A Perfect Game

Matthew 5:48
"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

If you've been a follower of this blog for a while, you know that a lot of our illustrations are sports-related. As an author of 13 published books on sports history (and a 14th in the works this summer), it's only natural for me to use them.

The number 300 is synonymous with success and even perfection in sports. A career .300 hitter is destined for super-stardom. A pitcher who wins 300 games is destined for the Hall of Fame. But in bowling, 300 means perfection.

Today is Day 300 post-transplant in Tammy's second recovery. And it's been nearly perfect. She's had very few bumps in the road. Right now, she's battling a little Graft Vs. Host Disease (GVHD), but that's okay. The doctors want a little GVHD, because that's what will keep the Leukemia from returning. It's manifesting in her skin and her liver, and the treatment is making her hungry and somewhat high-strung. And she tires very easily. But compared to where the statistics said she'd be at this poimt, she's...perfect.

It's been a while since we posted, mostly because things are going so well. We know it's because God has ordained her recovery. We thank you for your prayers. We ask that you continue to pray for her. We also ask that you pray for others who are fighting the same battle without the support we've received over the past four years.

Our son, David Lee, wrote the following devotion last summer for his team in Poland. Please allow it to inspire you to impact others. We think it's perfect.

"This morning I am going to tell you the story of my Mom. A lot of you know most of it already, but some of you don’t know the story at all, so I am going to go through the important parts and not ramble on too long. In 2008, my mother was diagnosed with the early stages of Leukemia. I had just returned home to Kansas City from an eight-month trip to Poland, and the next day we found out that the only good treatment was a bone-marrow transplant.

"I was already planning to be home for the next year or so, and I scheduled my college classes to be mostly in the evening so that I could be at home during the day while my Dad was working, and he could be home in the evening while I was at school. I was able to be with her when she got her bone marrow transplant in the spring of 2009, and I was with her for over a year after that as she recovered. By the time I moved back here in Sept. 2010, she had recovered very well and had gotten very close to 100 percent normal physically.

"Then, this past March, she suddenly felt sick and weak and went in to get a check-up. The doctors did some tests and found that the Leukemia had come back and she needed another bone-marrow transplant. A second bone-marrow transplant is always much riskier than the first. Julie and I were here in Poland and were only able to hear her through phone calls and see her through Skype. We found out through Skype—not in person—that there was a 25 percent chance she would die in the first four days, and a 75 percent chance she would die within a year. It was much harder than the first time for me, not just because it was more dangerous, but because I couldn’t see my Mom and hug her and just be there with her.

"The first step was to get chemotherapy and kill off the Leukemia, then wait for a donor to be found. She got that step done right away and was told she should get as much exercise as she could to stay as healthy as possible. The healthier she was for her transplant, the better her chances would be, so as soon as she felt like it she started to go on walks outside.

"This was right after I had decided to take up running on a regular basis with the goal of being in better shape for mountain climbing and rock climbing. She emailed me on May 3rd and said that she had walked almost all the way to the stop sign at the end of the street, and her goal for the next day was to walk all the way there. This stop sign was no more than 100 yards (100 meters) from the end of our driveway, but for someone who had gone through full chemo less than a month before, this was a big deal.

"I emailed her back, telling her that I was thinking of her while I was running in the mornings and I was going to push harder the next morning, just for her. I also told her to picture me standing next to the stop sign at the end of our street, rooting her on.

"Two days later I got an email from her saying 'Stop sign touched! Yahoo! We walked to the sign, I slapped it, actually, and we walked back home.' Then a day later she wrote me again saying she had walked from the driveway to the stop sign, back past the driveway to the stop sign at the other end of the street, and then back to the driveway. That was about 300 yards (300 meters). She wrote that she was 'tearing up' our street, and that we couldn’t blink or we’d miss her. That is how good her sense of humor was, even through all this mess.

"I, of course, responded telling her how proud of her I was, and she told me it helped that she had imagined me waiting for her at the stop sign. Then she sent me a picture of her with her hand on the stop sign as proof that she walked there and slapped it. She signed the email 'your sign-slappin mama.'

"With her as my inspiration, I pushed my personal run the next day and ran to a stop sign that was almost 3k from my apartment, running almost 6k total, which was the farthest I had run at that point. I took a picture of myself next to the sign and sent it to her. She sent me a picture of her next to a sign two blocks away, and I responded with a sign exactly 5k from my apartment. We were encouraging each other, and using this to stay positive in this tough situation.

"Then I had the idea of entering a race in her name, since I was running farther and farther and I thought it could encourage her further. She said she was honored that I would do this just for her. I didn’t really ever like running, but it turns out I wasn’t too bad at it, and I was doing it for her.

