Thursday, January 4, 2007  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Only two more radiation treatments Monday will be Tanner's last day!!!! Tanner went back to school today with good counts, her ANC is 2000 and all other labs look great. Tanner and Brody have double ear infections; they are both on antibiotic and doing much better. They both were in pain on Monday and not feeling so good. We did get to enjoy some snow, I know this is hard to believe but we were actually looking forward to it. The kids were so excited to see all the snow. We love playing in it and all the fun it brings but we are not good with all the work involved in it. Our house is the only one in the neighborhood that has not been cleared off. We don't mind because we drive over it but it clearly does not look like everyone else's. Anyway overall the weather has been pretty nice (YES, Kellie Beresh we are getting used to it, I can't believe it but we are). Tanner will start her oral chemo on Tuesday; she will take that for three weeks. We have also scheduled her scans with Dr. Puccioni on January 23 at Children's Hospital and just typing it and thinking about it make me want to vomit.

We have some really GREAT news, my sister and her family has MOVED to Omaha!! Yes, they moved her in January!!! We know how hard it is to pick up your life and try to settle into a totally different life style, but it will be even harder for them because Jeff (my sister's husband) will be living in California until he can get the ok from his employer. We know how much they love and miss all of us and they want to spend so much time with Tanner, Hope and Brody. We love you all very much and are very happy to have you with us. Tanner and Hope are so excited and they love their cousins Zach and Maddie so much, it will be GREAT to see them all the time again. Thank you Jeff and April, what you both have done is incredible and it really means so very much. Thank You!!!

Brody's birthday is coming up on January 7th and we are looking forward to having a little party for him. He was born here in Nebraska and it really does not seem that long ago that I was giving birth in one hospital and Tanner and Chris were at Children's due to zero ANC. It just seems so crazy when we look back at all the things we have done. We also wanted to say a Belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Auntie April on Dec. 30 and to Kaitlyn on Jan. 3, we love you both and hope you had a GREAT birthday.

Please continue to pray for Tanner and CLEAR scan results on January 23. Thank you for all the wonderful guest book entries and all the positive words of encouragement. Please take the time and donate blood, Tanner and kids like her need blood all the time to fight this horrible disease.

Love,

Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Wednesday, January 17, 2007  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADISON!!!!

I can't believe it has been two weeks since my last update but things are a little busy around here. Tanner finished Radiation YIPEEE!!!! We had a GREAT time with ALL the staff they are wonderful!!! We made cookies for everyone and brought some milk of course, you can't have chocolate chip cookies without milk. Tanner got to serve them some treats and give them all big hugs goodbye. I will post some pictures on the picture page. Brody had a GREAT birthday and Grammie made a really cool Thomas the Train birthday cake. Nothing to major because the both of them (Tanner and Brody) were getting over their ear infections. Late Monday night, Tanner woke up with extreme pain in her private area and we could do nothing to help her, it went on until 5 am. I finally put her in the car to go to the ER, she was getting pretty bad. About half way there she fell asleep and was no longer complaining of any pain. On Tuesday we also noticed something weird with her left eye, her pupil seem to stay toward her tear duct but only once in a while. I was freaking out!!!! I was thinking another tumor, so I called the eye doctor right away and they fit her in. Of course her eye did not do that while we were there but he did notice about 1 mm difference from her last exam that her eye lid was drooping. He thinks it is fatigue from radiation for 6 weeks but I am not convinced until she has a MRI. So after the eye doctor we went to the ER for the private area pain, due to Tanner's cancer history it flew up red flags and x-rays were ordered and a UA was done and a girlie exam the WHOLE thing. Everything came back clear, so the final outcome was a yeast infection due to all the antibiotics from the ear infections. When we finally got home we were exhausted and Tanner slept all day Wednesday and we started her back on oral chemo Wednesday night. Tanner will continue to take that for 21 days at home. Tanner got a very cool surprise, Brett the pitcher from the Bellevue Baseball team called and asked Tanner to come be in the team picture. So Tanner got her baseball uniform on that they gave her for her B-day and was one of the boys on the team. Some of the team stayed after and shot hoops with Tanner. The coach, the team they are all AMAZING they way they treat Tanner and include her is incredible. Thank you guys!!!! Tanner had her ENT doctor appointment today and all looked OK with her ears and seems to be clearing up. She also had clinic and her ANC is at 1800 and she is doing pretty good. Her eye is still doing that inward movement and the scares the crap out of me and we are hoping and praying that it is not another tumor. I spoke to Ann at Dr. Puccioni's office and we will do Tanner's MRI on Monday the 22nd at 7am and a chest CT to follow, PLEASE PRAY FOR CLEAR RESULTS!!! (that is also Jake Beresh's birthday) After the scan we will go over to Dr. P's office for the results. (I will post ASAP)

