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Joshua's Journal 
Joshua and Tanner in front of the White House this summer.
Look how far we've come! It's amazing! Welcome to www.joshuasjournal.org
Joshua was diagnosed with a very rare cancer named Pleuropulmonary Blastoma in November 2002. In October 2003 he completed chemotherapy. In December 2003, Joshua relapsed with brain mets. In April 2004, Joshua completed a stem cell transplant. Read all about him, enjoy his photos and sign the guest book or email us so we know you were here. Journal Entries from 2002
Journal
Thursday, November 18, 2010 UPDATE: TODAY MARKS 8 YEARS AGO THAT JOSHUA WAS FIRST DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT WAS SO LONG AGO, BUT NEVER FORGET TO THANK GOD FOR HIS HEALTH AND THAT HE IS STILL WITH US. THANK YOU TO SO MANY OUT THERE WHO HELPED US GET THROUGH THOSE DARK DAYS. GOD BLESS.
Monday, November 1, 2010
It has been a REALLY long time since I updated Joshua's site. SO, I thought I had better at least add a new photo to at least show how old our hero is now. This is a photo from our Washington, DC trip this summer for the PPB Conference. The research team that has been studying his rare cancer for many years holds these conferences every other year to bring families together and hopefully find a cure. They have made remarkable strides in such a short time, so we are hoping for big news in the upcoming years. They have already made it possible to test for a gene that could show the possibility of being diagnosed with PPB. Hopefully they can at least help diagnose this horrible disease in Type I, which is very curable with chemo unlike the stage III that Joshua had, which is much more difficult. We are blessed to be a part of this PPB family.
Everyone is doing very well in our family and time is flying by. I was excited to learn that I was accepted into nursing school starting in January, so I am looking forward to that, but also nervous about the workload that will entail. I have worked hard for the last couple of years with all my prereqs, so at least I am "finally" into the nursing school part. It will be an adjustment to our family, as mom has always been around to handle anything and everything that needed to be done, but I am hoping this will give everyone an opportunity to be more responsible.
Joshua is busy playing tennis, basketball and now some swimming also. He is doing great in school and we still have not seen any side effects from his treatment. I have always said it would be a miracle if we don't see some side effects after all that he has been through, but we are thrilled to be this far and be where we are. He still has his annual checkups with his oncologist and we will be seeing his surgeon for the next year or more in regards to the nasal tumor that was removed not long ago. This year's MRI showed no regrowth with this tumor, so that was great to hear.
Tanner turns 16 in February and he bought his car a month ago and is in love with it. We are just praying that he is a safe driver and doesn't total it the first month. He "really" wanted a stick shift, so we gave in and he has been doing very well with learning to drive that. These boys and their cars are going to drive me crazy!
Joshua's oldest brother, Justin, turns 22 in February also. Amazing, how they get so old, but yet I don't age at all. ha! I wish that was true. He will be moving into a townhouse in December, so he is very excited about that and so are we. He is working full time now and enjoying his job, but I would say besides his girlfriend, his first love is his car too. ugh!
I think that is about all the big news for now. We continue to think and pray for all the kids that are in remission, still fighting and the ones we have lost thru this horrible battle with cancer. Praying and hoping for a cure, so noone has to go down this road ever again. God bless and enjoy the upcoming holidays.
Read Journal History
Hospital Information: Patient Room: HOME
Links: http://www.caringbridge.org/ne/jakieboy/ Jacob Beresh diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma February 2003
http://www.tannerville.com/ Tanner Lusk
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