Thursday, June 28, 2012

Definitely not the news we were expecting.


Wow. Our family did not expect to be dealt a blow like this. I am having a very hard time right now, but I want everyone to know what happened so you can start praying for Lauren. I will start at the beginning of our trip that started Tuesday morning.

Lauren had an appointment for a CT scan at U of M on Tuesday at 1:00. We needed to be there by noon for her prep. We left at 8:00 in the morning, giving us way more time to get there than we needed. We hit a minor back up around Rt. 57 on the turnpike. A semi had caught on fire. That was not much of a problem. Then, about 20 miles from Toledo, we hit a major traffic jam. We sat there for over an hour, barely moving at all. I started to freak out because that is what I do. I was afraid we would be late for Lauren's CT and they might not have another spot for her. Lauren called the hospital and made them aware of the situation. Finally, they started directing everyone single file on the left berm. Another semi that caught fire. Of course, jerky people start flying up cutting everyone else off to get there first. I will never understand people like that who think they are better than everyone else and deserve not to have to wait their turn. Finally, we broke free and I had to haul butt to get there in decent time. I was about 70 or 80 miles away and still needed to fight my way through Toledo. Long story short, we got to the waiting room at 12:30. Half an hour before her scan. She only had to drink a glass of water. Not the gross, chalky drink. She was happy about that. She was only gone for about an hour and she was done. CTs are so much faster and easier than MRIs. Kristen and Bruce were still at work, so we headed for their house and let their dogs out and watched tv.

Kristen called when she got off work and asked where we wanted to eat dinner. We said if she didn't mind, we would like to eat at her house. We are sick of restaurant food. She and Bruce stopped on the way home and got steaks, corn on the cob, and garlic bread. She also bought an angel food cake and fresh strawberries. We had a wonderful dinner. Bruce went to work out in the basement and us girls watched a marathon of Real Housewives of the OC. We all went to bed around 10. Lauren and I each have our own room. We were both on our computers until late. We could sleep in on Wednesday because Lauren didn't have labs until 1:45. Kristen didn't have to be to work until 3:00, so she was with us in the morning. I got up around 9:00 and ate some toast. Kristen was working on the resident's schedule. One of the wonderful jobs she has to do as Chief Resident is schedule all the other residents. Like all 120 of them!! What a headache. I was sitting in the living room with Buzz and Stink and Kristen came in and sat down. She said she had looked at Lauren's CT report yesterday. Right then I knew it wasn't good. Neither she nor Bruce had said a thing about them on Tuesday. She had said something about maybe not looking at the report before we saw the doctor because one time I made her look at them and the news wasn't great. She feels so bad breaking bad news to us. Anyway, she said I saw Wo's report and the news isn't very good. It says there is a 4 cm. tumor in the left side of the liver that had Theraspheres. I was pretty much in shock and just sat there. She said she didn't understand how this could happen and how it could be that big in less than 6 weeks since Lauren had the Theraspheres. She just kept saying that it didn't make sense. Well, it didn't take me long to bust out crying and saying stupid stuff like I couldn't live if Lauren died. It was around 11:00 by then and Lauren was still sleeping. Sis went up and woke her up and told her the news. She promised she would never withhold info from us again to spare our feelings. I am so glad she told us before we went to the doctor. I asked Lauren if we should call Mark and she wanted to wait until after we spoke to the doctor because maybe he had a good news explanation of the whole thing. We knew it would kill Mark to have to wait to hear from us and he is already so stressed out. Now that I read this, I realize we did the same thing to him that Sis did to us. We just wanted him not to worry, but he said he had a bad feeling before he ever knew.

I had a few signs that made me wonder about things as well. Call me crazy if you want but I feel like I have some weird intuitions and always look for signs. The traffic jam and two trucks burning really bothered me. We had salad at the hospital and when I looked at the receipt, Lauren's salad total came to $6.66. That really spooked me. Like I said, call me crazy, but this stuff really bothered me that bad news was coming.

