History

Thursday, March 15, 2012 6:04 PM CDT

Hi. All is well here at our house, but we did have a scare a couple of months ago that I wanted to update about.

In mid January, Jake got a cold and then got over and it and then got worse again. He said one morning that his ear (the tumor side) hurt. I gave him some Advil, sent him to school and made an appointment to see our pediatrician that afternoon. Jake called me at 10 to say his ear really hurt and he did not feel good. I went and got him from school and then we went to our pediatrician that afternoon. Doc said ear was infected, so we got a prescription and were on our way. Jake felt ok through that evening, but at 9 started to run a fever. By 11 he had a headache and the fever was higher. By 1, his head was worse and fever still high even with Advil. Both Steve and I were up with him and I was starting to worry that this was more than just an ear infection. He was sleeping on the couch with Steve and he woke up suddenly and started talking nonsense about guys in the basement needing ice and picking up art. Then he threw up. We threw him in the car and I headed to Children's with him - both Steve and I were thinking he had meningitis as his ear and skull are so compromised on that side due to his previous surgeries and radiation.

In the ER they did a spinal tap and it came back as bacterial meningitis. About an hour into being in the ER, while we were waiting to go to our room, he became so disoriented - he did not know his name or who Steve or I were. A little while later he was unconscious - all very scary. They got him hooked up to the big gun antibiotics and thankfully he responded to them quickly. After a couple of days, he woke up and was oriented. We were in the hospital for a week and we came home with a PICC line and IV antibiotics. Of course they looked for evidence of new tumor while we were in the hospital and all of that looked good. He was in a mental fog for a couple of weeks, but progressed as expected and returned to school. He was on the IV antibiotics for 24 days. During that time when he returned to school we made two trips to the ER because of SEVERE abdominal pain. The doc on the second trip to the ER recognized the high dose of antibiotic he was on and found his liver enzymes to be elevated, which is a side effect. Our pediatrician ordered an ultrasound and there we found he had gallstones caused from the antibiotic. These gallstones caused by this antibiotic did have a chance of going away on their own, so Jake was put on a low fat diet and we waited a month. We also had to wait to do a follow up CT of his head to see if there was a hole that let the brain and middle ear communicate that could have caused the meningitis. We found out this week that the gallstones are gone and that the CT did not show a definitive hole, so Jake does not have to have surgery for either the gallbladder or the skull!!! We are so, so happy! From here on out, the plan is to be vigilant with antibiotics for any cold he has. If he would get meningitis again, then surgery would probably be necessary. But for now, we just need to be on top of every cold with antibiotics and never very far from a good ER. No trips out of the country for us!

I have synopsized this, but needless to say it has been a hectic couple of months and very hard on Jake. He has done well keeping up in school and even participating in varsity debate through all of this. He is one happy kid to not be on the low fat diet anymore or to have surgery planned in the future. It has been a harsh reminder that being in the world of the sick is so hard and exhausting. Many prayers to all the families that are dealing with illness in their families right now. We are gladly stepping out of it now and hoping to not be back!

Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers and well wishes for Jake. Everything else is great with our family and we are just walking on air tonight with the news of no surgery!!!

Don't forget the Omaha CureSearch Walk for Childhood Cancer coming up June 2nd, 2012 at Village Pointe. This will be our 7th year for the walk! We would love your support and need it desperately to make sure children's cancer research happens. Go to www.curesearchwalk.org/omaha for more info.

Thank you!

Monday, October 3, 2011 9:59 AM CDT

All is well here. Jake started high school and just went to homecoming. We are so lucky to have our boy with us and see him reach his milestones. Brandon and Ben are doing great too as are Steve and I.

Many prayers for the Kohles family. We met them when Jake and Megan were on treatment. Megan relapsed after 4 years in remission and has been fighting for a long time. She died this morning and we will miss her so. Her mom, Paula, and their whole family are a huge part of our Omaha CureSearch walk. They have worked so hard for Megan and all the other kids fighting. Such a special angel the world has in Megan. Good night, Sweet Girl. www.caringbridge.org/visit/megankohles

In memory of Megan and all the others, we have just opened the Omaha CureSearch Walk website. You can find it at www.curesearchwalk.org
Our next walk is coming up June 2nd, 2012. This will be our 7th year! We would love to have you join us or have your support!

Thank you for checking up on us!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 7:24 PM CDT

Hello! All is well here and we are gearing up for the Omaha CureSearch Walk coming up June 4th at Village Pointe! Thank you to all of our family and friends who have donated and supported us! If you would like to donate or join in the walk, you can go to www.curesearchwalk.org/omaha. Our team name is G.I. Jake. CureSearch is the leading pediatric cancer foundation and their focus is research. Research is the only thing that will stop kids from dying or having to deal with a lifetime of horrible side effects from treatment. Jake was treated with a clinical trial sponsored by CureSearch! Please support this incredible foundation!

Jake is doing great! We are ready for the summer - if only our school system would understand that. The kids are in school for another couple of weeks. All three boys are playing baseball, so we spend a lot of time on the bleachers and it's so fun watching them.

In March we took a closer look at Jake's lack of growth and consulted with an endrocronologist. His bone age showed that he is about a year and a half behind his age in growth. After some other tests, they determined that this was just a delay, probably from treatment, and that eventually he will hit his growth spurt. So no damage, just delay. We were happy to hear that.

All else is well. Jake will enter high school next year! When he was diagnosed with cancer he was in Kindergarten! He's reaching milestones that at one time, we never thought he'd see. We are ever so thankful!

Thanks for checking in on us and please support the CureSearch Walk in some way. Cancer in children before age 20 is on the rise, and there is very little money spent in the research of how to best treat it. Your donations help all kids with cancer get the chance to reach their milestones. I'd say that's a pretty good investment!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Ben

Wednesday, January 19, 2011 4:28 PM CST

It's been a long time and fortunately that means nothing exciting to report. We are all doing great! Jake is in 8th grade and will turn 14 this weekend. Brandon is in 6th and Ben is in 1st. Jake and Brandon both started baseball, and Brandon has basketball going too. Busy and normal and we love it that way!

Jake had his yearly appointment at Children's Onc Clinic. His blood counts were normal and he is doing great. Very healthy boy. It does look like his lack of growth the past 6 months will need to be evaluated, so we are doing that with an endocrinologist in March. We are basically finding out if his growth is just delayed from chemo or if there could be damage from radiation to his pituitary gland. If there is damage, then we might have some decisions to make about the use of growth hormones. Of course this comes with reservation as stimulating growth in bones and muscles could lend itself to stimulating tumor growth as well. There are varying opinions on all of this, so we will have to see if there is an issue and then weigh the pros and cons. Bottom line is you can't put tons of poison in a little body and not come out unscathed. The late effects of childhood cancer survivors are well documented. We consider ourselves blessed to be dealing with them at all and for it to be relatively minor on the scale of severity. Some of these kids deal with chronic, horrible pain, major learning disabilities, changes in personality and even death from the late effects. We will take a challenging growth pattern.

Sadly, the first Ewing's of the skull child we came accross is dealing with one of those severe effects - she has a radiation induced tumor that is taking her life. No fairness in a 9 year survivor now losing her battle to a tumor caused by her treatment. Her website is www.caringbridge.org/visit/teamdelaney. Please keep her family in your prayers.

We are starting plans for the Omaha CureSearch Walk for Childhood Cancer coming up Saturday, June 4th, 2011 at Village Pointe. Put the date on your calendar and join us!

Thanks for checking in on Jake! We are thankful for his 8-year suvivorship everyday!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 8:18 AM CDT

Hello! All is well! Boys playing baseball, winding up their school years and enjoying the sunshine! All good.

The Omaha CureSearch Walk for Childhood Cancer is fast approaching! It's Saturday, June 5th at Village Pointe from 8-10 am. Our team, G.I. Jake would love your support. You can go to www.curesearchwalk.org to find our team and donate! Childhood Cancer research desperately needs your support!

It will be a great morning of family fun and we would love to have you join us! If you want to be on our team, email me or sign the guest book and I will get you the info!

All of us just got back from Orlando. Went down for an insulation convention for Steve's work. It was a lot of fun!

Please keep our friend Delaney in your thoughts as they just found out that she has a new cancer in her skull caused from her radiation! Like a hit to the gut for us to hear this. Her website is www.caringbridge.org/visit/teamdelaney. She was 7 years off of treatment.

Obviously we need that research to come up with better treatments. All the more reason to donate to the walk!

Thanks for checking in on us!!!

Monday, January 25, 2010 11:54 AM CST

Hello! I added new photos on the photo page! It has been such an unusually snowy winter here in Nebraska! In a normal winter we maybe get one big snow storm, maybe two with 10 inches or so. Then it melts and maybe we'll see some other little snows here and there, but this winter has been so different. 12 inch snow storms back to back to back with cold weather in between has made for lots of accumulation and a wintery wonderland. The kids have had 6 snow days! That has never happened. Of course they would welcome more. We did have a bunch of snow melt this past week, so the piles are not quite as huge as they once were. We love all of the seasons, so we have been enjoying the fun that winter brings.

We have been doing some traveling. Steve and Jake and Brandon went to Buffalo, NY to go spend time with the Kelsay family and see a Bills game. . Chris plays for the Buffalo Bills, so the boys got to go to practice and meet all the players and go to the game. They LOVED every minute of that trip. Then right after Christmas, the 5 of us went to cheer on the Huskers in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. What an awesome time we had there in such an awesome city! We also got to see Tanner's family while we were there and got to meet our internet friend Amy who is the mom of angel Sean and the founder of the Seany Foundation that is doing great things for childhood cancer in San Diego. It was great spending time with Chris and Marjorie and the kids. We all met up on the beach and the kids had a ball.

Jake had his yearly appointment at the oncology clinic at the beginning of January. His blood counts looked great. His heart studies showed another slight decrease in function (a side effect from chemo), so we will just have to keep an eye on that. We were done with the appointment within 3 hours, so that was a strange feeling. We are ever so thankful for Jake's continued good health! We don't go back for another year!

Please visit our friend Megan Kohles (caringbridge.org/visit/megankohles) who just relapsed after 4 years of remission from Rhabdomyosarcoma. Megan is such a doll and a fighter. We know she will get through this! Her mom, Paula, has been an integral part of The CureSearch Walk all of these years. She has done so much for so many other kids with cancer and we will miss her on the walk team this year!

CureSearch has streamlined the name of the Milestones Walk. It is now The CureSearch Walk. Whatever the name, it still means important money raised for childhood cancer research! We have started the planning for the walk and are always looking for sponsors and additional people to help with our steering committee. If you are interested, please email me (see below).

Saturday, June 5th from 8-10 am at Village Pointe here in Omaha is the date for this year's CureSearch Walk! Please join us in giving kids their chance at a lifetime.

Thanks for checking in on us! Please don't forget to go give blood!

Friday, October 30, 2009 9:55 AM CDT

Hello! It has been a long time since our last update. No news is good and that's what life is for the Beresh Family! Jake is feeling great and just so darn normal. We have not been to the oncology clinic for almost a year now! He goes for his yearly check up - just blood work and general check - in December.

Jake is in 7th grade, Brandon in 5th and Ben started Kindergarten. They have great teachers and all really like school. Today are the Halloween parties up at the elementary school. Ben is pretty excited for that, but has changed his mind on his costume so many times. He just likes to keep us hopping! Jake played baseball this fall, Ben soccer and Brandon started tackle football with Steve as the coach. It's a time consuming adventure, but has been fun. I started back to work part time as a speech pathologist in the schools. It's been good and I got to set my own schedule. Steve is busy at work at MPI.

The date for the Omaha Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer 2010 is Saturday June 5th from 8-10 am. Put it down on your calendar! I talked to one of the gals from CureSearch yesterday and she said giving is down about 20 percent this year. If you can give, please keep childhood cancer research in mind. All kids with cancer, no matter what kind they have or how old they are, deserve a chance to reach their milestones as Jake has been so fortunate to do.

Hope you all have a great fall and holiday season. I will try and get new pics up here soon. Thanks for checking in on us!

Friday, October 30, 2009 9:55 AM CDT

Hello! It has been a long time since our last update. No news is good and that's what life is for the Beresh Family! Jake is feeling great and just so darn normal. We have not been to the oncology clinic for almost a year now! He goes for his yearly check up - just blood work and general check - in December.

Jake is in 7th grade, Brandon in 5th and Ben started Kindergarten. They have great teachers and all really like school. Today are the Halloween parties up at the elementary school. Ben is pretty excited for that, but has changed his mind on his costume so many times. He just likes to keep us hoping! Jake played baseball this fall, Ben soccer and Brandon started tackle football with Steve as the coach. It's a time consuming adventure, but has been fun. I started back to work part time as a speech pathologist in the schools. It's been good and I got to set my own schedule. Steve is busy at work at MPI.

