Month: January 2019

Heartbreak, Hymns and Hope

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Thank you for your prayers and kind words. My husband Jono’s dear Mum, with family by her side, slipped away to Jesus earlier this week. We are grateful to God for comfort and love, and for the care, prayers and kind words of many people. Here are Jono’s words from his fb post last Sunday:

My lovely mum Margaret said goodbye to this world today (Monday morning in Australia). Her passing was peaceful, and pain-free as far as we can tell: my dad Jim holding her as they lay together; he and my sister Angela singing hymns to her; and I was kind of there, as Jill had recorded some hymns I was playing at church this morning and sent the audio files, which she listened to as she was slipping away. Deeply grateful for a life well-lived: for the love that’s surrounded me from before I was born; for kindness, nurture and example that set me on the path of life. Thanks everyone for your many thoughts and prayers; they have sustained and blessed us beyond what I can express. (Photo is from about 2 weeks ago – so glad we had that time to spend with her.)

We are heartbroken, but we have hope. We are people of faith, and we believe in the resurrection. We’ve seen hints of it, even in the planting of seeds in our garden in spring.

#hope #ConspiracyofHope

In the Bleak Midwinter

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First of all, dear friends, let me remind you that January is radon month, so if you haven’t checked your home for radon, please do it this week-end! Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Please protect yourself and your loved ones by getting a test kit this week-end and using it! You can read more in my previous blog post: How Two Trips to the Basement Could Save Your Life. Thus ends my radon public service announcement! 🙂

You’re probably wondering what I’ve been up to lately, besides hanging out with my boys and walking the dog. The answer is LOTS!

The Ottawa support group is going well: 13 out at our January meeting. We have an awareness day planned at the General next Thursday. Drop by the Cancer Centre and say hello if you’re around!

Our December Ottawa support group party, with a delicious and generously catered meal from Chances R Restaurant

I’m working at collecting and connecting lung cancer patients across the country, so if you know of any, please send them in my direction! Today I was talking with dear folks in Winnipeg. Yesterday it was Calgary. It can be pretty lonely here in Canada, without other lung cancer friends around! That’s why I’m working to find and connect lung cancer patients in various geographic regions across this large land. I hope we will have patient support groups, awareness days and summits across the country!

There aren’t enough hours in the day! I love serving as a catalyst, a creative problem solver! I’m energized by this work, and eager to meet people, gather them together, and help build lung cancer communities.

I joined the Canadian Cancer Trials Group as (volunteer) patient representative, Lung Site, in November. The CCTG develops and conducts clinical trials, and includes all major cancer centres and many community hospitals across the country. This will afford me the opportunity to meet people doing lung cancer research across the country, and that should help with my community building work! As patient representative, I have opportunities to give input into the clinical trial process at many points along the way. Steep learning curve and big responsibility! It’s important that I get to know a wide variety of lung cancer patients so that I can fulfill my obligation to represent us all. I hope to listen and learn a lot in the coming months and hopefully years. I hope to live long enough to fulfill my three year term commitment. Perhaps another clinical trial will help extend my life once again!

I’ve also applied to the Scientist-Survivor program at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting this Spring in Atlanta. What a wonderful opportunity to meet researchers, advocates, oncologists and learn many things about research into all kinds of cancer, then pass my learning along to many others! I should hear any day if I’ve been accepted, and I am eagerly hoping!

Christmas Day 2018

But it’s not all lung cancer around here. Sadly, Jono’s Mum is extremely unwell. Jono and our youngest rushed off to Australia right after Christmas to be with her and the rest of Jono’s family. We wished we all could have gone. They shared many joyous times together in the midst of such sorrow, and have just returned home. We’d be grateful if you could spare a prayer or warm thought for the family as it seems the end is drawing near.

Super Fun!

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Well, that was the most excitement I’ve had in a long time! I can’t believe I almost won (i.e. almost came top three) the Super Bowl Challenge! Thanks to you, for a while there I was even in SECOND PLACE!!!! I’m getting excited again, just thinking about it!

Thank you for your tremendous support, encouragement, and generous donations! Together we raised a lot of money for lung cancer research and lung cancer survivor support. Together we raised a lot of excitement and encouragement for this lung cancer survivor too! Thank you!

One of the ways you increased my joy was by inviting your friends and family to participate as well. You told people my story, you widened the circle, you grew the team, and that was terrific! It takes a real team effort to compete in the Super Bowl Challenge! Thank you to all of you who are Team Jill, all year long. I can’t thank you enough!

Screen shot taken from https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/2019superbowlchallenge

These top three will do a fantastic job representing all of us lung cancer survivors: Patty at Super Bowl 53 in Atlanta GA, Jeff & Rhonda at 2019 NFL Pro Bowl in Orlando, FL, and Gina at Taste of the NFL in Atlanta GA. They will have opportunities to share their stories with key influencers, and they will have a LOT of fun!

Grand total raised so far is: $32,594 USD, and Patty is holding another big event on January 19th. This is something to celebrate! I’m still hoping to make it to Atlanta, maybe even before Summer – watch this space!

Lung Cancer Advocate (and former NFL player) Chris Draft visiting our family

Chris Draft works with tremendous energy and tenacity to encourage and support the lung cancer community. Team Draft is Changing the Face of Lung Cancer, focusing on Awareness, Early Detection, Treatment, Research and Survivorship. Chris genuinely cares about people, thinks strategically and acts to make a significant difference. Plus, he knows football and enjoys taking people affected by lung cancer out to games, Survivor at Every Stadium.

www.TeamDraft.org – that’s Chris at the upper right

Thank you!! I had a lot of fun participating in the Super Bowl Challenge this year! That was one exciting ride! Thank you for your generosity.

A Dog’s Life is Filled with Hope!

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I’ve never been much of a dog person, but my daughter sure is. She loves dogs. She’s on her fourth “Dog Calendar” now – you know, the kind where there’s a new picture for each day of the year, and for my daughter, each doggie picture is cuter than the one before.

A little over a year ago, our family decided to adopt a rescue dog. We went in thinking we knew what we wanted (medium size, preferably black or mostly black). We chose Colo, even though he wasn’t exactly what we’d planned for (he’s white and the size of a small house horse). It’s hard to explain how it happened, but we love this dog, and we brought him home.

Somehow this dog keeps digging his way deeper and deeper into my heart. I’ve learned to scratch his ears in just the right places, and I’ve come to understand that this dog is filled with hope.

When I reach for my shoes, he’s hoping for a walk. When he hears a crinkly sound, he’s hoping for a treat.

Tonight I was making chocolate chip cookies, and the dog plonked himself down on the floor at my feet, looking at me with those gorgeous brown eyes, expectantly, waiting, looking up, hoping, anticipating, at the ready, just in case some small bit of batter might happen to fly out of the bowl.

Which (he should know by now) was not likely! And even if some small bit of chocolate chip batter did dare take the plunge toward the eager dog lying in wait below … how could he imagine that I would not, with my lightening-fast ninja-like reflexes, intercept it long before he had even the remotest chance? This dog lives in hope!

He knows that I am not some clumsy cook who would carelessly cast off delectable delights, especially not ones containing compounds dangerous to dogs. Yet he hopes!

Why shouldn’t he hope? Why shouldn’t we? After all, here I am alive and baking cookies five years after a terrible diagnosis. Why shouldn’t we live a life filled with hope?

Especially when the baker is holding out a spoon, filled with good cookie batter, just waiting for you! Hope!