Thanksgiving 2008
Nov 27, 2009 - 09:02 AM
Hello all. Andy & I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday, full of love, family and of course….lots of food!
Andy asked me last night if I would mind writing a blog for him regarding Thanksgiving 2008. He wanted to tell some of the stories of last Thanksgiving, which sadly was our last Thanksgiving with Greg. But fortunately, was full of a lot of laughs with Greg and stories to tell. I, of course, and happy to do so.
Thanksgiving 2008 was exactly one year ago yesterday. Greg was in isolation at KU Med after his first bone marrow harvest using his own bone marrow. I was still working at the radio station and unfortunately had to go work the Plaza Lighting ceremony later in the evening, but we went to see Greg for quite a while before I had to go to work. The week of Thanksgiving Greg had just completed an intense round of chemotherapy to prepare his body for the healthy bone marrow that had been harvested before his chemo began. Due to high doses of chemo, you could not even enter the room where Greg was at for a couple of days if you had certain medical issues, including pregnancy for women and other things. Because, what was coming out of Greg’s body was so toxic that even airborne could effect some people.
As we arrived to the isolation ward where Greg was staying, we entered the decontamination section, where we left our coats, washed our hands and signed a form stating that we were not carrying any illness into the ward. When we finally gained access to his hallway we were greeted at Greg’s door with a sign that said something along the lines of: “Any males entering this room must wear a gown, gloves, mask and booties.” Andy thought that it was odd that he would have to do that since it had been a few days past Greg’s chemo and bone marrow transplant, and that it was odd that his Dad hadn’t mentioned that. And I thought it was odd that it was males only. We turned around to the the nurses desk and asked them if this was correct and that males would have to basically suit up just to enter the room. They said that yes, it was correct and the reason that females didn’t have to do it was because of our basic hormones, or something like that. Well, Andy obliged and suited up. As we entered the room, Andy was greeted immediately by Greg taking a photo of him on his phone and laughing like crazy. Andy was confused (and I saw right away what was going on.) Greg couldn’t stop laughing at the way Andy looked in his full medical garb. Greg had worked out a deal with the nurses to put that sign up and to go along with the joke just for the benefit of Andy looking ridiculous! Greg told us that he worked it out with the nurses to play that joke and when Andy asked “What if someone else had come to visit you first?” Greg told Andy that he told the nurses that people says that he looks like him even though he doesn’t see it and that he’ll be wearing a hoodie. Sure enough….Andy was wearing a hoodie (how predictable is he?!? 
)
Pat recently sent Andy the picture that Greg took that evening, here it is:
We had a really great visit with Greg that night. We pointed out the peaks of a couple of buildings that he might be able to see the Plaza Lights on from his hospital room and we watched as all of the helicopters started to make their way to the Plaza. We watched part of the Christmas special for the show “Monk,” Greg loved that show and Andy likes it too….I’m not that big of a fan. I just remember us talking and laughing a lot that night.
We were so thankful for that night. At the time, we were so thankful for Greg’s spirit, health and determination to fight cancer. We are still thankful for all of that, because we know that’s what kept him with us even longer. A lesser man or woman would not have fought as hard as Greg did. We are so thankful for these moments with Greg, for the laughs, for the stories, for the memories. And although we would much prefer Greg be here with us now, we know that somewhere Greg is looking down on us and watching over all of us for the rest of our lives. He is our angel, and we feel his presence everyday. And for that, we are eternally grateful.
– Posted by Jamie. There have been 5 comments.
Harder Than I Thought
Nov 13, 2009 - 12:28 PM
For the past week I have been working on a website at work for a non-profit company that does bone marrow drives all across the country (and world) to get donors signed up and educate the public on what is involved in bone marrow donations. Even though this subject hits so close to home with my brother, and me donating my bone marrow to him about 7 months ago, I thought I would be alright. I was wrong.