"After Skyping with my parents about my upcoming trip back to the States, we found out that there weren’t any good races coming up during the time I would be back. My Dad had the idea to start our own run and raise some money for the BMT department at the hospital where she was being treated. Over the next two weeks my Dad, some running friends he worked with and one of the nurses at my Mom’s hospital planned a 5k run in her name, where the benefits would go to buying encouraging shirts for all the patients coming through that department of the hospital.

"I had bought my Mom a shirt for her birthday last summer that said 'I fight like a girl' with a picture of Rosie the Riveter, a famous woman from an American WWII poster, flexing her bicep, and with the words 'Leukemia Awareness' across the bottom. She had worn it in the hospital as often as my Dad could wash it. Everyone there, including the doctors and nurses, had commented on how cool it was. My Dad had taken a picture of my Mom flexing while wearing the shirt and a flame bandana on her head. Her hair had fallen out during her first time in the hospital, so she wore bandanas to keep her head warm. My cousin Ian had given her one with the flames all over it, to be funny.

"We bought shirts like that one for all the women who will get bone-marrow transplants at this hospital over the next year. For the guys, we had to come up with a different design. Instead of 'I fight like a girl,' the guys’ shirts say 'I fight like Chuck Norris' with his face on the front. We had to get permission to make a bunch of shirts with Chuck Norris’s name and face, so I actually got to call Chuck Norris’ agent. We ended up having to send the design to the Norris family directly, and they liked the idea so much that they didn’t charge us anything to use his name and face.

"Within about six weeks, we had gone from my Mom and me encouraging each other to 'go farther,' to having a 5k run that raised enough money to buy an encouraging shirt for every patient who would be going through a bone-marrow transplant in that hospital over the entire next year. We are already planning a bigger run for next spring to raise money to buy shirts for more hospitals. Our goal is to supply them for BMT patients nationwide.

"A lot of people who go through cancer don’t have much family, or don’t have an encouraging family. The doctors have told us how big a difference encouragement can make. They told us that cancer patients who don’t have lots of visitors have a measurably lower chance of making it out of the hospital, and that these shirts could be a spark of hope to patients who don’t have much encouragement. A simple T-shirt could end up saving someone’s life.

"And it started with a few simple words of encouragement.

"I’m not bragging on me. I’m bragging on my mother and her endless optimism and her epic faith. She prayed for God to use her in a mighty way, and she sees this cancer as a way she can show others God’s love. She is a light in the world that will not easily be ignored. I’m also just trying to show that even the smallest bit of encouragement can start something big. I’m proving the point of how important it is to be encouraging to each other, and to the campers here, and to everyone else we interact with.

"You have no idea who needs to hear that they do a good job, or that they are important, or simply that you like them and think they are cool. You have no idea what getting to know and encouraging a camper can one day boost them to do. You have no idea what smiling and holding a door for a stranger, or picking up a stranger’s bag that they dropped, or whatever, can do for them."

Happy Valentine's Day

John 15:12-13
"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

Sorry it's been a while since we posted. Tammy's recovery has been so smooth and steady that there haven't been as many things to write about as there were the first time, when there were more ups and downs. We get busy and we don't think about posting anything because the news is not much different than the day before. But we will try harder to post more frequently.

We love Valentine's Day. We are madly in love--have been for 33 years, officially, though it's really been much longer than that for me. We don't need Hallmark to tell us to tell each other that the other one is special, but it's still fun.

This one was especially fun, because Tammy got to have flowers again. With the relapse last spring, Tammy was on a strict diet of nothing "living" in the home, like pets or plants. That time has passed. We should get our cats back soon, and today I got to bring home some flowers for Tammy. I still think she's the prettiest girl at the ball, and with her in the picture, it's hard for me to notice the flowers.

Tammy is doing amazingly well. Her counts continue to improve, and she continues to inspire the doctors and nurses. She is a model patient, and God has indeed blessed her with a quick and thorough recovery. She's not completely there yet, but she's well on her way.

Tonight, as we ate dinner, I told her how much I enjoyed today, thinking about the blessing she is in my life. Last May, when she was preparing to go back in the hospital for her second bone-marrow transplant, the doctor told her that she had about a 25 percent chance to be here at this point. It doesn't matter what else is going on in life; if I need a lift, I think of Tammy and the fact that she is still with us and still a blessing to everyone around her. It's another chapter in our love story every day.

As you celebrate your own version of Valentine's Day, we hope you have a love story to share. We hope you and your loved ones appreciate each other more each day. And we hope you count on the love exemplified by Jesus Christ as an example of how to experience ultimate love.

A Christmas Filled with Quiet Reflection

Ecclesiastes 5:20
"They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart."

This was a very quiet Christmas for us. First of all, it was the first Christmas we've had in 30 years without either of our kids with us. David and Julie (and Erich) participated in Journey to Bethlehem in Zakosciele, Poland, the site of the PROeM camp. It ran through Sunday night, the 23rd, meaning they would have left on Christmas Eve and traveled all day and making them exhausted Christmas Day. Then, they had to be back for classes to start on Wednesday, Jan. 2, meaning they would have had to fly out on New Year's Eve to make it back in time. It would not have been long enough to make the trip make any sense. They also had a camp this weekend that they were supposed to attend, so it was really too tight.