 Lauren forgot to put numbing cream on her chest until we were halfway to the hospital. We stopped in a parking lot because her cream was in the back of the SUV. It was kind of numb when we got there. It should be applied about an hour before port access. The nurse could not get a blood flow from her port. They finally realized she had put it in crooked and another nurse pulled it out and put it back in straight. Lauren has more trouble with those nurses and her port. We then went up to Dr. Zalupski's waiting room. Lauren got called back fairly quick. We saw Dr. Z's PA named Gwen first. She read us the CT report. We had a ton of questions, none of which she could answer which was very frustrating. Lauren was really upset and angry. Dr. Z finally came in with Gwen and some doctor from Peru that was observing. Dr. Z told us that there was a 4 cm. tumor and he wasn't really sure if it was a tumor, dead spot, blood clot, or what. He thinks it is probably a tumor though. He wanted to schedule an MRI as soon as possible to get a better understanding of what it is. Lauren asked if she could be knocked out for the MRI since she totally freaked out at the last one. Dr. Z said that would delay the quickness in getting an MRI since she would have to have an anesthesiologist with her. He said to just take Ativan before the MRI and another during if she needed. He also said he would get her the largest one so she wouldn't feel so claustraphobic. These are really horrible because they aren't quick. They are 2 or more hours inside a tight little tube. Really hot and miserable. I think the Ativan will help and I said it is worth to go through 2 hours of misery to find out what this is. She agreed. Lauren had a million questions to ask Dr. Z. He answered them all very truthfully. He did not want her to have chemo as planned because he said if it was a tumor, that meant the chemo wasn't working anymore. He didn't want to put more toxins in her body if they weren't working. He said if this is in fact a new tumor, he will start her on two different chemos, Oxaliplatin and Xeloda. I asked him if the Theraspheres were a complete bust and he said he didn't know. So everything is up in the air. He said if this is a new tumor that her cancer is progressing. That is not what we want to hear. Lauren had a very difficult time and you can tell Dr. Z feels so bad. What a difficult job he has.

The MRI is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 9:45. That means we will have to go back to Sis and Bruce's Monday night. Lauren and I kept crying in the car. We got McDonald's cheeseburgers and fries to try and cheer ourselves up. We also got ice cream on the way home. I think that made Lauren feel better. Lauren called Mark, Grandma and Grandpa, and Linda on the way home. We got home around 8:00. Gio came over and Ryan, Stephanie and Mark were here. Gio is having such a hard time. I thank God every day Lauren has such a caring boyfriend. Wo and Gio went out to swim, but got too cold. I slept downstairs with Wo last night. That's what I do after chemo, but still wanted to even though she didn't have chemo. We have gotten so much support from everyone. Thanks so much. Lauren will contine to fight and never give up. You all help give her the strength to carry on. Until next time...

Love, -Pam



Our beautiful Wo in happier times.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Back to normal.

We finally have recovered from Relay. It was really rough on all of us. A lot of work went into the whole thing. We are happy we did it, but also glad it is over. We are brainstorming ideas for next year. We want to do something that will raise money specifically for the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation rather than for all cancers. They really need our help if we are to ever find a cure.

This week has been pretty uneventful. Lauren is feeling much better. Her chest is not hurting near as bad. We will be heading to Michigan early Tuesday morning. She has a CT scan scheduled for 1:00. We need to be there an hour early. She has labs, doctor's appt., and chemo on Wed. Please pray that her scans come back with a positive outcome. Lauren and I went shopping on Thurs. to get Ryan his birthday presents. His birthday was on Thurs., but he had to work. We didn't get to celebrate his birthday until Sunday evening. Schedules just didn't work until then. He got lots of camping and survival stuff along with stuff for running and biking. Here are some pics of his birthday celebration.


Ryan and Stephanie celebrating his 21st Birthday!!


