I can’t believe it, another birthday for Joey! We didn’t do a family Christmas letter this year, so, I thought I would kind of bring everyone up to speed on our family here, and now. We have been so busy, his birthdays just sneak right up on us! It’s fun though, right? Older parents  we know have told us, enjoy it, it goes SO fast. Joey is still obsessed with soccer, seems like we are gone like, every weekend. He loves it though, and that’s all that matters. To see him compete is awesome. Proud Dad here. He practices nonstop, which is really amazing to see him develop discipline, dedicated to getting better at a skill-set, a craft. That will surely serve him well down the road of life. We have met the nicest people at these soccer tournaments. Some have become our best friends. It’s really cool to hang out with so many people that have ordered their lives in such a way, as to make their kids the focus of their lives. The centerpiece.  I have to believe that instills a sense of being loved, and security in kids. Again, they will know who they are and what they believe as their lives take them to towards more and more independence, college, and eventually a life of their own. So we dream about that. Joey still speaks of Indiana University, and I think he knows, just like his Dad, if he doesn’t go to Bloomington for college, Mamaw is going to write him out of her will. Ha Ha. Nothing but Hoosiers allowed in this family!

Joey is doing so awesome at school. He still loves the sciences. Always wanting to know how things work, what makes that do that? Just like when he was 6, he still wants to watch surgery video’s with me, fascinated with the human body, and trying to understand how orthopaedic implants work, what do they fix, what was wrong with the person in the first place. Maybe he’ll be a doctor? He talks more like he’d prefer be an engineer. Oh man…Purdue? Ugh…maybe an engineer in the orthopaedic or medical device arena? Like his Papaw (mechanical engineer) he wants to look at every instrument set I bring home, how does it work, how do the surgeons use this? How do they design it to do this or that? How does it fix the pathology or take away a patient’s pain? Pretty exciting to think about this kid’s future man! Sharp as a tack. Again, proud Dad moment. I’m allowed, no?

So here’s another thing Elizabeth and I were just not ready for. He has a girlfriend. I know, right? It was cute when they were like 5, but this is just kind of weird. I mean the girl he likes is wonderful, from a great family, we have been friends with them for like, ever. I think Elizabeth is trying to figure out how to be maybe the 2nd most important woman in Joey’s life? Again, we want him to be happy, of course. And how exciting, to think of their future! I mean, I’m 45 and every year that goes by, I love holding little ones more and more. The thought of grandkids someday is pretty awesome! Babies used to terrify me, even holding Joey freaked me out when he was so little. I mean, people stumble, trip over stuff, drop things, right? When he was really little I would only hold him sitting down. And with both arms wrapped around him. I was NOT going to let anything happen to him! Not on my watch!! And I guess on that note, Joey has really learned how to manage his severe peanut allergy. We are so proud of him. Carrying an epi-pen around in middle school doesn’t exactly make him the most popular kid at school, and I feel really bad for him in that respect, I remember how cruel kids can be, but his windpipe just closes right down when exposed, like in minutes, he has no choice. Seeing him grow up and take ownership of this challenge he has, has really made his mom and I proud. Seeing them grow and take responsibility for their choices and health, is really awesome. Preparations for adulthood, right? So, Joey turns 15 today. It’s going so freaking fast. And…his voice is changing. SO weird. We got a whole Brady Bunch thing going on over here. Ha Ha. His buddies were making fun of him until it happened to them. I gotta be honest, I rather enjoyed watching karma boomerang on that one. AND he is pointing out every muscle car he sees. His friends’ dad has this sweet like 2015 Mustang with an aftermarket Kenne Bell supercharger on it. So, when they bring Joey home from baseball practice they're sitting on like 850 horses, and Joey thinks his first car should “HAVE THAT!” Oh boy…Mom worries sick about him all the time anyway. The thought of him being on the road every day with every distracted, texting, possibly drunk driver is a little more than she can handle most days, so I don’t bring it up. Ha Ha. Sorry sweetheart, he’s growing up! We can’t protect him from everything! We are evolving as parents in that regard as well.  

So, Joey has always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, so I guess in the fall, we are gonna finally do this! It used to be trips to LEGOLAND and Disney, right? Now those Lego’s collect dust in his room. He now wants Reds games in the summer and IU Basketball games that bring us home in the middle of the night on winter school nights. He loved Denver when we were out there last year, and he might be the first Keller ever to try and enjoy snow skiing. Man, he loved that trip. In fact, he has been in our ear the last few months about doing Christmas this year in the mountains. I’m like, bud, money doesn’t grow on trees! Elizabeth and I don’t know what to do. We are saving for his college, our retirement, every year our personal expenses, like everyone else’s, goes up. But he wants to go. Wants to bring his best friend. Said he wouldn’t ask for any Christmas presents this year if we could do a week skiing in CO. Decisions, decisions. YOLO, right? And you only get to have them grow up with you, once. We will probably bite the bullet and do it. Making memories, right? Good times. Elizabeth and I have had a good year and miss you all. Parenting Joey and doing life with him as he grows up right before our eyes, is truly a blessing. Thank you all for the birthday cards, texts, and notes and we will look forward to seeing you all as our paths intersect this coming year; at family gatherings, Joey’s basketball and soccer games, school functions, dances, etc. Talk to you all very soon!!

