Super Hero Cooper

Hi All, Just a quick post today to provide a brief update.  Today Coop started the most intense phase of his treatment, called Delayed Intensification.  If you have been following the blog, or talked with us over the last few months - this is the cycle we have been dreading for some time.  The good news, is the has started and we are one day closer to our mental and emotional end game of the completion of DI and start of Maintenance.  The bad news is the new medications are (have) made Cooper feel pretty yucky.  All we can do now is pray, and make him feel as comfortable as possible.  Please continue to keep Cooper and us in your prayers!  Love to all! Truebloods Just a few pics from clinic today... Ready to get this started and "put the metal to the pedal" (his words) Cooper was excited to show his doctors and nurses his wands as well as his new Switch games he got for Christmas.

Merry Christmas to All! We were so excited and thankful for Christmas this year.  First and foremost we were HOME, surrounded by loved ones.  We have learned through this journey that not all are able to be home at the holidays and even worse, some of experienced tragedy and loved ones are no longer with us.  In this Christmas and holiday season, please take a moment to pray for those for whom the holidays are hard to get through due to their personal struggle and situation.  You never know an individual's battle or what they are struggling through! The PLAN this Christmas was to spend the week with the Trueblood family in NC to have all 4 kids, grandparents and 7 grandkids all together for only the 2nd time (1st Christmas).  The Trueblood clan is largely comprised of Air Force pilots so normally they are stationed around the world or otherwise serving abroad.  This was the first year in many that the clan could all get together. And then cancer happened... Cooper and us we

 So we figured it was about time that we gave a little update on Evyn. Poor thing, half the time people forget that we have a second child! She is such a little ball of happiness and has brought us much joy during this time. She is most definitely the comic relief in our family. I think this entire situation scared us doubly, because we also have an infant to take care of at the same time we are dealing with job changes, medical changes, constantly feeling on the edge, taking care of Coop around the clock...adding no sleeping and taking care of another being that needed our 100% attention was no small task, not to mention all of the physical and emotional changes after having a baby.   We can honestly say that she is such a sweet baby. She is calm, she's funny, and we often joke that at times, we could just prop her up in the corner and leave her there and she would be happy as a clam. Evyn is definitely living up to her name and her reputation. For those of you who don'

 We have been at the receiving end of some really kind gestures from some amazing people who have been there to support us since the beginning. Cooper has had some pretty awesome days filled with Christmas magic thanks to the giving hearts of some wonderful people. We even got to go out to a Redskins game thanks to the Marshall family at combat for Cooper.  Some awesome Christmas gifts from the related arts team at LES  A St. Jude sweatshirt from a family of 2 of Kristy's former students. Our Lisbon family and many of the families of students that Kristy teaches bought books for Cooper at the school book fair.                                          The Woodsboro Fire Department sent Santa to the house on the firetruck with some early Christmas gifts for Cooper. He got to check out the firetruck and they also gave him a real fire helmet!  It's a little big but that didn't stop him from trying to wear it to bed!

 We are blessed to have the greatest neighbors on the planet! From the very start of this, our neighbors (even ones that have recently moved out of the neighborhood) have been our rock. They have pitched in dinners, helped mow our grass, brought Cooper things to cheer him up, made him cookies and Mac n cheese, they took Evyn on the fly when we had to rush Cooper to the ER, they have come to his end of cycle "parties", offered a listening ear and a glass of wine to Jason and I, and have been there through it all. We love and appreciate each one of you more than you know! Christmas was the icing on the cake...or the gingerbread house, I should say. If you have been following our blog, you've heard about Brett before. Brett is a high schooler who lives next door. He has sent Coop videos from the Walkersville HS football team, brought him some WHS football swag, and even manned up and took combat for Cooper the morning after a football game. Cooper thinks Brett is the

First, sorry for the lack of posts related to Cooper's journey over the past few weeks.  As most of you know, Cooper has been in a maintenance phase over the past 2 months.  During this time, it has been absolutely wonderful watching him play and run around!  There are times when we can (almost) forget that he is sick.  Since he's been doing well, we have been taking every advantage to play with him and cherish every moment and smile. Cooper has been super excited about Christmas this year!  He's had a great time picking out presents for cousins, doctors, nurses and the rest of his family.  He is also in the midst of a 20 day treatment free span in which he hasn't had to undergo any chemotherapy or blood tests.  We feel very fortunate that he had stayed fever free so we can avoid the "no fun hotel" (ER/Inpatient). Sadly, all good things must come to an end.  As anyone who had dealt with pediatric cancer knows, there are good phases of treatment and bad

We need to apologize ahead to time for ALL of the pictures! However, these pictures just made our whole Christmas. Nicole Pelligrino is an amazingly talented photographer who owns Snips and Snails Photography in Greencastle. She did Evyn's newborn photos about a week and a half before Cooper was diagnosed. When we saw the Santa picture opportunity, we immediately signed up right when the newborn photos were done. After Cooper's diagnosis, we wanted to keep the appointment, even if Cooper was really sick and maybe it wasn't the picture we would hang on the wall year after year. We kept the appointment because we needed some things about Christmas to feel normal and magical. We also have accepted that this is a chapter in our life and that we can't just skip this aspect in our photo albums and pretend like it didn't happen. Lastly, Cooper wouldn't have been able to see Santa with the crowds and all, which we thought was pretty sad. Nicole did the pictures out o

 So remember all of our posts about our JMU Dukes and how proud we are to be DUKES? Well this story only continues to get more awesome. Dukes stick together and I am constantly proud of the class act that is the JMU football program. Cooper has been watching Dukes football for some time now. Last year he really started to get into it and loved watching the team. When we went to visit the team this year and attended a game, Coach Mike Houston gave Cooper the #5 jersey which was a game worn jersey by now, GB Packers Safety Raven Greene. I decided to send Raven a message on the off chance that he might see it, telling him that we were so proud to have a piece of his legacy from JMU. Last Saturday after Santa pictures, we got home a there was a box from Raven Greene himself! He thought Cooper needed to upgrade his gear! He sent Cooper a box of Packers stuff as well as a signed mini helmet and a Raven Greene jersey so Coop could have his pro jersey too. Also, in the box is probably now

Hi Everyone! We haven't posted much lately because there's really nothing new to report. This is great news. Basically means that we are following protocol with treatment and it is working. Currently Cooper is in an interim maintenance phase, which means he gets 2 rounds of chemo every 10 days and also has 2 lumbar puncture spinal chemos in this 56 days. Compared to his other 2 phases, this one has been EASY! Keep in mind that east is relative to the last 2 phases which were complete doozies! Cooper has been feeling pretty great and has been able to do some "normal kid" activities within reason and with some pretty strong precautions but he has been able to get out a few times, which has been nice. He still has days where he is exhausted, doesn't have energy, and is nauseous, but the majority of days are good days.l Each chemo he receives during this phase is what is called an escalating dose, which means if his ANC counts are above a certain level each week they