We have also been very busy because Chris is starting a new business doing concrete overlays. His website is http://web.archive.org/web/20070528060320/http:/www.neconcretedesigns.com/ he does countertops and floors. He has been doing a lot of work and keeping him very busy. What is so nice about it is that he can make it look like what ever you want, (granite, slate, flagstone or tile) He is doing a GREAT job, so if you are interested in getting some work done contact Chris and see what you think. There are some great pictures on the website so check it out. I think it really helps him to because it gives him something else to think about and he really enjoys doing it.

We also got to talk to nurse Barb, who we miss very much. Tanner has really been talking about her a lot and when she called Tanner was very excited to talk to her and give her a hard time as usual. We miss you Barb and hope to see you soon.

Please keep Tanner in your prayers for CLEAR SCANS!!!  And all the other kiddos fighting this horrible disease. Donate blood and save a life!!!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Monday, January 22, 2007

UPDATE! Tanner's scans are clear! Dr. Puccoini called and all is good! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!!!!!

NO NEWS YET!!!!! WE ARE WAITING AND GOING CRAZY, WE ARE AT HOME AND WAITING FOR DR. PUCCOINI TO CALL, WE WILL UPDATE AS SOON AS WE KNOW. THANK YOU FOR CHECKING AND PLEASE KEEP TANNER IN YOUR PRAYERS!!!!

Monday, January 29, 2007

Scans are clear, yes clear I still can't believe it sometimes, I have to keep saying it over and over AGAIN!!! Tanner is doing very well, still a little tired but overall AMAZING. I was extremely worried about these scans. We are always worried and always scared but I honestly did not think they would be clear. Dr. Thompson called first and told us the GREAT news but I had to hear it from Dr. Puccoini to feel safe to breath. Tanner's left eye was making me very nervous so I made another eye doctor's appointment. With clear scans (no tumor on the nerve) we could figure what was going on. We saw the doctor today and at this point her dx is Neumyotonis (spelling??) basically he thinks it is from her radiation and it should get better, some cases are treated with meds but it is not at that point. He tested both eyes and they are normal, this is something that she will have to deal with due to her treatment. Tanner's counts on Monday were good ANC 2000 and we will be back in clinic on Wednesday to get new ones. Tanner is still doing oral chemo, last day is tomorrow and she continues to do Protocel and PawPaw which she takes every 6 hours.

Tanner is back at school and doing GREAT. I have a wonderful story to tell and I know Lynn S., Jennifer S. and Samantha I. will love this story. These are the wonderful women who taught Tanner back in California. Tanner has been going to school on and off, more off than on due to scans/doc. appts. or just plain tired. Anyway on Wednesday Tanner went to school and had to make up a math test for the district and it is 75 questions. Mr. Defreeze (the wonderful principle) took Tanner out of class to give her the test and only wanted to do half because they thought Tanner would be too tired for the whole thing. Half way, Mr. Defreeze wanted to stop but Tanner wanted to continue, so she finished the test with flying colors. Tanner only missed two questions on the whole test, what an AWESOME JOB!!! She also had a spelling test that week and she got 100%. We are so very proud of her and we know Mrs. Murray her GREAT 2nd grade teacher is too. Thank you Mrs. Murray for being so patient and understanding with all of Tanner's care. Tanner you amaze us everyday!!!

Chris and I have been busy with his new business, we have been working together and so far so good. We seem to make a pretty good team. Tanner, Hope and Brody have been spending a lot of time with Grammie and Auntie April. They went to the mall on Saturday and got to go to Build A Bear and they had so much fun. Tanner made a monkey with a leather black jacket, blue jeans and boots way to cool. Hope made a white and pink bear with a white wedding dress and a vail, already playing wedding!! The kids love playing with their cousins Zach and Maddie it is so nice to have them here; the kids missed them very much.