The date for the Omaha Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer 2010 is Saturday June 5th from 8-10 am. Put it down on your calendar! I talked to one of the gals from CureSearch yesterday and she said giving is down about 20% this year. If you can give, please keep childhood cancer research in mind. All kids with cancer, no matter what kind they have or how old they are, deserve a chance to reach their milestones as Jake has been so fortunate to do.

Hope you all have a great fall and holiday season. I will try and get new pics up here soon. Thanks for checking in on us!

Monday, June 8, 2009 8:27 AM CDT

Good morning! Thanks so much to all of you that supported our team, G.I. Jake, in the Omaha Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer! We had our best year yet with raising $11,370! That is $4000 more than G.I. Jake has ever raised and it put us in third place! We have some of the most amazing friends that went above and beyond this year to raise money for G.I. Jake! I still can't believe our total! A lot of our friends are volunteers and sponsors too. We can't thank you all enough!

The walk itself raised $140,000! That brings our 4 year walk total over $500,000! The rain clouds parted right as we arrived to set things up. Even better, at the exact moment that we started the memorial balloon release, the sunshine came out. Those kids were with us and it was an awesome moment! If you still want to donate, you can! The walk will be open for a couple of months. You can go to www.curesearch.org/events to donate.

Now we can enjoy the summer. As much as they love it, the boys are always happy when mom is done organizing the walk. We will explore the fun stuff in and around Omaha, spend time at the lake and finish up the boys' baseball seasons. It really is so fun watching them play. We are lucky too as the boys have good coaches and we have very nice parents to sit on the bleachers with. Steve and I still catch our breath at times watching the boys play. We are just so thankful to have 3 healthy boys to root on and watch grow.

Thanks again for everyone's support for the Omaha Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer. CureSearch is making sure that childhood cancer research happens. Research is the only thing that will make sure all kids with cancer live. Please remember to donate to CureSearch not just for the walk, but all year!

Thanks for checking in on us!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009 10:40 AM CDT

Hi! Things are heating up for the Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer coming up Saturday, June 6th at Village Pointe from 8-10 am. We need your help! If you have ever been moved by Jake's story or the stories of the thousands of kids here on Caringbridge that have suffered from cancer, then please donate. Only research is going to change all the kids stories to ones of long term survival. The money to make that research happen is desperately needed! Even if it's $10, $20, whatever - just please donate!

G.I. Jake Donation Page

If you would like to join our team, we would love to have you. At the link above you can view who is on Jake's team, and there are buttons there for you to join.

The boys are doing great. School will be out at the end of the month and we have been busy, busy with baseball (Jake and Brandon) and soccer (Ben). Ben had Kindergarten round up, and as much as he hates to admit it, he loved it. Jake has had a great first year of middle school, as has Brandon with 4th grade and Ben with preschool. We are thankful it was another healthy year for all of us.

Please keep Paige Lindner in your thoughts as she is preparing for a bone marrow transplant in Minnesota. She has one more round of hard chemo to go here in Omaha before she heads up for transplant. Her website is at visit/paigelindner.

Thanks so much for checking in on us! A HUGE thank you to all of you that have or are going to support our team for the walk! It means so much that you care about these kids!

Go give blood, get on the bone marrow registry and enjoy the days!

The Beresh Family

Tuesday, April 7, 2009 3:28 PM CDT

Hello! We are enjoying a nice spring day around here and our 2nd day of the boys' spring break. Old man winter has been so reluctant to leave this year, so we are thankful for these days when it's sunny and warm. All is well with our family. Only 2 more months left of school. Jake and Brandon have started baseball and Ben is playing soccer this spring - his first time with organized sports. He has had one game and he scored a goal for the other team. Of course everyone cheered and he was so happy - who cares who he scored it for!

We have a special friend who needs your support right now. Paige Lindner has relapsed for a second time with ALL. We met Paige and her dad on our first admission day for chemo 6 years ago. She was just 3 and had been recently diagnosed, and her mom had just had a baby a couple of days before. Paige is now 9 and has been in treatment for most of those 6 years. With this second relapse she needs a bone marrow transplant. She is currently at Children's and receiving some very heavy chemos to get the leukemia under control. She is in a lot of pain and has been fighting so hard. She loves guest book messages. Her website is www.caringbridge.org/visit/paigelindner

Kids like Paige need better treatment and her case brings forth again the importance of the money raised for The Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer Omaha coming up June 6th at Village Pointe. Paige deserves a chance to reach her milestones of life just like the 40,000 other kids that are currently in treatment in the U.S. Research and the money to fund it are the only things that will make sure they do.

We have our team together, G.I. Jake, and would love for you to contribute to our team or any other team - just please make a donation! You can e-mail me for information on how to send a donation in or you can go to www.curesearch.org/events. Go to the Milestones Walks and then Omaha to find the donation page. You can give securely online at that site. No donation too small. If you would like to join our team, please e-mail me. We would love to have your support. Thank you!

Please go give blood and get on the bone marrow donor registry! It's easier than ever to give and what an incredible gift!

Thanks for checking in on our family and thanks so much to all of you that have contributed to the walk so far - whether it be through money, volunteering, sponsorship or donation of items. Generosity is what makes the walk possible and so special!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Ben :~)

Friday, February 13, 2009 11:52 AM CST

**Update, March 11, 09. Please keep the Vodicka family in your thoughts as Ryan has entered Hospice. Sometimes childhood cancer attacks adults as well as children, and it is so relentless. The Vodicka's are very special to us. Steve met Ryan when Steve was working on a job site and saw him getting on plane at the ConAgra Hanger for an Angel Flight to New York. They made fast friends, and we have been cheering for Ryan to beat this for so many years. We are sickened and so sad for Ryan and his family. His site is at caringbridge.org/ne/ryan. *****Ryan earned his wings tonight. Our thoughts are with his family. **

All is well here. Getting lots of snow today! Yeah! It's so darn pretty. Boys are doing great and so are we.

The plans for the 4th annual Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer are in full swing! It's going to be another great event and we want everyone to join us! As I have said so many times before, childhood cancer is severely underfunded, yet it is the #1 disease killer of kids. More kids die of cancer than of AIDS, asthma, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and muscular dystrophy COMBINED! Hollywood doesn't think childhood cancer is glamorous enough to raise money for, and we all know the feds funds are limited at best these days, so it's up to us to fund childhood cancer research. We can do it, but we need your help!

The CureSearch Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer - Omaha 2009 is Saturday June 6th from 8-10 am at Village Pointe Shopping Center. You can go online to www.curesearch.org/events, click on the Milestones Walk and then Omaha to register. Organize your family, friends, coworkers, school, whatever to either form a team, adopt a team or just give to the general fund of the walk! Please contact me for details.

We need volunteers for that day, and donations of drinks and snacks for the walkers We of course need sponsorship funds too to make it all happen. If you want to help or donate in any way, please contact me at the e-mail below.

Thank you, thank you to all the wonderful people who have volunteered to help so far! We already have sponsorship money coming in, teams are starting to fundraise and the enthusiasm surrounding this year's walk is bubbling over! Don't stop now. We want to make this year's walk the best ever to keep making an impact in the funding for childhood cancer research. We have raised over $360,000 in the last 3 years. It's time to push that amount over half a million! We will do it. Get on board!

Give blood, give time, give hugs!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny

Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:42 AM CST

Good morning! I uploaded new photos, but it may take a day or so to show up. My Apple and Caringbridge don't always see eye to eye. Today is Jake's birthday! He's 12 Years old today! It's a beautiful sunny morning and a balmy 50 degrees. At little cooler than the 80 degree weather we had in Florida where Jake was born this day 12 years ago, but a heck of a lot warmer than normal around here. Jake was happy for the sunshine today, but was really hoping for a snow day for his birthday! He may have been born in Florida, but he's a true Nebraska boy now! Ha!

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. The weekend before Christmas, we went to Denver with our friends Blaine, Penny and Barrett to attend the Bronco's/Bills game. We saw our friend Chris Kelsay who plays for the Bills and due to the team's flight being cancelled, got to have dinner with him too.

We rang in the New Year here at home with friends. All the kids made it to midnight, and it was so fun seeing the excitement in all their faces as they counted down and gulped non-alcoholic champagne in "wine glasses". I wish I had a pic of their faces during the countdown - such fresh anticipation for the start of a new year. I have to say the holidays felt extra special this year with the end of Jake's scans. Like I said before - it was definitely the sweetest gift of the season!

I want to say a big thank you for my good friends, Jen and Penny, who threw me a surprise birthday party a couple of weeks ago and to all the friends and family that came! What a fun night. Thank you, thank you!

I also wanted to post that registration for The Milestones CureSearch Walk for Childhood Cancer in Omaha is open! The walk is June 6th, 2009 from 8-10 am at Village Pointe Shopping Center here in Omaha. You can go to www.curesearch.org/events and click on the Milestones Walk and then Omaha to register. Last year's walk raised $210,000 and we had over 3000 people in attendance.

The money raised at the walk goes to CureSearch, which is the leading foundation for childhood cancer research. The only way to save kids fighting cancer is through research. Compared to other cancers, childhood cancer is terribly underfunded even though is kills more kids than AIDS, asthma, diabetes and cystic fibrosis COMBINED!

The Milestones Walk is a fun and inspirational morning for the whole family! We are looking for sponsors at this time, so if your business or a business you know of would like some great exposure while making a tax deductible donation and helping thousands of kids, please contact me (e-mail below). Also, if your school, church or organization is looking for a philanthropic project, form a team and raise money for childhood cancer research.

All of these efforts can help save the lives of the 40,000 kids that are currently on treatment and the 12,500 kids who will be newly diagnosed this year!

Teams have already started registering and raising money. We hope to make this year's walk the best one yet! Please don't hesitate to contact me with questions!

Please visit Ryan (ne/ryan), dealing with disease progression. Love up your kiddos and go give blood! Thanks for reading!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny

Thursday, December 11, 2008 4:43 PM CST

65 Nights in the hospital
250 days spent in the hospital/clinic/dr's offices
350 pokes (IV's, port access, finger pokes, shots)
30 MRI's
10 CT Scans
5 Bone Scans
5 Surgeries
2 Casts
15 Transfusions
80 X-Rays
28 Radiation treatments

Stick a fork in that boy - HE IS DONE!!!!

Jake finished his treatment protocol today with his last MRI and x-rays! Everything looked "normal" for Jake's head and there was no evidence of disease! His blood work and chemistries were all good too.

He has reached the 5 year mark of being cancer free!

We had a great day in clinic with all the staff up there we love so much. Josh Larson was there getting his last scans and he got the all clear too! Amazing what these boys have been through. There are more pics on the photo page of our day. We don't go back to the clinic for a year for a check up, blood work and heart studies. Now we just keep an eye on Jake and how the late effects will play into his life.

The numbers at the top are done with some estimation, but are more or less accurate. They pale in comparison to what so many other kids go through in this battle. We are so thankful of how well Jake has done and with so few side effects. I look at the new pics on the photo page and I can't believe how big he looks in that MRI and that chair. It was 6 years ago when this journey started for our family. It really is hard to believe how far he has come. I remember when Jake was finished with treatment how far 18 MRI's and 5 years seemed and now here we are. Gratitude and disbelief sums up the emotions we have.

So many THANK YOU's to give. I could fill page after page with those. Thank you to our family, our friends; the docs, nurses and staff at Children's Hospital, The Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Iowa Hospital; the staff and families at Wheeler Elementary and Beadle Middle School; and all of you that read this journal and have supported our family near or far. We can't say it enough.

We opened one of life's ultimate Christmas gifts today. We are enjoying it immensely!

Steve, Kellie, Jake, Brandon and Benny

Tuesday, December 2, 2008 7:34 PM CST

Hello! Thanks for stopping in and checking on us. Had to get a Christmas border up and talk about the upcoming scans on the 11th. These will be the FINAL scans on Jake's protocol! It is coming up on 6 years since his diagnosis and 5 years since he has been off treatment. Amazing. I told Jake these were his final scans the other night and he could not believe it. He was really happy to hear this was it. It really is such a fantastic milestone for him.

This past month I have been feeling tons of survivor guilt. Having so many friends that you share this incredible bond with (having a child with cancer) and knowing how much some of them are hurting because their child did not make it. It tears at my heart. I can't imagine how much they hurt mentally, physically, emotionally everyday. I marvel at their strength to get up each day. Their strength truly is a tribute to their beautiful angel children. This really has been one of the hardest side effects that we have all experienced. They don't list this on the med sheets you get when your kid first starts treatment. "You will fall in love with children who will die. You will go to many kids' funerals. You will see many of your friends suffer horribly." I liken this survivor guilt to what the families who are waiting to hear the status of loved ones involved in a tragedy feel like. Like the families who had boy scouts in the Lil Sioux Camp this past summer who were killed in a tornado. All the mom and dad's in that holding room, waiting to hear if their son is one of those that made it or one who perished. One family gets news that their child is ok, while sitting next to their friends who just heard that their son died. So heartbreaking.

