(Note:  if you haven’t watched the video on the home page yet, please check it out.  Just click “play.”) 

It's Thanksgiving Day... since my last blog entry, we’ve put up our Christmas tree, assembled a gigantic blow-up Santa / Frosty the Snowman ensemble outside of the family room window, and hung stockings on the mantle.  We’ve played Christmas songs and driven through two local Christmas light displays (which the boys loved.)  Jacob’s central line has treated him well and Jodi has mastered the nightly line care routine without a hitch.  It’s been a great few days.

All the same, we’re learning the old truth that joy and sadness run hand and hand through this life. 

On Tuesday we went in for our last pre-transplant consult with Dr. Filipovich to do a final review of the BMT plan.  It was sobering.  One of the problems other NEMO boys have experienced in transplant is that the new cells don’t always “take.”  As a result, our doctors have decided to take a more aggressive approach to Jacob’s chemotherapy; as Dr. Filipovich said, “We only want to do this once.”  When we think about this in the long run, we’re actually relieved.  We also want to get it right the first time, and if a more aggressive regimen makes this more likely, we’re all for it.  However, in the short term it will probably mean more side effects for Jacob.  So the meeting included information about mouth and gastro-intestinal sores, narcotics to combat the resulting pain, etc.  Dr. Filipovich was outstanding, patiently answering all of our many questions and explaining the entire plan thoroughly.  It was still hard to hear.  We left the meeting feeling like the wind had been knocked out of us one more time.

But then yesterday was full of joy.  We had a great morning at the apartment, a fun afternoon at the park, and a wonderful evening of Christmas lights together.

And as for tomorrow… we’ve had final confirmation from the donor.  There will be no more delays.  Tomorrow is Day -10, ten days from transplant.  We’ll be formally admitted to the Bone Marrow Transplant floor at

8:00 a.m. and Jacob starts chemotherapy before noon.  They’re going to try to administer his first four days of chemotherapy medication orally.  So that’s one big prayer request, that he’ll take the medicine well and we can avoid having to stick a tube up his nose and into his intestine any earlier than necessary.

But we’re trying our best to leave tomorrow’s worries to tomorrow.  Today, the boys are napping together upstairs while Jodi and Bec are out to pick up a Boston Market Thanksgiving dinner.  The boys spent the morning watching the parade on TV and making turkey crafts.  I just took Bec’s homemade apple pie out of the oven and it smells delicious.  There’s a lot to be thankful for today.

We’re grateful for so much all the way around.  We’re warm and dry and safe and well-fed.  There’s a willing donor with a perfect bone marrow match for our son, someone who has never even met our family and yet is willing to give Jacob a second chance at life.  Jacob has access to the best medical minds and facility available for his procedure.  We have a great apartment and Jacob got to help decorate it for Christmas.  Aunt Rebecca has given us the gift of her help here.  Jacob is strong and healthy and cheerful going into chemotherapy.  In the midst of a living situation that is a little awkward and a lot stressful by any standard, we adults haven’t killed each other off and left the boys with no caregivers.  Justice becomes even more laid-back and full of laughter every day.  We have good health insurance and I had the opportunity to take a sabbatical.  It’s unbelievable, really, how well-positioned we’re going into tomorrow.

And most of this has to do with the kindness and generosity of you who are reading this.  The Cure4treebeard Team developed a vision beyond what we could have imagined and then promptly exceeded their own lofty expectations.  Our family and friends have responded with love and support for us in concrete, specific ways.  People who don’t even know us have rallied to our son’s side.  Old friends have resurfaced.  New friends surface every day.  The Grove City community, especially my extended family at GCHS, has embraced us yet again.  (When this is all behind us, we can’t wait to move there, especially now!)  Most importantly, our faith gives us the utmost assurance that Jacob will be completely healed in this life or the next.

Tomorrow the road will bend and I can’t see any further around the corner.  Thank you, all of you, who have walked beside us thus far.  Please keep walking with us.  Please pray for our boy, that Jacob Treebeard will have a long, fierce, joyful, healthy, abundant life here on earth and eternal life forever.

I’ll close with a prayer that I’ve always liked but never really understood until now:

Lord God,

You have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Grant us faith to go out with courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving.  (P.S. Don't forget to check out that video on the home page!)