Charlie Gaskill, 67

Last night we attended Charlie Gaskill's funeral at our Lytham Road campus of UALC. The sanctuary seats 750, and there were people standing in the narthex for the 90 minute service. Cars covered the neighborhood, and the parking lots were full. Charlie was a much loved and respected man who had battled chronic lymphocytic leukemia since 2006. What struck me was the many stories and metaphors about sports. In fact, the day Charlie got his diagnosis, we were told, he'd been on a 3 mile run. At 6'8" he played basketball at Capital University 1969-73, a Lutheran college in Bexley (Columbus). At one point, former team members were asked to come forward while a Catholic deacon who had been on the team was eulogizing him . We were sitting so far back and under the balcony I could hardly see, but it looked like about 15 men in their mid to late 60s went forward. There were many stories by his children, friends and the pastor about his thoroughness, kindness and athleticism. All 3 of his children had been active in sports, and Charlie and Susie cheered on and cared about the teammates of their kids too. They literally never missed a game from elementary through college sports. There were many young adults in the pews and some had flown in or driven long distances to be there to cheer Charlie on for the next big event.

Charlie's disease had visibly attacked his body, yet even after a very tough bout in the hospital, there he was at worship on Sunday, or offering his time, talents and worship to God's service. And so the verses he chose to be read were especially meaningful, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, "We do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are renewed day by day. . ."

https://www.schoedinger.com/obituaries/Charles-Gaskill-2/#!/Obituary

Larisa’s report on Lily’s Leukemia

Parents of ill children go through so much!  Hold this family in your prayers!

“Lily had clinic today. It was her typical monthly check up. Her numbers still look good. I’m waiting for the day they are all in the normal range but that will probably be a while.

We have been working to get her infusions started for her IGG treatment. The process has definitely tried my patience—it’s been 2 weeks now. Not only are Lily’s numbers extremely low which is dangerous but we have a vacation planned at the end of this month and I’m nervous her traveling with such a low immune system.

We have been blessed overall with good insurance and Vandy who has fought for Lily. However these home infusions go through a different provider that works with Blue Cross for approval and then CVS to set up the infusions. I work in the insurance world so I understand the hoops they put up, but the process has been exhausting. I’m pretty sure Blue Cross and CVS wish they had never heard of us as I have set up daily calls with them to discuss their progress with approval.

Finally we got approval today. They say we can start soon. My definition of soon was today but I understand their definition maybe more like later this week. Ha!

Anyway prayers for these infusions to get started, Lily to tolerate them, and for her to get enough prior to our trip for her to be at a safe level would be appreciated.

Later this week, Lily returns to the endocrinologist for a follow up on the issues with her thyroid.”

Update from Larisa on Lily’s leukemia

“Today Lily had her first 4 week off treatment appointment. Her counts looked good. Not quite normal yet but that is expected. She is feeling much better off chemo. Her back pain which was causing a bunch of issues a couple of months ago is much better since she started doing acupuncture!

Overall Lily is doing great. She is enjoying her senior year of high school. She has heard back from two colleges that she has been admitted and is waiting on her final 4 colleges and nursing programs to make a final decision.

Overall her body is still recovering from the two years of more chemo. This month they are running some additional tests to see how her immune system is recovering. Those results will take a couple of days. In addition she is continuing to follow up with orthopedics on her back — they recommended acupuncture which is working so praying that continues to improve her back and overall pain level. She will also follow up with endocrinologist in December. We are hoping getting off chemo will help with the issues she has had there. Time will tell on most of this. We are cautiously trying to wean her off some more of her meds. It will be a slow process.

So on a different note please send up a prayer for our sweet clinic friend Finn. His cancer continues to spread. He and his mom sat often beside us at clinic. Such a sweet family. Please keep them in your prayers. Rhabdo is a horrible cancer.”

https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2017/09/childhood-cancer-grandmothers-guest-blog.html

https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/09/lilys-leukemia-battle.html

https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/09/september-is-childhood-cancer-awareness.html

Lily’s Leukemia battle

I’ve had a stiff back for 2 days—this should put it into perspective—Lily’s battle with Leukemia.

She relapsed after years of having her cancer under control and was doing the normal activities of teen-agers.  I’ve been following her grandmother and mother for years on blogs and Facebook.  Here’s what Larissa (m0m) wrote as Lily took her last med in this round.

In no particular order—

2 years of treatment
20 doses of Vincristine
15 doses of 6TG
15 spinal taps with Methotrexate
20 doses of ARA-C
2 doses Intermediate PO Methotrexate
2 doses of Pegaspagase (discontinued due to anaphylaxis shock)
9 doses of cyclophosphamide
2 doses mitoxantrone (big blue)
6 doses Erwinia (discontinued—blood clots)
36 hrs high dose Methotrexate
9 doses Etoposide
84 days Blincyto
56 doses of PO Methotrexate
415 doses of 6MP
170 days Dexamethasone

And with one gulp she is done!

A lot of support for this little guy

Former President George H.W. Bush and members of his Secret Service detail shaved their heads to show solidarity for a 2-year-old boy undergoing treatment for leukemia. http://on.wsj.com/17G8IpO

George and Barbara Bush lost their second child, 4-year-old Robin Bush, to leukemia almost 60 years ago.

3733 Many conservative bloggers are rude

to their peer bloggers on the left. They call them names like moonbats and wingnuts, change their surnames, i.e., Moore and Moran might become Moron, disparage their 19th century Marxist reasoning, or bully them for having no reasoning at all, point out the failed socialist programs that undergird their solutions, ridicule them for misleading the poor to get votes for the Democrats, post unflattering cartoons of leftists or videos of mumbled speeches that go nowhere, and upload photos showing lines and wrinkles on has-been senators or a covered humble head of an attractive Californian visiting a dictator. For shame!

Yesterday I was reading a media site for information on new and discontinued magazines for my other, other, other blog. And I discovered they keep an eye on Rush Limbaugh, excerpt part of his monologue, and put it out like raw meat for the wild dog, scavenger bloggers. There were two obvious errors, both of omission, in what was posted, because I was listening to that show.

First, Rush had either seen or been sent the information from the website at VA Tech (said it was in the English Dept. site). He quoted some of it, apparently not realizing it was from Nikki Giovanni's poem read at the memorial service--at least he never mentioned it. The poem included the usual concern for the poor, dispossessed, and baby elephants who also don't ask for their fate and the violence done to them.* Rush then went on to comment, that based on Cho's manifesto which railed against the rich and the bullies and the fact that he'd been in this English class, the only conclusion was that he was a liberal. Rush parodies the left all the time (knowing they have no sense of humor), and although this was not said to be funny, it was said to be ironic (left also has a problem with irony), and to juxtapose a madman's ramblings with the marxist, deconstructionist blather that passes for literature and writing courses on our campuses of higher education.

Second, most of his program yesterday was devoted not to Cho, but to his favorite charity, leukemia research. He has raised approximately $17 million dollars in the last 17 years devoting just a few hours of air time one afternoon a year. His listeners contribute, but this year he personally was donating over $300,000. I doubt that any left of center media watch organization or left wing blogger ever mentions this, choosing instead to pull several sentences out of his monologue, and not mentioning the context in which it was said. Then that fuels the fanatics who don't do their own listening and research.

*from Giovanni's address: "We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy."