Hi everyone! We are home! We were only admitted for 3 days this time. His counts stay down for a much shorter amount of time on these light rounds. Taylor is doing fantastic! We were outside playing all afternoon and he was having so much fun being back home with his toys that he didn't want to go to bed. We were able to stay in the city to watch the marathon as well. We cheered on a team that runs every year for MSK and another that runs for funds for cancer research. They raised over 14 million dollars last year alone for MSK and cancer research! Taylor and I had our picture taken by several different members of the press. We were right up in the front so a news team filmed us as well. Taylor was way more interested in the helicopter hovering over us though. Forget the runners. Thank you for praying for our little guy as we were at MSK the past few days! Your prayers were again heard and answered. He will finish his last 5 days of radiation this week. I will update you to let you know how he is doing each day this week. We love you all, Jen

Hello everyone! Taylor is doing awesome! We have had an incredible year. What we thought was the worst year of our lives, has turned out to be one of the most amazing displays of God's grace and blessings. Our little boy is doing so wonderful with his treatment and God has put His healing hand upon him! The blessings just keep coming! Matt and I are thrilled to tell you all that we are expecting a baby in June! We were very surprised, but God's timing is always perfect. I had a sonogram today and they said baby looks perfect. The baby has a strong, fast heartbeat. I am in my 10th week. June 6, 2004 is my due date. The cool thing is I found out last month on my 32nd birthday! It was the best birthday present ever! Taylor pats my belly and says, "Momma...baby in nare." It will be great for him to have a little brother or sister after this is all over. We'll have 5 months to de-program our little prince, once he is done in January, before the baby comes. Just kidding! This is a picture of him with his new T-shirt. Taylor has adjusted very well to his ever-changing life and will no doubt adjust to the baby just fine...we pray! When I got home from my doctor's office today, I got out my calendar to write down the date for my next appointment. I looked at the bottom of the month and there was a bible verse. It said, "From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another." John 1:16 We love you all, Jen

Hi everyone! Taylor is doing well. He finished radiation 3 days early! Dr. Wolden (his radiologist) and Dr. Laquaglia (his surgeon) met last week and reviewed his weekly films and they decided that 17 days was sufficient for him. They go by a formula, not actually a set amount of days. They said that he has done beautifully and everything looks great inside and out! Praise God! Taylor and I are both pretty tired these days. He is tired because of waking up at 5:30 every morning and being dragged into the city. Now we only go in for chemo every two weeks and occational transfusions in between. I have had no morning sickness thankfully. However, I feel a little yucky off and on throughout the day. I feel better as long as I eat something every hour or so.

Taylor's pancake breakfast and bake sale is coming up on 11/16. Plans for the benefit are going very well! If anyone is interested in helping set up that morning or baking for the bake sale please email Allison Lastfogel at alastfogel@mhco.com Thanks everyone! We love you all, Jen

Hello everyone! Taylor is doing great! Yesterday morning he woke up and jumped down from his bed and kept going all day long! He had so much energy and he was happy all day! He had been very tired the past few weeks. He would spend most of the day on the couch watching videos and playing with his toys. It was so great to see him running around again! It has been so nice to be home the past few days. I feel like we're playing hookey from MSK! I used to complain about days at home with nothing to do all day. Now, days at home are like a special treat! I will never look at ordinary life the same again, nor take it for granted. Every day is precious. Be thankful for the good health of your loved ones everyone. Taylor starts cycle 7 tomorrow! Please pray for a good week and a smooth recovery from it. We are in the home stretch now! Thanks for all your prayers! I will update you each day or two this week. We love you all, Jen

Hi everyone! Taylor is in the middle of cycle 7 of chemo. He is doing fine. I found out that the radiation was the cause of Taylor's fatigue the past few weeks. He is over it now though and acting like himself again. Matt took him to chemo today and I finally had a day off! It was great to be able to sleep in and to take care of some things around the house. As much as I missed him, this day has been long awaited. Taking care of a healthy 2 year old is work, but caring for one that is going through cancer treatment and is very high maintenance is extremely taxing physically and mentally! Matt is going to go in with him at least once during each of the three cycles he has left. He is wonderful with Taylor and they always have a great time together...even in a hospital. Please keep him in your prayers during the rest of the week as he finishes cycle 7! We love you all, Jen

Hello everyone! Taylor is almost done with chemo this week. He had a very good day yesterday! He seemed to feel great and he was in a terrific mood all day. Today was not as great. He was sick to his little tummy all morning. He was not vomitting, but close to it at times. The afternoon was a little better. The chemo is cumulative in his body, so he feels worse as the week goes on. The light cycles are still a lot easier on him than the strong ones though. I keep telling him that he is almost done with the hospital and the yucky medicine in his tubes. I wish he could really understand that there is soon going to be and end to this difficult time in his life, but he has no concept of time and the reality of the whole thing. It's hard watching your child go through something horrible, but it's even harder to know that they don't understand why they hurt and feel sick, when to be afraid and when it's safe, and that the end is in sight. On top of that, Matt and I wish he could understand that he is doing beautifully and be able to celebrate the fact that he is cancer free!!! He doesn't even know what cancer is or that he had a tumor. One day he will understand all of this. Matt and I feel that he will always be extra special for what he has been through. We pray that he goes through life with the strength of any army, never letting anything get in his way, and believing that he can accomplish anything he desires. We hope that he'll live with the mindset that, "I beat cancer when I was only two, there's nothing I can't do." Maybe after all this, my son will be a doctor...who knows. God sure does. Matt and I will be proud of him no matter what he chooses to do in life. Our prayer is that our little ones grow up to know and love the Lord, and to lean on Him in all of life's circumstances! We love you all, Jen

