"For with God, NOTHING shall be impossible"

So today is a very special day for my family...

As many of you already know, we are holding a benefit for my mom tonight at the Fieldhouse Bar & Grill in Peoria to help my mom with medical and travel expenses. However, that is NOT the reason today is such an important day to me and my family.

Today marks my mom surviving 3 years with pancreatic cancer! For those of you who know anything about pancreatic cancer, you understand how much of a miracle this is.

**75% of pancreatic cancer patients die within the first 12 months of prognosis and less than 5% survive longer than 5 years**

She is an amazing fighter and has kicked cancer in the butt these past 3 years! And for those of you who know her well enough, you know shes not leaving us anytime soon! :)

My family owes a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who have continued to pray for her during the last 3 years. We never could have made it through this without you! However, more importantly we owe ALL OF OUR THANKS TO GOD! Without Him, she would not be with us today. He has worked many miracles for her over the past 3 years and we know He has many more to come!

I am looking forward to and hope to see many of you tonight!

WEAR YOUR PURPLE TODAY IN SUPPORT OF MY MOMMA's AWESOME FIGHT AGAINST CANCER!

Love you all,

Melissa

Benefit for Brenda Hammond

Benefit for Brenda Hammond

On February 23, 2007 Brenda was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As a three year survivor, she is still fighting and undergoing experimental treatments in Chicago. A benefit is being held to assist with medical and travel expenses as she continues her fight.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
6:00 – 9:00 pm
The Fieldhouse Bar & Grill in Campustown

1200 W. Main St. behind Starbucks

494-9600

**10% of dine-in and carry out sales during the benefit will be donated**

Contact Melissa Hammond at 657-2340 or Molly Hughes at 397-6107 with any questions or more information

Update from Chicago....

First off, thank you for all of your prayers for safe travels. We made it! It took a while (especially when mom drove for a half hour...aka 5 miles...haha). It took us about 5 and a half hours to get here. Once we arrived, I took about an hour nap in the Jeep in the parking deck and froze to death since mom wouldn't let me keep the heat on. :)

We headed into the Cancer Research Center around 730 to get her registered and signed in. Her treatment was supposed to start at 8...but that did NOT happen. They did give us our own private room because of our lovely treacherous trip up and even brought me in an extra reclining chair so I could sleep. :) Love the nurses here.

Her drip finally showed up around 10:30 which lasts 2 hours. Towards the end of the 2 hours Mom got up to go to the bathroom and when she came back, thats when things started heading downhill. She had extremely SEVERE back pains that moved around to her abdomen and up to her chest to her neck and down her arms to her wrists. She said it felt like she was being squeezed to death and suffocating. She experienced shortness of breath and has a bad rash covering her arms and legs. They called the doctors over from the hospital and they gave her EKGs and did some other tests--all which tested okay. However, due to the new unknown side effects she is experiencing, doctors have decided to admit her to the hospital for the night to keep an eye on her and keep her quiet and drugged up. ;)

I will update you on if I get to stay with her or if they are kickin me out for the night and on any new news we receive.

PLEASE KEEP PRAYING!

Thanks,

Melissa

Quick Update!

Hey everybody! Just wanted to send you all a quick message with the new update...

Guess who got accepted to the University of Chicago for a clinical study?!?!

Okay...you guessed it! MY MOMMA!!!!

Basically what this means is that she will start a new type of treatment in Chicago. Yay! Our lovely adventure starts TODAY! I will be leaving in about 5 minutes to go pick her up and head up to Chicago. Today will be mostly informational and some pre-testing to let us know what will take place over the next several weeks. (After I get this information, I will inform you all.)

However, keeping in mind our last "little" adventures to Chicago (and the fact that she has progressively gotten "worse")...I am going to ask for some help! :)

Anyone who is willing to donate gas masks (for myself), diapers size SM/MED (for my mother), or gas cards to pay for these awesome trips every week...just let me know! It would be much appreciated.

By the way...you all think I am kidding but Im NOT...you try losing control of your body to cancer and not having anywhere to go! I dont wanna have to clean that up (or smell it)! hahaha. I LOVE YOU MOM...but not that much! :)

Thank you all for your prayers and continue to pray for safe travels today as we are expecting a snowy drive. :/

Thanks,

Melissa