Riding for Roses

Oh dear, what a long hiatus. I feel a desire to dig through my journal and family newsletter to backdate some postings to reflect the past 9 months, but for now I’ll just dive right in.

Spencer is doing well overall, but we had some minor problems last week. Over Spring Break (which ended March 18), [...]

Rachel reminds me that I haven’t said enough about how life is going these days.

Spencer is in remission from acute lymphoblastic leukemia and is now over halfway through 38 months of chemotherapy. He finished Kindergarten last month and was advanced to first grade without any issues. His attendance record shows him absent slightly less than [...]

Tour Watch 2005 turned out to be a critical part of Spencer’s fundraising success, along with a raffle at my favorite coffee shop, the “It’s a Grind” at 620 and Anderson Mill in Austin. I blasted out notes to the reporter at KEYE who had done a great story about the Tour Watch and [...]

In May, 2005, Lance took a tiny break from his European cycling schedule to come to the states. Among the things he did on that brief visit was attend an Austin opening of the newly branded 24 Hour Fitness Lance Armstrong Sport Club. Spencer wanted to go and see Lance. He loaded up and was [...]

I have become Spencer’s publicist. I must not be very good at it since all I get is unpaid gigs, but they are all helping publicize the fight against cancer of all kinds.

It all started quite by coincidence. Followed by another coincidence. And another. So, let’s play “six degrees of Spencer Sartin” and run through [...]

This is one of those articles that I should just fork a separate personal blog for. Jacob was diagnosed last Wednesday with asthma after a second attack of breathing problems in a month. We missed a hospital admission, but not by a whole lot – Dr. Cardwell says we would have been in the [...]

Spencer is a little afraid of certain parts of regular oncologist appointments. Mainly, he hates needles and procedures. I maintain that this is simply a sign of sanity. It is perfectly natural and rational to be afraid of being poked with sharp objects and knocked unconscious (so you can be poked harder with less sharp [...]

We had a wonderful time at the TNT Hill Country Hundred. Spencer and I asked to work something we could leave early to get to his rock climbing class, so we manned the first rest stop. This is good and bad. The ride included 25K, 50K, and 100K options. The 50K split before our rest [...]

It’s over. We did it. I lost. Badly. You can still donate to help fight pediatric cancer. You can still attend the Austin Cancer Awareness fair at the beatiful TDS Exotic Game Ranch from 11 AM to 2 PM, March 18, 2006. The fair will include fun and games for the kids, information on cancer, [...]

At 10 AM today, March 17, three other people, Spencer, and I will be on the second floor of Children’s Hospital of Austin getting our heads shaved.

We are shaving our heads to support kids with cancer. Money donated to St. Baldrick’s will support cancer research through CureSearch and other efforts. It’s s contest and Spencer [...]