Ryan blowing out his candles. I made a yellow lemon jello poke cake with Cool Whip. Delicious!
Ryan and Stephanie met Gio and Lauren after bowling on Thurs. and went to Puckers. Ryan got his first drink at a bar. I can't believe my youngest child is old enough to drink!! I am proud that he waited until he was 21 to drink. He has only had sips of wine or margaritas when he was with us. He never engaged in under age drinking. What a good kid.

Lauren and Gio went to a rehearsal dinner for their friends, Michael and Courtney that were getting married on Sat. Here is a pic of Lauren before Gio came to pick her up. She is so pretty.



Gio was in the wedding on Sat., so Lauren's friend Emmed, came and picked her up for the wedding. They all had a great time. I don't have any pictures to show. Sorry.


I pulled off a huge feat this week. Kristen had called last week and said she and Bruce were going to help their friend, Asher move to Pittsburgh this weekend. He is starting a Fellowship there after being in a residency program at U of M. She said they would stop on their way back home and surprise everyone. So, I kept the secret all week. Before I get in to that, I have to tell you about Asher. He is such a nice guy. Kristen met him back when she started medical school, which was in 2005. In fact, Kristen, Asher, and two other friends, Paul and AJ, all lived together in a big house for two years when they were in medical school in Toledo. They were all such good friends that Kristen had all of them in her wedding as her bridesmen! When she and Bruce went to U of M for their residencies, so did Asher. He was in a different program though. He is so nice that he even came and visited Lauren when she was having chemo a few times. Kristen was really upset to see him move away, but I am sure they will be life long friends. Here is a pic of her sweet bridesmen on her and Bruce's wedding day.


Kristen's best buds. From left to right Paul, Asher, Kristen and AJ.
 So, on with the story. We had first planned that they would surprise everyone and then we would go out to breakfast. I knew something would go wrong and someone would get mad or something so I decided I would make a huge breakfast and I said it was for Ryan's birthday so no one would get suspicious. Turns out Ryan had to work and didn't even get to eat with us.I made a big pan of this egg dish that has eggs, milk, cheese, sausage, and bread in it. I also made hash browns and orange and caramel rolls. I had everything almost finished and Kristen walked in the front door. Mark was so shocked to see her. Bruce came in moments after. Lauren and Gio were shocked too. It was awesome to surprise them like that. We were all so excited to see them because it seems like we never see them enough. We had a great time eating breakfast and then we all went to see Gio's house. They hadn't seen the inside yet. They left from there and went and surprised Ryan at work before they headed home. So much fun!! Here is a pic of us eating breakfast.





Lauren, Gio, Mark, and I went swimming in the afternoon. That was about it for this week. I will update everyone with news about the CT scan later this week. Take care and thanks for your support.

Love, -Pam


Wo and Gio enjoying life.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Relay for Life was so much fun!!

Relay For Life was so much fun, very moving, emotional, hilarious, and a lot of work!! We all can barely walk. Our feet and legs kill. But, what they said at Relay is that a cancer patient feels like that on many days. We will get over our aches and pains but they face them every day. That makes me so sad. We are happy to say that our team raised around $1800. Not bad for our first year. We had way too much food for the bake sale and popcorn sale. The glow stick stuff went fairly well. But, you gotta remember, we were only selling to the other teams. Not many outsiders were there. I am going to post a bunch of pictures and narrate what is happening. Hope you enjoy!!

Here is our campsite. The theme for this Relay was Cancer Takes A Holiday. Each team had to choose a holiday and decorate in that theme. Ours was 4th of July. So most of our stuff was red, white, and blue and a lot of American flags.



I had ordered t-shirts for our team before we knew we had to decorate in a theme. But we loved our t-shirts. Lime green with neon pink writing. They said Wozer's Warriors on the front and had everyone's name on the back. We also had a green awareness ribbon on them for Cholangiocarcinoma. I also had little pins made with Lauren's pic on them and they said Wozer's Warriors too.





The first lap of the Relay was for survivors and caregivers. Our team led the way with Ryan, Lisa Craine, and Lauren.