I was feeling this all month and did not say anything to Steve. Then he and I started talking about Jake's last scans and turns out I am not alone in my sadness for our friends. I wish every kid could be in remission for 5 years, anticipating their last set of scans. We both agreed that we would try and put these feelings away around the 1st of December because Jake and all of us deserve to feel happy and really celebrate. So far so good. My friend, Amy, whose awesome son Sean died of Ewing's helped so much when we were talking about it and she said she was truly "thrilled" about Jake. Thanks for using just the right word, Amy!

So December 11th is it - the last MRI, chest x-ray and skull x-ray. After that we go to yearly check up's. Josh Larson is having his last set of scans that day too. We look forward to celebrating these strong, sweet boys' "cure" day!

Please keep Ryan (ne/ryan) in your thoughts as he is struggling with disease progression.

Will update on the 11th! Please go give blood!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny

Saturday, November 8, 2008 5:21 PM CST

Hi! I had to get on here and update to get the pumpkins off the page. I updated the photo page too.

Halloween was great - the boys had a great time. Ben was many things. He was strong boy at his preschool Halloween party, Optimus Prime at the neighborhood get together, a football player at Brandon's school party and then "dead boy" for trick or treating. He was going to be a dinosaur and then he saw Jake making his costume by tearing up a shirt and putting fake blood on his face and he was hooked. It was so warm Halloween night, and the boys had a blast.

Brandon's flag football team won the championship! They were undefeated and only ever had one touchdown scored on them all season! Way to go, Coach Dad!

Jake is having his final scans on December 11th. I can't believe it has been this long. Sometimes it seems like it just happened yesterday and other times it feels like a lifetime ago. I can't even begin to describe what it feels like to be at this point. We will never feel safe, but we have really learned to live with the insecurity. Overall we are just thankful.

It's getting cold and the holidays are fast approaching. It will be a nice, quiet winter. We did not let Jake play basketball this year as it was just getting too rough. He was, to put it bluntly, P$ about our decision as he loves to play and be on a team. But he has also learned to live with his restrictions, and we just don't allow him to pout too long about it. It stinks, but it could always be worse. So just Brandon is playing basketball right now. It's great having so many evenings to hang out here at home. Our spring will be crazy with both the older boys in baseball and Ben starting soccer, so we plan to enjoy these quiet nights.

I will update after scans in December. We appreciate you stopping in and checking on us! Go give blood! Make it a great day and love up those kiddos!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny

Wednesday, October 1, 2008 3:52 PM CDT

Hello! It's been a while since I've been on here! All is well here at the Beresh house. Lots of new photos to share of all the Husker fun we have been having.

School is under way and the boys are doing great. Jake started middle school and he has adjusted well. This whole new wave of responsibility has taken over and he gets himself up in the morning and hardly needs reminding to tackle the homework after school. It's a welcome change! He has made lots of new friends and likes all the different classes and teachers. We were concerned about the kids saying stuff about his hair, but the mow hawk has proven to be a wonderful distraction. Who knew I would have a kid with a mow hawk, let alone be the one to cut it that way and love it as much as I do. It's made his hair "normal" and he loves being able to "blend" in.

Brandon is doing well in school and is busy with football. His team that is coached by Dad is undefeated. With this wonderful weather we have been having, his Sunday night football games have been pleasant as well as fun to watch.

Benny is so busy preparing for Halloween that I am surprised he has any time for anything else! This boy is Halloween crazy! He changes in and out of costumes like a girl getting ready for a date, and can't get enough of looking at Halloween books and playing with our Halloween decor. I don't know how he will decide which costume to wear on the actual day of Halloween - probably the one that isn't worn out by then! Preschool is going great for him.

On the 19th, we went over to the Lusk house to help them celebrate Tanner as it has been a year since she died. How we all miss her so. It's inspiring how the Lusks embrace their grief so and surround themselves with people that love them and Tanner. It was a great night with lots of memories of Tanner being shared and a balloon release in her honor.

We went to the Husker Hog Ride Post Party on the 20th, which was a fundraiser for Jared Tomich's Halo of Hope Foundation that supports kids with cancer. What a fun event with lots of former Huskers and tons of fun stuff for the kids! We bought Jason Peter's book, "Hero of the Underground" there, and I read the whole thing that weekend. Awesome book and a great survivor story.

Bo Pelini (head coach of Nebraska) and his wife gave the Grant Wistrom Foundation tickets to the Nebraska vs. Viginia Tech game for some of the childhood cancer families and we got to enjoy the game from his suite last Saturday night! What a neat experience and how nice of Bo and Mary Pat Pelini to donate the tickets and make us feel so welcome!

That's about all I have to report on us, thankfully! Please keep Ryan Vodicka in your prayers as he deals with disease progression and very few options for treatment (ne/ryan). Please go and give blood. So many need it on a daily basis to survive.

Thanks for checking in on us! Make it a great day and love up those kiddos!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny

Friday, August 8, 2008 2:54 PM CDT

**Update on August 15th - Please keep the Carrico family in your prayers. We have been internet friends with this family for many years and their son Jace is experiencing tumor progression and pain. Please visit his site and give some encouraging words. (ia/jacecarrico)***

Hello! New pics on the photo page. Oh how we love the picture above from this year's Camp CoHoLo! That 4x6 piece of paper seems to tell Jake's entire story and all the emotion that goes with it in a way that words never could. The first time we saw it, Steve and I both just stared and stared. It's just plain awesome!

We just got back from a trip across Nebraska. We went 1000 miles in 4 days and it was actually a lot of fun! We headed to McCook to see my Great-Aunt Nelda, then we drove up to Lake McConnahay (sp?) and to Sidney to see my Great-Uncle Benny. While we were in Sidney, the Cheyenne County Fair was going on, so we got to partake in some small town fun! We did the rides, a truck and tractor pull, a demolition derby and the boys participated in an egg toss too. We also drove out to see Chimney Rock, The Scott's Bluff National Monument and Jail and Courthouse rocks. What amazing country it is out in the panhandle of Nebraska! All this prairie and then these huge rocks seemingly coming out of nowhere. The sunsets and huge sky out there were wonderful. We learned so much about the pioneers and the Oregon Trail. We are a family that soaks up the history lessons, so we loved it all. On the way back, we stopped in Kearney and went through the Arch too. It really was a fun trip.

School starts next week! Jake had his middle school orientation and got his locker and schedule. He is really excited about 6th grade. Brandon will be a 4th grader and Ben is excited to go to preschool again! Brandon is playing flag football this fall with Steve as the coach and Jake is playing baseball. Add in all the Nebraska games and it will make for a very busy season. We are excited for Husker season to start this year and the first game is coming up at the end of the month. Go Huskers!

Congress passed the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act and President Bush signed it in to law! HUGE success for childhood cancer. It ensures that the little money that is designated for childhood cancer research will actually be awarded instead of being vulnerable to cuts. Thanks and congrats to all the families that have worked so hard in talking to members of congress to get the bill passed.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and I wanted to share one of my favorite videos on YouTube about childhood cancer. I love the song that goes with it and it's such a wonderful tribute to all of childhood cancer's children. Childhood Cancer Video

All is well here and we couldn't be more thankful. We are coming up on the anniversary of Tanner Lusk's death and it's just so sad not having her here. Lizzie's anniversary is coming up too. Beautiful kids gone way too soon. Please keep them and the families of other angel children in your prayers. Please keep the kids and families that are still in the fight and those that are in remission to stay forever too.

We are so thankful for how well Jake is doing, but never lose sight of the pain and suffering that goes on around us. All of us have pain and suffering in our lives, whether it's from disease, accidents, economics or crime. Life can just be plain hard and we all have our battles. We have to live life in the present moment as things can change so quickly. Whatever you worry about now may never happen or something worse could happen or something better. You have no control, so just give it up and live it up! Life really is what you make it. So make it a good day and love up those kiddos!

Thanks so much for coming to check on us,
Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny

Monday, July 7, 2008 3:57 PM CDT

***UPDATE July 15th - You can see pics of Jake and many of the other little friends you may follow here on these websites at Camp CoHoLo by going to www.campcoholo.com. Go to the picture gallery. Jake is in group 6. Looks like he is having a great time! Camp CoHoLo always welcomes volunteers and donations. This camp is only $15 for the campers or free if they can't afford that. It's an amazing place where the docs, nurses and staff give their time and talent to provide medical care for these kids so they can go to camp like regular kids. Many of the camp couselors are childhood cancer survivors themselves. For Jake it means going to camp and no one saying a word about his scars or his funny hairdo and having fun with his clinic buddies outside of the hospital. That stuff is priceless! We sure do miss him and can't wait to go get him tomorrow morning! ***

Hello! New pics are up. Thanks, Jeff, for helping me with these! Hope you all had a fun 4th of July! Being that is it a fave Beresh Boy holiday, we had a great time. Lots of family, friends, food and of course, fireworks. We also got out to the lake a little and enjoyed the wonderful weather. The high on the 4th of July was 82! We have had the most fantastic June here in Omaha - minus all of the big storms we have had. Looks like the heat and humidity are here now, though.

The boys are all good. We love having Jake's scans out of the way, and love that we have hit the 4 and a half year mark of being cancer free! It seems hard to imagine that we only have one more scan left (December). When treatment ended and these scans began, I don't think we even let ourselves think of being at this point in fear that it might not happen. It sure does feel good. Of course it also makes us feel for the many friends that we have lost along the way in this journey. Too many little friends gone too soon.

No big plans the rest of the summer. Steve is busy at work. I have been helping my brother some with his real estate business and that has been a lot of fun. Jake and Brandon are doing a golf league and they play once a week for the next couple of weeks. They both really like it. Brandon's baseball ended last week. His team got 2nd place, so they did really well. Jake has some more baseball to play this month as all the rain we have had this summer really put a wrench in the schedule. He will also go to Camp CoHoLo this weekend. This is his last year for the younger kids session. He is so anxious to go and has already started packing! School starts on August 13th.

Thankfully that is all I have to report!

Please remember to give blood. I heard that the Red Cross is at critically low levels because of the all the storms and flooding around here. Also, please keep all the kids fighting cancer and all the families of cancer angels in your prayers. Thanks for coming by and checking in on us!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny

Monday, June 9, 2008 9:42 PM CDT

*June 26th Update - All of Jake's tests today were great! Heart echo, blood counts, MRI, chest and skull x-ray were all good. Thanks for checking in on us! Have a happy 4th of July!!! *

Hello All! New pics are up!

All has been well the past couple of months. Ben turned 4 on May 12th. He had a pirate birthday and wanted to wear a Spider Man costume for the whole thing. He loves costumes! You would think he would want to wear his pirate costume for his pirate birthday, but no, Spiderman was the choice. I'm sure it makes perfect sense to 4 year olds. He kept asking over and over for a couple of days after his birthday if he was 4 or not. One night he asked me, "Is me 4?" Then after I said yes he asked me in the sweetest and most confused voice, "Is my name still Ben?" How funny! The 2 questions people ask him the most - What is your name? and How old are you? - he just wanted to make sure the answer to both of those didn't change. He is such a fun, sweet part of our lives.

Of course the walk was this weekend and it was a huge success - over $200,000 raised! That is double what we did last year. I think it will finish out in the next couple of months around $225,000. Team G.I. Jake did great with raising $7100 and coming in 7th place! We had a great team that worked very hard at raising money for childhood cancer! Thanks so much to our awesome team and all the hard work they did! Steve and I are so blessed with some of the most wonderful friends and family!

As much as I love doing the walk, I am sure glad it's over. Now our summer can really begin! The boys finished school on May 31st. Brandon will be in 4th grade next year, Jake heads to middle school for 6th grade and Ben will have one more year of preschool. It was momentous leaving Wheeler as Jake entered that school as a Kindergardener that was very sick (even if we did not know it at the time). He leaves the school a very healthy 11 year old and we are so thankful! He sure will miss Wheeler. I may be biased, but I have to say that Wheeler is one of the best I have seen. We are so grateful at how they rallied around our family when Jake got sick and then worked so hard to keep him up in school. Not to mention all of the emotional support and friendship we have grown to love at that school. Thank you Wheeler!

Jake is excited about middle school, but a little nervous about moving to a new group of kids that will make comments about his hair. That and whether or not he can open his locker are big concerns. We did cut his hair into a mowhawk this past weekend and now he LOVES his hair. It's a mowhawk half done by radiation and the other half by a pair of clippers. He has been wanting not to wear a hat when we are out and about so that he can show it off. I think I may let him keep it for middle school - if it makes him feel better about things, then who cares. It's not all that much different from his real hair - it looks strange either way, so we'll do the way he is most comfortable with.

Both boys continue with baseball and are doing some camps this summer. Of course Jake will go to Camp CoHoLo in July. Brandon is going to go to a football camp and Ben is going to a little art class at his preschool for a couple of days. So lots of fun things planned. I love having the boys home for the summer!