Then Tammy came down with RSV, which forced her to lay low for two to three weeks. We canceled our trip to Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl because we knew that she wouldn't feel like a car trip that long. We would have left yesterday, and we're glad we didn't, because she still doesn't feel great.

What a blessing that decision was, because on Friday, Dec. 21, I came down with a virus that turned into pneumonia sometime over the weekend. By Christmas Eve, I was so sick I could hardly get out of bed. We had to miss the Christmas Eve service, Christmas Eve at my Mom's with my side of the family, Christmas evening at her parents with Tammy's side of the family, and everything else that goes on during this festive week. We haven't left the house, other than to go to the doctor and to pick up prescriptions.

We're feeling better, and we hope to be back to health soon. But this down time has allowed us to focus on the season a little better than usual. We were "humbled" by our sickness, feeling helpless and weak. We thought a lot about Jesus humbling Himself to be born as a human, and being helpless as a newborn baby. He did this so that we could spend eternity with Him, as long as we accept the free gift He offers. We know that someday, this life will be over, along with its sickness and struggles, and we will see Jesus face-to-face.

As we look back on the adventure of the past year, we celebrate so many things. We celebrate the fact that another donor was found so quickly when Tammy's Leukemia returned. Most people don't survive needing a second transplant because another match cannot be found in time. We celebrate the fact that Tammy has recovered so quickly. Before she went back to the hospital for her second transplant, the doctor told her that she had a 25 percent chance of surviving for a year. Most of that risk has past, and her counts are better at this stage than they were three years ago after a year. We celebrate the fact that Tammy was able to return to church in November, barely six months after her transplant. She's missed the last few Sundays because of the RSV, but we're preparing for her to return shortly. (The picture above was taken on Thanksgiving at Tammy's parents' house. This is us with my Mom. You can see how healthy she looks--and how beautiful!)

We celebrate the fact that so many people have been impacted by this blog. We continue to get emails and letters from people who have been blessed by it. Our goal with this blog was to keep people informed without having to send out countless emails. But our ultimate goal from the beginning has been to bring glory to God by our reaction to His path. If you have been blessed by our writing, then we have done that.

We celebrate the number of prayers that have been lifted up on our behalf, both in the big picture and for day-to-day requests. As we have stated many times, we feel like we're being carried on a "pillow of prayers."

Finally, we celebrate the fact that our God loves us so much. He gave us each other. He gave us so many wonderful friends and family members who are a blessing to us every day. Most important, He gave us His Son, who paid the price for our sins, and makes the journey we're on worthwhile.

We pray that you have a happy and healthy 2013. God bless you.

A Speedbump

Psalm 150:6
"Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD."

This journey has been so much smoother than the first time through, that when things don't go right it seems more drastic. We're in that mode right now as Tammy has been diagnosed with RSV (virus).

She was doing very well. In fact, she had returned to church the last two weeks. That didn't happen the last time until after a year had passed. Her counts were so good, that the doctor had approved a driving trip to Arizona over New Year's. We won't be taking that because of this problem, but we're still confident.

While this can be a dangerous disease, the doctors are confident that she'll recover best by staying at home and getting plenty of rest. Our goal right now is to keep her at home, rather than in the hospital. Keeping her from doing anything is not an issue, as she barely has the energy to get off the couch. But rest is the best thing for her.

She'll miss church for a few weeks, but we know that routine pretty well. We just ask that you pray for complete healing and for comfort, as she's feeling pretty puny right now.

Wonderful News!

Colossians 2:6-7
"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."

We went to the clinic today to get the results from Tammy's 180-day tests, and the results are great. Almost all of the tests came back in the normal range. Even the one that wasn't is improved over the results at Day 100.

Some of these results didn't happen the last time until a year had passed, so we are amazed and thrilled.

We give all the praise and glory to the Great Physician, who has ordained her recovery as a way to bring glory to Himself. If you've been following this blog for a while, you know that Tammy's prayer since childhood is to be used in a mighty way. God has been glorified through this journey because of Tammy's patience and faith.

This news means that we will be able to get our cats back right after the first of the year. We could get them back now, but since she's still on an immunosuppressant until early January, the doctor recommended that we wait a little longer. There are other restrictions being lifted as well, and we look forward to the new freedoms.

We thank you for your prayers, as we believe that God was moved because of them. We pray that you will be blessed.

Cool news!

Psalm 10:17
"You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,"

We were talking at dinner tonight that it's been a while since we posted anything here. That's a good thing, because it means that everything is going extremely well. Tammy is driving on her own, and she's spent much of her time this week visiting with a friend from out of town who was here for her Mom's funeral. The family has meant a lot to us for years, as Tammy baby-sat this friend and her three younger brothers. She's now 43 and her youngest brother is 35.

