Save the Dates!

Ready to help us save babies from brain cancer this year? Mark your calendars!

4th Annual Kyrie Foundation Krop
Saturday, April 2
Family Church, Wichita, KS

2nd Annual Kyrie Klassic Golf Tournament
Saturday, June 4
Sierra Hills Golf Course, Wichita, KS
Details coming soon.

4th Annual Twilight Walk
Saturday, September 17
Bishop Carroll High School, Wichita, KS

4th Annual Kyrie Foundation Art+Gift Auction
Saturday, November 12
Studio 2131 Kansas City, MO

Details and volunteer opportunities will be announced really, really soon!

And don't forget

1st Ever Softball Tournament benefiting
The Kyrie Foundation
THIS Saturday, February 26
McLean Park, Park City, KS

Gleeked.

If you haven't had the chance to volunteer for one of the Easter Bunny's/Frosty's trips to Wesley, look to a scene in tonight's episode of Glee. A scene where a little ukulele and a little song bring out the mightiness of little kids without hair, of little kids without health. We, the healthy, we, the grown-ups, are blessed with the opportunity to help give hope. Stay tuned for this year's trips; the volunteer spots go fast!

She needs you.

Brain cancer is just an arduous journey. You teeter, wobbly arms spread, on the edge of life and death, like balancing on the lip of a cliff brimming with uncertainty below. You celebrate things like breathing, blinking, walking. You falter when hair falls. You crumble when they tell you that something you can't even see is killing your child. A victory is a clean scan, and just as you begin thanking God, the rug pulls itself from under your faithful feet.

As a parent, you are helplessly hoping for a miracle, for understanding, for someone to do something, please!

This time of year is hard here on Kyrie's blog. While I am constantly humbled by your incredible support to build something that didn't even exist in 2007, some days ... I remember. Some days, I'm oh-so-grateful that I remember vividly. That means she's still here to me. Some days ... it's just raw. Days like today.

Because of Kate. 

We need to you pray for Kate, pray like crazy. I say this because she is battling the same kind of cancer that took Kyrie. There is no cure. Could you imagine knowing that with your child? Could you imagine knowing that there's nothing proven that you could count on?

That's why faith is the crucial medication here.

Kate had such a great go last summer and fall. I mean, I really thought: This is it! The docs might have found a protocol that kicks this kind! Yesterday's scan says otherwise. They exhausted the big ideas with the last go of treatment. Pray for more ideas.

And just to remind us: The Kyrie Foundation's work pays for the development of those big ideas. We are working for the parents who are in these hospitals, rocking their bandaged babies. We want more options, more medicines, more collaboration, more information, more hope. In the meantime, more prayers, please.

PLEASE PRAY FOR KATE!

Kate and her family have long been in our prayers, our support videos, our daily lives. There was such a good stretch and now we are dealing with some difficult news. This is where Jordan & Lacie were precisely four years ago. THIS IS WHY WE WORK SO HARD. Please continue to pray for Kate, for her parents and for her family, especially in light of this news:

Never have words been more difficult to pen. Never have our hearts felt the angst of pain quite like today. I hoped to never write these words. I prayed that our hearts would never feel this torment. However, today, we received devastating news. There are new spots on the MRI, at least one on the other side of our daughter's brain.

The all too familiar feeling of nausea followed by haziness settled over our bodies. We vasalated between bouts of sobbing and looks of disbelief. We felt trapped in a horrific nightmare until the sound of small sobs shook us loose. Our sweet Kate was huddled up on the table sobbing into her arm. Her little body shook for about half an hour. Tears of pain, and fear letting loose. She was scared. Our baby was scared and all we could do was hold her.

Through the tears Kate slowly got out the words, "why". "Why daddy, why? Why hasn't Jesus healed me?" The sound of heartbroken sobs all that could escape from her daddy's lips. Crys of pain.

I have rarely felt angry this past year and a half. About every other emotion under the sun, but not very often anger. Today I was angry. I had promised Kate we would swim with dolphins together. We had dreamed of Hawaii together. We have so many plans. And yet now this. Words could never detail the hurt.

So tonight we sit in disbelief, or horror may be more accurate. We had gone into the MRI very hopeful. She was making gains on all ends. She had no obvious symptoms. We had one of our favorite anesthesiologists for the scan. She held Kate in her arms and sang to her as she held the mask over her face and put her to sleep. I was so grateful she cared for my baby. After the MRI we saw her again. I struggle not to try and interpret everyones body language after a scan. However, her eyes were watering. She said it must be allergies. My heart suddenly felt the icy grip of fear, what if something was seen. I tried to dissuade the feeling, the panic, for the next few hours.

Our meeting with the neurosurgeon relayed the devastating news. We cried until the meeting with Kate's oncologist.

Tomorrow the tumor board will discuss her scan and the best way to determine wether or not it is definitely cancer. Most likely Kate will be undergoing a PET scan as soon as possible. They will also be discussing the best possible route for us to take if it is tumor. They will be contacting institutions around the country for open studies, and anything that could possibly hold some hope for treating a recurrance.

We are crushed. Kate is heartbroken. And we need God's miraculous intervention. Please pray. Please ask others to pray for our sweet baby. I know she is one child among many battling. But she is our daughter, and she is a sister, and a niece, and a granddaugther. Please pray that God would spare her from this disease. Please.

Please pray that after further investigation they would determine it not to be tumor. We understand the likelyhood of that is slim. But please pray. Please intercede on our behalf.

Things will be moving quite quickly, we hope, as if this would be tumor, time is not in our favor.

Great day for a game, eh?

Doesn't this blizzard just bring out the spring in you? Maybe hankering to warm up the ol' arm for a pitch? Perhaps clean, stretchy sock slipped into your cleats? The grip your mitt has on dirty white leather and crimson stitching? I thought so! And you're in luck, my friend. In just a coupla weeks, YOU CAN PLAY SOFTBALL! THE FIRST OF THE SEASON!

1st Annual Kyrie Foundation

Co-ed & Men's Softball Tournament

Double Elimination

Saturday, February 26th: Co-ed

Sunday, February 27th: Men's
McLean Park in Park City, KS 

Gate Admission: $5 or a NEW Unwrapped Toy

Entry Fee: $200

This is a USSSA-sanctioned tournament where ALL tournament and team sanction fees are included in the entry fee!

Team registration forms are available and required. Download yours here:
Co-ed

Men's

Mail your entry fee and team registration to:

Kristi Love

513 Parkwood Drive

Rose Hill, KS 67133

Entry fee and team registration are due to Kristi by FEBRUARY 18. Play-off schedule will be determined upon team submissions.

For more information, contact Kristi Love at 216.712.9301 or klove@pmcwichita.com.