We had a lot of people come visit us at our campsite. Lisa Craine, who also has Cholangiocarcinoma, came and walked the survivor lap. Mike Taggart, Gio and Wo's friend, came with his daughter, Halle. Jolene Ricchiutti (Gio's Mom) came and helped with the sales. Michelle, Sharon Paul's sister-in-law and Michelle's Dad came and even walked some laps for us so we could rest. Sharon is our friend that has cancer too. Bruno (Gio's brother) and his girlfriend, Jacqui stopped by. Gio and Lauren's friends, Melissa, Dan, and Emmed came and showed their support. We also saw Stephanie's parents.


Lisa and Lauren



Mike Taggart and his daughter, Halle


Jolene Ricchiuti

Bruno and Lauren


Sharon Paul's sister-in-law, Michelle, with Giovanni and Lauren.


Each team had to have a "Spirit stick or hat." Ours was so awesome that we won the award for Best spirit item!! Here are our two lovely models, Grandma Tommie and Gio.







Here are just a few random pictures that I wanted to post.























The funniest part of the night was when they had a Ms. Relay contest. A guy from everyone's team was supposed to dress up like a girl. We chose Giovanni to do this and he was such a good sport about it. They interviewed the contestants and then gave them a bucket to walk around for an hour and get donations. Gio raised $110 and won the title!! It was so hiarious. Here are some of his pics as Giovantee'.









One of the laps in the middle of the night was a wheel lap. You had to do the lap with something with wheels. Ryan has a tiny trick bike that he rode. It was so funny, but the only ones that saw him were myself and Gio. Everyone else was asleep at that time. Nobody slept more than a few hours. Here is Ryan on is bike.








We were there until closing ceremony at 11:00 Saturday. I don't know if we have ever been that tired. But it was worth it and we would do it again. We would do it again for everyone fighting cancer, in remission, or sadly those are no longer with us.


Until next time...


Love, -Pam

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

More Thanks and Family Time at U of M Hospital

We just got back a little while ago from Michigan. Lauren had an appointment yesterday with her Radiology Oncologist, Dr. Mary Feng. She is one of Lauren's favorite doctors. She is so pleasant to talk with. She didn't really know what was causing the pain in Lauren's chest. She has never had a patient with that symptom from the Y-90. She sent a prescription order to the U of M pharmacy for a liquid that is supposed to numb and coat Lauren's stomach. Lauren took one dose today and didn't feel a difference, but will keep taking it to see if it will help. Lauren is also having arm pain. Dr. Feng said if she was middle aged or older she might think it would be heart related, but Lauren's heart is very healthy, so she is stumped. It is better, but still is quite painful at times. Lauren is having a scan in two weeks, so if it is something the scan would probably show it. Leave it to Lauren to get the oddball symptom. Well, for that matter, how many 25 year olds get Cholangiocarcinoma? She is one in a million. Actually the statistics are like 2 in 100,000. And that is for all ages. It probably is one in a million for young women.

My sister, Linda, and my Mom and Dad came to Michigan to go out to dinner Tues. night with us and stay overnight and go to chemo today. We all stayed at Kristen and Bruce's house. Linda is a huge dog lover, so it was nice to have Buzz bug her the whole time instead of me. Linda and my Mom and Dad were at Sis's house when we got there after Lauren's appointment with Dr. Feng. Bruce and Sis were still working. So we drank a few bottles of wine while we waited for them. Bruce got home first. Sis got home after 7. She was at work in the morning at 5:30, so she had a long day. They also flew to Seattle last Friday and returned Sunday so they were super tired. We all piled into my Explorer and went downtown Ann Arbor for dinner. Bruce drove because I felt a little dizzy from the wine. We went to the Italian restaurant we went to for my birthday again. We wanted to sit on the rooftop, but when we got seated up there, everyone was too cold because it was really windy. So we went to the restaurant instead. It was really good, but rather pricey. My Dad treated all of us. He joked that it was our inheritence that he was spending!