Tammy's counts continue to go up, and the doctors continue to be pleased with her progress. Her hair is coming back in and life really is returning to normal. It's amazing how much God has blessed this journey.

We got some cool news a couple of days ago from our favorite nurse at KU Med Center. She wanted our permission to send a "I Fight Like a Girl" T-shirt to Robin Roberts of Good Morning America. As you probably know, Robin was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome, the pre-cursor to Leukemia that was Tammy's original diagnosis in the fall of 2008. Robin recently had a bone-marrow transplant, and the nurses at KU wanted her to know that she could "fight like a girl"!

We are so thrilled that these shirts have had such an impact. We wanted them to be an encouragement, and it has exceeded our expectations.

The next big milestone for Tammy is day 180, which will be in mid-November. I'm sure we'll write before then. Please continue to pray for Tammy. Even though everything seems to be going perfectly, we know she's one bad germ away from a set-back.

Normal is Awesome!

Jeremiah 32:15 (The Message)
"The God of Israel, says, 'Life is going to return to normal.'"

We got some amazing, normal news today!

We had our appointment at the cancer clinic to get the results of the tests from day 100. To refresh your memory, Tammy had a breathing test, a battery of blood tests, and a bone-marrow biopsy back on August 24, her 100th day, post-transplant. We were pretty confident that the results would be good, because she has felt so good this time around. While the progress hasn't had as many big jumps as the last time, there have been virtually no set-backs.

Three years ago, one of the most important numbers, the CD4D count, which measures the strength of her immune system, was at 136, where above 360 is normal. They were pleased with that result in 2009, because it was a sign of steady progress. Well, today the results showed that her CD4D was 397! That's normal! There were other counts that were in the normal range as well this time that weren't anywhere close in 2009. I could tell you what they all mean, but I'd have to make up a lot of stuff. Let's just say that she's normal in a lot of ways much earlier than we expected.

Never have we been so happy to say that Tammy is normal. I've known that she is extra-ordinary as long as I've known her. (And no one has ever accused me of being normal.) But we are thankful for these results. It solidifies what we believed was happening.

Many of her restrictions have been lifted, much sooner than they were in 2009. She still has to be careful of being around large crowds, and she's not allowed to go back to church just yet (that's a hug-fest waiting to happen). But she's rolling down the tracks toward normality.

Normal never looked so good! Thanks for your continued prayers.

Happy Birthday, and Anniversary!

Nehemiah 8:10
“Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

With the passing of day 100 last Friday, Tammy has been released to eat out (with some restrictions). So we decided to celebrate her birthday (July 24) and our anniversary (last Wednesday) by going to Red Lobster for dinner.

The hand-breaded shrimp was delicious. So was the linguini alfredo shrimp. And the coconut shrimp, and the parmesan shrimp and the garlic shrimp scampi (not to mention the mashed potatoes, Caesar salad and the cheddar biscuits). Yes, they're probably re-thinking the all-you-can-eat special right now.

Tammy ate more than she had in a while, too. She had two kinds of shrimp, a roll, french fries and broccoli. Needless to say, we're just chillin' at home now with little chance of going for a walk tonight..

We have so much to celebrate, and not just the commemoration of dates in our lives. We are celebrating that, once again, Tammy seems to have beaten this dreaded disease. When the doctor told us she needed to have another transplant, he said her chances of surviving were about 25 percent. Her response, of course, was, "Well, somebody has to make up the 25 percent." The doctor, and I, believed she would be part of that 25 percent, but the fact that she is, gives me goosebumps.

We're still waiting for the results of the tests she had last Friday, but that's a good sign. We know that if there was anything wrong, we'd hear about it. So we patiently (some times better than others) wait for more good news. In the meantime, her counts go up on a regular basis and she continues to be an inspiration to everyone around her.

Please keep praying. She won't be out of the woods for quite some time.

Our Baskin-Robbins Anniversary

Psalm 133:1
"How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!"

There are web sites that will tell you what type of gift to buy for someone on their anniversary, depending on the year. We all know that the 25th anniversary is the silver anniversary, and the 50th is the golden anniversary. But do you know what the 31st anniversary is? Well, according to www.anniversaryideas.co.uk, the proper gift is a timepiece. It's not just a U.K. thing either. Many other web sites say the same thing.

Well, they're wrong! Anyone who has tasted Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream knows about their "31-derful" flavors, and knows that your 31st anniversary is your Baskin-Robbins anniversary. Baskin-Robbins is a nationwide ice cream chain (it went international in the 1970s) that always has 31 flavors available at any one time (one for each day of the month). There have been more than 1,000 different options through the years, but there's always 31 in the store when you walk in.

