Welcome to Nathan's Cancer Journey

This blog is a reposting of Nathan's Caringbridge page which we updated throughout his battle with Neuroblastoma.

Nathan was born on June 16, 2000, diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma on April 1, 2003 and died on July 29, 2007.

I have posted the journal here to make it easier to look up by date and also to be able to easily add pictures to the journal entries.

Some of the pictures go along with the text, but many of the pictures you will see were pictures taken on the same date the journal was added, even if the pictures have nothing to do with the text. In the future I may add additional journal entries to go along with pictures to add more explanation/memories.

I am just getting started posting the years of entries and so this will be incomplete for some time. I hope to eventually also post the guestbook entries by date as a comment on the post.

Sunday, February 29, 2004

Sunday, February 29, 2004 5:34 AM CST

Good Morning.

Yesterday Nathan and I had a very good day. We went on an outing with Katie (9 years old), Justin (14) and their Dads Jim and Dave. Katie and Justin are undergoing the same treatment as Nathan. Dave came into the city and picked us up and drove us to Long Island. We went to Jones Beach which is an amazing serene beach on the Atlantic Ocean. We walked out onto the beach and looked and the shells and surf. After that we went to Fire Island were there is a very picturesque lighthouse. There is a long boardwalk style trail leading to it through brush. Many deer wander near the trail. Katie got a real kick out of feeding and petting the deer. Nathan told me his favorite part of the day was looking at the lighthouse.

After the lighthouse we went back into Long Island and went to a place called Strikes for lunch. It has go-kart racing and bowling. After a good lunch we all went and rode go-karts. There were 2 seater karts and so I drove and Nathan rode. He got a real kick out of that. After the go-kart the kids had dessert and then Nathan and I went to look at the bowling. He thought he would like to try it sometime.

We went back into the city and back to the apartment. We got home around 3:30. Nathan was tired and had a little nap. We both benefitted greatly from the outing. Just being on the empty beach and looking out onto the ocean was great medicine for me. It was great having the company of other adults for a day as well.

Nathan was up at 5:30 this morning. WAY to early. We will be cleaning and packing this morning and my friend Louise (from England) will be coming over. This afternoon my cousin Laura and family will be coming over to help us move over to the Ronald McDonald House and then we will all go to dinner and a pizza place geared towards kids.

Thanks everyone for all your encouraging messages and emails. Tomorrow it will be 11 months since diagnosis. I think fairly soon we will get a little break from treatment and will have some time to recharge. I know a family that has been in continuous treatment living away from home for almost 2 years with no more than a two week break. That mom, Gina, is MY inspiration!

I will put a picture of Nathan and I on the beach in the photo album.

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