16.06.2008
Pete had his quarterly checkup at MD Anderson and everything looks great. All scans were clear and he was given the green light to start playing basketball. As many of you know, that was a goal Pete set for himself once his treatments were completed. Of course, he wasted no time and has already attended a camp at his junior high. It was a relief, and a blessing, for him to take the court with his buddies. When you look at Pete it’s hard to believe it’s been less than a year since he underwent his surgery late last July.
Although Pete is looking forward to playing ball this summer the Rock Band Camp continues to be tops on his list for summer activities. In fact, he started the camp today and will be playing on stage in two weeks at a local venue, Antone’s, in Austin. We will be sure to take pictures and grab some video.
God Bless all of you,
The DeSpain’s
19.05.2008
Hey everyone,
Pete is doing well and is enjoying the last two weeks of school. Okay…so maybe not enjoying the last two weeks of school, but looking certainly looking forward to summer break.
The past two months Pete has grown to almost 5′4″ and 104 pounds. I don’t know if he ever stops eating. I’m surprised he doesn’t have frost bite on his ears with his head in the frig so often!
We are in the final countdown of Pete’s weekly trips to Houston. Only 13 more weeks to go and he will have the full 52 weeks completed! He is scheduled to complete his treatments on August 25th… one day before he starts the seventh grade. The Monday commute is about to get a lot shorter!
Pete goes in for his quarterly check-up the first week out of school on June 2 - June 3. Although these are never fun, Pete is looking forward to this trip in hopes of getting medical clearance to play basketball in a summer league. Last summer was one of chemo and surgery…this summer he’s got a busy schedule. Pete’s really been looking forward to the Rock Band USA camp where he will spend two weeks preparing to perform on stage with a band at a venue here in Austin called Antone’s….on keyboard…from Austin, Texas…Pete!
By the way, Pete is sporting a nicely shaven head as a result of the St.Baldrick’s event where $14,000 was raised to help find a cure for childhood cancer. Olivia, Pete’s sister, was the chairperson for the event and did a wonderful job! It was an opportunity for us to have fun and raise funds for a very serious cause. Great job, Liv! You can check out pictures from the event at http://www.stbaldricks.org/events/event_info.html?EventKey=2008-746&ViewDetails=photos.
We will be sure to update everyone after the checkup in June.
God Bless,
The DeSpain Family
06.03.2008
Hey everyone,
Pete had his quarterly checkup this week at MD Anderson where we received good news on his exams. The orthopedic surgeon was pleased with the healing in his arm. Pete has all but about 5 degrees until he has full extention of his right arm, and the reconstructed bone is growing as good or better than expected.
It’s hard to believe a year ago Pete was finishing his first chemo treatment. The past couple days we spent at MD Anderson quickly reminded us of the emotional roller coaster we experienced last year. One thing that never changes is the compassion of the staff and their commitment to finding a cure for cancer.
Last year many of you may remember we participated in the St.Baldrick’s event where “Team DeSpain”, in honor of Pete, shaved our heads to raise money to find a cure for childhood cancer. We had over 22 people shave their heads…and we raised $10,000 for the cause!! This year Pete’s oldest sister, Olivia, has taken on the challenge of coordinating this years event at her high school. She is quickly realizing what it takes to plan such an event! We hope to exceed our goal of last year with increased shavees and donations. Last year, Pete was not able to attend the event due to his low white blood count….this year he is participating and is shaving his head!!! Below is the direct link to donate on Pete’s head. I implore all of you to spend some time on the St.Baldrick’s web site to learn more about the organization and read the kids stories.
http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/shavee_info.html?ParticipantKey=2008-30409
God bless all of you,
The DeSpain Family
11.02.2008
Hey Everyone,
We have been terrible in keeping the site updated…sorry! As you can imagine with four active children we have been running like crazy since the new year.
Pete continues to make the weekly trip to Houston for his experimental treatment. The treatment takes about 4-5 hours and he gets a horrible headache. Although Pete misses every Monday at school he has done a terrific job of keeping up with his work and getting good grades. (Thank you 6th grade teachers!)
In the absence of sports, Pete has spent a considerable amount of time playing the piano, guitar and the euphonium. He is getting quite good at the piano…and he is the first chair in his band for the euphonium. Yeah right….what is a euphonium!! It looks like a baby tuba. He gets a kick out of making a deep whaling sound while he’s practicing. Believe me…his sisters love it!!