Lauren and I usually have our own beds when we go to Sis's. But since we had other guests, Lauren and I slept in one bed and my Mom and Dad had the other. Linda slept on the couch with Buzz and Stink. She thinks she got about two hours sleep because Buzz hogged the couch. Stinky is really good and just lays at the end. She said she had to get up and lay on the love seat a few times. I wondered why in the world she didn't put them in the laundry room, but she didn't want to disturb them. Geez!! They were in heaven.

Lauren and I had to be at the hospital at 8:00 am. Sis and Bruce had left before I got up which was 6:00 am. My Mom and Dad and Linda got to the hospital after 9 and we were still in the waiting area, so they went and ate breakfast in the cafeteria. Lauren had labs at 8 and chemo at 9.  We had eaten a breakfast sandwich from McDonald's before we got to the hospital. We all took turns back with Lauren. We all had a great time. Lauren was done by about 1, so Linda and my Mom and Dad left for home and so did we. We got home around 6. We hit a huge traffic jam from an accident around Akron U, so that held us up for a long time. Glad to be home, but we still have so much to do for the Relay on Friday.

We had a few more donations and our total donations for Relay For Life are now $1050.00. WOW!! We are so excited. Although they would probably choose to remain anonymous, we would like to thank Kate and Rich Klaben for their very generous donation as well as their constant support of our family. We are so grateful to both of you. We would also like to thank my Mom's cousin and his wife, Rod and Janice Springer, for their generous donation. They are such nice people. We are deeply touched by all of those that have donated to this wonderful cause. Thank you all so much.

I am beat and I have a ton to do tomorrow, so I will say goodbye. Until next time...

Love, -Pam


Bruce, Sis, and Lauren at Paleo for dinner.





Linda, Grandma Tommie, Wo, and Papa Ron at the Cancer Center. Wo has her stylish fanny pack chemo pump on!! I like how you are all color coordinated!!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Almost There!!

As of today, we have raised $790.00 for Relay For Life. We are so thankful for all of your generosity. I have been posting thank you's to people on FaceBook and mentioning everyone that has donated by name. I would like to thank everyone here as well. So thanks to our team, Lauren, Ryan, Stephanie, Giovanni, Mark, Mom, and Dad. Thanks to all of our donors: Bruce Caudill, Katie Wilcox, Matt Whitlock, Michael Whitlock, Ron and Tommie Bachman, Jennifer Sadler, Katie Dain, Bianca Leonardi, Susan Crago, Bruce and Kristen Kaufman, Linda and Wayne Whitlock, Dawn Lewis, Jacqui Flaherty, Bruno Ricchiuti, Stephanie Sanderfer, Marsha Tomko, Kris Steinicke, D-A Specialty, Tammy Tomello, and Pamela Mollett. Thank you so much. You are all so awesome.

We have been busy this weekend baking and freezing muffins, making signs for relay, and making our "Spirit Hat". It turned out pretty good. We are beginning to feel the pressure to get everything done. I think we will bake cupcakes today and get all of our stuff organized into bins. So much!!!

Lauren and I will be leaving for Michigan tomorrow. She has an appointment with Dr. Feng tomorrow afternoon. She is her Radiology Oncologist that coordinated the Y-90 procedure. She just wants to see how she is doing. Maybe she can tell us exactly why Lauren's chest still hurts. My Mom and Dad and my sister are coming to Bruce and Sis's tomorrow evening to go to dinner with us and will go to chemo with us on Wed. My sister, Linda, is used to that. My brother-in-law had cancer a few years ago in his neck and they went through a brutal chemo schedule. I am happy to say he is now totally cancer-free. So she understands exactly what we are going through.