We wanted to thank every one for the POWERFUL prays and we ask for them to continue so Tanner can stay cancer FREE!!! Please keep all these wonderful little kids in your prayers who are fighting this horrible disease. And please donate blood it really does save a life.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Friday, February 09, 2007

Sorry so long for my last update, but I thought I updated last week and I must have forgot to save it, who knows??? Tanner is doing very well!!! She has gone to school everyday this week and seems to be keeping up with her class. We will have her teacher conference this week to find out how well she is doing and what we need to work on. Tanner went to clinic on Wednesday and her ANC was 1870, she has been off chemo since the 29th and her counts are high enough to start again. We are now waiting for a pharmacy to fill her prescription and she will start her 21 days of chemo. Her counts (white blood) have not gone down as much on this round of chemo because last month she was doing radiation as well and that can alter your blood counts too. We have also scheduled her next brain and spine MRI for March 5th at 10:30am, Please pray for CLEAR results!!!

We have been busy the last couple of weeks, Papa and Mar have been out from North Carolina to help us get the store (Nebraska Concrete Designs) set up. Due to weather the building manager fell behind on time and they will not be ready for a couple more weeks, it will all come together soon. Tanner got to go to Fast Forward (indoor batting cage) with the Bellevue Baseball team, they are awesome. Tanner of course had her game face on and was ready to play ball.  Brett the pitcher was GREAT, he always takes Tanner under his wing and pitches to her, plays catch and than of course lets her try her hand at striking some of the team OUT. The team is so good with Tanner and they really make her feel like part of the team. Thanks GUYS!!! We are also going to be part of the radiothon this year for Children's Hospital, KAT 103 is the radio station and it starts March 1st-3rd. We did are taped interview, which was much harder than we thought it would be. Yes, we live our life and know what we have been through but when you have to say it out loud and remember all the motions it makes me sick. And it doesn't help to hear Chris say it and get all choked up, but we did it and we hope some how it will help Children's Hospital because it is a WONDERFUL hospital and we are blessed to be there. We will be doing our live interview on the 1st of March right after the Beresh's, they want to bring our two stories together. If it was not for the Beresh's we would not be here in Omaha and we would be in a very different place in our lives.  Thank you, Steve and Kellie for being there in so many ways!!! We also have a lot of FUN coming up on Sunday, we have the Winter Carnival with Camp Coholo, and we are excited. And we also have ice skating at Mahoney State Park with Tanner's school and yes we will be freezing but we are also very excited about that too. So it has been very nice around here and happy to say pretty normal. Please pray it stays that way!!!

Thank you for checking on Tanner and all the wonderful guestbook entries. Please continue to pray for Tanner and all the other kids fighting this horrible disease. We hope all of you have a wonderful Valentines Day!!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Everything is going pretty good around here, we have been keeping busy. We had a GREAT time at the Winter Carnival with Camp Coholo. We got to meet a lot of other families and catch up with some wonderful kids, like Jake and Hannah both Ewing's survivors.  The kids played games and jumped in the jumper and got their face painted. We did ice skating at Mahoney State Park with Wheeler Elem. which was fun for most of us. Tanner got a little frustrated and did not feel comfortable on the ice. She was scared that she was going to fall and always wanted at least two people helping her. Thank you Susie for helping with Tanner and Hope. Hope did a GREAT job, she wanted to do it all by herself, by the end of the night Hope was walking around in the middle of the ice.  Good Job, HOPIE!!! This weekend we went to Children's Museum in Lincoln with Auntie, Uncle Jeff, Zach and Maddie. The kids had a good time and got to play and run around all day. It was nice to get out and let the kid's burn off some energy, it has been very cold so we have been inside a lot. We had Tanner's teacher conference yesterday with Mrs. Murray and like we thought Tanner is having problems with her reading and writing. Mrs. Murray said, "its amazing that everything she has been through this year that she is still able to keep up with her class, and she is a wonderful little girl to have in her class" Tanner makes us very proud not only for her strength but for her kindness. She loves her teacher and always enjoys giving Mrs. Murray hugs. Tanner had some leg pain last night and this morning, on top of that Hope had a fever all night and into this afternoon.  Tanner went to clinic for counts and had the wonderful Natasha do her blood draw and all her counts look good. Thank you Natasha for a great job and making Tanner's blood draw easy and pain free. I took Hope to Dr. Harrison's office and she has tonsillitis. He put her on an antibiotic and we hope she will be feeling better soon. Dr. Harrison gave Tanner his four tickets to the Creighton Basketball game for Saturday; she will have a good time. Thank you Dr. Harrison!!!

Please keep the Scott family in your thoughts and prayers; they lost their daughter Jackie on February 10th. Jackie was diagnosed with Krabbe Leukodystrophy when she was 6 months old; it is a fatal nervous system disease. If you would like more information or would like to help in any way please visit http://web.archive.org/web/20070528060320/http:/www.huntershope.org/ it is a foundation that help raises awareness regarding the disease. Rod and Kathy you are in our hearts and we are always thinking of you both.

