Riding for Roses

How do you give back to your community, local, state, national, or global? General ideas and specific Austin, TX, organizations.

This story is weeks old, yet I wanted to put it up anyway. Mostly, it’s just the proud parent thing, though I think there is possibly some sort of interesting lesson in it as well.

Spencer attends Master Yi’s Tukong Moosul through a program offered by the Childrens School. Tuesday and Thursday, after school he [...]

We are all home again.

Last night Jacob turned the corner. His blood oxygen came up to around 96% on room air. He got really active – so active that he fell and split his lip playing in his bed. They wrote the discharge orders as Spencer arrived at the other building for his chemotherapy. Jacob [...]

If I were reading our story in a novel right now, I think I’d toss the book. The timing of overly melodramatic events is far too contrived to be true. Any author resorting to such plot devices should not be published. Yet, there it is – real life. For a change, this posting is not [...]

Our story so far: During the 2004 Ride for the Roses, four year old Spencer Sartin was running a fever. On October 22, 2004, Spencer was admitted to Children’s Hospital of Austin and diagnosed with pre-B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (also called acute lymphocytic leukemia, both abbreviated ALL). Spencer began treatment the next day after having [...]

Today marks the beginning of Spencer’s Delayed Intensification #1 phase of chemotherapy. He is on Arm II of CCG-1991 phase III clinical trial.

Delayed intensification I (7 weeks)

oral DM twice daily on days 0-6 and 14-20
VCR IV and doxorubicin (DOX) IV over 15 minutes to 2 hours on days 0, 7, and 14
PEG-ASP IM on [...]

It’s birthday week at our house. Jacob’s birthday was Friday and Spencer’s is today. We had a party for Spencer at Capital Gymnastics on Saturday and had about 20 kids. They have two huge gyms and they have the kids do one session in each room with a water break between. They have trampolines, balance [...]

Jacob is one year old today!

He is his own little boy. Different from the start from his older brother, Spencer. He laughs hysterically with ease, sometimes at strange things and sometimes simply at watching his mother eat dinner. He is a speed demon at crawling. He is on the cusp of learning to walk, taking [...]

Spencer was January “Kid of the Month” at our health club, Full Court Fitness. Next time, we go, I will pick up the little form and post an actual quote. I think the main criteria for kid of the month are frequent attendance, good attitude, and cooperating with the staff. With high energy and spirits, [...]

Over the weekend I received a bunch of LAF Peloton Project emails. They’ve raised the bar again. Fundraising minimum for a green jersey is $7500, polka dot $15,000, and yellow $25,000. I have been brainstorming fundraising ideas and will soon be seeking assistance in running some events, as well as sending out mailings begging for [...]