One Year, But...

Last Friday Edison played Fountain Valley in the Bell Game. You might remember that last year's Bell Game was Luke's first trip back to the football field. That was a special night for him and our family. So was this year's game. To see him out on the field healthy and playing and enjoying the experience with
his team was priceless. We are so grateful and we know that many people in the community recognize the miracle it is that Luke is playing. We continue to rejoice in God's good gifts to Luke!

BUT we are saddened too by the fact that people still struggle with and die from cancer and blood born diseases. In the last two weeks we have heard about or experienced: A young mother of a student at our church fade away leaving a husband and three children. A former hockey teammate of Josh's, who was cleared of cancer a year ago, saw its return. A sophomore football player from Palos Verdes coming home from the hospital this week after a very scary bout with lymphoma (a bone marrow transplant seems to be doing a great job in him right now!) and today I received an Email informing me that Britt Merrick, (a pastor inCarpenteria and the son of cancer survivor/legendary surfboard shaper Al Merrick) has swine flu while his young daughter is receiving chemo treatments! Can you believe the hardship on that family?! Here is the link to their blog: http://prayfordaisy.tumblr.com/post/241030040
She received some "bad" chemo at some point and is not doing too well and she's scared.

We invite you to add these folks to your prayer list. I realize that we all are probably associated with people who have similar challenges going on right now in their lives. Prayer does make such a difference! And so does a loving, caring community of friends and family. Donating blood or platelets and joining the Bone Marrow Registry (It's painless!) are three great things we can do to come along side and support as well. We and these listed appreciate your support. May God bless you!

Become a Donor

Many of you over the past year have asked how you can specifically support Luke. Now that he's completely healthy, the best way for you to support him, is by getting on the BONE MARROW REGISTRY. If Luke's little brothers, Jacob & Noah, had not been matches, Luke would have been looking for a donor on this registry. Make a difference in someone's life on the chance that you might be a match. No blood will be drawn to get on the registry. The only thing needed is a swab of the inside of your mouth. THAT'S IT!

Normally the cost to get on this registry is around $50. But this donor drive is ABSOLUTELY FREE! Come to Luke's game on Friday, October 30th and show your support for him by joining the Bone Marrow Registry. (The game does cost BUT we will be outside of the stadium from about 5 to about 7:10 and then move inside once the game gets going.)

CLICK TO ENLARGE

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October '09 - The Latest

Luke feels great! He seems like he is to the point where last year's ordeal is generally a faint memory. Sure, he thinks about it often, but in terms of how he feels and how he expects to perform - he feels healthy and strong. I think most of his thoughts regarding last year's battle with Aplastic Anemia focus on God's good grace to bring Him healing and extreme gratitude for where he is at today thanks not only to God, but also to an amazing bunch of people in our community!!!!! I know he feels so very, very blessed! And so do we.

As far as doctors and such - Luke, besides great help at EHS from Lance "the trainer who trains" (a movie reference) has been getting some amazing therapy for various football dings at the Rock Institute. We can tell you both from personal experience and testimonies from others we know who have received treatment there - That is one great treatment facility! Next Friday, Luke goes to CHOC for a check up and a second round of shots. We expect a full bill of health and if anything other than that kind of report happens, I will let you know.

Edison played Mater Dei last night and Whew! That game and the outcome was incredible!!!!!! Check out these two links for some cool news and photos.
http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/edison-16839-mater-game.html
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-edison-mater-dei2-2009oct02,0,7494200.column
Now after 2 weeks of two of the most intense football games ever played, he is pretty worn out and grateful that next week is a bye week. All the guys at Edison will be in rebuilding mode for a few days. Please continue to pray for Luke and if you wouldn't mind, I know he would appreciate your prayers for Edison football too!

A Year Later:

Tomorrow & Beyond

Luke takes the field tomorrow night for the first time since going down with Aplastic Anemia. We are very excited about it and looking forward to not only seeing him play this season, but also seeing many of you at one or some or all of his games.

