The Happiest Place on Earth

Hello Family and Friends, 

We are nearing the day of Jaron’s surgery.  He goes in on Friday.  He is scheduled for a 6 hour procedure.  There is definitely some apprehension over this but we also feel calm and comforted at this time.  We have been busy this week getting ready for surgery.  On Monday we went down to the Huntsman Cancer Research Center to have a functional MRI done.  Jaron had to be in the machine for over 2 hours.  That was a long time!  Poor guy!  They had Jaron do a lot of mental work during the MRI so that they could map out his brain functions.  They also have entered Jaron into a research study so they did an additional MRI to see how the blood flows to the tumor.  We have a few more appointments tomorrow.  We meet with the anesthesiologist and Jaron has another MRI.  This one helps them set up the machines for surgery.  Then we will be up and gone early Friday for the MAIN EVENT!  This will be a long, hard day for all involved.  We pray that the doctors will be guided as they work on Jaron.  He is an amazing person and we want him to be ok when it is all done. 

 I thought I would do an update on Malinda.  She has recovered really well.  She is up and about.  She communicates well and seems almost back to normal.  They did confirm that her tumor was the same kind as her daughter’s Amy, a glioblastoma.  This is stage 4 cancer.  This has been hard news on us all, but I have watched Jaron be really emotional over this.  He truly loves his mother and is heartbroken about this news.  Malinda starts treatment this next week.  We hope they can get it and we have many more years with this special woman!  

Do you remember those commercials where they would interview the quarterback after winning the Super Bowl?  They would say something like, “You just won the Superbowl.  Where are you going next?”  Then, with great enthusiasm, the player would say, “I’m going to Disneyland!”  Well, in a way we have won the Superbowl, the Superbowl of Cancer.  A person has very low odds of developing a brain tumor and the odds are even lower for it to be a family genetic thing.  On a mathematical probability viewpoint, Jaron has beaten the odds and has developed a family inherited tumor.  Pretty much the same odds as winning the Superbowl.  So imagine me saying to Jaron, “You just won the Cancer Superbowl.  Where will you go next?”  “I’m going to Disneyland.”  And that is just what we did.  We had some generous donors give us a family vacation to California.  We went last week and had a blast!  We spent two days visiting Disneyland and California Adventure.  We visited the beach two days.  And we spent two days visiting Universal Studios.  There was a lot of smiles and laughter.  Many times a tear came to my eye because, for a moment, everything seemed right in the world.  The kids got to be kids and we got to enjoy watching them be kids.  This trip will always be a tender memory.  

Well, dear friends, this has gotten real.  We are facing some scary things and some BIG unknowns.  We are so grateful for the many prayers and much fasting that has been done in our behalf.  We know heaven is listening.  We know we are being blessed to handle this trial.  We are grateful for eternal families.  We are grateful for all of you.  Thank you for strengthening us during this time.  We love you! 

Joni