Along with the walk this past weekend, we went to the Grant Wistrom Foundation's fundraiser at the Nebraska Stadium. Jake spoke to the big crowd and did a great job. He's pretty easy going in front of a crowd. It was great seeing Grant and Jared Tomich. Chris Kelsay's plane was delayed, so he did not make it in. Jake was pretty disappointed, but we had a great time anyway. Bo Pelini (Nebraska's new coach) even came, spoke and spent a couple of hours with the crowd. We all got pics with him and Jake got a personal invite for him and Brandon to join them for a practice and for a game. Jake was pretty excited as were the rest of us.

We have scans coming up in a couple of weeks on June 26th. We only have 2 of these left - this one and one in December. The anxiety has already set in, and we are glad we have not had to do this for 6 whole months. I will post an update once we get results that day.

Thank you so much for checking in on us. Make it a great day and love up those kiddos!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny

Monday, April 14, 2008 11:13 AM CDT

Yet another sweet child treated at Children's was lost this weekend. Lily was just 4 years old and such a dollbaby. Please keep her family in your prayers - www.caringbridge.org/visit/lilyleyden.

Hello! Thanks for stopping in to check on us! There are new photos in "view photos". All is well here. The boys' baseball seasons are just starting and they are excited. Games were rained/snowed out this weekend, so hopefully the games will start this weekend. It will be a busy spring with both boys in baseball. Yikes! Ben is doing great. He is still such a shy boy, but coming out of his shell a little here and there. He is at least now talking some to his preschool teachers - big accomplishment there! Jake starts all of the middle school orientation stuff this week. It's hard to imagine him being old enough for middle school, but he is ready.

We are busy, busy, busy around here getting ready for the Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer coming up June 7th. Our team name is G.I. Jake and we would love to have you join us on the team and/or help our fundraising efforts. If you want to be on Jake's team, please e-mail me (e-mail link below).

If you want to help us reach our $7000 goal with a tax deductible donation, you can click here Jake's Fundraising Page

Jake loves watching his total rise, and we need all the help we can get to reach our goal. All donations are tax deductible. The 40,000 kids currently in treatment here in the U.S need everyone's help. Due to major cuts in funding half of the clinical trials scheduled for last year did not happen. We have lost so many little friends in the 5 years since Jake's diagnosis and have been to over a dozen funerals. We have so many friends that are fighting too. They need our help as there are so many promising treatments out there waiting for funding. Real treatments that can help real kids right now are just sitting there needing funding to start a clinical trial! No matter how big or small your donation, it all can make a difference. If you don't want to donate online, you can send a check made out to CureSearch to our address at 17264 Washington Street, Omaha, NE 68135.

This year's walk will be the great inspirational, fun family event it always has been. If you would like to form your own team, you can go to www.curesearch.org/events for more information. Just click on the Milestones Walk link and the Omaha walk. Forming a team is easy and it's a great way to help out some kids that are in great need. You can get your school, church, work or scout troop involved! Kids helping kids - what a great lesson to teach!

We have people from all over the midwest coming to join in our walk. CureSearch is also looking for people to organize walks in their area. It's fun and easy! You can go to www.curesearch.org to find out about organizing a walk in your area or you can e-mail me (e-mail link below). The past two years there has only been 2 MIlestones Walks in the country - ours and one in Michigan. This year there are 5 or 6! It's growing, but CureSearch needs your help. Research is the only way to find cures for these kids and having a walk in your area is a great way to channel money to that cause!

Thank you so, so much for your donation and support!!!!

Love up those kiddos and make it a great day,
Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Saturday, March 1, 2008 7:29 PM CST

**Update March 16th - Prayers for the Grimm family as Ethan lost his battle with a brain tumor (PNET) yesterday. www.caringbridge.org/ia/ethangrimm**

**UPDATE March 15th - I just saw an incredible video that shows what it's really like to have a child with cancer. It was made by the parents of a little boy fighting a brain tumor to gain support for the Childhood Cancer Act. Please go see the video and write your congressman about supporting the Childhod Cancer Act. The video is on Youtube and you can type "pelarson" in the search window or you can see it on Regan Hulsing's Carepage (www.carepages.come - BraveRegan). To write to your congressional representative, you can go to www.curesearch.org and they have a letter on there that you can use or personalize and links to all the congress men and women. Thank you!**

**Update March 11, 2008 - Please keep the Grimm family in your prayers as they say goodbye to their amazing son, Ethan. You can visit them and offer a word of encouragement at www.caringbridge.org/ia/ethangrimm. Pray for Ethan's comfort and his wonderful family's peace. **

Hello! Things are going well here in the Beresh house. The boys are all doing good. Jake and Brandon both had their birthdays - so thankful they have reached the ripe old ages of 11 and 9! Ben has been asking with such desperation as to just when his birthday is! Poor thing has to wait until May! Both Jake and Brandon's basketball season ended today and now we have a nice lull in the sporting action until baseball starts for both of them later on this month. Ben is doing great and keeps us all entertained. Steve has been busy at work as have I getting ready for the Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer that is coming up Saturday, June 7th. We have gotten a little taste of spring this weekend and it felt wonderful. The deep freeze might be ending, but we are still hoping for a big snow storm before winter makes it's exit. One more bit of snow fun would be nice! My brother got married, and we are so happy to be welcoming Avesta and her son Nick into our family! They asked that in lieu of gifts their guests bring donations for CureSearch in honor of Jake and their friend Lily and in memory of Tanner. So sweet. The boys got to dress all up in tuxes, which they loved! Even Ben thought he was pretty cool in his tux - that's big for a boy that only likes to wear warm up pants and t-shirts!

Now the the important part of this update. When Liz Larson and I closed our foundation that supported families with children with cancer here in this area, we did so because our hearts were moving in a different direction about how to help families like ours who have a child with cancer. We felt what we were doing with In The Arms of Friends, although important, was like putting a band aid around the wound instead of actually treating it and helping it heal. Plus we had been in the cancer world long enough to realize that in this journey, many kids don't make it and it's something you never get used to. We also learned a lot about how grossly underfunded childhood cancer research is. The attitude that cancer in children is rare and there is little that can be done for the kids that have it must dictate the thinking of congress and the National Cancer Institute. I am just guessing here at why pediatric cancer research gets so little money. I supposed they look at incidence numbers, and compared to adult cancer rates, it is very rare. But it remains the number one disease killer of children, killing more kids than AIDS, asthma, diabetes and cystic fibrosis COMBINED! That is an amazing statistic. You can add all the major childhood diseases together and you still don't come close to the number of kids that die from cancer! Wow! So here are some more of what drives us to make sure the focus goes from helping children with cancer with support through treatment to making sure that those kids have a chance of surviving the cancer that put them in treatment in the first place:

*Childhood Cancer research only got 24 million dollars last year from the National Cancer Institute. That money is used for not only one disease, but for ALL childhood cancers - that could be as many as 100 different cancers!

*Just as a comparison, the National Cancer Institute spent over 400 million on AIDS and then another 400 million on breast cancer research! 1 disease got 400 million, while the whole lot of childhood cancers only gets 24 million!

*Big foundations like the American Cancer Society give almost nothing to childhood cancer research. While a foundation no doubt may do wonderful things, don't just assume they are doing wonderful things for childhood cancer.

*Childhood Cancer research was supposed to get 52 million dollars last year. Clinical trials were implemented with that number in mind. When only 24 million came down the pike, over half of the clinical trials planned for childhood cancer were cancelled. Imagine being that family that was told there was a treatment option available, but there was not enough funding and it was cancelled!

*Private funding is very small for childhood cancer and drug companies do not research it on any large scale. Do you ever recall a telethon, celebrity or walk other than the one here in Omaha raising money for childhood cancer?

*This one will make the families of these kids with Hepatablastoma literally sick to their stomachs. The budget allocated for Hepatablastoma (a childhood cancer) was $30,000 last year! That's it -$30,000! Sickening!

*Childhood cancer research is unique because it is all collaborative research. This means that if a new trial for Ewing's Sarcoma or Rhabdomyosarcoma is being researched, all the doctors and hospitals associated with the Children's Oncology Group (most hospitals and doctors are a part of this as they treat over 90 percent of the kids with cancer in the U.S.) are studying that same trial and they share their information. This makes the research fast and cost effective. No other success rates in cancer have been as amazing as with kid's cancer because they don't use this collaborative research model.

*Even with being horribly underfunded, childhood cancer survival rates have gone from 0 percent just 50 years ago to around 75 percent now! Imagine what that statistic could be if we would throw some major money at it! It really is a possibility that if childhood cancer research was funded adequately, 90, 95, 100 percent of kids could be cured! Imagine Make A Wish having to take cancer off their list of diseases that qualify for their services because it's not considered a lethal disease! Imagine that!!! It is possible!

*There are 40,000 kids in treatment for cancer right now in the U.S. alone!

*12,000 kids in the U.S. alone will be diagnosed each year. A quarter of them will die.

*1 in 330 kids will be diagnosed with cancer before age 20! That doesn't seem so rare, does it?

*Incidence for childhood cancer peaks in the first year! Most children getting cancer are just babies! After that, it is more common in ages 1-5 and 15-19 than in ages between 5-14.

*Childhood cancer does not discriminate. It affects kids of all races and walks of life. Its incidence is highest in white children and lowest in American Indians.

*Adult cancer treatment has benefited greatly from the collaborative research of childhood cancer. For example, the use of chemotherapy originated with the treatment of pediatric cancers!

*Childhood Cancer research gives you a lot of bang for your buck. The nature of it's cooperative research means no money is wasted. Even with as little money as childhood cancer research receives, there was a 20 percent decline in the death rate among children with cancer from 1990 to 2004!

*Even with its success, there are many childhood cancers that have survival rates hovering around 25 percent. Plus, there are very little treatment options for kids that relapse with most childhood cancers. There is just not enough money to research relapse treatment options.

YOU can make a difference!

Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer - Omaha.
Saturday, June 7th from 8-10 am
Village Pointe Shopping Center

Right now we are setting up online registration and it will be open this week or next. All proceeds go to CureSearch, which is the leading foundation for childhood cancer research. Their website is www.curesearch.org.

Our walk here in Omaha was CureSearch's largest community event in 2007! We raised $103,000 and had 2500 people in attendance! We want to keep that success going!

We need sponsors! If you would like a great exposure for your business while helping a worthy cause, please contact me at my e-mail below.

It's a great family event with fun, entertainment and plenty of inspiration! Make plans to form a team right now!

Thanks so much to those businesses that have sponsored us already and to everyone that is working so hard to make this walk a success! It will be a great event!

You can have a walk in your town or city too! It's fun and easy and CureSearch helps you all the way. Please contact CureSearch or myself if you would like more information!

Thanks so much for reading! Thanks also for checking in on our family!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Wednesday, January 9, 2008 10:16 AM CST

**UPDATE on Feb 4th - Yet another sad update. Please keep the family of Sadie Livers in your prayers as they just lost their little girl. She was in the midst of fighting her 3rd relapse and she died suddenly last night. Her site is at www.caringbridge.org/visit/sadielivers. Please give to childhood cancer research. There is no other way to stop losing these kids. You can go to www.curesearch.org for more info and/or plan on being part of the childhood cancer walk coming up here in Omaha June 7th.**

**UPDATE on Jan 22nd - I hate to write such bad news on here with it being Jake's birthday, but I wanted to ask for prayers for Jake's fellow Ewing's fighter, Hannah Knudsen. It appears she has relapsed. Please keep her in your prayers tomorrow as she has surgery and starts this battle again. Her site is www.caringbridge.org/visit/hannahknudsen

**UPDATE ON JAN 14TH - Please keep dear friends of our in your prayers as they have gotten heartbreaking news about their son that has been fighting so hard against his cancer for almost 9 years. Ethan Grimm and his family are such an inspiration because they have defied many odds for many years by commandeering an amazing plan of both alternative and traditional medicine. Their strength and determination gave them more wonderful "normal" years than anyone thought possible. Please pray for Ethan's pain control and the family's peace. His site is www.caringbridge.org/ia/ethangrimm. END UPDATE**

This month marks the beginning of this cancer journey for our family and 2008 is the year of 5's in regards to the anniversaries of those dates. 5 years ago yesterday was the day we found Jake's tumor. I did not even realize the day until late in the afternoon when Steve made reference to it. It finally feels like a day of celebration - 5 years ago we started the process of saving Jake's life. January 8th was the day we saw Dr. Harrison and he sent us for an MRI just because of his "gut feeling" that something was wrong. We were admitted to Children's and our fight began. It's amazing to think that was 5 years ago. Jake was almost 6 and in Kindergarten. He is now almost 11 and in the 5th grade. He went into elementary school a very sick little boy and ends elementary school a healthy kid. Yesterday finally felt like a day to celebrate. So we watched "We are Marshall". A great and fitting movie for the day and then went out for a late night dessert at 9:30. It was so reminiscent of our days on treatment when we got so little sleep and our days and nights all ran together. Ben slept through the whole thing, so it was just like the 4 of us again. Only this time it was a whole lot better than being in room 621 at 9:30. That's when the neurosurgeons came in to tell us how dire Jake's situation was, that they needed time to figure out how to remove the vascular monster that was in his head. It had become like it's own organ, using up as much blood as one and making it's own vein down the back of his neck to drain itself. More tests and a couple of weeks and then a plan. It would be only after we got Jake's tumor out that we would learn that even with that carefully and well consulted plan, most thought he would not make it through the emoblization and surgery to get the tumor out. I think Steve and I were so focused on wanting to know if it was malignant or benign that we didn't always notice or acknowledge the docs faces and words that were telling us it wasn't likely Jake would make it that far. Overall they seemed confident it could be done and so we just put our trust in their hands and those hands came through!