Today is our 31st wedding anniversary, in case you hadn't figured that out. We are more in love today than we were on August 22, 1981, when we said, "I do." I will do anything for her, and she will do anything for me. I think we do a good job of demonstrating sacrificial and unconditional love. I know that, through the years, I have done things that have tested that, especially the unconditional part. But when we agreed to stay married "for better or for worse" we meant it.

There's a Baskin-Robbins across the street from my office. I see it every time I look out my window. I've been in my new office for two and a half months and I've restrained myself from going in there until today. I got permission from the BMT clinic, so I stopped there on my way home and got a hand-packed pint of three of Tammy's favorite flavors. When the young lady behind the counter asked what I wanted, I told her it had to be something my wife would like. She looked puzzled, so I explained what I was doing. She cried--literally. (She probably cries at Disney movies and supermarket openings too.)

Tammy was moved when I came home with the ice cream. I also got points for creativity. But it was my way of showing her that she is on my mind all the time. She is God's gift to me, and I thank Him daily for that gift.

Friday is day 100, and we'll spend much of the day at the hospital and clinic having tests done to make sure everything is the way it's supposed to be at this stage. We're thankful that she's in such good shape. Her counts continue to go up. These 100 days have gone fast. We also know there's still a long road ahead, and we appreciate your continued prayers. We'll keep going down that road together, just like we have for the past 31-derful years.

Happy Baskin-Robbins Day!

Staying on Course

Philippians 3:12-14
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

We went on another long walk today, all the way around the block. We did it in the daylight, when the sun was right on us. It wasn't too hot, but doing it in the daytime is another step of progress.

We walk slowly, because that's the only pace Tammy can manage at this point. She's doing really well considering we're still almost a week away from day 100. But it's a little difficult for me to walk at that slow pace. Although that sounds funny, let me give you a little project to prove the point.

Go outside and walk at your normal pace. Then try to walk 50 percent faster. While you can get winded and can't keep up that pace for very long, it's not hard to maintain your balance. Now try walking 50 percent slower. It's tougher than it sounds. When you walk slowly, you're balancing on one foot far longer than you normally do, unless you're a flamingo. It can cause you to lean one way or another and even lose your balance.

One evening last week, we were walking up and down our street. As we walked past our driveway, Tammy said, "If you want to sit on the porch and wait for me I'll be through in a couple of minutes." Puzzled, I said, "No, I'll keep walking with you. Why did you suggest that?" She told me that I veered off to the right, which I disputed. Then it hit us. I was walking slowly. At that point, I was balancing on my left foot and started to lean to the right. It appeared I was trying to head up the driveway.

Slow progress is tough to maintain without losing your balance. During Tammy's last recovery, she made steady progress, especially when looking back from a distance. But if we remember correctly, there were quite a few days of three steps forward followed by days of two steps back. The end result was a step forward, but it seemed more drastic. This time, it's been much steadier, with very few steps backward and a step forward almost every day. It's been very steady, and slow enough that it's sometimes hard to recognize any progress at all.

Are you trying to recover from something? Are you struggling with an addiction? Are you recovering from a serious illness like Tammy is? Are you trying to rebuild a broken relationship? Progress may be very slow, and even hard to recognize. We want to encourage you to look at it from a distance and see what progress looks like. Slow progress might temporarily cause you to lose your balance and veer off to one side. But the big picture is that if we keep progressing, we'll end up in a better place than when we started.

Isn't that the goal?

A Nice Tribute

Psalm 71:21
"You will increase my honor and comfort me once more."

We received word recently that the article appeared on the KU Med Center web site. Several friends who work for the hospital have told us that they saw the article on their intranet site. We haven't been able to find it to paste the link here, but below you'll see the article itself.

We feel quite honored that the hospital feels the way they do about us. Tammy called the clinic today to give one of the nurses an update. She had to leave a message. When the nurse called back, all she wanted to talk about was the article and Tammy's impact on the doctors and nurses at the clinic.

Fight club: BMT patient urges others to be strong

The T-shirts say it all. "Fight like a girl," demands the women's shirt. The guys' shirt is equally forceful: "I fight like Chuck Norris." Tammy Smale knows tough. She's fighting her second battle against leukemia with everything she's got, and now the Merriam woman and her family are helping other patients at The University of Kansas Hospital do the same. Smale received her peripheral blood stem cell transplant, commonly referred to as a stem cell transplant, on May 16. She and others called it her "cell birthday." Lindsey Miles, RN, her primary day nurse on BMT-Unit 41/42, on that day presented Smale with a handmade poster that read: "Happy Birthday, Tammy, from one tough chick to another!" The poster was based on Smale's favorite T-shirt, which features an image of Rosie the Riveter and the encouraging slogan to "fight like a girl." Miles' poster gave Smale's family an idea. They decided every BMT patient deserves a T-shirt on their cell birthday. And over the span of just three weeks they organized a 5K run/walk at Roe Park in Overland Park. They received enough donations from the June 16 event to buy 200 shirts. Our staff will give them to patients when they receive their stem cell transplants. David Smale, Tammy's husband, said his family and supporters plan to host the 5K – dubbed "For Shirts and Giggles" – every year to ensure a constant supply of shirts. (For the men's shirt, tough-guy Chuck Norris was so pleased with the idea that he waived the normal royalties to use his name. "Don't tell anyone this," David Smale said, "but he's really a nice guy.") BMT staff were amazed at the family's efforts when they showed up Aug. 2 week with boxes of the shirts. Program Director Joseph McGuirk, DO, said the shirts' positive message will help keep patients upbeat – especially considering what Smale and her family have faced. "Coming from someone who's walked the walk," McGuirk said, "a gift like this couldn't be more meaningful."

