March 19, 2012

Dear Friends,

UPDATE: Michael had chemo from last Thursday through today. He has had a very difficult time and has been nauseated and throwing up since Thursday night. His doctor said he should be feeling better by Wednesday. However, this morning he woke up at 6am and was thrilled to be able to go back to school for a couple of hours before chemo. He still felt pretty sick, but was so excited that he pushed through the discomfort for a bit and was able to enjoy his morning.

Michael had about five days at home before chemo began, and it was filled with wonderful friends, play dates and some much needed family time. The Malones wanted me to give special thanks to Greg Nieberding for Michael’s welcome home sign, and for getting up early in the cold weather and putting it up! As you can see, they used it again for his welcome back to school!

The MIBG initial consult in Michigan is March 26th-27th, and the treatment will be April 15th-24th, including travel. Alison is taking both children, and Mike will join them towards the end of the trip.

The family meal calendar has been extended until May 25th. The Malones thank you for all of the wonderful meals. Since leaving the hospital, they have been traveling back and forth between Dallas and Ft. Worth and Grapevine for chemo, doctor appointments, and labs, which has been taxing on their schedules. The meals have been an enormous help – many thanks. To access the Malones’ personal CareCalendar site, please visit http://www.carecalendar.org/logon/106872 and enter the following information in the appropriate spaces:
CALENDAR ID: 106872
SECURITY CODE: 6881

If you have questions about the meal calendar, please email Kelley Schadt at kmschadt@containerstore.com.

The Malones asked me to thank you for continuing to eat at Jersey Mikes during the month of March in support of Wipe Out Kids’ Cancer in DFW ($0.25 of every regular sub and $0.50 of every large goes to fight pediatric cancer). Wednesday, March 28th is the final day of giving and everyone who makes a minimum $2 donation to Wipe Out Kids’ Cancer receives a free sub sandwich. Thank you for supporting this fundraiser.

Also, many, many thanks to all of the generous donations to the Neuroblastoma 5K Run on March 31st. As of today, Team Michael is in a strong third place position, but did actually hold first place for almost a week – thanks to all of you! Michael is thrilled. Special thanks to Jones Day for holding a “Wear Jeans to Work” fundraiser in Michael’s honor and donating over $1,500 to the 5K!

For those of you who want to meet up with the Malones on the day of the 5K before the run/walk, please feel free to either email Alison or show up at their house the morning of the 31st at 6:30am to carpool and caravan to Ft. Worth. Again, thank you for supporting this event.

And finally, Alison asked me to thank all of their friends from all over Dallas – from school, from church, from the neighborhood, some from as far back as college, for helping the Malones during their month long stay in the hospital. As most of you know, their families do not live in Dallas. So they have relied heavily on their friends and neighbors to carpool, pick up mail, drop off laundry, run errands, bring food, watch Emory, and sometimes help with Michael at the hospital. The Malones are incredibly grateful to all of you for becoming their Dallas family. They could not have done it without every one of you. And many thanks to their out of town friends and family who flew in from all over the country to spend time with Alison, Mike, Michael and Emory during Michael’s surgeries and his recovery.

PRAYERS: Please be in steadfast prayer over MIBG treatment. We need strong results, clearing Michael’s cancer and healing him. Please pray for the doctors and staff who will administer the treatment, for the family as they travel, for Alison and Mike as they watch Michael go through the treatment and experience some initial physical separation, and most of all for Michael – strength, courage, peace, and healing. This is a very important step in his treatment and his body needs to respond well.

In Hope,
Evelyn Costolo
214.683.8511