Pete continues to stregthen his right arm each week. In fact, his physical therapist has cleared him to shoot a basketball and throw a baseball and football…as long as there is no contact involved, and the throwing motion is not hard. He is hopeful his doctor’s will release him to play sports this summer. One thing for certain, I don’t want to play him in a game of h-o-r-s-e left handed any longer!
February 14th will be one year since Pete was officially diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma. The past year was certainly a roller coaster ride and we couldn’t have done it without all your support. So….this year will be a much better Valentine’s Day. Our family will have a nice dinner(each lots of chocolate) and thank God for all our blessings.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
God Bless,
The DeSpain Family
21.12.2007
Merry Christmas! We received the ultimate Christmas present this month when the results from his first series of quarterly diagnostic tests following the completion of chemotherapy and surgery proved him to be cancer free. We are truly blessed!
Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!
19.11.2007
Today we praise God for Pete’s 12th birthday! Many times when I take time to reflect on his journey into this previously unkown territory of childhood cancer it leaves me speechless; which is not typically in my nature. On Pete’s 11th birthday we were cruising along through our normally hectic and rushed life with 4 children, two dogs and a husband whose career involved a significant amount of travel. We were stopped dead in our tracks last January 27th and life forever changed for the DeSpain family.
Today we celebrate Pete’s crusade against cancer and that reminds us of his bravery, determination, compassion, and hysterical sense of humor. His trust and faith in God has grown stronger throughout this fight.
We are forever thankful to all that supported us and lifted us up through this fight against cancer from our dear family to our incredible friends and even to Pete’s sport’s heros. You were all God’s vessels and he obviously new we needed a tremendous amount of support to pull us through this because there are so many of you! Thank you and God Bless!
Pete’s wish from the Make-A-Wsh foundation was granted on Saturday. It was an amazing surprise for him. He walked into our game room and was stunned to see the transformation. Make-A-Wish provided him with a flat screen, high definition tv, X-box 360, new sectional sofa, rock and roll posters, a game table, balloons, guitar hero and more. He truly was speechless for awhile. The Manor school district in this area adopted and funded his wish and the teacher and students from the school, along with the Make-a-Wish volunteers and employees were here to present his wish to him. Many years ago the foundation only provided wishes to terminally ill cancer patients but at some point along the way that was changed and now every child that is diagnosised is granted a wish if they so desire. During some of the most trying times, especially after his surgery, he would dream about how his wish. On Saturday he stated that the wish was even better that he could have imagined.
What a great day it was to see our son turn 12 and for that we thank and praise our Lord.
06.11.2007
Hey everyone,
Pete is doing well and getting better by the day. He continues to make the weekly trip to Houston for his treatment…2 months down and 10 more to go!
Last week Pete started physical therapy to increase the range of motion in his right arm (due to being in a cast for six weeks)and to strengthen his shoulder and back muscles. We can already see an improvement in his range, and he’s starting to use his right arm more as it gets stronger. The doctors want him to use his arm, but no lifting objects, throwing, horseplay, etc….In otherwords, nothing that can cause the arm to break…at least for the next 9 months or so. Hmmm, not sure how we are going to limit his activity once the arm really starts to feel better. Like any eleveen (twelve on November 19th!!) year old boy he wants to get back to doing the activities he enjoys outside.
It’s probably been awhile since many of you have seen a picture of Petey so I wanted to attach one to this blog. He is growing up…..fast!
P.S. Good news on the baseball front. Curt has signed with the Red Sox for another year!
God Bless,
The DeSpain Family
29.10.2007
Hi everyone,
I thought I would fill in for Pete today. It was a late night and he was off to school early this morning before he could post a message.
Wow! It was a great year to follow the Red Sox and to meet all the wonderful people from the Red Sox Nation who have visited Pete’s website over the past eight months. Winning the World Series was icing on the cake!
As many of you know, Pete has developed a friendship with Curt Schilling during the year that has the two exchanging e-mail on a weekly basis. In fact, Mr. Schilling has invited Pete to join him for the celebration parade in Boston. We are hopeful the parade will be later in the week…and not tomorrow when he has his weekly infusion in Houston. It would be great to meet some of the Red Sox Nation in person. You have been a great addition to Team DeSpain. Thank you for letting us hitch a ride on a wonderful season! Congratulations!
God Bless,
The DeSpain Family
22.10.2007
GO REDSOX! How about that series. The RedSox played great the last 3 games of that series and it got them into the world Series. I can’t wait until wendsday comes around, it wil be a great series. The games in Colorado will be intresting to watch with the 5 inches of snow they had.
I’ll be sure to respond to all of you as much as I can from now on.