Around the (Block) in Eighty(-Seven) Days

1 Samuel 18:14
"In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him."

With all due respect to Jules Verne, Tammy had a trip worth writing about tonight, as she went all the way around the block in her 87th day post-transplant. She didn't use a steamer, a train or even an elephant. She used her feet, and Tammy (a.k.a. Phileas Fogg) completed her journey in just under 20 minutes, a feverish pace that left her winded, and proud.

She didn't have to risk half her life's fortune, but she did risk exhaustion and possible embarrassment of having to be carried home. But accompanied by her valet (me), she accomplished the goal and returned to the her own Reform Club (our house) to much jubilation (we hugged).

Okay, maybe it's not that big of a deal, but to us it was. Walking around the block has been a goal for a while. The intense heat of the past few weeks has curtailed her activity, but it's cooler now and we made it up to 69th Street, over to Benson, down to 70th, back to Eby and up to our house.

Every step of this journey is both symbolic and literal. A walk around the block is much more than a walk around the block. It's another accomplishment that shows that Tammy is a fighter who is not willing to let a little trouble called Leukemia slow her down.

We continue to covet your prayers. This recovery has been even smoother than the first time, partly because she knows what's coming. But we also believe that the prayers of so many people has played a big role. We believe God still has plans for Tammy. You might remember that her prayer since childhood is to be "used in a mighty way." Her witness remains strong, because she has remained faithful through every step. And now, with an eighth-of-a-mile journey, she once again has quieted the doubters who said the odds were too great.

Take that Jules.

Steady Progress

1 Timothy 4:15
"Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress."

We are at day 84 and things continue to go well. There's really nothing new to report, other than the fact that we're finally getting some relief from the heat and dryness. Yesterday was 106, but that's the only day in the past week that it's been that hot. Today just barely reached 100, and this evening it's raining. I don't remember being relieved with the high 90s, but that's certainly the case these days. The rain has brought a cool front with it, and it's pleasant outside.

In spite of that heat, Tammy continues to take walks each evening from stop sign to stop sign. Last night it was two laps. We probably won't walk tonight because of the rain. She has another clinic appointment tomorrow, and we have no reason to believe that anything will be different.

We received some pictures from the event last Thursday. I particularly enjoyed the one to the right, with my great odds (it doesn't suck to be me). The interesting thing about this is that Tammy was supposed to present the T-shirts to Dr. McGuirk and Lindsey, the nurse we became so close to during Tammy's second visit. But as the time went on, more nurses showed up.

The gals in the picture are among those on duty that day who took care of Tammy at one point or another. There are plenty of others who worked evenings or weren't on duty that day, so they weren't in the picture. But we owe all of them a huge thanks for their tender, loving care. It was so much fun to watch as the door to the small meeting room where we were making the presentation kept opening and two more nurses would come in. Tammy definitely was a hit on that unit, and that day proved it.

Enjoy the photos. When we get the link to the story they put on their intranet site we'll post it.

A Day We've Waited For

Psalm 27:14
"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."

We've anticipated today for more than two months. It has little to do with Tammy's recovery, and everything to do with her story.

Today, we were able to present the first 200 T-shirts to the BMT Unit. You might recall that we decided to have a fundraiser in Tammy's honor, with the end result being donating T-shirts to every patient who goes through the Unit in the next year.

We spoke with the designer of the T-shirt our son, David, gave to Tammy last year (she's wearing it in the accompanying picture), and she re-designed it for us, adding the words "University of Kansas Hospital, BMT Unit" under the image of Rosie the Riveter. Lindsey is holding one of those shirts.

We also knew that we couldn't give the shirts that say "I Fight Like A Girl" to the male patients, even though we know that there's nothing tougher than a girl with a cause. So we contacted Chuck Norris' agent and got his permission to use his image for a T-shirt for the guys. He liked the idea enough that he gave up his royalties on the shirts so we could get them very inexpensively. You can see the end result of that in the picture as well. (Don't tell him I said this because I don't want him coming after me, but he's a really nice guy.)

