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David’s Story

Site created on December 1, 2020

Thank you for visiting this site! We have started a CaringBridge space to keep our large community of friends and family updated on David's health status. For those of you who don't know, David has been diagnosed with chronic leukemia after living with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) for the past year. MDS is a form of anemia in which all of his blood counts are progressively declining. In October, he was diagnosed with Myelofibrosis (bone marrow cancer) which means that his bone marrow is not operating as a functional factory of healthy blood cells. Consequently, his red and white blood cells, along with his platelets are all very low, leaving him at high risk for infections and potentially bleeding problems. He is under the expert care of oncologists at Kaiser SF and was started in early November on chemo treatments and regular blood transfusions. We join his doctors in being hopeful that the chemo treatment is successful. His current treatment has approximately 50% chance of kick starting his bone marrow into a more functional state. Per the MDs, it may take between 3-6 months to know if the chemo will be successful for him. Depending on how his body responds, David may have months to years to live.

In David's own words:

I have a renewed understanding of how precious life is and I plan to appreciate every day and all of my friends near and far. Due to my anemia, I have less energy and I need to prioritize what things are most important to do and be in the remaining months or years of my life. This will be a challenge for me as there is so much I would like to do - especially in helping create a more just and peaceful world and the Beloved Community. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers for my healing. Please envision my body miraculously creating healthy blood. We shall overcome!

We will be posting journal entries to this site regularly as David and family feel there are significant updates to share. In addition, we will post photos of David enjoying his life with family and friends. We encourage you to also post any favorite photos to this site and/or share stories, memories and tributes over the months to come. If you are new to CaringBridge, it is a wonderful nonprofit organization designed to help people celebrate their lives and health journeys. You are not required to donate in order to follow David's story. Nor are we fundraising or asking for help at this time other than to please send David lots of LOVE!

Newest Update

Journal entry by David Hartsough — Jan 6, 2024

Friends,
Happy New Year and thank you for your friendship and your love and support in my healing. I now understand that many people could not open the links in my December Post. So I post them again because they are both VERY SPECIAL and an important message for our times.
In these dark times of war and tragic killing of our brothers and sisters, I want to share several short resources which you may find inspiring:

1. The Children at Ramallah Friends School singing a Christmas Greeting to the children of Gaza and the world.

https://westernfriend.org/news/ramallah-friends-school-song-to-the-world/

2. Thought you would enjoy this delightful short video "How To Tell A New Story In Which Everyone Belongs" a beautiful video re-conception of what should really be involved in our thinking about peace and national security, including how we live from day to day. Pass it along as a gift to your family and friends. Building real security for everyone is really not that hard. In these dark times of war and tragic killing of our brothers and sisters, I want to share several short resources which you may find inspiring:

1. The Children at Ramallah Friends School singing a Christmas Greeting to the children of Gaza and the world.

https://westernfriend.org/news/ramallah-friends-school-song-to-the-world/

2. Thought you would enjoy this delightful short video "How To Tell A New Story In Which Everyone Belongs" a beautiful video re-conception of what should really be involved in our thinking about peace and national security, including how we live from day to day.

https://belonging.berkeley.edu/national-security-narrativ.

Together We Can End War and get security for all.

Love and hopes for more peace and justice in 2024,

David Hartsough

Together We Can End War and get security for all.

Love and hopes for more peace and justice in 2024,

David Hartsough

Read More of the journal titled "January 6, 2024"

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