Pete
28.09.2007
Hey Everyone,
It’s been a good while since we’ve updated the website, but as you can imagine getting four kids ready for the new school year was a little crazy at the DeSpain house. The good news is…we survived!
Pete is doing well and is enjoying sixth grade and middle school. He’s not real crazy about missing every Monday and the weekly drive to Houston where he’s participating in the second half of his experimental study. He’s been a trooper waking up at 4:00am and returning to Austin around 5pm. Thank goodness for strong coffee and Hruska’s at the midway point between Austin and Houston. Any of you that have made the trip to Houston on hwy 71 have certainly made the stop for breakfast biscuits and kolaches. They are AWESOME!
Today is a great day for the family. We are celebrating Pete’s “End of Chemo” with a party the clinic in Austin is throwing for Pete. The staff in Austin have been wonderful and certainly took great care of Pete between his chemo sessions…and during those dreaded hospital stays when he would get so sick.
We remain hopeful that Pete will get his cast taken off on his visit to Houston next week. If you’ve ever had a cast during the summer months….believe me when I tell you WE are ready to get that cast off!! I just feel bad for the person who has to be in the room when it comes off! :) He is looking forward to being able to wear the much lighter arm brace.
I think it’s about time for Pete to take over some of the writing now on the blog that he’s feeling better. What do you think? Stay tuned…
God bless,
The DeSpain Family
28.09.2007
Hey Everyone,
It’s been a good while since we’ve updated the website, but as you can imagine getting four kids ready for the new school year was a little crazy at the DeSpain house. The good news is…we survived!
Pete is doing well and is enjoying sixth grade and middle school. He’s not real crazy about missing every Monday and the weekly drive to Houston where he’s participating in the second half of his experimental study. He’s been a trooper waking up at 4:00am and returning to Austin around 5pm. Thank goodness for strong coffee and Hruska’s at the midway point between Austin and Houston. Any of you that have made the trip to Houston on hwy 71 have certainly made the stop for breakfast biscuits and kolaches. They are AWESOME!
Today is a great day for the family. We are celebrating Pete’s “End of Chemo” with a party the clinic in Austin is throwing for Pete. The staff in Austin have been wonderful and certainly took great care of Pete between his chemo sessions…and during those dreaded hospital stays when he would get so sick.
We remain hopeful that Pete will get his cast taken off on his visit to Houston next week. If you’ve ever had a cast during the summer months….believe me when I tell you WE are ready to get that cast off!! I just feel bad for the person who has to be in the room when it comes off! :) He is looking forward to being able to wear the much lighter arm brace.
I think it’s about time for Pete to take over some of the writing now on the blog that he’s feeling better. What do you think? Stay tuned…
God bless,
The DeSpain Family
28.09.2007
Hey Everyone,
It’s been a good while since we’ve updated the website, but as you can imagine getting four kids ready for the new school year was a little crazy at the DeSpain house. The good news is…we survived!
Pete is doing well and is enjoying sixth grade and middle school. He’s not real crazy about missing every Monday and the weekly drive to Houston where he’s participating in the second half of his experimental study. He’s been a trooper waking up at 4:00am and returning to Austin around 5pm. Thank goodness for strong coffee and Hruska’s at the midway point between Austin and Houston. Any of you that have made the trip to Houston on hwy 71 have certainly made the stop for breakfast biscuits and kolaches. They are AWESOME!
Today is a great day for the family. We are celebrating Pete’s “End of Chemo” with a party the clinic in Austin is throwing for Pete. The staff in Austin have been wonderful and certainly took great care of Pete between his chemo sessions…and during those dreaded hospital stays when he would get so sick.
We remain hopeful that Pete will get his cast taken off on his visit to Houston next week. If you’ve ever had a cast during the summer months….believe me when I tell you WE are ready to get that cast off!! I just feel bad for the person who has to be in the room when it comes off! :) He is looking forward to being able to wear the much lighter arm brace.
I think it’s about time for Pete to take over some of the writing now on the blog that he’s feeling better. What do you think? Stay tuned…
God bless,
The DeSpain Family
05.09.2007
We recently received the news from the biopsy that was taken on the 9.5cm section of Pete’s humerus that was removed during surgery. It was seven months to the day when we found out Pete had Ewing’s Sarcoma. On this day…we celebrate that Pete is cancer free! The tumor necrosis was 100%!