January 22nd, Jake's 6th birthday, we drove to the University of Iowa for the Embolization Surgery. He made it through that, was stabalized and we were ambulanced back to Omaha for his surgery on January 28th. A couple of days later it was confirmed that Jake had cancer.

So this is our year of 5's - 5 years since this and 5 years since that. All celebrations. Maybe we will just celebrate all year long. The year of the party!

Mixed emotions, though, with all of it becuase it has also been five years of many little friends lost. The "new normal" for us and the boys is that kids we love die all the time. We go to kids' funerals, we see many good friends suffering so much, and we know that is how it will be for many years to come. We wonder, and I think Jake does too, why has he survived when others haven't? His odds were worse than kids who have died. Statistics really don't explain anything.

So we just have to keep fighting childhood cancer the best way we know how - through research. It really is the only way to end the suffering and the funerals. I love so many of the childhood cancer support organizations, but wouldn't it be ideal to not need them in the first place?

The Omaha Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer 2008 is Saturday, June 7th. Please join us! You can walk in honor or in memory of a child or just in support of the 40,000 kids who currently have cancer here in the U.S. The walk is at Village Pointe Shopping Center from 8-10 am. It's such a fun and easy event to be a part of. E-mail me (below) if you want more info. I will post registration info when it gets closer.

Thanks for checking in on our family! Jake is so excited to hit 11 years old and FINALLY be an official PRE TEEN! Then Brandon turns 9 in February! They are getting so big - thank goodness!

Make it a good day, love up those kiddos and please go give blood,
Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Wednesday, November 28, 2007 7:26 PM CST

**UPDATE 12/27/07 - Jake's scans were clear today! We have hit the 4 year remission mark! His blood counts and growth all looked normal. It was a great day up in clinic as Josh's scans were clear today too! We have FINALLY gotten to 6 month scans, so we don't have to go back until June! We had a great Christmas and are looking forward to 2008! Thanks for checking in on us! Please go give blood - the supply is at critically low levels! End Update****

Hello! There are some new pics on the photo page. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was good. Jake broke his finger in a basketball game a couple of weeks ago. He is sporting a cast, but will get it off next week! We have all the Christmas decorations up, and I actually have a lot of Christmas shopping done! This is the first time since Jake was diagnosed that I am so happy and excited for Christmas. I guess we just have been so cautious to celebrate for so long and with the passage of time, comes some sense of security. Jake will have scans on December 27th. That will mark 4 years that he has been in remission. Two more scans the following year and then we are done!

In the past 5 years, I have learned so much. I have also learned so much from the people around me. They are the greatest of gifts really - pieces of advice or lessons learned through experience that change and shape your life. I hope that I have done these gifts justice by really taking them to heart and learning from the many mistakes I have made in my life or the hardships that have arisen.

I wanted to share some of these precious gifts that I hold so dear that are good for all of us to hear. I want to thank the many people who have given these gifts to me. I learned these things from the people I love the most and from those that have given me my most hurtful criticism. Every situation is a learning experience, even the ones that stink. The key is really learning from it, recognizing your mistakes and making a change.

1. The greatest lesson you can teach your children is
to take responsibility. This piece of advice is from my
cousin Diana who is mom to 3 of the most wonderful
young women I have met - the credit going to Diana and
her husband Gary. They are our role models in so many
ways, but especially parenthood.

Isnt it true that these days it is hard to find a
person who will really take responsibility for their
actions. We are up to our necks with excuses when we
should be surrounded by "I did it's" and "I apologize".

2. You can't say "I love you" and "I'm sorry" enough. I
picked this one up from experience. You just never
know what is going to happen. Make sure those you love
know it. Also, when you really screw up, it may take
a multitude of "sorry's" to fix things. Don't ever
hesitate with saying either of these. Doing so just
manifests division.

3. Don't spend your time with marginal people. This one
is straight from my mom's mouth. My mom only lived to
age 46, but in that short time she shaped my life more
positively than anyone else could. She was fun, full
of joy and very wise. By "marginal people", she meant
those that bring you down more than build you up.
Basically, spend your time with the people that are
best to you and bring out the best in you. Don't try
hard to make a relationship something it isn't.

4. Make the most of any situation. Another gem from my
mom that never goes out of style.

5. Don't hold back. This I get from my dad. My dad has
one of the biggest hearts I know. He is not afraid to
show affection or join in anything. He tries anything
once and never worries about looking goofy or being
embarrassed. He loves life and people love being
around him.

6. Better to stand up for something than park yourself
on both sides of the fence. It's ok to rock the boat
for the right thing. You may make enemies, but it will
be easier to live with yourself later on. This is
a lesson learned from experience, but it started from
my Grandad Townley who mastered the art of standing
tall for everything he believed in. The greatest
teacher I have in this is also my best friend. My
hubby Steve is never afraid to take a stand and
fight for what is right. Most of the time he says
the things that everyone else wants to but are
afraid to. Steve is a good one to have in your corner.

7. There is nothing more important than health.

8. Life is full of pain and you are not the only one who
has it. I remember when Jake was first diagnosed,
walking around feeling like I was on my own island of
horrible pain and no one felt as bad as me. But then
I read a quote from Katie Couric who said that she
felt that same way when her husband died and how
selfish grief can be in that regard. Really
though, life is just a painful thing and EVERYONE will
experience it in their lives. Recognizing that and
avoiding the urge to wallow in self pity is the
difference between those that recover from pain and
those that continue to wallow. You don't have to look
far at a Children's Hospital to see stories worse than
yours. You see people who have been through insurmountable
pain in their lives that recover and appreciate everyday.
Then there are those that have something happen to them
and make themselves into professional victims. It's hard work
moving on from pain, but it's worth it. No one promised life would be easy. That's
why you have to enjoy everyday. Suffering is just part
of the deal.

9. Friendship is golden. Of course I learned this more
than ever through Jake's treatment. Our friends are
what kept us sane and held us up through Jake's
illness. We have some of the best friends in the world
and many of them are part of our family too. You find
out who your real friends are during and after a
traumatic ordeal, and I am ever so thankful for the
wonderful people that fill our lives with love and
laughter! I swear I have some of the best girlfriends in the whole world!

10. GIVE, GIVE, GIVE and be thankful. Whether it's your
time, talents, money, blood, just give. There are
so many people in need. Living in the United States,
we are privledged beyond some people's wildest
dreams. Be thankful and give.

Thank you so much for offering our family some of the greatest gifts of support and encouraging words over the years. Thank you for your friendship. With Jake reaching this milestone of 4 years of remission, I plan on updating this site a little less. Of course I will post an update of his scan results on the 27th. I will never take Jake's site down, because I want to keep a success story about a Ewing's Sarcoma kid on the internet. I also want to keep you all posted on the Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer. The 2008 walk is June 7th here in Omaha. Please e-mail me (below) for information. We hope and pray we never have to use this site for anything other than the occasional boring update.

Please keep the families who are suffering most of all this holiday season in your prayers - those that have lost their children. It breaks our heart to have so many good friends suffering. When it comes right down to it, the only thing that will stop this suffering of kids with cancer and the families that love them is research. Please give to CureSearch to make sure that research happens.
www.curesearch org. Please go give blood too!

Thanks again for your friendship and for listening!
Happy Holidays and Best wishes for 2008!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Ben :~)

Sunday, November 4, 2007 4:02 PM CST

What a beautiful fall we have had here in Nebraska! The trees have been so colorful and gorgeous and the weather has been great. What a great time of the year!

School was out for a week for Fall Break a couple of weeks ago, so we took a trip down to Branson, Missouri. It is only a 6 plus the 3-year old factor hour drive away from here. We had a great time. We visited Silver Dollar City, the Titanic Museum, Ripley's, went putt-putt, did an I-Maxx movie, visited a cave and drove around the beautiful scenery. The trees down there were just turning too and it was one of the prettiest drives I think I have ever been on. The boys loved all of it.

Halloween was great. Jake was a homeboy (new pics on the photo page), Brandon a football player and Benny was a monkey. Football has come to an end and now it's basketball time for both boys. I do love watching the boys' baseketball games - no weather challenges! We ended Brandon's football season this year with a mom's vs. boys game and pizza party. Us mom's decided we didn't want the boys whining all weekend about losing, so we let them win 19-18. I'm sure Brandon would tell you a different story, but I'm going to stick to that one. It was a lot of fun!

Please keep all the kids fighting cancer and their families in your prayers. Prayers for the many parents who have lost their children too. If you want to help, please write your congressional representatives and senators as there is an important bill called the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act being voted on soon. You can also help by giving blood and giving and raising money for Childhood Cancer Research. The Red Cross runs low on blood products during the holidays as with most other days, and they need all the help they can get. Cancer treatment is not possible without blood and platelet transfusions. It's an easy way to really make a difference in the lives of kids and adults fighting hard. A great place to give monetary donations is www.curesearch.org. You can also get Holiday cards there too.

We are working right now on plans for the Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer that is coming Saturday, June 7th here in Omaha. All of the proceeds will go to CureSearch. We have raised $150,000 the last two years through this walk and we want to keep that going in honor and memory of the kiddos that are fighting here in this area. CureSearch makes putting on this walk very easy, so if you are looking for a way to raise much needed money in your area for childhood cancer, please contact CureSearch about organizing a walk. You can contact me also. Wouldn't it be awesome to have a walk in hundreds of cities some day? It could mean millions of dollars dedicated to Childhood Cancer research. How cool would that be?

I know sometimes I focus so on kids who have died or are not doing well just because they are in need of prayers. I did want to pass along some good news with this update, though - stories and then some sites of kids that are doing great. There is Billy who we met through the internet that lives in Florida who had Ewing's also. When he was maybe 9 months into his treatment for Ewing's, he was also diagnosed with MDS, a rare form of luekemia that was probably caused by his treatment for the Ewing's. He went into a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor with odds hovering around 20 percent. Billy is 5 years out, now 16, doing great and just got his driver's license! There is Rob here in Omaha that had ALL that sailed through treament and is now in college. There is Kim from Omaha who had ALL that relapsed. She went through a second round of treatment at 9 years old. She is now a junior in high school and doing great too. Then there is Cannon in remission from neuroblastoma, Katie who is 6 years out from Ewing's, Steven and Charlie who are 4 years out from Burkitt's Lymphoma, Morgan who is 8 years out from Rhabdo and I really could go on and on with kid's names that have beat their cancer. Sometimes when I get down about the friends we have lost or hear of another relapse, I literally sit down and write the names of the kids that I know that are doing great. It's so easy to forget the good stories, but there are many of them. Some sites you can visit to see for yourself and leave a note are below. We pray for their continued remission forever! Hannah-Ewing's Sarcoma(www.caringbridge.org/visit/hannahknudsen), Abby-ALL (visit/abbybridgewater), Josh-PPB (link above), Cameron-Rhabdomyosarcoma (link below), Jacob-Ewing's (visit/jacobnorz), Karson-AML(visit/karsonwalters), Elissa-Ewing's (visit/elissamaynes), McKinzie-Wilm's Tumor (visit/mckinzierine), and Blake-Ependymoma (visit/blakejarecki). Around 70 percent of kids with cancer survive, but that will only continue and that will only rise with money. While some childhood cancers have a survival rate of 70-80 percent and higher, there are many that still have those that are less than 50 percent. We have to keep searching for new and better cures. Every kids deserve to reach their next birthday.

Jake has scans again in December. That will be the end of our every 3 months scans and we will move to every 6 months! Thanks so much for checking in on us and for your support!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Thursday, October 11, 2007 2:12 PM CDT

Hello and thanks so much for coming by to check on our family. There are new photos on the photo page. We are in the fall mode around here with football, leaves starting to change, cooler weather and school in full swing. The boys and I and my friend Jen and her kids went to Vala's Pumpkin Patch yesterday after school and had so much fun. That place is just awesome and we could have spent another couple of hours there, but homework was a callin'.

I am happy to report there is nothing to report! Survivor's guilt has crept up on me as I write this, and I am having a hard time writing about how well we are doing when our friends are in so much pain. Let's just leave it at the boys are great and so are we and we couldn't be more thankful.

As we approach this giving season, please remember the kids of cancer in your donations. Give blood and give money to research at www.curesearch.org. Too many kids die from this disease and even those that don't have so many side effects and constantly live in fear. Write to your congressmen as the Conquer Childhoood Cancer act is being voted on soon and it needs your support. Why childhood cancer gets such low priority for federal dollars when it is the number one disease killer of kids will forever drive me crazy. We get upset over disasters that kill hundred of kids at one time and pour millions of dollars towards that, but the thousands of kids that die every year from cancer seems to be something we are ok with? Childhood Cancer is on the rise - it is not getting better. Our treatments need to.

