One year ago today, Tammy's journey began when she had her gall bladder surgery and the doctor found the lymphoma. What a year it has been. It's amazing what prayer, friends and family can do for you...plus a very potent chemo cocktail! Thank you for the wonderful support as Tammy experienced her journey. We look forward to a healthy 2010!
Below is the family's newsletter that was sent out for Christmas. We hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. And one more thing...Tammy is finally on Facebook. Search for her at: Tammy Rose Llamas.
With Love & Gratitude,
Julie Rickman
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Here we are Christmas 2009; I can’t believe it is already here! We have definitely had a busy and challenging year, but are extremely grateful to be celebrating Christmas as a family.
As most of you know I was diagnosed on January 8th with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, it was at stage 4 and was called Burkitts Lymphoma. It was an aggressive form of lymphoma, however it is also curable. I endured 8 rounds of chemo, each round consisted of 4-5 days in the hospital, I finished the last one in early October. Even though the chemo made me sick, knocked my energy down to zero, made me lose my hair, and had many other unpleasant side effects, it also got rid of the cancer…so it was worth it! My initial PET and CAT scans and bone marrow biopsy all show clean, no cancer in sight. I will continue with follow up visits to the oncologist, but as far as I’m concerned I kicked its butt! And I couldn’t have done it without all the prayers and support from our friends and family. God Bless all of you! I hope you know how much your kindness and generosity meant to me and my family.
Other than fighting cancer I did find time and energy throughout the year for some fun things. I enjoyed going to the kids’ soccer and baseball games and volunteering at their school to help with classroom parties and activities. Mark and I made our annual trip to the Bluegrass Festival in Winfield. Things were a little tamer for me this year; however we had a great time and really enjoy getting together with our friends to have a weekend filled with music and fun. Mark and I also went to Crue Fest in August; this was a concert with 5 hard rock bands, including our favorite Motley Crue. One of Mark’s customers knew we liked the Crue and he is good friends with a well-known KC rock radio deejay and mentioned to him our situation and the deejay gave us the tickets. It was a great time, even though I had to sit down through a lot of it (didn’t have the strength to stand up and rock out like I usually do). However, I really enjoyed just hanging out with my family and friends, hearing from friends on the Caring Bridge site and taking great joy in all the little things in life. I don’t take them for granted anymore!
Andrew hit the double digits in September turning 10, but he thinks he’s about 18. He again played basketball, soccer, baseball and football this year, he continues to improve his playing skills and we love watching him play. He also took a shine to golf this year, which of course has his Papa very pleased. And then this fall he took an interest in pheasant hunting and he and his daddy really enjoy this father-son experience. He hunted with Mark 5 days in a row over Thanksgiving in Sterling. Didn’t shoot any birds but loved being out there; however he did tell us “I missed the best meal of the day (breakfast) to go out and shoot nothing”. Andrew is doing very well in school; he loves geography, spelling and math and was elected to Stuco again this year. We had to get him glasses in September, and they make him look so much older. We can’t believe how much he is growing and all that he has become…where did my baby boy go?
Kaitlynn turned 7 in June and is in 2nd grade. She loves school and is doing very well in her classes. She loves to read to us, her cousin Patrick and her stuffed animals. She also played basketball, soccer, and softball. Kaitlynn also started playing golf this year and Papa says she has a pretty good swing. She started playing tennis this year as well, I loved watching her on the court in her little tennis outfits. I didn’t have the energy to play with her this year but plan on getting on the court with her next year. Kaitlynn loves to help us cook and bake, she says she wants to be a Chef when she grows up. I think we all know she got the cooking gene from her dad and not me. I think she got the love of shoes gene from me! About a week before Thanksgiving Kaitlynn had her hair cut really short and donated the hair to Locks of Love, which makes wigs for children that have lost their hair to cancer or other illnesses. This is the second time Kaitlynn has donated her hair. We are so proud of her for giving of herself to help others. She is growing up so fast, and getting a little sassy as well (I’m sure another one of Mark’s genes) but she will always be our baby girl!
This year was especially hard on the kids, not being able to have their mom around like they were used to, even their dad too. But they are such strong and resilient children and Mark and I are so blessed to have them.
Speaking of Mark, he also had a very busy and challenging year. He took such great care of me and the kids, all the while keeping his business running and growing. His lawn and landscape business continued to grow this year, which kept him very busy. He has great customers and they were so supportive to us this year with their kindness and prayers. Mark didn’t have a lot of free time this year between working and taking care of me and the kids, so I know he is looking forward to a less challenging 2010.
And Poncho, he is doing very well. He has had a few hunting trips with Mark and Andrew and loves looking for those birds. He was also a tremendous comfort to me while I’ve been home. I loved snuggling up with him when I was resting on the couch. He always seemed to know when I needed to be comforted. I think he will miss me when I go back to work, I know I will miss him.
Even though this year was filled with many challenges, it had way more blessings! Cancer is no fun and I hope to be rid of it forever, however I took so many positive things away from this experience. Probably the most important is how much I value my family and friends. All of you bring such joy to me and my family and I thank you for that! Our wish to you during this Holiday season is that you experience wonderful Joy, Peace, and great Health in 2010 and many years thereafter!
Love,
Tammy, Mark, Andrew & Kaitlynn
