Tuesday, July 26, 2016

UCAAN Change a Life Road Trip - Day #41 - July 26th, 2016



Day #41 – Tuesday July 26th, 2016 – Leaving SD to head home

As our last day on this wonderful, inspiring journey comes to an end I feel blessed that we were able to impact the lives we did on this trip. Had we not ventured out across the country we wouldn’t have learned about what makes Avera Cancer Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho so amazing and different from other cancer centers, we wouldn’t have met Dr. Scot Ackerman of the Ackerman Cancer Institute in Jacksonville, Florida whose cancer center holds the first and largest proton therapy machine, one that required them to wait on putting the room on the building till the machine was inside. Our adventures meeting some of the youngest researchers at Moffit Cancer center and what they’re finding out in Melanoma and Breast Cancer research. My favorite parts of the trip included meeting patients we had helped through UCAAN, coming face to face to the voices of people who may have been lost without us. 

Meeting new cancer survivors in other states as well who were passionate about what we’ve been doing through UCAAN and what we hope to do in the future, that support means everything to us, it gives us the strength to persevere and move mountains for these amazing warriors of cancer. Meeting new friends in Idaho, South Dakota, Connecticut, Manhattan, Florida, Texas, Colorado & Nevada. Meeting clients we’ve helped in Tennessee, Kentucky, New Jersey & California were amazing experiences. We hope that as you continue to follow you will see what we’ve accomplished on this wonderful trip and will better understand what we hope to do in the future. We hope to raise more funds to help cancer patients NOW, funds for financial needs that are extremely un-funded or barely funded. Financial assistance for things that most people wouldn’t think about like child care, home care and in home nursing care. One of the things I hoped to do on this journey was cook a bunch of healthy meals daily, but I wasn’t able to accomplish this with our long and late arrivals at hotels – in most cases I was exhausted and my priority was getting the daily stories to you. So I hope to do this more often once I get home, so we will have some healthy food recipes out there to help those we work with! 

Thank you again for joining us. 

We hoped to visit 3 fabulous patients today but due to unforeseen circumstances including the horrible fires in Santa Clarita, we won’t be able to. However we will reschedule it for a future date. So, Doryn and I will leave wonderfully gorgeous San Diego to head back home. I can’t believe we’ve been gone for so long. I must admit that it will be wonderful to get back home to sleep in my comfy bed. 

UCAAN Change a Life Road Trip - Day #40 - July 25th, 2016



Day #40 - Monday July 25th, 2016  - Another wonderful day in San Diego!
 
Got up a little later and made a small breakfast for myself. I let Doryn sleep in a bit, while I socialized with the family. I planned on meeting with my friend Doc, a cancer survivor and friend in San Diego to get my oil change done and spend some more time with him. I was excited when Doryn got up shortly after me and wanted to join me. So the two of us headed to Chevy to meet with Doc. When we arrived to drop off my car, which was in need of an oil change bad, Doc walked to my car to help me out. “I paid for your oil change and tire rotation, with my discount.” He said. I was so thankful for his support, such a blessing! I thanked him and gave him a huge hug. 

So from there the three of us hopped in Doc’s car and drove to the Harbor “I know a little coffee and tea shop over by the harbor.” He told us. We arrived to see the beautiful waters, the sail boats and people enjoying the harbor. We walked across the street to the coffee shop and put our orders in. Once again Doc was generous to cover us, which was so nice!! 

The 3 of us talked of many things. How he didn’t like how some organizations had taken advantage of their wealth, which I understood because I had seen it too. We talked about UCAAN and the future, things that I hope to accomplish, many of which were inspired by this trip. We talked about his life dealing with cancer and how easy it was for him and how he had countless family members who all had fought Prostate cancer, some had won and some lost the battle. After about an hour and a half, we headed back to the car and I interviewed Doc by the water before we left for the dealership. I enjoyed the drive back to the dealership as we passed the airport and saw the HUGE FedEx planes that Doc had mentioned earlier. We got to the dealership, where they had rotated my tires, checked my brakes, done an oil change and washed my car – such a beauty!! We hugged and thanked Doc and then we were off once again! We're always on the go throughout this trip... Adventures await us!!

We decided to go shopping for a few things we needed prior to leaving tomorrow including food for lunch, so we could cook once we got back to the house. Once we got back to the house, I made lunch and we watched part of the movie Outbreak, but couldn’t finish it right away, because the kids got home. So Doryn and I finished it in our room – great movie!! Around 7, Doryn and I opted to do some writing outside on the front porch with the sunset ahead of us. As we sat there I thought about the trip and all the milestones we had reached. (Before heading outside I had prepared some Zucchini pizza on slices of the HUGE home grown zucchini I got from my friend Nikki in Utah, they were in the oven while we wrote outside and they were delicious!!)