We will be coming home Wed. evening because we have so much to do on Thurs. We had a nice, hot, sunny day yesterday to lounge in the pool. I kept telling Lauren to put sunscreen on because they say people on chemo burn easily. She wouldn't put on the real strong stuff, but did manage to get her to put on some light lotion and she didn't burn. She wants to be tan. After seeing that creepy, tan lady on tv, I am not as keen on being super tan anymore. Just a little color is nice.

Hopefully the rest of the week goes smoothly. Wish us luck. Talk to you soon...


Love, -Pam



Here are some of our many signs and our cool "Spirit Hat" !!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Getting Ready For Relay For Life

We are in the middle of a whirlwind right now. As you know, we are participating in the Relay For Life in Green, Ohio on Friday June 15. Lauren and I went to a meeting on Tuesday. We were to hand in any money we had raised by fundraising. Oh, geez. We didn't know we were supposed to be fundraising. I guess I wouldn't since I hadn't gone to any of the planning meetings. They always were on weeks Lauren had chemo. I did e-mail a nice lady named Amy that is heading up the relay. She was nice enough to give me a lot of info. Besides the fundraising we didn't do, we were to have a theme for our tent. The Relay we are doing has a theme to do with cancer taking a holiday and everyone is to decorate and dress in the holiday they have chosen. We chose 4th of July. Don't ask me why. I asked naively if Relay supplied the tents and tables. No, they do not. Thank goodness we have a large tent, the kind with a top and no sides. Gio has a few long tables we can use. We are also taking a small tent so we can lay down when we get tired. That will be after about one lap for me. The small tent is mostly for Lauren. Poor kid will have her chemo pump until a few hours before the relay starts. We are supposed to fundraise at the event itself. We are having a bake sale, popcorn sale, glow stick bracelets and necklaces, and we are selling Lauren's wristbands. I also got 200 brochures from the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation. So I think we should be able to raise a fair amount with all of this. Gio has a popcorn maker at his house. We are going to pop a bunch and keep it in huge bags to scoop at the event. We are baking muffins, brownies, cupcakes, and making rice krispy treats. I am going to bake some of the muffins today and freeze them. My Mom is baking a bunch too as is Stephanie. We have to put them all in bags and tie a ribbon on them. We will have to do the rest of the baking on Thursday.

We have to decorate our tent in red, white, and blue since our theme is 4th of July. I have a bunch of American flags all sizes, hanging crepe paper stuff, garland, and we have made like 20 signs. Some are red, white, and blue and some are not. We hope to have the best decorated tent. Another thing we found out at the meeting is that every team is to have a "spirit stick" or "spirit hat". So we bought a felt top hat and are going to "bedazzle" the heck out of it. We have red, white, and blue flowers, sparkly stuff, a red feather boa, and a bunch of little flags. I will post a pic when it is done. Whoever from our team that is on the track must have the hat on at all times. I can't wait to see the guys with this silly hat on. What a riot.

Our relay team consists of Lauren and I, Mark, Giovanni, my Mom and Dad, and Ryan and Stephanie. Mark will help set up and stay until about midnight on Friday. It is awesome he can be off work on Friday, but will have to work on Sat. His boss is so great about letting him take time off for Lauren. My Mom and Dad will stay until about the same time as Mark. They have a wedding to attend the next day or they would be right there with us the whole time. My Dad is 80 and my Mom is a few years younger, but they have so much energy!! We are counting on the young ones to pull us through. The dynamic trio of Gio, Ryan, and Stephanie. I know they can do it. To keep everyone motivated throughout the night, relay has many contests for the teams. One is a Ms. Relay competition. One of the guys has to dress up like a girl for a beauty pageant. Another contest is to see how much glow in the dark stuff you can wear. We have all kinds of glow stuff. It should be a lot of fun.

If all this isn't enough, we have to go to Michigan on Tues. and Wed. for doctor visits and chemo. My sister, Linda, and my Mom and Dad are coming to Kristen's the night before and then to chemo on Wed. We will probably go out to dinner on Tues. Bruce and Kristen flew out Friday night to Seattle. Bruce's brother, Tyler and his sister, Andrea are graduating from college. They will be flying home on Sunday. We are sad they won't be able to come to Relay. They are equally as sad. They both have to work that weekend. Once their schedules are made way in advance, it is set in stone. We are getting used to it now. We just have to think someone's life is depending on them and they need them more than we do.