Several years ago Pete attended St. Matthews pre-school here in Austin …as did his sisters. It was a wonderful environment where the children were taught all the necessary skills to prepare them for kindergarten, but more importantly, it was a chance for them to attend chapel each week with their friends, teachers and parents. Each service began with the kids singing ”Our God is an Awesome God, he reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power and love, our God is an Awesome God”.
Yes…we have been blessed with a great family,friends, doctors….and one Awesome God.
God Bless,
The DeSpain Family
26.08.2007
Every year we ask ourselves the same question. “Wow, where did the summer go?” This summer was a little different than those of the past. Sure, we certainly had our share of time in the hospital and trips to Houston, but we found this summer to be a relaxing pace where we spent time with family and friends to enjoy the simpler things in life. Well….the relaxing pace of summer is about to change! This last week was spent purchasing school supplies, running the kids to many extra-curricular activities, attending booster club and parent orientation meetings, and attempting to enjoy the last few days of summer.
Pete starts a new journey tomorrow as he enters middle school. This past week he attended several sessions at school with his classmates to prepare for what lies ahead in the sixth grade, or should I say….prepare them for the first week of school. He is excited about going to middle school but will miss the comfort of the school he has been at for the last 6 years. We have met a few of his new teachers, as well as, the counselor and assistant principle and they are looking forward to getting to know Pete and helping him transition into middle school.
Peter experienced a little misfortune this past week with his rehabilitation. Several days after he was fitted with his new brace by the orthodist his arm began to swell. This new brace protected his arm but also allowed him to move his elbow to a 90 degree angle. A friend of ours, who is a orthopedic surgeon in town, was kind enough to make a house call. He recommended that we put Pete’s old splint back on for the weekend and immoblilize his arm again. It was then determined by X-Ray that Pete had a fracture at the juncture of the humerus and the fibula where the screw was placed in his arm. It was fortunate that he discovered this as it was easy to remedy the situation by casting his arm and allowing it to heal. Pete was excited to get a big red cast, note his color choice Cardinal and Red Sox fans. We truly appreciated our friend’s help in this situation and the kindness he and his family have expressed towards our family. Not only was Pete excited to get a cast he was relieved that he did not have to make another trip to Houston. Oh Yea, and he realized that he can still play Guitar Hero even with the hard cast on, it actually holds his arm in the perfect position to play, although it is a little cumbersome.
Speaking of Houston we will be going for his next visit on Tuesday. Pete is disappointed to have to miss a day of school once a week to receive this weekly treatments but his oncologist feels it gives him the best odds in fighting a recurrence of this disease. Pete’s sisters have been very encouraging in trying to help alleviate some of the anxiety he is feeling about traveling to Houston once a week. They are pretty amazing and very compassionate. He is fortunate to have them as they are able to help him keep a positive attitude when he is feeling down.
We have said it a million times and will probably say it a million more but we continue to feel blessed and realize that this journey would have been so much more difficult without the support of friends and family. The power of prayer is amazing. The kindness expressed by complete strangers is astounding. We could fill a book with the many stories on the random acts of kindness we have experienced in person and via the internet over the last 8 months of our lives.
During the intial period of Pete’s diagnosis we read a brief story about a little boy at MD Anderson that stated that the world would be a nicer place if everyone got cancer but survived it. Words of wisdom from a child!
Happy new school year to all!
God Bless,
The DeSpains
17.08.2007
Jack lost his battle yesterday. What a horrendous disease. Here is a statement that was released by Jack’s family:
“Despite a valiant and courageous battle on his part and the best efforts of the doctors, nurses and staff at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, John Patrick “Jack” Herrera succumbed to amoebic meningitis this afternoon at 3:30. He lived twelve and a half wonderful years on this earth before his passing. Jack would have been a seventh grader at Canyon Vista Middle School in the Round Rock ISD this fall.
Jack contracted this disease while at a summer camp on Lake LBJ. His parents were alerted last Friday that he was sick and by the time they picked him up and were able to get him to a hospital, Seton Highland Lakes in Burnet, the disease had taken hold. He was immediately life flighted to Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin where he had been treated since approximately 8 p.m. on Friday.
Jack’s parents wish to thank the doctors, nurses and staff at Dell Children’s Medical Center for their herculean efforts to save Jack. They did all that was possible for him. They would also like to thank everyone for the tremendous outpouring of love and support they have received during this difficult time. They ask for your continued prayers for Jack and his immediate and extended family as they attempt to deal with their tremendous loss. The family would like everyone to know that Jack’s organs are being donated so that other children may live and overcome their terrible afflictions.
Thank you for the prayers for Jack and his famiy and the continued prayers for Peter.
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