Family

  
This is my family. We took these pictures on my last visit up to New Jersey! The sun was shining, we were all dressed up, it was the perfect setting for a little family photo shoot.

Today I am here writing about my family, especially my Dad, and to ask all of you readers out there for some thoughts and prayers.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that my Dad was sick and could possibly need a bone marrow transplant. (Read that post here)

My Dad has a type of leukemia called Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, or more simply CLL. He was diagnosed when I was in the 8th grade. Without going too much into it, basically what happens is (in a very simplified way) my Dad's white blood cell count gets very low and he needs to undergo treatment. There are all sorts of side affects and symptoms and it makes his immune system pretty much nonexistent making him prone to all sorts of ailments. He has gone through a few different types of chemotherapy and gone into remission. This process has happened a few times.

Recently, his counts haven't been looking too good. When I wrote the post a few weeks ago, there were some talks of a bone marrow transplant, thankfully, it looks like he doesn't need one of those just yet. That is a very serious surgery that we hope he can avoid, at least for many more years.

However, there are still some issues. In the past few weeks, my Dad's health has gotten worse. They decided that the best course of action is for him to receive another type of chemotherapy starting on Monday, his birthday. This is a much more aggressive form of chemo than he's ever had and the side affects are going to be severe.

All of this is scary. It scares me, it scares my brother, it scares my Mom, it especially scares my Dad. The next few months are going to be very trying for my family. I'm going up to visit this weekend and I'm sure there will be many more trips. Family really is the most important thing in the world.


So if you happen to think about it, please keep my family, especially my Dad in your prayers.


It feels a little strange putting this information out there on my blog for the world to see, almost as if I'm accepting that this is really happening. It is happening, and I can't do this alone. This community is truly something special and I know that with your support my family will get through this.