P.S. Me and baby-to-be are doing just great! Thanks for all your prayers for all 4 of us! Jen

Just a quick note about the fund raising breakfast. The address is 101 Hamburg Turnpike. It is right next to the Bloomingdale Police dept. If you need directions, you can call our house or follow the link here or on the main page. The exit off of 287 for Hamburg Turnpike is 53. You want to turn left towards the quarry. From 23 N or S, get onto 287 N and get off at Exit 53 and turn left onto Hamburg Turnpike. We look forward to seeing everyone there. Unfortunately, Taylor will not be able to be there. Jen and I will be taking shifts at home being that Taylor is just coming out of a chemo week and will be very susceptible to germs. We want to personally thank everyone for their prayers and the many other ways that they have contributed. Matt

Hello everyone! Taylor is doing well. He's been feeling pretty good the past few days. Thank you to all who attended Taylor's pancake breakfast and bake sale this morning! Matt and I were so pleased to see all of you and we thank all those who sent contributions who could not attend today! It was a great turnout! We believe that about 400 people came this morning! The bake sale was a huge success as well! Thank you to all of you who so lovingly baked the delicious treats for the sale. We had two 10 foot long tables full of baked goods when we began. Almost everything sold by noon. At the end, a wonderful woman came and bought everything that was left overand donated it to the Market Street Mission! We are thankful to our area diners and stores for donating the food for our event. We are also thankful for Mark and Allison Lastfogel (and their children Brandon, Travis, and Adrianne) for putting the whole thing together and all their time and energy that made the breakfast a success. Thank you to all who helped set up, serve food, and clean up afterwards. Matt and I are overwhelmed by the generosity and support we have received from our family, friends, church family, and community! We love you all, Jen

Hi everyone! Taylor was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday morning. He has an infection in his blood. He is getting antibiotics to treat it. I asked his doctor if it is common to get this type of infection. He said that what’s not common is that Taylor hasn’t had more of these blood infections! They are very normal and occur frequently in children getting chemo. They are not dangerous if treated with antibiotics for 10 days. Taylor had a mild fever on Tuesday. His fever was gone by the time he went to bed that night. He’s been fine ever since. Fine meaning he is comfortable, but not doing cartwheels. He will have to stay in the hospital until his counts come up though…as usual. If we are still here on Saturday, we will one of the first to see and use the new pediatric floor. They are opening a brand new floor with state of the art everything including flat panel TVs with DVD players in every room, more private rooms, a gigantic playroom with a huge castle that the kids can play on and in, a glass wall filled with toys which goes around the reception area and can actually sense a bald head from one with hair and it interacts with the patients, as well as many more cool things. It will be great for these kids! They deserve a really fun place to hang out while they go through their treatments. I think we as parents are looking forward to moving up there more than our children! Please pray that Taylor’s count will come up quickly and that he will be feeling well in the meantime. Thanks everyone! We love you all, Jen

Hello everyone! We are still in the hospital. Taylor is comfortable, but very tired. One can't help but feel tired cooped up in a hospital bed all day and night. We are hoping to have good enough counts to go home on Monday. It will be nice to be home for Thanksgiving! We will not be in here on Christmas, but we might be inpatient over New Years if he gets a fever after cycle 9. The end is in sight! That is what helps me through these long, boring days here in "Hotel Sloan Kettering". Taylor's 4 year old room mate was just diagnosed with a bone tumor a few days ago, and she is just starting her treatment here this weekend. Talking to her mom reminded me of how I felt when we first started here as well. When Matt and I first walked off the elevator with Taylor back in May, we walked into a room full of children with little bald heads, toting these huge IV poles with hanging bags of chemo, blood, platelets, and all kinds of drugs for catastrophically ill patients. We just wanted to turn around, get back in that elevator and take him home. To us, he didn't belong there, we all didn't belong there! After all, Taylor was in perfect health! He wasn't sick! He just had a bump in his leg! It took a few weeks to accept that he was going to look like those children and that he needed to be there just as much as each of those children. As his treatment commenced, his hair fell out, and he started to have the cancer patient "look", I began to feel more at home there. It became a safe haven for us. We were surrounded by other parents who share the same tragedy and their children were all enduring the same difficult road to recovery as our little one was experiencing. It actually got to the point where I preferred to be there rather than the outside world. Taylor looked "normal" there and was accepted just as he is. We never get strange looks from people walking by, or hear children whisper to their parents, what's wrong with that little boy? Those reactions bothered me a little at first. Now when that happens, I remind myself about how absolutely special this little boy is, and then I hope that those who stare will see that in him as well! We have all come a long, long way, in more ways than one. Thank you all for praying us through this! We love you all, Jen

