetto Olive Oil Tasting for 10
Pawley's Island Ocean Front Beach House Week Vacation
Thomas Creek Brewery tasting for 10 and limo service from Eastside Transportation
Tickets to the grand opening party of Whitney & Bryan's new Charleston restaurant as seen on Bravo's Southern Charm
USC vs. Furman Field Passes
Wade Hampton Club round of golf with the President
Wells Fargo Tournament passes for 4 to all 4 rounds

Sports Memorabilia:
Bill Haas Signed Flag
Bill Haas Signed Scotty Cameron Tour Edition Putter
Blake Bortles Signed Football
Bridgestone Tour Bag
Bridgestone Limited Edition Masters Stand Bag
Clemson Football Team Signed Football
Dabo Swinney Signed Death Valley Print
NASCAR All Star Race Tickets and Pit Crew Uniforms
NASCAR mini-helmet signed by Richard Petty, Dale Jarrett and Jamie McMurray
NASCAR Sonoma Raceway print signed by Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Danica Patrick, Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman & Kasey Kahne
NASCAR Sprint Cup Official Race Suit & Hat with Winner's Circle bottle of champagne signed by Rusty Wallace & Richard Petty
Ryan Succup Signed Football
Stitch Headcovers

Dressed to Impress:
Dress from Megan Masters Designs
Dress from Southern Frock
Polos, Hats & Croakies from Southern Tide
Shoes from the Kristin Cavallari collection for Chinese Laundry
Sweater & Necklace from Trunk 13
Tory Burch Beach Bag & Sunglasses from Monkee's

For the Little Ones:
Gamecock Dress for Baby Girl
Vann & Liv $75 gift card

For the Home:
PTP Tools Lithium Ion Driver Kit
PTP Tools Lithium Ion Combo Kit

For the Belly:
$50 to Green Room

For Relaxation:
Body Bronzing & Eyelash Tint from He & Me
Full Service Cut & Color from He & Me
Microdermabrasion Facial from He & Me
Signature Massage from River Falls Spa
Women's Haircut & Blow-out from He & Me

Sign Up ASAP!

More information to come on everything we've learned so far this week and what next steps we're planning to take but also wanted to include this email we're trying to get around as we're a little further behind in dinner sign-ups than we usually are and just want to get the word out ASAP! (I'm sure my english teacher aunt & grandmother are cringing at that run-on sentence)

On a different note, thank you for your support, your prayers and all you've done over the past few years. Life has been a little rough on us lately but knowing we have so many people that care about us really helps to ease our burdens! I'm running late for class (& have a paper/test to study for tonight) but am hoping to have some time tomorrow morning to finally give everyone a proper update.

Hey there –

It's hard to believe that the fourth annual BrightLife Tee It Up For Cancer event is less than a week and a half away.  This year’s golf tournament, dinner and silent auction is being held at Thornblade Club on Monday, April 21 and proceeds will again be donated to Greenville Health System’s Institute for Translational Oncology Research (iTOR), an organization that provides advanced cancer research right here in Greenville.  Thus far, with your help we've been able to raise over 75,000 for this cause over the past three years!

While the golf is filled, we are still hoping to get more registrations for the dinner and silent auction before Monday, which takes place from 5 to 8 p.m.  Tickets are only $20 and open to everyone, even those not golfing (if you are golfing or the guest of one of the golfers, your ticket is included in the golf price already, all sponsors also receive two tickets).  Kids under 5 are free and children of all ages are welcome. The silent auction list is growing with some really awesome items and experiences with a range of prices to fit any budget.

We will also have Jared Emerson performing live at 6:45 p.m. and if you haven't ever seen a performance, it is one that cannot be missed. His painting will even be auctioned off after the conclusion of his performance.

To sign up simply visit this link: https://brightlife.ticketbud.com/2014-tee-it-up

We’d love to see you and any guests you can gather to join us at the dinner and silent auction and if you've already purchased your ticket, Thank you!  Dinner/silent auction registrations are down a bit for this year, so if you don’t mind, can you please share this information with any of your family, friends, colleagues or other acquaintances in the area that may like to participate?

Thank you for taking the time to read this novel of an email.  We really appreciate your support with BrightLife over the last couple of years and hope to see you on April 21 at the event.  If you have other questions or need more information, let us know.  Thank you in advance for helping to spread the word to some of your contacts, as well.

Best,

Tim & Jenny

Back in the ER

Between my school, our respective jobs and prepping for the BrightLife tournament we haven't had a moment between us to spare over the past month although there has been a lot happening. Tim is still on the same treatment but the breathing issues have continued and between those and how exhausted/burnt out he is plus how much of a beating his body has taken over the past four years we decided it would be best for him to take a few weeks off of chemo so last week was his last treatment until the end of April. During this time we're also looking into some new options to see if he is eligable and if they are good options for him. 

We're at the point where there are no longer any standard protocols for treatment so clinical trials are our only options. As he has had so much and so many different drugs he is only eligible for Phase One trials which are trials more in their infancy. We're still working to learn the ins and outs of all of this but to my current understanding this is both good and bad. Bad in that these are not drugs that have been thoroughly tested through  multiple levels of trials. That does mean that Tim gets faster access to drugs though. In addition he is watched MUCH more closely for possible side effects and complications. Newer drugs are also much more targeted than traditional protocols so side effects are lessened a bit and we have a better chance of finding something that actually makes advances in getting rid of the cancer versus just keeping it under control. Unfortunately we also run the risk of trying something that doesn't even slow down growth but frankly that is a risk that we encounter with every drug tried on Tim. It's always an inner struggle to accept moving to a new drug but we'll never find a cure for him if we don't. 

We had another trip into the ER last night due to some mysterious swelling at the top of Tim's thigh. He isn't in pain and it doesn't look infected but there were some concerns about him having a blood clot. He had an ultrasound this morning where they determined he was clot free so now it's a matter of figuring out what the swelling is being caused by and how to treat it. We've been doctor hopping this morning and are hoping to have some answers in the next few hours, well update with more as we know!

Thanks!