Nick, Elizabeth and…Errrrr, wait...None of the above happened. Because Joey got Medulloblastoma when he was 7, suffered horribly for two years, and eventually suffocated in my arms at Riley Hospital on November 18, 2012. Because of cancer. Pediatric cancer. Fair? Nope……not a bit. Rare? Sorry…no. Children used to die of polio, diphtheria, measles, and whooping cough. Not anymore. Somebody thought it would be noble, brave, and self-sacrificial (do we still use words like that?) to find cures and stop people, kids, from dying.  In fact, there are now cures for many types of childhood leukemia and other pediatric cancers because there were people that stood up and said, “Enough is enough. Let’s figure this out! There’s more we can do!” Isn’t investing in curing a lethal disease for a child that hasn’t even been born yet, treating that future child, I don’t know…the way you’d want to be treated? Man, where have I heard that, do unto others…something something….I forget how the rest of it goes. Elizabeth and I were talking and one of the worst parts of parenting a child with cancer, is that you watch the disease continue to pummel your child weekly, pain, suffering, chemo, surgeries, rinse and repeat. You have to sit there and watch, and take it. Like a bully punching your child in the face over and over and you are feet away with your hands tied behind your back. You have to sit there, and take it. Watch them take it. If this post reads like I’m mad, I am…at cancer. It’s evil and does truly sick and evil things to your loved one. It destroys them. Ever had your 9 year old child look at you and not know who you are? We have. The biggest part of my motivation in asking for help, is, I want to punch back. These kids and their parents cannot fight for themselves. The doctors and medical experts can only use the tools that exist currently, their arsenal for most pediatric cancer disease states is sorely lacking or was developed for adults and is all they have to treat kiddos. I never liked bullies. Cancer you a bully, and your day is coming.

Today, on Joey’s birthday, ANOTHER 43 kids will be diagnosed. 12% of those kids, diagnosed TODAY will not survive. The stats are actually much worse for kids diagnosed with brain cancer. The average age of children diagnosed is 6. Happy 4th of July to those families today, right? Getting that news from their oncologist as I type this. And their nightmare begins.

CureSearch is dedicated to putting the money where it will do the most good for kids and kids in the future not yet diagnosed; RESEARCH. A local anonymous Indianapolis company was so impressed with Joey’s courage and generous heart when he was here, that they are willing to match every dollar given to Joey’s CureSearch legacy fund page. Which by the way is 100% “pass through,” it ALL goes to CureSearch for pediatric cancer research. I feel like the term “legacy fund” connotes this big endowment or some not for profit organization accumulating enormous amounts of money over the years, etc. It’s not. It’s just a portal to give to an amazing organization through a webpage that tells a little bit about Joey. CureSearch is an organization looking for and studying molecules that we believe will one day make getting diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer, as uneventful as getting told you have a common cold at your family doctor’s office. “Well, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, your son has medulloblastoma. There’s been unbelievable research and breakthroughs in the last few years, your son Marcus just needs to take this script to your local pharmacy. It’s a 9 pill blister pack, he just takes one a day with a little food, and then he’s cured. It’s that easy! 85% of kids diagnosed with this just a few years ago died!” Unrealistic? Am I losing my mind? Many of you when you first started reading this CaringBridge posting probably thought so. Ha Ha. I assure you, I am not. Humans are capable of amazing generosity and innovation when they put their minds to it. When they band together. Think your 5 bucks doesn’t make a difference? You are wrong my friend.

Please help us. There is a couple falling in love right now at Indiana University. In 2 years, they’ll get married and start dreaming of having a family. Like us, they will buy the house they imagine they’ll raise their kids in. Start college funds and saving for family vacations. They have NO IDEA their second child will be diagnosed with medulloblastoma and their lives are gonna blow up. The death of their child and most likely (according to overwhelming statistics) their marriage. We have the power to make a difference. We can make it so, that instead of a nuclear bomb going off in their laps and forever being changed, and not in a good way, it becomes nothing more than a 15 minute trip to the local pharmacy. Let’s do this! Life is short. Are we gonna leave this country (seems appropriate on this day) better off than the way it was given to us?  What is our legacy gonna be? How can we look back on our death beds and say, we were part of that. We helped to give hundreds of thousands of kids their lives. And now those kids are making a difference in our country. Contributing and giving and changing their world for good. You can say, “I gave towards that!  I was part of that!”  The link to Joey’s CureSearch legacy fund page is below. Tomorrow, I’m gonna make my own coffee at home, and donate the 5 bucks I would have spent at Starbucks (and believe me, I love me some Starbucks!) to CureSearch. I get one life, no regrets. Help us punch this bully in the face. I should be getting an update from CureSearch very soon on how much has been given to date, including the corporate match. They told us there was a major spike in giving the last time I posted on Facebook. You guys are awesome!! 
THANK YOU!!!

https://curesearch.org/Joey-Keller-Fund