Four Years Later...

When Mary posted the first entry to the Game On blog, it seemed like a scary adventure into a new world. Not only were we headed for leading edge medical technology, stem cell transplants, isolation wards, and an apartment in a new city, but we were sharing our experience with a new form of communication.

Ten thousand words and a thousand pictures and four years later, that first day at Duke seems like a strange dream, somewhere between long ago and yesterday. A few moments have faded - and some others are detailed memories that never lose their clarity. We reread the blog to remind us of the journey's high points, and we cry again over the low points.

Today, our family heard from friends and family on Facebook pages, blogs, text messages, emails, phone calls, and probably tweets (but I don't look there, much, I must admit). The messages reflected the messengers - some funny, some with tears, some just checking in. It is great to have such a wonderful support group after four years. Heck, even the medical insurance company took time to remind us of 2006 with a few denial-of-claims in our mailbox today - more old friends checking in.

We gathered on Sunday for our fourth D-Day at the Y, so everyone could be together. We thought we would never "reschedule" June 7th, but the reality of schools and jobs and travels put some practical judgement into meeting at the Y yesterday instead. On a brilliant morning, we enjoyed watching the kids and adults romp on the soccer fields, eat bagels and muffins, and take a few hundred pictures. Another reality is the likelihood that with five grandkids, the odds goes down for everyone being healthy on any one day. Westbrook had a fever and he and Wade stayed home, but Dylan ran an extra five miles to make up for him. The soccer balls and footballs and frolicking kids looked great from the shelter at the Y, which still has Drew's plaque on display. The shelter has a few missing stones on the pillars, evidence that more than one kid has climbed the stonework or hit it with baseballs and soccer shots - Drew would be proud of them all.

For those not keeping up, we have had a good year in Team Llewellyn.

Melissa and Dan again arrived just in time to the hospital to deliver twins in November. Ryan and Addison are healthy, cute, and crying as I write this - cutting teeth, we are told. They have just started sleeping through the night, so Melissa and Dan are relearning to sleep as well. The last six months have been a blur for them - but, wow, those twins are cute. Dylan has been a perfect brother, enjoying preschool and the adventure of helping Mom load the car with three kids, which is exhausting to even think about. Having all five in our house is a fabulous circus of noise, laughter, and plastic baby equipment.

Mary and Wade have shared their kids with Gram and Suppie liberally, and we love it. Being in town has its advantages beyond borrowing hammers and ladders, although Wade has lost several brownie points for selling the truck for no better reason than 40 more MPG in a Prius. Westbrook and Llandis are frequent visitors and constant talkers and generally love life. The big treehouse project of the spring was great fun and used every tool in our joint possession, and every friend and family member helped out.

Ben and Laney have returned for the summer to work in Charlotte and plan for their final year at Ap State. The rugby season was rousing fun this year, as Ben's team made it to the Elite Eight in the college national championship. Jane and I traveled to every game and really enjoyed what may be our final season of our kids' sports - ok, Dylan and Westbrook will start T-ball and microsoccer in the next year, and we will be on the sidelines again soon.

Jane continues her volunteer efforts with soccer, and I continue to wander the planet with IBM. Our blood drive this February was a big success despite the snow storm (ok, a snow storm in Charlotte means it snowed an inch and shut down the city). We had dozens of remote bleeders in Seattle, Richmond, Raleigh, and other cities, and friends again came from hundreds of miles away to donate and see the twins.

We still read about the advances in cancer treatments with hope. We keep up with the stories of many kids who continue to fight, or whose parents, like us, keep some memories of their lost battles on the web. We see the numbers getting better every year - two thirds of kids beat cancer - but the numbers are still much too high. Some of the kids we followed with Burkitt's lymphoma are cancer-free now, but many more are still fighting - the number of cases in the US was 300 last year. As I told George Bush, his replacement would approve new stem cell research efforts, although President Obama could still do more when the economy allows. The press gave more print lines this year to 29 coal mining deaths than the 6 million cancer deaths globally - but cancer is not explosive. It just hurts.

We are blessed for another year with the lively spirit of our kids and grandkids, and we hope our daily, sometimes hourly, moments of remembering Drew never fade. After the kids (often led by Llandis) ran around, crashed into, or jumped over everything at the Y yesterday, we were reminded that there is a little Drew in all of us.