We had a nice lunch with our friend, Lisa on Wed. We went to our usual place, Rockne's in Fairlawn. We were sad our other friend, Sharon could not join us. She is just having an awful time. Last I heard she was admitted to the hospital yet again at Cancer Treatment Center in Illinois. I sure hope they get her straightened out. She has not been well for quite some time. We feel so bad for her.

Lauren is sad because Gio went to a Bachelor party trip at Hocking Hills. Happy he is having fun with all his friends, but she misses him. Those two just love to be together. Lauren has been feeling ok. She is having back pain and still has the pain in her upper chest. It is slowly getting better.

I want to thank all of you that have donated to Relay. We started out on Monday with $160. Most of that was from our entry fees. I have been pestering on Facebook every day. As of Friday, we have raised around $760. I can't remember the exact amount. So thank you, thank you, thank you. We are thrilled and so touched by your generosity. I hope to get some more donations and with the sales at the relay, I hope we can reach over $1000. Wouldn't that be awesome!! We will be thinking of all of you especially our CC friends that are in the fight, are in remission, or have passed. We are doing this for Lauren and all of you. We will find a cure!! Love to all of you.

-Pam



Wo and Lisa at lunch on Wednesday


Sunday, June 3, 2012

Relay For Life


Please consider donating or joining our team for Relay For Life. We are called Wozer's Warriors. That is Lauren's nickname. Relay For Life is for all cancers. We decided to do this because we wanted to show support for Lauren and all cancer victims. We will be walking all night on Friday June 15, 2012. It will be in Green, Ohio. I am sure it will be a very emotional time for all of us. They have a Survivor's lap for people with cancer and a Caregiver's lap for the people who take care of the cancer patient. They also have a Luminaria presentation where they light luminarias with the names of people that have cancer or have passed away. Every team has to have a theme for their area. I didn't know about this since this is our first year. We were also supposed to be doing fundraisers but I have missed the planning meetings due to Lauren's chemo schedule. I really didn't know it was going to be this much work and Lauren, myself, and my Mom are trying to do it. Lauren will be having chemo the week of the relay so that will be interesting. The theme of the Relay has to do with holidays so ours is 4th of July. We are having a bake sale, selling Lauren's wristbands, and selling glow stick necklaces. All the proceeds go to Relay For Life. If anyone would like to donate baked goods that are wrapped, we would be happy to accept them. If you have any questions just email me at pamkunklier@yahoo.com  I will be happy to give you my phone number or address also. Here are the directions if you would like to donate or join our team. Please read them carefully, because if you just donate to Relay for Life, we might not get credit for our team. Thank you so much.


Go to www.relayforlife.org 

Go to purple box and type in our zip code which is 44685.

To either sign up or donate go to Relay For Life Green, Ohio North Canton, Ohio.

To sign up to participate click on Join a Team.

The team's name is Wozer's Warriors and sign up from there.

To Donate to our team go to the PURPLE BOX on the side of the page.

Do not fill out the Donation form shown. Click on Support a Team. This way our team gets credit for your donation. The other way is just a generic donation.

Type in Wozer's Warriors.

There will be a picture of Lauren, Mark and Ryan with their heads shaved.

Click on Donate to our Team.

Fill out from there.

If you would be more comfortable sending a donation to me to give to Relay, you can mail me a check and I will make sure Relay gets it since I am the Team Leader. Just e-mail me for my address. I hope you will find it in your heart to donate even $10.00. Lauren is really excited to do this and we are all about making her smile. Thanks to all of you.

Love, -Pam



Lauren at her first chemo. She has gone through this 17 times!!




Mark and Ryan shaved their heads in support of Lauren.