Doryn and I went inside shortly after going outside because our zucchini pizzas were done. We sat at the table talking to Kelly and the girls (my first cousins- Once removed). Before the girls headed to bed, I gave them some gifts – Kelly included for their hospitality and for the fact that they’re fabulous for hosting us. I gave the girls special necklaces that were also a belt and bracelet, some organic skin cream and natural nail polish. Kelly received a bracelet, clothing pins, lotion and a butterfly scarf, which she mentioned was significant to today since she had seen butterflies earlier in the day. Very Cool!! Before bed the girls enjoyed some of the frozen dessert bites in the freezer that I made. 

Doryn and I said goodnight and headed to our room to relax and write. It wasn’t long before we got sleepy and headed to bed. It was a wonderful day and we were exhausted.  

Tomorrow we head home from this wonderful journey. We are thankful that we were able to share it with all of you! Thank you for following us!

UCAAN Change a Life Road Trip - Day #39 - July 24th, 2016



Day #39 – Sunday July 24th, 2016 – Another Day in Paradise

Today was a Simple day. After breakfast I went to meet the father (Doc) of a former client (Doc is also a cancer survivor). His daughter’s husband had cancer and when he did we did what we could to help him. He was a cop in San Diego and Kryse (Doc’s daughter) got lots of support from the local police department before and after her husband passed. She was beyond thankful to have so much support; that was over 5 years ago.  Doc and I have plans to meet again tomorrow when I meet him at City Chevrolet to get my oil change done. Looking forward to including him in our videos! 

When I returned, I spent some time with the family before they went to a party. Doryn and I were set to watch the movie outbreak since we had the house to ourselves. We ventured out to get some food through and first stopped by an inexpensive place called Cap’n Kenos. I couldn’t wait to see what I could eat there. But you’ve guessed it, EVERYTHING had black pepper in it and there was no way to avoid it, so we left to find something else. Luckily there was a Denny’s nearby and I opted for that, because I knew I could get stuff without it. After our lunch we headed to the store – we were so thankful to find a grocery store we were familiar with – Sprouts! We bought a few things including some ingredients so I could make the family some frozen dessert. We headed back to the house and I got to making frozen dessert while they were out at a party. Doryn and I spent the rest of the day writing and relaxing.  

Almost 40 days ago, Doryn and I embarked on a journey with several goals we had in mind to accomplish all for the greater good of those with cancer. We didn’t have expectations on how many lives we’d change, how many people we’d connect with or how much our lives would change because of it, we just knew that we had to do our best to accomplish the overall mission and goals for the trip. As I look back on the hours we’ve driven, the places we’ve been and the wonderful people we’ve met along the way, I feel beyond blessed and thankful for each and every one of you…. For supporting our goals and mission, for supporting this trip and for taking this journey with us. As we come close to the end, we are really thinking about the moments that impacted us the most… Meeting patients we’ve helped through UCAAN that live all across the country, connecting with hospitals that were impressed by our information about preventative dental care and how to stop dental deterioration from happening to their patients, seeing the remarkable hospitals and cancer centers that bring a whole new level of experts to the world and meeting some of the young men behind the cutting edge cancer research. The footage we have collected throughout this trip will be put into a documentary along with some of the other hospitals we connected with in 2011 about the wonderful cancer centers and organizations across the country that are doing some exceptionally innovative things in the world of cancer. 

The footage of cancer patients and their family members will be part of a special campaign for UCAAN to raise awareness about the vital needs that cancer patients have and NEED NOW, more than anything…. Financial Support to help them get through it all.
We just wanted to thank everyone for being part of our journey and for their support!! Thank you and we hope you enjoy our journey and our mission. Special Thanks to our Sponsors: David Yates – Cancer Sucks, Dr. Hans Delfo of Conejo Valley Family Chiropractic, Jason & Theresa Hardman of SoCal Signworx in Camarillo, Dr. Kartina Babcock of Rehab Wellness, Marc Simon of NORI (Nutritional Oncology Research Institute), Devre Ross of Ross & Ross Law, Miss Alynette “Aly Cat” of Q104.7Fm, Ben Asher Aderet of Laser Design 4 U, Mitchell Sayer, Dr. Susan Diballa – Chiropractor/ Health Advisor, Carol & Dave Gerke of Granbury Gardens, Zatik Natural Beauty Care and Wendy Gentile-Molier. Thank you to all of our wonderful supporters for helping make all this possible!!