P.S. The baby and I are doing well. I'm 13 weeks now and getting bigger by the day! I'm as big right now as I was when I was 6 months pregnant with Taylor! I feel pretty good though! Unfortunately, my only food aversions are just about everything on the MSK room service menu! Thanks for praying for us, Jen

Hi everyone! Taylor’s counts are on the way up. He is 0.4 today and he needs to be 0.5 to be discharged. He will be above 0.5 by tomorrow. However, we have to stay until Monday morning because he needs to be on this particular antibiotic for 10 days for the infection in his blood. The at home nursing facility that will be providing the antibiotic for us at home is not open on weekends. He will need it twice a day until Thursday. A nurse will come to our house on Monday and show me how to give it to him through an IV into his broviac. It will be easy to do. I watch them access his lines here all the time and I’m used to flushing them at home. Taylor’s spirits are up and he seems to be getting a little more energetic each day that we’re here. Thank you everyone for praying for him daily…it’s working! God is good…all the time! We love you all, Jen

Hi everyone! We will be going home tomorrow (Monday) morning! Taylor’s counts are sky high and he is feeling pretty good. It was a relatively smooth admission this time. I’ve just decided to be mentally prepared to be admitted for each of the last 3 cycles and if he’s not…then I’ll be especially pleased. The new pediatric floor is nothing short of spectacular! It is beautiful! It has so many cool, fun things for the kids! It’s so clean and colorful too! Believe it or not, he doesn’t mind being here at all! In fact, the little stinker says he likes it here and doesn’t want to go home. Once we’re home he’s very happy though. He has the life here. He chills out in bed all day, watches videos and his TV shows, plays with his toys, has anything he wants brought to him, and has Mommy and his nurses as his own personal servants! Once he begins to feel better while in here, he really enjoys being inpatient. We have tried very hard to not spoil him, to show him we are the bosses and keep him well disciplined, and keep him as independent as he can physically be through all of this. The one thing we are going to have trouble with when he is done is the almost constant attention he receives from me and everyone who cares for him during these long months of treatment! He’s high maintenance and requires a lot of special care. He quickly became used to all the extra attention and I’m afraid that he’s in for a rude awakening when we are finished and life resumes as usual. I‘ll make sure we go immediately back to our regular life, or as close to it as possible, for his sake especially. It will be the best thing for him. I look forward to doing fun things with him like play group and swim lessons this winter and spring! I just want him to have so much fun and to forget all about this past year and all he’s been through. I can’t wait to see him happy, having fun, and being a normal little kid again. I thank the Lord every day that my little one has been healed and he’ll go on and live a full and normal life! Not everyone here is that blessed. As you remember Taylor in your prayers, please say a prayer for the children who still need God’s healing here at MSK. Thanks everyone. We love you all, Jen

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We have so much to be thankful for. And we're not in the hospital today! Taylor has had a great past couple of days! He had spent the past couple of months on the couch, and not really wanting to get up and play with his toys or with us! His doctor said that he was probably feeling very tired from all these months of chemo cumulative in his body. Yesterday he was literally bouncing around the house all day...and night! It was so wonderful to see him that way again. Every once in a while he has a day or two where he seems to be feeling especially good and has energy! We can't wait to see how he is when he is finished and has had some time to recover from everything! He'll be bouncing so high that we'll have to peel him off the ceiling! MSK had given my mom and I tickets to see Disney's Monster's Inc. on ice this past Tuesday night. My mom, dad, Matt and I all took him to see it. He loved every minute of it! I don't think he even blinked for fear he might miss a second of the show! We didn't know how he would do being only 2 years old, but he really enjoyed himself. We enjoyed watching him enjoy it as well! Please pray for more bouncy days for Taylor until he's done everyone. He will be totally finished in 7 weeks! Praise the Lord! We love you all, Jen

P.S. I went to my doctor yesterday and I was able to hear my baby's heartbeat! My doctor said it sounds great..strong and healthy! I'm now at the beginning of my fourth month. Again...Praise the Lord!

Hi everyone! Taylor begins cycle 8 tomorrow morning. I can't believe that he'll be completely finished with everything next month! He has been feeling great and very active the past 6 days! Thanks to everyone for praying for him to have more bouncy days ...it worked! I hate to have to bring him back to the hospital only to be knocked down yet again. We have been home for a week. Amazingly, he hasn't needed any transfusions during his recovery weeks for these last few cycles! I told Taylor that we are going to see his friends at the hospital tomorrow. I asked him, "Would you like to go there buddy?" He answered, "NO WAY Mama!" I can't say that I blame him. He usually has a good time once he's there though. Please remember him in prayer as he goes in for chemo this week, as well as for a quick recovery afterwards. I'll update you every couple of days this week. Thank you for all of your continued prayers, love, and support! We appreciate every one of you that have lifted us up before our Lord in praying for both strength and healing. God has been our rock through this and faithful to hear your prayers for our little one. We love you all, Jen