Here is the link to the Edison Chargers game schedule: http://www.edisonchargerfootball.com/game_schedule.html
It's downloadable too if you want that option.

Another feature of Luke's return has been some news in papers and/or online. Below are some of the links. Read those if you are interested and have time.

This is the latest one:
http://www.hbindependent.com/articles/2009/09/02/top_stories/hbi-ganefeat090309.txt

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/varsitytimesinsider/2009/08/football-gane-makes-incredible-comeback-at-edison.html

Articles about Edison that include Luke can be found on the Register's OCVarsity page: http://www.ocvarsity.com/sections/boys-football/

When it comes to the attention in the media or any other attention we might receive because of Luke, it is our hope and prayer that:
1, God's goodness would be seen and honored. It's because of Him that anything good has come from Luke's ordeal.
2. Attention be given to blood born diseases and cancer. We hope that people who hear Luke's story be inspired and encouraged to be a support when they encounter others whose lives are being threatened by illness. Prayer makes a difference. Love and friendship make a difference. Practical support makes a difference. Donating blood and joining the Bone Marrow Registry makes a difference! And with that last one, I want to let you know that we are committed to providing a chance for our friends and neighbors to join the Bone Marrow Registry. We are leaning very hard toward an October 30 drive. We will let you know very soon how that is coming together.
3. We wish for due praise and thanks to be given to our family, church, friends, neighbors, everyone connected at Edison H.S, teammates, coaches, H.B. Pop Warner, Servite H.S., Luke's pediatric office, CHOC hospital, etc, etc, etc. We are forever grateful!
4. Finally, we hope that Luke can be in the place where if he is in the press at all, he is talking about helping Edison Football pursue a Sunset League Championship and the Pac 5 Playoffs.

The 2009 football season is shaping up to be a great one. We feel very blessed that Luke can be a part of it this year!

LA Times

Check it out: 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/varsitytimesinsider/2009/08/football-gane-makes-incredible-comeback-at-edison.html

Season Kicks Off

The Chargers finished their last day of "Two a Days" yesterday.  Luke feels better than he expected. Tonight at 7p is Edison's annual inter-squad scrimmage.  It will be played on the turf field at the high school. Luke has been moved from Defensive End to Offensive Right Tackle and he is excited about the prospects for this season. We are really, really looking forward to this year's football season.  It is shaping up to be quite exciting. It will be great to see many of you stop by a game or two. Here is a link to our game schedule:  http://www.edisonchargerfootball.com/game_schedule.html
All the games will be good games.  I think the Servite game will be particularly good and of course the Battle for the Bell vs. Fountain Valley is always a blast.  You should keep an eye on our October 30 game too.  We are in the process of trying to get a Bone Marrow Donor Registry table at that game.  Tomoko and I will be co-hosting an effort to enlist people onto the Bone Marrow Registry.  If you are not on it, you could be easily and painlessly. We will let you know more as that opportunity develops.

Luke's first official game back will be next Friday, 7p, at HBHS vs. Artesia.  What a blast that is going to be! There is extra anticipation for the start of this season for sure.  What an exciting and triumphant night! I have been wondering how to direct people to handle having "Pray for 55" stickers on their cars now that Luke is well. Truthfully, I'm not too sure.  Of course we value prayers for Luke even if he is well, but it seems like an act of praise and thanksgiving might be to remove the stickers once Luke has played in his first game.  People are free to do what they wish with the stickers, but I just cannot imagine everybody keeping those on your cars forever, right?