In the picture you see Lindsey, the nurse who impacted us so much during Tammy's hospital stay; Tammy and me; and Dr. McGuirk, the lead doctor in the BMT system at KUMC. They had a guy from the communications department who took a whole bunch of pictures and wrote a story for the hospital newsletter. We'll post some (good) pictures and the story when we get them.

From a recovery standpoint, the numbers continue to improve. Ever since the scare of a week and a half ago, things have been looking up with each succeeding trip to the clinic.

Last night, when we took our evening walk, we went up and down the street TWICE! I was tired after one lap, because it had been a long day and it was still hot and humid at 10 p.m. But Tammy wanted to go another lap, so we did. I'm so proud of her, not only for what she's accomplished, but for her perseverance and courage during this whole journey.

Praise God!

Just a quick update. I just left the clinic where Tammy is getting some IV fluids.

The doctor came in and said, "Everything looked beautiful. The bone marrow cells are 100 percent donor cells and everything looks fabulous." He said this happens occasionally around day 60-70 (today is day 70), where one or more of the counts drops suddenly and unexpectedly. Yet he said he was scared Monday what they might find (I told him that we were too). But he is very happy with what the biopsy showed. He then said, "You can thank God for this. I certainly am."

Thanks for your prayers!

Amazing Things

Joshua 3:5
“Joshua told the people, 'Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.'”

God didn't stop doing amazing things after the last chapter of the Bible was written. He continues to do amazing things today.

Take a look outside, whether you're in the throes of a record-setting heat wave, like we are in Kansas City, or you're experiencing winter, like our friends in Australia and Brazil are, you can see the wonders of God's creation. It might be a beautiful flower still in bloom when it's 105 degrees and there hasn't been rain in a month (look in our front yard). It might be the sight of seeing someone's breath (an amazing occurrence in itself) on a chilly morning.

Not good enough? With the Olympics coming up, watch Jamaican Usain Bolt glide down the track at speeds that would warrant a ticket in a school zone. The grace and fluidity of his running could not have happened by accident.

Or watch a young mother holding her baby's head in her hand with his legs not being long enough to reach her elbows. That infant was created through an amazing combination of cells that evolutionists say is random and accidental. Hogwash. It is through divine providence that each of us exists.

Which brings me to the amazing thing I want to discuss tonight. Fifty-three years ago today, God brought into this world the most amazing person I've ever met. Before the beginning of time, He knew that I would need a woman who could be loving, forgiving, patient, tender, tough, and for (my) grins, beautiful. So on July 24, 1959, He brought Tammy Young into the lives of Lynn and Carleen Young to nurture and raise as a Godly woman. Next month, we'll celebrate 31 wonderful years of marriage (out of 31!).

We will continue to laugh together, learn together and love together. We'll miss our children together. We'll serve together. We'll worship together. We thank you for praying for Tammy's recovery with us. Tonight, I just want to you thank God for Tammy with me.

Just a quick update on the recovery front: we didn't hear from the clinic today, and we're taking that as good news. We know they can get the results of a bone-marrow biopsy in a matter of a few hours. Had there been anything seriously wrong, we believe we would have heard by now. We have another appointment in the morning, and we'll post something tomorrow evening with details of what they tell us.

A Bump in the Road

Psalm 41:3
"The LORD sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness."

We know Tammy's recovery is a journey, and journeys generally have twists and turns. Up until now, there haven't been many of those, but today, we got a doozy.

Tammy had her regular appointment at the cancer clinic this morning. When she got the lab results, the doctor told her that her platelets had dropped by about half. Last Monday, her count was just over 100,000 (normal is 140,000 to 400,000). A month ago she was very close to the low end of normal, and the counts have been dropping ever-so-slightly ever since. But today, her count was 57,000.

There are a number of reasons that could cause this to happen, ranging from a virus to another recurrence of Leukemia. If it's the latter, there won't be much they can do, so we're definitely praying for the former, or at least something as fixable as a virus.

We're not panicking, because we believe God is in control. But I'm concerned (Tammy is doing just fine). I would ask you to pray for God's intervention, as well as peace for us and for our family. It's during times like these that we feel your prayers the most.

My Best Friend

Proverbs 17:17
"A friend loves at all times..."

Back in the 1960s, there was a TV show called The Courtship of Eddie's Father. It was a cute little show about a widowed father (Bill Bixby) and his son, about 6, who was always trying to fix him up. But what I remember the most about it was the theme song. It started with these words: "People let me tell ya 'bout my best friend."

Well, I think about that song a lot, because Tammy is my best friend. All the time I was at the All-Star activities last week I kept thinking, "This is fun, but I wish I was home with Tammy." During this journey, I've called her "a walking miracle," "my hero" and many other things. But the best way I can think to describe her is my best friend.