When you work on a website sometimes you cant help but to read the material you are working on, and reading about the process and then the success story pages I kept getting flashbacks to my experience and couldn’t help stirring up old feelings and emotions. But what can you do? The job must get done.
I am writing this to let everyone know who is curious about bone marrow transplants that the process is a lot simpler now and doesn’t take much of a commitment on your part. The process is as simple as getting blood drawn (you just have to keep the needles in for about 4 hours like an I.V.).
Because they are a client I don’t think I can send out a link to their site yet but if you do a Google search for “Organize a Bone Marrow Donor Drive” it will be the first one listed (do you like how I got around the rules there?).
I created a video when I donated my marrow and it is below in case you wanted to see it yourself.
(Disregard the teamandy.net URL and the part I say about donating, the video was made when I was raising money for LLS as part of their Man of the Year campaign.)
– Posted by Andy. There have been 0 comments.
Some videos of Greg
Oct 14, 2009 - 01:36 PM
Hello everyone.
In the last couple of months I became aware that there was a video of Greg when he went on his elk hunt right before he went into the hospital for his second transplant. Since I found out I have been asking for it and eventually got a hold of it, but there was a problem. The video was made on one of those camcorders that record straight to DVD and the DVD was never closed (in order for DVD’s and CD’s to work on other devices they have to be closed first). Jamie and I asked everyone we knew in hopes of finding one of these DVD camcorders so we could properly close the DVD and watch what was on it.
After a few weeks of asking around we couldn’t find one and decided to go to the one place that we knew would have one, Best Buy. So on a Sunday afternoon I walked in to our local Best Buy and used one of their display camcorders to properly close the DVD.
Below are the videos that were on the DVD, broken up into 3 separate videos. It can be hard to watch them since none of us have heard his voice or seen him since April, but it is nice to have something to jog our memories.
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
I would also like to include in this post the memorial video that Greg’s friend Brandon Decker made for Greg’s memorial service.
– Posted by Andy. There have been 2 comments.
Welcome Back to Jandyland!!!!
Jul 14, 2009 - 07:06 PM
Hello all. It’s been a while, a long while, but we’re back in Jandyland!!!
We’re kicking off the return of Jandyland by recruiting your help! As most of you know, we lost Andy’s brother, Greg, to Hodgkin’s Lymphoma three months ago. Greg was an amazing fighter and his heroic battle is something that we will NEVER forget. We’re keeping Greg’s memory alive and shining bright daily in our stories, our memories and our prayers and now, we’re continuing his fight to help those living with these cancers now. Let’s put an end to Leukemia & Lymphoma! JOIN TEAM GREG!!!!
On Friday, Saturday 25th we will be walking in the Leukemia & Lymphoma’s “Light the Night” Walk in Corporate Woods. The money raised by each member of TEAM GREG will be put towards putting an end to these cancers. We recruit you all to join the team, raise money and walk with us. If you are unable to walk that evening with us, we appreciate your support in your donation. Please follow the link below and join us (Ellie, too!) and let’s do this for Greg!!!
http://pages.lightthenight.org/mid/KSCity09/TeamGreg
Our new favorite picture of Greg. Greg & the amazing Aunt Julie at our wedding. 11.01.08
– Posted by Jamie. There have been 0 comments.
WHAT A SHOT….WHAT A GAME!!!!!!!!
Mar 26, 2009 - 10:03 PM
Okay, so Andy stayed at home (to watch Season 2 of West Wing….BORING) and I went out on the town hitting up Harpo’s for an FN’A reunion with Casey, Katy & Ben for the Sweet 16 game of MU -vs- Memphis. The night was fantastically fun and the game was AMAZING!!!!!!! The Tigers pulled it off in the end, but they were making me quite nervous. Here’s the shot and the photo of the night! I was rockin’ the KCTV5 Airwaves!!!!!
GOOOOOOOOO TTTTIIIIGGGEERRRSSSSSS!!!!!
Elite 8, baby!!!!!
WoooooHOOOOOOO!!!!
– Posted by Jamie. There have been 1 comments.