There is a lot of promise in the future for Luke.  Again, we are so overwhelmed with gratitude.  His story will continue on throughout this season thanks to our great God, and amazing friends, family and community! A really cool article appeared this week on OCVarsity.com.  Here is the link, if you did not get a chance to see it yet: http://www.ocvarsity.com/sections/slideshow/?id=621388

Last week was the one year anniversary of us discovering that Luke had a life threatening illness. Hitting Tomoko and me were vibrant recollections of the beautiful summer day me and the Luke's little brothers were surfing and playing at Bolsa Chica while Tomoko was receiving an urgent phone call from Luke's doctor instructing her to get Luke to ER as soon as possible. A little while later we are taking an ambulance ride from Hoag Hospital to CHOC (Children's Hospital of Orange County). It was somewhat frightful, to say the least, when we were taken to the third floor where we read a sign boldly proclaiming the potential seriousness of Luke's illness -- HEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY. For the next several days we rode the roller coaster of mystery and confusion as so many blood tests were taken, and transfusions were given and any number of possible diseases or infections were being investigated. Through it all, Luke was strong and faith filled and encouraged. Discovering that Luke had Aplastic Anemia was somewhat of a relief. At least it was not cancer, right? Finding a bone marrow donor was our new objective. Three brothers were tested and two were a match! The twins! Our youngest son would be Luke's rescuer from his adversary. Several days of intense chemo-therapy were followed by a most triumphant day - September 2, 2008 - the day Jacob's bone marrow was harvested and then transplanted into Luke! Hope filled our hearts when this day was accomplished.

Hope has been realized. Luke is well and almost completely free to live normally. There are still follow up visits and a series of shots to revive his inoculations and of course the underlying fears that he might relapse. But that is really not very likely at all. Mostly, we anticipate that Luke will have a normal rest of his life. He is doing so well right now. He is training hard for football. He is fully cleared by the doctors to play. He is looking forward to it more than you could imagine.

It's kind of weird maybe, but do you know what I think about more than all of those painful early days of Luke's ordeal? The things that regularly consume my mind in regards to this last year's long journey are:
Our medical team beginning with Luke's regular doctor's office. We may have not found out the seriousness of Luke's condition without our dedicated and capable doctors at Pediatric Care Medical Group. Then there is the "The HemTeam". The doctors and nurses at CHOC, who are second to none. We have been so blessed to have received such great care!!! The days of uncertainty were made much less troubling by the genuine care and awesome medical treatment we received. Next is our community. I am continually blown away by the outpouring of love, care, prayers, support and encouragement we have received throughout this ordeal. I could fill page after page of thanksgiving and praise for the many people from CrossPoint Baptist Church, Edison High School, Huntington Beach Pop Warner, our neighbors, friends family and even strangers. We are overwhelmed with gratitude! Through all these days we have been loved by a heavenly Father. We have found Him to be our Rock! So stable and unmovable. So trustworthy! We could not have made it without His providing all of these wonderful gifts. When I look back on all of it, I think it is quite miraculous.

So, yesterday was Luke's monthly follow up and everything is looking great! He is still cleared by the HemTeam to play football, go to school and live normally. As far as we can tell at this point, he is living like we would have expected him to be if he never had Aplastic Anemia. At this point Luke and we are living in grand anticipation of him returning to the Charger playing field. Hopefully, most of you reading this can make a game and see him play. It should be a great season! I'll be sure to let you know when and where games are. In the meantime have a great rest of summer and may God bless you!

Cool News

Luke had a check up last Wednesday.  He is doing really, really well. Dr. Soni reported that since things have been so good, the HemTeam (Hematology Team of doctors) is inclined to fully release Luke to play football this summer/fall.  He will be able to get his inoculations started a little early too.  All of that is really good news since last year we were told that it was possible Luke would not be cleared for contact untilthis September 2nd. Luke has been fighting a little cold, which was sort of a concern, but the good news is that unlike before, this cold is not getting worse and worse as the days go by, but instead it's actually getting better.  Physically, Luke feels great.  He competed with the football team in a linemen competition last Thursday and they did really, really well.  He also played Kajabi-Kan-Kan at our church picnic on Sunday and won the high school division. Then he won the egg toss with a Fountain Valley Baron no less! So things are going really, really well.  We are very encouraged and feel very blessed that so many people have prayed, encouraged and helped along the way. Thanks to you all!