Prayers for Tanner's family (link above)as they miss their sweet girl so. Prayers for Lizzie's family (link above) too as they approach the year anniversary of their sweet girl's passing. Prayers for Blake (link below), Ryan (ne/ryan) and Lily (visit/lilyleyden) as they continue their fights.

Thanks so much to everyone that has been so supportive of our family with Tanner's death. Thanks also to all the wonderful people of this area that have wrapped their arms around Tanner's family. Keep at it - they need it. I don't think we could ask to live in a better place filled with such caring people!

Love up your kiddos and make it a great day,
Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Thursday, September 20, 2007 3:51 PM CDT

*More photos of the boys and Tanner on the photo page.

It has been a very emotional day. Our dear sweet friend, Tanner Lusk (link above) died last night. What an incredible spirit. I don't know if I will ever know a stronger and more courageous child than Tanner. Tanner was full of spunk and so much fun. She came into our lives when both of our families were fighting hard against Ewing's Sarcoma. Then she, Marjorie, Chris, Hope and Brody became part of our own family when the unthinkable happened and she relapsed after 7 months of remission. Not only did they move to Omaha, but they moved into our hearts and we are ever so thankful. They wrote the book on love, courage and true sacrifice and it is an honor to be part of their story. Tanner Lusk, you are forever our little California Hero and we miss you so already.

The boys got up and we told them about Tanner. Brandon was literally speechless and Jake just cried and cried. The four of us just laid in bed and hugged for a long time. Not feeling it was fair to lay that kind of news on Brandon and then kick him out on the curb for school alone, knowing the rest of us were headed down to Children's for Jake's scans, we took him with us. We dropped Ben off at preschool and then went to Children's (thank you to Jennifer Novacek and Jen Holl for transporting and watching Ben today! You are both such incredible friends!). Although at first we were nervous about having scans the day after losing Tanner, being down in the oncology clinic was probably the best place we could have been today. The boys missed the tears and sadness at school and got to just feel comfortable with their grief and anxiety over scans in a place of complete understanding. The oncology clinic at Children's and it's staff are the BEST! Jake's scans are hard to read and we knew going into them today that it would be a challenge because he has a lot of snot in those unfunctioning and nonexistent sinuses. September is always our month of scares and questions. When we saw Dr. A she said the skull x-ray and chest x-ray looked good but that there was enhancement in that same mastoid area and she wanted to wait for radiology to look it over. So we went to lunch, half sick to our stomachs and came back up to clinic and got the all clear! Big sigh of relief. Jake's sinuses are packed full and in need of an antibiodic. He also had an episode of his heart racing, which is something I have too, but it becomes a special conern for him since he has heart damage from chemo. So we need to visit the cardiologist and just monitor his heart a little closer than we already do now. So easy stuff to take care of and a day with clear scans. We'll take it!

In addition to Tanner's family, please keep Lily (visit/lilyleyden) and Blake (link below) in your prayers as they deal with the relapse of their leukemias. September is childhood cancer awareness month - please spread the word about the impact of this disease. Some people don't even realize kids get cancer let alone that it is their number one disease killer. Please, please give blood!

Thank you so much for the prayers for our family and the concern you all have shown the boys. We are so grateful for our wonderful school, friends and family. There is nothing better. Well, health first and then that. Don't wait for a bad situation to really appreciate either of those things. Love up your kiddos and enjoy everyday!

Love, Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Thursday, September 6, 2007 6:41 PM CDT

Hello! Thanks for stopping in and checking on Jake! All is well here. We scheduled Jake's next set of scans for September 20th. This will be #15 out of 18 until we hit that 5 year mark in December of 2008! We are counting! The boys had a great start to school and Benny has done great in preschool. Not a tear shed - not even from mom! Flag football is in full swing for Brandon and it's so fun to watch him - his body and his "get em'" mentality is made for football. Jake is enjoying fall baseball and has started playing the trumpet. He really loves being a 5th grader! We love having him there!

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month. There is a powerful video you can view here Childhood Cancer Video. Please support kids with cancer through monetary donations for research, giving blood or helping a family that you know about. You can help a family by making meals, babysitting siblings, shopping for the family, visiting in the hospital, sending toys and gift cards, mowing their yard, etc. Most of all, please spread the word that cancer is the leading disease killer of children. People think it is so rare, but 1 in 330 kids will get cancer before age 20. That number is only increasing and the limited funding childhood cancer research does get has been cut once again this year. With that in mind, we are already planning for the Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer of 2008 which will be June 7th at Village Pointe here in Omaha! You can go to www.curesearch.org for more information on childhood cancer.

Many prayers needed. Of course our dear friend Tanner needs your prayers. This disease is taking over her little body and her parents are trying to savor every moment of everyday. Her link is above. Prayers too for Blake Pelster (link below) as he has sadly just relapsed with ALL. Prayers for the 40,000 other kids that are currently fighting this disease here in the U.S. and for the others around the world.

I will update again after Jake's scans on the 20th. Your prayers are always appreciated! Thanks so much for checking in on us! Love up those kiddos and make it a great day!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Friday, August 10, 2007 6:26 PM CDT

Hello! There are new pics on the photo page. The Beresh family has been enjoying the fleeting days of summer the last couple of weeks. We have hit the highlights of Omaha and have had a great time! This week was the Strategic Air Command Museum, The Children's Museum and some time at the pool. Steve has been really busy at work, but he managed to eeek out a day and a half of vacation to go to the zoo with us, stay in a hotel downtown for the night and hit the Pizza Machine. We have also done some movies, school shopping and lots of fun around the house. It has really been a great summer! School just starts TOO DARN EARLY! I really think it's borderling ridiculous starting school next week, but I will leave that discussion for another forum!

Open house for school was Thursday night and both boys are showing some signs of excitement about that (They feel the same way about summer being too short as I do, of course). Brandon is in 3rd grade this year and Jake is in 5th! It is Jake's last year of elementary school! Amazing because he was diagnosed with cancer as a Kindergartener and now here he is at the end of elementary school healthy and in remission. We could not be more thankful! Brandon has already started practicing for flag football and Jake is going to play fall baseball. We decided that even flag football was too much of a risk for Jake to play with his lack of skull on that right side, so baseball it is! Ben starts preschool this year! He will go 2 days a week and he is excited, but I'm sure the goodbye to mom the first couple of weeks will involve some sort of prying him off of me. He is a shy one and really loves his mama. It gets annoying at times, but I keep reminding myself that soon I will be chasing him down for hugs and kisses, so I better enjoy this while I can. He is going to miss the boys when they go to school soooo much. We have been trying to talk about it some, but Mom will try and keep him busy with all the stuff and errands I have put off all summer with the boys home. Lucky Ben! Ha!

Please keep all the cancer warriors in your prayers. Special prayers for Tanner and her family. Tanner is doing ok right now, but as Marjorie said in her journal entry, their time together is limited and it's just so hard to believe at times. My heart breaks for them everyday. Their friendship has been such a gift to our family. Keep Ryan (ne/ryan), Ethan (ia/ethangrimm), Lily (visit/lilyleyden) and Jace (ia/jacecarrico) in your prayers as well. We had a wonderful visit from Angel Lizzie's (link above) family a couple of weeks ago - it was so great seeing Sami and Joe!

Next month is scan time already for Jake. I will post when they are. Thanks so much for checking in on us and please don't forget to go give blood!!!!

Love, Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny Boo :~)

Friday, July 20, 2007 10:15 AM CDT

Thanks for stopping in and checking in on us! We picked Jake up on Wednesday morning from Camp CoHoLo. He had a great time and loved every minute of it. This was his 5th year at camp! 5 years - can you believe it? The first time he went he was 6 and in the midst of treatment. He was probably at his weakest - just finished radiation and that horrible burn was still healing. He had been in the hospital for chemo #8 for a week - he got out on Saturday night and went to CoHoLo the very next morning. It had been a terrible week because we had done an MRI and had a big scare because it looked like there was new tumor and it took a while for them to decide that it was probably ok and just radiation sweelling. We were all so scared taking him to camp - someone else had to give him his daily shot and meds, and I was so afraid the heat would get to him and he'd be throwing up the whole time. But that someone else giving him the shots was Anisa (his oncology nurse) and he had Christy (child life specialist) there with him too to make it all go smoothly, so he did great. I will never forget after we dropped him off and just Steve, Brandon and I went to lunch. Steve and I were in tears the whole lunch because we were thinking the same thing, "This is what life will be like if Jake does not make it." Brandon cried all 4 days Jake was gone - sometimes uncontrollably (he cries every year Jake goes to camp, this one included, but nothing as bad as that first year) and we were nervous wrecks. But then we went and picked Jake up and he came running up to us and said, "Can I come back here next year?!" I'm sure it was 4 days of fun and freedom for him that he couldn't get anywhere else. This year we took a much different kid to camp - he's 10 and in the oldest kids' cabin. He's lean, but healthy and muscular and takes not one med while there. He has strong bonds with the boys he has shared a cabin with over the years, and has been lucky enough not to have lost his camp buddies to the disease in that time. These camps are great becuase they really can just go and be kids and no one makes fun or looks at them weird because of their scars at the swimming pool, their wierd hairdos or lack of it, or from being in a wheel chair or all puffy from steroids. They all know what it's like to be really sick. To spend time with other kids like that, while being thouroughly entertained is great therapy. They can't get that sense of belonging anywhere else. Thanks so much to everyone who puts on Camp CoHoLo and for taking such great care of our kids! Thanks to all the businesses and people that donate money, time and items to make it happen!!! So now Jake is back and Brandon can go to sleep without crying himself there and Ben can quit asking, "Is Jakie at Camp Oholo?". Makes for a happy family of 5.

We have less than a month to enjoy the rest of summer before school starts. July is hot here in Nebraska, but there are breaks here and there from the heat. That's what the last couple of days and this weekend are bringing, and I think the boys and I will hit the zoo today. We're going to the movies tonight, then the boys are having a sleep over at Grandad and Nana's tomorrow night. Sunday we are off to the lake. It's shaping up to be a great weekend!

Please keep our friends Tanner (link above), Ethan (ia/ethangrimm), Ryan (ne/ryan) and Jace (ia/jacecarrico) in your prayers as they fight so hard. Please keep the parents in your prayers whose kiddos did not get to camp this year because they are in heaven. I can't imagine how hard it is on them to see their child's friends going off to camp. I know they are happy for the surviving kids, but I'm sure they ask a million times why it can't be their child too. I have thought so much about my friends this week that don't have their child to send to CoHoLo anymore. I hope they know how much I love them and pray for them everyday.

Please go give blood. Summer blood shortages are in full swing at the Red Cross and they need everyone's help. Make it a great day and love up those kiddos! Thanks again for stopping in!

Love, Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Thursday, July 5, 2007 2:42 PM CDT

There are new pics on the photo page!

We have had a great summer so far! You certainly can tell it's July - hot, hot, hot!

Jake and Brandon went to Camp Quality at the end of June. They LOVED it - thanks so much to their companions Pat and Angie and to those that put on the camp for these kids. Brandon was so cute because he would cry on and off the day we picked them up - one minute he was missing Angie and camp and the next he was just so happy to be home and then he missed camp and then happy to be with mom and dad again and then... you get the idea. He was in need of a good night's sleep and was good to go the next day. Jake goes to Camp CoHoLo in a couple of weeks and he is so excited about that too!

4th of July was great - filled with lots of friends, family, food and of course, lots of fireworks!!! I don't think boys of any age ever get tired of fireworks.

Brandon's last week of baseball is this week with the tournament starting this weekend. His team has really played well the last month and it's amazing the progress they have made this summer. It's so fun to watch. Brandon has great coaches this year and we are very thankful for that!

So all is well and normal here - just the way we like it!

A little friend of ours from Iowa just relapsed with Medulloblastoma - please keep Jace in your prayers (ia/jacecarrico). Also keep Tanner (link above) and Ethan (ia/ethangrimm) in your prayers as they fight so, so hard. Tanner was over this week and we got a great pic of her and Jake on the photo page. She made us a 4th of July decoration that says "Beresh" on it - something we will treasure forever! Thanks, Tanner! Please keep all the kids with cancer in your prayers and keep research for them in mind when you give money. The best place to give for childhood cancer research is to CureSearch (www.curesearch.org). Bigger organizations that support cancer in general give little money to childhood cancer research, so please give specifically to childhood cancer foundations like CureSearch if that is your goal. I can tell you that childhood cancer research is one of the most poorly funded areas. How the disease that kills more kids than all other childhood diseases combined is poorly funded, I don't get. Also, please go give blood! Summer is one of hardest times for the blood bank to keep their supplies at a safe level! People cannot get cancer treatment without blood products - especially the kids. Sometimes they need 2-3 transfusions a week with every round of chemo, and their treatment typically lasts 1-3 years if all goes well the first time. That's A LOT of blood - please give!