We would like to share with you another wonderful website that is helping the fight for Childhood Cancer. Jennifer is a wonderful woman that organizes this website and is raising awareness. She has over 1500 children on her website, please visit at http://web.archive.org/web/20070528060320/http:/www.freewebs.com/kidscancercrusade/

Thank you for checking on Tanner, please keep her in your prayers. Tanner has scans on March 5th for brain and spine MRI.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Tanner is doing very well and getting ready for scans on Monday March 5th at 10:45am. We are all very nervous and hoping and praying for clear results. Tanner is feeling very good and having no problems, which is WONDERFUL!!! Please keep Tanner in your prayers for great results on Monday. We have the KAT 103 radioathon on Thursday at 10 am at Children's Hospital; the Beresh's have their live interview right before ours.  We are very lucky to be here at Children's Hospital and we are glad that we can help support the hospital.  Tanner will go to clinic tomorrow for counts, she says to get a poke, but at this point it really doesn't seem to bother her. Thank you for checking and PLEASE continue with the prayers for Tanner and all the other kiddos fighting this horrible disease.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope, and Brody

Thursday, March 01, 2007

We have a BLIZZARD here in Omaha, I have never seen a blizzard before but it is pretty nasty outside. We are not going to be at the radioathon today the streets are to bad, but you can listen to it live on your computer at http://web.archive.org/web/20070528060320/http:/www.thekat.com/ and click on listen to it live and if you have a pop up blocker hit your control key and the listen button. Kellie Beresh already called this morning and heard a song by Tim McGraw "My Little Girl" with Chris talking about Tanner while the song is playing. Please listen at home the stories are AMAZING and it makes you take the time and really think about what is important in life. Keep warm and please continue to pray for CLEAR results on Monday's scans.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

quick update: We will be at Children's Hospital for the radioathon Saturday at 2:00pm. Thank you so much Vicki for the WONDERFUL poem it was very nice of you to take the time and think of Tanner and send it to KAT 103, we are very touched. Tanner has touched so many lives and we are blessed to have the people we have around us. THANK YOU!!!

Monday, March 05, 2007

SCANS ARE CLEAR!!!! No cancer was seen on the brain and spine MRI, YIPEE, YIPEE, I can't say it enough. We are so unbelievably excited and can't believe what a miracle we have in Tanner, she is amazing and has been so blessed. Thank you all so much for your love and support and your constant prayers for Tanner. We are not only blessed by Tanner but by our wonderful support we have in all of you. THANK YOU!!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Tanner had her 2nd grade performance and it was very nice to see her up there on stage just like all the other kids. They all did such a GREAT job and it was wonderful to be there. It felt so normal, I LOVED IT!!! We spoke to Dr. Puccoini on Tuesday and he confirmed the clear results on the scan. He said "the scans looked AMAZING, no sign of cancer". We are going to see him on Thursday the 15th for a checkup and at that time he will determine when to do the next scans. Tanner, Hope, Brody and I are going to head to California over spring break April 2-6, and we are very excited. We will be driving and hope to visit all of our friends and visit Disneyland and take in some of the beach as well. We are ready for some WARM weather.  Thank you for the wonderful guest book entries and the constant prayers for Tanner, she is doing very well. Thank you!!!!

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Sorry so long since my last update, we have been VERY busy around here!!! Tanner, Hope and Brody are doing great. Tanner was able to throw out the first pitch at the Bellevue Baseball Game, and that was a lot of fun for her. The whole team treats her amazing!!! Tanner had clinic today and counts are good and we are ready to go to California.  Chris is staying home and is really busy with work and getting the store ready. The kids and I will start driving today and should make it to California by Friday. My sister April and Zach and Maddie will be caravanning behind us. The kids are very excited to start their spring break early. We hope everyone has a Wonderful Spring break and a Great Easter.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

We are HOME!!!! We had the best time!!!! We got home late last night and everyone did very well. Tanner is doing wonderful and she went to school today. We have a lot to do around here to get settled in so I will update very soon, I will also post A LOT of new pictures. Tanner's next scans are May 1st; please keep her in your prayers. Thank you for the wonderful entries and hope everyone had a GREAT Easter.

Love, Marjorie

Monday, April 16, 2007-HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MAR!!!!

