Everyone --
What can I say beyond thank you for all of the wishes and prayers of love, concern, hope... you all bring tears to my eyes. Thank you, thank you, thank you, over and over again.
My husband, Jack, is doing well, considering what he is going through. He was diagnosed the week before Christmas with an aggressive bone marrow cancer. We feel so fortunate that we live less than an hour from the world-renowned M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston -- the physicians there are the best on the planet and have given us much reason for hope. It seems that with every bit of bad news, we are able to find a silver lining and many blessings -- when we were told that he had cancerous lesions on nearly every bone in his body, we also learned that none of his soft tissues (kidney, liver, colon, etc.) appeared to be involved. When we were told on Christmas Eve that he had tumors in his brain that would require radiation, we also learned that they were in a place where the radiation would not affect his vision or his thinking/analytical skills or memory. When we were told on New Years' Eve that he had many lesions on his spine that needed radiation, we also learned that radiating them would not affect his nervous system and would in fact lessen the excruciating pain he has endured. We continue to marvel at the intricacy of the human body -- and at the growth of modern medicine and its practitioners. While we know that his cancer is not curable, we are assured that it is treatable. We live in faith that our best years still lie ahead of us -- and are surrounded by family and friends and prayer warriors whose profound love and support have buoyed us through some pretty dark moments. All of your notes continue to give me strength; while this disease shows little mercy to anyone, we have learned that it cannot erode love, which is tempered and grows stronger in the face of adversity.
Dear, dear friends - we wish for all of you nothing short of a happy and healthier New Year. With love and thanks to all -
Sue Garman