Thanks so much for checking in on us!

Love, Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny Boo :~)

Tuesday, June 12, 2007 8:26 PM CDT

*Update on Thursday, June 14th - Jake scans were all clear today! Everything looks stable with no evidence of disease. His counts all looked good too! Josh, Liz and Jay Larson and Molly Lambert and her family, plus Tanner and her crew were all up there today and it was great to see all of them. Molly and Josh's stuff all came out with good news today too. Jake and Josh had a great time playing and we got to eat lunch with Liz and Josh. Josh, I think you owe Steve some chocolate cake! Please continue to keep Tanner and her family in your prayers! Thanks so much for all your prayers for Jake and for your guestbook messages! Make it a great weekend! I know we will! End Update*

Hello! New pics up on the photo page too! The Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer 2007 in Omaha, Nebraska raised just over $100,000!!!!!!! Can you believe it? That is double what we did last year! The fire department estimated that there was about 2500 people there! So much of the credit goes to the amazing teams that worked so hard to raise the money! Tanner's team - Tanner's Termites - won for being top fundraiser and they raised over $10,000! Our team, Team G.I. Jake raised over $5000 and we were in 5th place. What a great team we had this year, helping us raise all that money in Jake's honor. Thanks so much to all the Team G.I. Jake members and to all of you that helped us raise that money! Thanks too to the sponsors, donators, volunteers and the steering committee! It was a beautiful day, and we awarded medals to 45 kids for being Milestones Champions that led us in the walk. Betsy Mowell from CureSearch was there and she said that our walk is the biggest private event they have! Even with how much money we rasied, it's sobering because that will not even fund one clinical trial. It is $100,000 that childhood cancer did not have before, though, and hopefully a lot more people heard about how underfunded the whole thing is.

We have scans on Thursday. We love them, we hate them. We have great faith that all will be ok. Jake is looking foward to seeing all his buds in clinic and radiology. Prayers are always appreciated! I will update with results when we get home later afternoon on Thursday.
Josh Larson is in for scans that day too, so please keep him in your prayers also.

We went to the Grant Wistrom Foundation fundraiser in Lincoln a couple of weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. It was great seeing Chris and Natalie Kelsay as they were in town for it too.

The boys are doing good. Now that the walk is over, they can have their mom back and summer has begun! They are going to Camp Quality next week. It's a cancer camp that allows siblings too. Brandon is so excited to FINALLY be able to go to something like this! It will be so weird having both of them gone. Benny will be at a loss.

Please keep Tanner (link above) and her family in your prayers. I don't know what to say about all of this with Tanner except that no parent should have to go through what Chris and Marjorie are going through. It breaks my heart to see Tanner in physical pain, and them in such emotional pain. There is nothing right about any of it. Another family that needs your prayers is Ethan Grimm's. His website is www.caringbridge.org/ia/ethangrimm. Both of these families are such dear friends and we just hate seeing them have to fight so hard. We pray for their strength, a huge amount of support and most of all their miracles....

Thanks for checking in on us. Enjoy the new pics! Please go give blood. You can still donate to the walk if you did not get a chance at www.milestoneswalk.org. We appreciate your support!

Love, Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Thursday, May 31, 2007 12:44 AM CDT

Hello! It's the first day of the boys' summer and all is going well her at the Beresh's. Ben is LOVING having Jake and Brandon home already! What a great year of 2nd and 4th grade the boys had. I am just so excited to have them home!

The walk is fast approaching! June 9th from 8-10am is the walk at Village Pointe, and we are expecting a great turnout! There are so many teams working so hard to raise money - it's so exciting! Just as an example of how underfunded childhood cancer is, Tanner Lusk (link above) was wanting to get into a clinical trial in Chicago and there is only space for 3 kids in the entire country to be on this trial at a time. There is a waiting list, but most kids can't wait and never get the chance at the best treatment option that is available for them. Tanner is one of those that can't wait for one of the measly 3 spots to open and now they have to do something different. There is just so little research money out there for childhood cancer. Here's some stats:
*30-40,000 children are currently on treatment in the U.S.
*3000 children die in the U.S. a year from cancer
*The National Cancer Institute only spend 3n childhood
cancer research and that is supposed to cover the hundreds
of different kinds of cancers that fall under childhood
cancers!
That's like putting a bandaid on a hole in the Hoover Dam. It's so sad and frustrating. You would think the Number 1 disease killer of children would get some priority in research funding, but instead it gets very little. It's almost like people just accept that some kids get cancer and a lot of them die and that's just the way it is. I hope that with the rise in cancer that we don't just become complacent with thoughts like, "oh it's cancer - it's been around forever and everyone gets it - they will never find a cure - what's the point." I think if we really did throw some big money at it, there would be a cure - for all the cancers. I know it's a huge challenge because each kind of cancer is like a seperate disease, but I just think it can be done. I hope the conspiracy theorists are not right that someone is holding out on the cure just because cancer is such big business. Sometimes I wonder, though.

Anyway, I got off a bit there. We can do something and with this walk we are trying very hard. Please donate at www.milestoneswalk.org. Jake's team is G.I. Jake and I would love for you to give to us, but most importantly just give. It would be great too to surprise a team on there with a donation and make someone's day. Every little bit helps - $10, $20 whatever. You can also send me a check made out to CureSearch to our address below. If you want to come for a fun morning and teach your kids a little about the value of good health and helping others, then come to the walk. There is no registration fee. You can just come and have fun and support the cause!

I do want to thank Steve and the boys for bearing with me the past couple of months while mom helps put this walk together. It's a labor of love and one that we all feel is important enough to give our time and money to.

On another note, I saw a quote yesterday that I just love - "We tend to seek happiness, when happiness is actually a choice." It's so true isn't it? Why look everywhere for happiness or blame others for your lack of of it, when you have the choice whether it is yours or not. Don't waste your days on unhappiness or unhappy people. Don't waste your time on convincing yourself that this person or that person is the reason you are unhappy. Life is too short and too wonderful to do that. I know some things in life our out of our control, and there is much about life that frankly just sucks. But that is true for everyone. Everyone has really terrible things happen in their life - we all have challenges. I guess we can choose to get stuck in the horrible moments or choose to work hard to live and love the parts that make life so good. As a tribute to the parents that have lost their children - the people that really have the biggest roadblock to their happiness but are working so hard everyday to get there - choose to quit seeking and start enjoying your days!

Jake has scans on June 14th, so we are praying that all of our busy, crazy normalcy that we are thankful for everyday just continues. Thanks so much for checking on us! Please remember to go give blood - it makes chemotherapy treatments possible!

Love, Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Friday, April 27, 2007 12:06 AM CDT

Update - May 15th - Please keep Tanner and her family in your prayers as she has relapsed to her brain and spine (link above). Pray for guidance for the docs and Chris an Marjorie as they look for Tanner's next treatment. Also keep Ethan (brain tumor-PNET and luekemia) and his family in your prayers with his latest relapse to the brain and spine (www.caringbridge.org/ia/ethangrimm). Ethan and his family is an incredible story of child who has been fighting for 8 years. First it was the brain and spine tumors and then just lately he was diagnosed with luekemia caused by the chemo he had to battle the brain tumors 6 years before. Now his luekemia is in remission, but the brain and spinal tumors have reared their ugly head again. Our hearts are just aching for both sets of these parents - good friends of ours that have gone above and beyond in finding the best of the best of conventional and alternative treatments for their children. Visit their websites and leave them a note of encouragement. Tell them Jake sent you - especially during the hard times, the guestbook messages mean so, so much. Thank you
End Update.

Hello! All is going well here at the Beresh house. We are VERY busy with baseball, lacrosse and preparing for the walk, but all is good. Everyone is healthy and that's the best part! We value every healthy day!

There are new pics on the photo page. Uncle Jeff has been taking some great pics of the boys during their sporting events - thanks, Jeff! The above picture shows what happens when you tell Ben to smile for a picture - in goes that bottom lip. He is very proud of those top teeth obviously! Ha!

As all of you know, Jake's battle with cancer was very difficult. He fought so hard for a year with harsh chemo, many painful surgeries and almost 6 weeks of radiation that burned his little head to the third degree. There are so many kids that have to fight so much harder and for so many years. The other day I was getting the back yard ready for spring, and I came across the green watering can we use out there. I noticed that written in sharpie marker, it said, "For Jake only!" It's amazing the things you forget and then you see, smell or feel something and all the pain of an experience comes rushing so hard back at you. It was like someone hit me in the gut when I saw those words. That watering can was what we used when Jake was burned so badly from radiation to clean his head. The water coming out of the shower was too painful for him to stand under, so we used that watering can to lightly pour water over his head to clean the gaping wound that was there from being burned. You can't always see the damage and the horror from chemo, but that burn from radiation was like a window for everyone to see the pain and agony Jake's body and mind were in. Cancer treatment is as bad as the disease. Many kids die from just the treatment. We worry everyday not only that Jake's cancer will come back, but that the toxic chemical we poured into his veins to kill it will rear their ugly head and hurt him now. It could cause another kind of cancer, make him lose his hearing, his ability to learn, destroy his heart, his kidneys...we just don't know. The effects on adults are devastating, imagine what it does to a developing little body. Jake must have seen something on TV about chemo and infertility because he asked me the other day if he would be able to have kids some day. I told him we just don't know yet. He was shocked and said, "you mean I may not be able to have kids because of my cancer?" I told him no it would because of the chemo. "They should come up with something better than chemo," he said sadly. Yes, Jake, they should.

The only way they can is with money for research. Research is the key to stopping these kids from dying and from suffering devastating lifetime effects of their treatment if they survive. Kids who are dying of cancer shouldn't be, and the kids who are surviving it shouldn't have to worry about the horrible effect of the treatment that saved them. You can help. You can donate to a team that is walking in the Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer that is coming up June 9th here in Omaha from 8-10 am at Village Pointe. You can also organize your own team and raise money to make a difference. To donate or sign up to walk, you can go to Milestones Walk Website. If you want to donate to Jake's team, go to "sponsor a walker" when you get there, click on the Omaha walk and then type in "Beresh" in the search box. We would love to have your support. Jake LOVES to see when we get a donation on there. Thank you so much for your support!!!

Love, Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Cancer is the leading disease killer of children, killing more infants, school age kids and adolescents than AIDS, asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and muscular distrophy COMBINED!

Monday, April 9, 2007 9:39 AM CDT

UPDATE - APRIL 16TH - The registration and donations pages are open for the walk! You can go to www.milestoneswalk.org to register your team. If you want to help our team, G.I. Jake, you can go to www.milestoneswalk.org and click on "sponsor a walker" at the top. We would appreciate any support! Thank you!

Goodmorning! There are new pictures on the photo page. As you can see, Brandon got his hair cut!!! With baseball starting we finally convinced him to let me cut it!We had a great spring break and a great Easter weekend. It has been unseasonably cold here, so we didn't get outside for spring break as much as we would have liked to. The boys and I had a great time anyway.

We are busy getting ready for the Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer and everyone's support has been amazing! We have gotten a lot of support with businesses and individuals sponosoring as well as donating items for the walk. Thank you so, so much! Keep it coming as we need all the help we can get! So many people have been
e-mailing us from all over the midwest for more information. Truly as much as I love the support organizations for families that are fighting childhood cancer, this money that goes for research is the most important. We need to not only support these kids, but we need to save them. We need to stop them from dying. Cancer kills more kids than all other childhood diseases combined!

Childhood Cancer is the black mark on the report card of the progress to cure cancer. Cure rates for childhood cancer have not changed in 20 years! No new drug for childhood cancer has been introduced in over 20 years! Childhood cancer rates, though, just keep climbing. So we are doing what we can:

The Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer
Saturday, June 9th
8-10 am
Village Pointe Shopping Center

For more information you can e-mail me (below) or at scbkab@cox.net. Registration will be up and running towards the end of this week at www.milestoneswalk.org. All money will go to CureSearch (www.curesearch.org) which is the leading national foundation for childhood cancer research. It's clinical trials are available to all kids around the country, including those treated right here in Omaha at Children's Hopsital and the U of Nebraska Medical Center.

Please keep the kiddos still fighting, those in remission and the families of those that have become angels in your prayers. You can check on Ryan (ne/ryan) and offer some kind words as he got bad news this week on his scans, Taylor as she deals with pain and discomfort (fl/taylor) from her progressing disease. You can offer words of congratulations to Blake (link below) as he finally finished treatment and for Angel Brant and Angel Benjamin's family (links above) as they have new members of their families arriving soon! Continued prayers for Tanner (link above) that she continues in remission, and for Lizzie and Haley's families (links above and below) as they cope without their sweet girls. You can check in on Josh Larson (link above) too as he just had surgery this past week to remove some screws from his skull that had come loose - he is doing well!

Thanks so much for checking in on us and thanks to those that sign in to say hello! Please go give blood - I will be there giving blood on Wednesday morning at 132nd and Dodge, so come join me!!!! Love up those kiddos and make it a great day!

