Week 9: The haircut can wait.

Tomorrow is the 9th week of Jack’s chemotherapy.  God how I hate this.  I always like to have my boy’s hair neat and on the short side.  I don’t know why, but perhaps I inherited that from my Dad.  I was brushing Jack’s hair this morning before school and I said to him…we have to get this hair cut.  He didn’t say much, he was pretty tired and suffering an upset stomach.  As I said that, I stopped and realized briefly how thankful I was for that hair to brush.  It has always been one of the great things about him..He has beautiful, brown curly “chicks dig me” hair.  My bathroom sink counter is white and as I finished I looked down and saw what I wish I hadn’t.  Quite a bit of those brown locks sprayed all over the sink.  It stopped me briefly and as I looked at this reality it shook me.  He hadn’t noticed.  Now the thing about Jack is that he is strong at heart and powerful.  Unlike Samson from the bible he doesn’t NEED his hair to be powerful.  I just wish he could keep it.  So much has already been taken from him.  So another reality hit me today and we will move forward.

On another note today also marks the birthday of one of our great friends and Jack supporters Matt Benson.  I wrote about him today on Facebook and for those of you who don’t know him or what he has done for Jack and don’t read FB, here is the text of my birthday note to him: I’m blessed to have my friends, no doubt. But on this day I want to thank one in particular because he has given me and my family so much and I want you all to know. 2 years ago he said “I want to do more to help Jack and cure NF. I want to raise money. I want to do something. I want to do a golf tournament or something.” A LOT of people have said stuff like that to me and I love when they do but I know that life gets in the way and sometimes it doesn’t work out as planned. Not in this case. He has been personally responsible for organizing 2 annual tourneys now, raised over $80,000 in that time, advocates and spreads the word about NF constantly, helped us with our own medical symposium, has opened his house to us. He takes my calls that nobody wants to take. He laughs with Jack and cries for him. I’ve seen him do both. His example led to yet another tournament that raised $25K. Introduced Jack’s story to billionaire’s and hundreds of others all with one goal. To CureNFwithJack. Not ashamed to say I love him. I will never be able to pay him back. Happy Birthday to one of the best guys I know, Matt Benson  The picture attached to this story is one that captures my feelings for Matt.

Lastly for this update is a link to a Vine that our buddy and huge supporter Ryan Eversley did with Jack and Ashley Parlett at week 8 to help the time go by.  Jack has bever paid this much attention to anyone at any time!  Thanks Ryan and Ashley!  https://vine.co/v/hU9L1HgI2Yd/embed

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  We are very thankful for your support and for following Jack’s journey while you contribute your time, treasure and talent.  Until next update, keep your thoughts coming as we fight.  F NF!