Wednesday, February 2, 2011

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.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

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.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Sunday, January 23, 2011

2011 Optimism

As 2011 has just started, I'm optimistic about the fresh year ahead.  We have been spoiled with supporters organizing a Softball Tournament in Park City the weekend of Feb. 26...The Kyrie Foundation has our annual Scrapbooking Krop set for April 2nd (Family Church - Wichita)...the annual Kyrie Klassic Golf Tournament is a-go for June 4 (Sierra Hills - Wichita)...our fourth-annual Twilight Walk will take place on Sept. 17 (Bishop Carrol High School - Wichita), and our 2011 Metamorphosis Art & Gift Auction will be finalized soon (weekend of Nov. 12).  The optimism comes from the turnout and response to the events we've held each year.  You have told us what we are trying to do is good and that we should continue to do so.  I'm optimistic about the conversations I've had with people who say "I want to help" or "I'd like to sponsor this event next year".  From our own experiences and that of our invaluable volunteers, this is certainly not an easy endeavor, however your encouragement and your support makes each event better and it fuels that optimism.  I wish each of you the best in all aspects of your lives in 2011 and thank you for bringing The Kyrie Foundation closer to help funding a cure for pediatric brain cancer.  - Chad

Monday, January 17, 2011

Snowballs or Softballs?

Who knows in February!?!? Either way, you can get in the game with the

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.

And ... all proceeds benefit pediatric brain cancer research with The Kyrie Foundation! Woo-woo! Also, if you're looking for a volunteer opportunity or service hours, we'll post volunteer openings shortly.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Woo-hoo!

Happened to open my browser for a search and guess who popped up in the corner?!?!!?


Yep! There we are!! By the way, 2011 was our best year yet with GoodSearch and GoodShop. It's easy to make this your home page and use it the way you would Google or Yahoo!.

Also, you can download the toolbar, too! Makes it even easier.

Monday, January 3, 2011

A thought.

My boss sent this out to my colleagues and I last week. I thought it was a nice thing to ponder as we look to creating 2011. And ... I still owe you all the good report from Frosty and Elf Rita's trip last month as well as a few pics from our stellar 2010 art auction!

Bigger or smaller?

Every decision we make, every encounter we have... we get a choice.

Are we opening doors or closing them?

It's so tempting to shut people down, to limit the upside, to ostracize, select and demonize. It makes things a lot simpler. Not seeing means you don't have to take action. Not opening means it's easier to announce that you're done. And not raising the bar means you're less likely to fail.

Just about all the things we treasure in our world were built by people who were intent on making things bigger, enabling things to be better, opening doors for us to achieve. The line between a realist and a optimist is hard to draw. And both might be self-fulfilling.

[Please don't confuse this with the issue of focus. Focus involves eliminating options until you have so few moving parts that work actually gets done. You can be focused but still think bigger.]