Love, Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Ben :~)

Thursday, March 22, 2007 4:08 PM CDT

Hello! All scans look good!!!! Another one down! All of Jake's lab work, his MRI and his chest and skull x-ray all looked great! It was a good day up in the clinic. We got to see everyone and it was pretty quiet in there, which is always nice. We will do it all again in June. This is our last year of every 3 month scans and we will be so glad to not have to do this every 3 months. (Jake is still in 3 month scans because his treatment was in a clinical trial - otherwise we would be doing them every 6 months at this point.)

There are new pics on the photo page.

Spring has sprung around here and the boys have been outside non-stop, playing with the neighbors. Jake starts Lacrosse this Sunday and he is so excited for that. Brandon will start baseball soon and his hair is on the second round of getting long again. Benny is doing great - just getting so big. His new talent is to quote lines from his favorite movie, Napoleon Dynamite! Only a 2 year old with older brothers would have that as his fave movie. He loves to say, "I no feel good, gosh!" and "Can I have yours tots?" He and the boys do a good rendition of Rex Quando also! Very entertaining!

We have been working hard preparing for the walk and that is going great! Don't forget:

Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer
Saturday, June 9th
8-10 am
Village Pointe Shopping Center
All funds raised goes to CureSearch, the leading foundation for Childhood Cancer Research. You can go to www.milestoneswalk.org for more info. Registration will start the first part of April!

Thanks so much for checking in on us. Please keep all the kiddos in remission and still fighting in your prayers. Keep the many families who have lost their kiddos in your prayers also. Finally, prayers for the Nebe family - Mrs. Nebe is a teacher at Jake's school whose husband suddenly died of Luekemia this week after only being diagnosed about 10 days before.

Make it a great day and love up those kiddos,
Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 2:32 PM CST

Hello! It has been quite wintery around here with the big blizzard we had last week! I have new pics up on the photo page of some of the snow and us at the Dance Marathon. The snow was great - 12 inches and lots of wind which makes for huge drifts. 2 days off of school and a weekend full of playing in all of it. I do feel for those that were stuck on a closed I-80 for days on end; but being here at home, it was pretty fun. Now it's warm, so all of it is melting - a nice welcome for spring time growth. Only in Nebraska can you be in a blizzard and then outside playing in snow and 50 degree weather all in the same week! Now spring is knocking on the door - the change of seasons is so renewing!

All is well here. We had a great time at the Dance Marathon down in Lincoln which raised around $60,000 for Children's, and then we did an interview for the Kat 103 Radioathon last Friday and that raised over $300,000 for Children's! Thanks so much to all of you that support Children's Hospital. We are so incredibly blessed to have a hospital of that caliber, specializing in children in our city! The Beresh's certainly can be counted in their ranks of grateful families that have miracle children to show for their efforts!

Jake's next 3 months scans are set for March 22nd. He is feeling good and doing great in school, so we keep the faith that all is well and we can stay on this course forever!

Other than that I am happy to report that I have nothing to report! Life is wonderfully normal and busy and nothing could be better!

Don't forget!
Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer
June 9th from 8-10
Village Pointe - Omaha

If you want more information about forming a team, volunteering or getting your company involved in sponsoring the event, please e-mail me (below) and I will get info to you! It is a great morning of family fun along with being a morning of inspiration for everyone involved. All money raised goes to CureSearch which is the leading foundation for childhood cancer research. You can go to www.curesearch.org for more information.

Money for Childhood Cancer Research is desperately needed because:
*Half of the clinical trials (Jake was treated on a
clinical trial) planned for 2007 will not happen because
of recent government cuts in cancer research.
*No new drug for childhood cancer has
been developed in over 20 years!!!
*Cancer kills more children that AIDS, asthma, diabetes
cystic fibrosis and muscular distrophy COMBINED!
*While other cancers show progress in survival rates,
childhood cancer's have remained unchanged for over 20
years - it's the black mark on the status of cancer
progress. Some childhood cancers have survival rates of
70 percent or more, but there are many with very low
suvival rates.

Thanks so much for checking in on us and please go give blood! Make it a great day and love up those kiddos!!!

Love,
Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

Sunday, February 18, 2007 9:02 PM CST

Thanks for stopping in and checking on Jake. New pics on the photo page. We are all doing great! The weather has been wintery and the boys have been loving the snow. We finally got a snow day in, so we were happy about that! It is warming up this week, so we'll be saying goodbye to the snow for now. Hope we get some more before winter is over.

Brandon has a birthday coming up February 27th. He will be 8! He and Jake had their joint birthday party with the family and they finally got a dog! They got Nintendogs! Dad's allergic to the real kind, so these will have to do. At least I don't have to clean up after them! We have one more basketball game left for the boys and then we move into the spring sports. Jake is going to try Lacrosse. He has always wanted to play and the Y offered a league for younger kids this year. I think he is most attracted to it because everyone has to wear a helmet, so he won't stand out. Brandon is giving up soccer and is going to play baseball this year. Brandon got his hair cut too! You can see how long it had gotten on the photo page as I posted new pics. Ben is doing great! Talking up a storm and learning colors, counting and has even moved to a big boy bed. He loves it and we have had no trouble with him getting out of bed at night.

Lots of things coming up. The Dance Marathon at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln is this coming weekend. We will go as family representatives of a Children's, and it is always something that we look forward to.

March 1st at 9 am we will be on the radio - KAT 103 - for the Children's Hospital Radioathon. Word is they are going to have Tanner's family on right after us to tell the story of our two families and how they got here to Nebraska. I will be a sobbing mess I am sure, but we always look forward to helping Children's Hospital. Tanner is doing great and we are so thankful for that!

Now I'm stepping onto my soapbox for a bit.

*Did you know that 1 in 330 children will be diagnosed with cancer before age 20?
*Did you know that cancer is the leading disease killer of children - killing more kids than AIDS, asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and muscular distrophy COMBINED!
*Did you know that no new drug has been introduced to fight childhood cancer in OVER 20 YEARS???

How can it be that we let our greatest resource - our children - die of a disease and no one cares? The National Cancer Institute spends over 300 million in research for AIDS! They spent over 500 million for breast cancer research! Do you know what they spent for childhood cancer research? 20-30 million! That's very little money to spend on childhood cancer considering it involves many different kinds of cancer. Worse still is that this piddly amount is being cut again this year! Does this make sense? I am all for research for these other diseases as well, but why is there such a shortcoming for our children? Forget about the drug companies doing research for childhood cancer - there is no money in it. When was the last time a celebrity or past president spoke on behalf of all the kids that are fighting and dying of this disease? Why does pediatric AIDS get all the celebrity support? At least we know the cause and ways to prevent that disease. Why do we spend so much money on kids dying of diseases in other countries and just turn our heads to the cancer kids dying right now in every one of our cities in every one of our states? I don't get it! Childhood cancer research has stalled and has been stalled for many years. To make matters worse, childhood cancer is on the rise and there is no known cause of the disease. It's a random killer.

While support programs are invaluable and great for these kids and families, wouldn't it be great to not have to need Make A Wish, Camp CoHoLo and Supersibs? Wouldn't it be great to find real treatments for these kids, without the horrible life altering side effect? Wouldn't it be great to not have to read about child after child dying on these websites? Research only happens with money and that is the goal - raise awareness and money for research. So we can write letters to congress, Oprah or whoever will listen to raise awareness and we can work hard to raise money. Here's our attempt at raising money:

Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer
June 9th, 2007
Village Pointe Shopping Center - Omaha, NE
8-10 a.m.
Julie Cornell (anchor for Channel 7)will be the MC that day!

All money raised goes to CureSearch - the leading foundation for childhood cancer research. (www.curesearch.org) CureSearch's money goes to all major pediatric cancer hospitals, including Children's and the Nebraska Medical Center right here in Nebraska.

Right now we are spreading the word and getting sponsors. We need everyone's help! If you are reading this and you know of or have a business that wants to help these disgusting numbers associated with the lack of funding for childhood cancer, please contact me (my e-mail is below). We have many levels of sponsorship and packets available right now. It is a great way to help this cause and get a lot of great advertising for your business.

If you are a childhood cancer family, church group, social organization, business, friend or family of this cause and you want more info on forming a team, please contact me. Last year's walk was a wonderful morning of fun for the whole family. It was also an incredible morning of inspiration in honoring the kids that are fighting and remembering the ones that have lost their battle. Last year was the first year for the walk and we had over 1000 in attendance and raised about $50,000 for CureSearch! We want to do better this year! We can do better! Our walk was only 1 of 2 walks in the entire country last year raising money for childhood cancer! Only 2 in the entire country! If you are reading this and you want to have a walk in your city, contact CureSearch and they will help and you can contact me also for information. If we as the parents of cancer children don't start working to increase the money directed to fighting this disease, who will?

We are so pumped about this year's walk! We have teams already organizing their members, their t-shirts and even some that have started fundraising. It is so easy to have a team and so fun! You will be glad you did as your involvement can really make a difference!

Stepping off the soapbox now. Thanks so much for stopping by! Please go give blood - an easy and free way to help so many! Make it a great day and love up those kiddos!!!

Love, Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny Boo :~)

Monday, January 22, 2007 9:33 AM CST

Happy Birthday to our Jakieboy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jake turns 10 today - DOUBLE DIGITS!
He was so excited to go to school - very unusual for him on a Monday.

All is well and we have been enjoying all this awesome snow!!! So nice to see global warming hasn't totally depleted our winters! We took Jake and some friends to a movie Sat night - "A Night at The Museum" - Great, great movie! Then the boys spent the night. They had a great time. It was Ben's first movie at a theater and he did really well. He thought he was quite the big boy sitting in the seat between mom and dad and having popcorn and pop! The boys are back into their baseketball games and that is going well. Just busy busy around here with lots of activities the next couple of months.

Thanks for checking in on us! Please keep the kids still fighting and the families that have lost their sweet children in your prayers. You can check on Ryan (ne/ryan) to offer some words of support and on Tanner too (link above). Tanner has important scans today, so please check on them and keep them in your prayers!

Please GO GIVE BLOOD! Make it a great day and love up those kiddos!

Love,
Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny Boo! :~)

Monday, January 8, 2007 12:45 AM CST

Hi! Thanks for coming by and checking in on our family! Love all the sign-ins lately. It so cool to see who is stopping by! There are new photos on the photo page.

Today marks the day that we started saving Jake's life. 4 years ago today we found Jake's tumor. While it would be another month before we knew he had cancer because of the nature of his tumor, we at least knew on this day our lives would never be the same. It was a day kind of like today - sunny and warm. I still have the shirt I was wearing that day hanging in my closet just as a reminder to not take one moment for granted. I have a couple of times thought about giving it to the Goodwill, but then I think it's important to remember that the poeple you love the most deserve your best. So there it hangs. 4 years ago, this was a very bad day in so many ways. There were lots of tears and a feeling in my gut I never want again. But I always look at today as a celebration too as it really was the day we started saving Jake's life. Before that there was a huge tumor inside his body killing him that we didn't even know about. By the time the tumor came out and we found out it was cancer, we realized we were probably days away from it bursting and killing him. I can't imagine if that would have happened. To just have Jake die suddenly and then to find out that whole time he had a very bloody cancerous tumor - "a monster" - as one doc described it. The thought of having him die like that without even getting the chance to fight it makes me sick. We are so thankful for today as it gave us the chance to fight and so far we have won that fight. So while 4 years ago today we were being immediately admitted to the hospital and hearing how the docs were not sure there was anything that could be done about this tumor, tonight we will celebrate. We are off to our dear Valentinos (the boys' favorite!) to celebrate today! I will always love January 8th!

Christmas was good. We traded around the stomach flu a bit and Ben fought a very bad cold, but it was so fun celebrating with family and friends. We had a great New Years too with the boys and some other families that got together. It was great having the boys home. We went to the zoo and the Pizza Machine and played with all the Christmas presents. Now we have our big family birthday month - my brothers, mine, Jake's on the 22nd and then Steve's brother's at the end of the month.

We are starting to plan for the Milestones Walk for Childhood Cancer that is coming up at the beginning of June at Village Pointe Shopping Center here in Omaha. Last year our innagural walk was only 1 of 2 in the entire country devoted to raising money for Childhood Cancer, which is severely underfunded! Only 2 walks in the whole country - how sad! We had 1000 people there and raised about $50,000 for CureSearch, which is the leading foundation for childhood cancer research. Liz (Josh's mom) and I are co-chairing the walk this year and we would love to have help! If you are interested in volunteering, please e-mail me at the e-mail below. We hope many of you will plan to join us for the walk and if you know of a business that would like to help us sponsor it, let me know. I will post updates on here as more plans get in place. Right now, though, we are gathering volunteer's names and contact info. If you want more info in general about the walk, let me know of that too and I will get that to you.

Please go give blood and inquire about getting your name on the national bone marrow registry. Thanks so much for stopping by and checking in on us!!! Make it a great day and love up those kiddos!!!

Love, Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny :~)

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