So, people, let me tell ya 'bout my best friend and her latest progress. Last night, and again tonight, when we went for our evening walk, she not only walked to the stop sign at the downhill end of our street, she then walked to the stop sign at the uphill end of our street. (Sorry for the blurry picture.) Tonight, her pace was especially brisk. Our neighbors across the street are on vacation, so I took their garbage can to the side of the house to make it less obvious. It took me most of the block to catch up to her.

We continue to be amazed by God's grace as He heals her. This is worth repeating. When Tammy received the diagnosis that her Leukemia had returned, our reaction (after the initial shock) was the same as the last time: whatever God chooses to do, He will be glorified. All along we've said that if God chooses to heal her quickly, He'll be glorified by His power. If He chooses to heal her through the normal routine (like He did last time), He will be glorified by her patience. If He chooses to take her home, He'll be glorified by her peace. The statistics said it was likely that this time the third option would be what would happen.

Now it appears more and more likely that He might actually be choosing the first option. We're not in the business of telling God what to do, but we're thrilled that He has chosen to bless her so much so far.

We'll try to keep posting as often as there is something to report. We still appreciate the prayers.

From the Department of Redundancy Department

Micah 6:8
"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

We feel a little guilty because we've slowed down our posts. People keep asking us how Tammy is doing and the answer is always the same: a little better than yesterday. Unlike last time, this is a slow, steady climb. Looking back, that was true last time as well, but each day we wondered whether we would take two steps forward or one step back. While that resulted in a steady climb, we both remember it being bumpier. We thought that was normal, so we didn't worry about it.

This time really is a steady climb. She has had virtually no set-backs. The biggest problem has been elevated counts, but those are very treatable. How many times can we say the same thing? So we thought about options.

During one of her doctor visits this week, the doctor gave us permission to kiss each other. While that might not seem big, we haven't been able to kiss each other since March 23 because of her compromised immune system. We're both very affectionate, so that was a huge victory. But on May 15, 2009, we wrote about our first kiss since the first transplant, so that would be redundant.

Then this thought came to mind. This past week, I had the opportunity to cover the MLB All-Star Game in Kansas City. As a huge sports fan, it was a rush to be a part of that. It reminded me of the real all-stars in this journey. Besides Tammy, we can praise the efforts of the doctors and nurses of the KUMC BMT Unit and the Cancer Clinic. We also are very thankful for our parents, who have taken a yeomen's share of the "Tammy-sitting" that is required. We also could thank the other family and friends who have taken turns to spend time with her. That helps her because she has friendly faces to keep her spirits up, and it helps me because I can go to work knowing that she is being taken care of.

But on August 8, 2009, we wrote about all the people who had helped us get through the first 100 days. We did it as the promotional literature for an upcoming (fictitious) movie about Tammy's recovery. So that would be redundant.

As I was doing my daily Bible reading (I'm reading through the Bible in a year in chronological order), I came across the passage above in Micah. It was the key verse during "What If The Church?" in which nearly 40 Kansas City-area churches came together to worship, pray and serve. I read it to Tammy and it reminded us of a perspective we've always known, but sometimes is easy to put aside. That's what we're supposed to be doing during her recovery (as well as the rest of our lives). We're not supposed to try to figure out what's going to happen next. We're not supposed to do anything but follow God's leading.

Our prayer is that we would be able to "act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with (our) God."

All About the Future

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Today I had a really cool opportunity. I got to go to the MLB Futures Game in conjunction with the All-Star Game that is coming to Kansas City Tuesday. I was able to get a credential, so I could go on the field for batting practice before the game and interview some of the up-and-coming players.

There's a tremendous excitement around Kansas City right now, not only about having all the festivities that go with the All-Star Game, but with the young team the Royals have assembled. The major league team is struggling right now, but they're the youngest team in the majors and there's a lot of potential. Earlier this week, the Royals had a starting lineup with seven players who have played in the Futures game, which represents the best young talent in the minor leagues. With two more players in the starting lineup of today's game expected to be called up very soon, there's a possibility their entire lineup could be former Futures players. (I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but it's true.)

But that's not the future I want to discuss. The future that gets me excited is about spending more time with Tammy. Her future continues to look bright. She's still exceeding expectations with her recovery. She's still just going to the clinic twice a week, and they continue to be pleased with her counts. At one point, some of her numbers were in the normal range. While they've dropped slightly, they're still ahead of schedule for day 53.

We're obviously praising God for the progress shown. But I also want to give Tammy credit. She is doing exactly what the doctors tell her to do, and she's not doing anything they tell her not to do. One of the things they've told her to do is get some exercise. As you can see from the photo, she's getting out walking. I'm not sure of the significance of slapping the stop sign, except that David Lee is slapping signs as he runs in Poland in Tammy's honor. And this way, she's sure she goes all the way to the sign. She's able to do that, and then walk up the street past our driveway to the neighbor's driveway. Each time she does, she's less winded than she was the day before.

Her progress gives us great hope for the future.