Well it is around 10pm and everyone is in bed (for now) so I have a little bit of time to update.  Things have been WONDERFUL!!!!  Tanner is doing very well and she did very well in California. We got to see so many of our friends and family. We saw Grandma Julie and than we went to a pool B-day party for Nick at the Sigloch's home. Than we were off to the Allabrand's for a nice relaxing day by the pool. Tanner, Hope and Brody got to swim a lot with Emma and enjoy the weather. We were off to Disneyland and California Adventure for the next two days. We had a really good time and the kids got to see a lot of the characters and we even had lunch with Ariel and her princess friends. Tanner, Hope, and Brody really liked meeting all the princess', Tanner would never let you know that but she had them all sign her menu and gave them hugs. She is a girl (sometimes). Uncle Jon and Aunt Deedee spent the first day with us and the kids really liked spending time with them. Thank you for everything!!  My friend Kelly went with us and she really was great with all the kids. Kelly spent the whole week with us and now at this point I don't think she plans on having kids for a LONG time. (Just kidding) Thank you so much, I could not have done it with out you. We wanted to thank Lynn and Dianne for the wonderful gifts that you gave the kids, that was very nice, they had a blast!! After those two CRAZY days we were ready for some mellow time at the beach, so we went to Carpenteria (south of Santa Barbara) for three days and met up with friends. Janet, Simon and Tatum (old chemo buddy from UCLA) came for the day to hang out. It was GREAT to see them, we really miss you guys!!! Tatum you look BEAUTIFUL and we are so proud that you are going off to college. We also got to hang out with some GREAT friends Lynn, Alec and Dereck (Tanners friend from school and the neighborhood); we had a really good time and enjoyed spending time together. Lynn (Kelly's mom) came out to the beach to hang out and go to dinner; it was wonderful to see you. I also wanted to thank you very much because I can't keep Brody from slamming his sippy cups on the table. HEHE!!! Saturday we went up to Aunt Janice and Uncle Tom's for an Easter Egg hunt and the kids had a great time, we got to see a lot of family that we have not seen in a long time, it was nice thank you. Everyone did pretty good on our drive to and from, other than some weather issues in Colorado which freaked my sister and I out. No matter how much snow we get in Nebraska, I don't think I will get to comfortable driving in it. Thank you everyone we had such a good time and we miss everyone very much. THANK YOU!!

Tanner went to clinic on Wednesday, and her counts looked good so she started back on her oral chemo on Sunday night. She has an appointment with Dr. Linn the Radiation Oncologist this Wednesday for a follow up, the docs here keep a pretty close eye on her. I have also scheduled Tanner to have nerve testing with Dr. Moore. Dr. Puccioni recommended that we start looking into having a nerve taken from her neck and placed into her face. After taking with Dr. Moore's staff Tanner will need to do some testing first and than follow up with a consult. We are hoping it all goes well and soon Tanner will have a POSITIVE surgery and this will repair some of her facial paralysis. Tanner is going to have scans on May 1st at 11:30, please pray for CLEAR results. We have softball starting soon and Tanner's first game is on the 28th of April and Chris is coaching the team and they are both very excited to get the season started. Also we are getting ready for the Childhood Cancer Walk at Village Point for CureSearch, we will be forming a team for Tanner and if you are interested in walking with us or would like to make a donation please email me at cmthb@hotmail.com All donation go to CureSearch!!  Thank you for always checking and all of your prayers for Tanner, she is our Miracle!!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Sunday, April 30, 2007

Hi thanks for checking on Tanner, she is doing very well.  Tanner has her scans on Tuesday May 1st; we are trying to stay very positive. We ask her all the time how she is feeling or if her head hurts, she gets tried of us always bugging her. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers for CLEAR scans.  Tanner also has an appointment Monday with a plastic surgeon at the Neb. Medical Center. Dr. Moore (head and neck) surgeon referred us to see him regarding a facial nerve surgery. Dr. Moore recommended a number of different things. 1) Putting a gold weight in her right eye to protect it from any infections she could get from the inability to close her eye all the way. 2) Taking a nerve from her ankle, connecting it to her tongue nerve than her mastoid bone and finally her brain. He said that this would take time for her to have movement in her face but with physical therapy she should have improvement. Dr. Moore wants Tanner to see a plastic surgeon to see if he could do surgery on her left side (good nerve) and take part of that nerve and tract it along the front of her face to connect it to the right side. This will give her more of an even look.  It was all very overwhelming not only from the information but the possibilities; I never thought we had any.  We will have to wait for her scan results from Tuesday before we start planning anything.  We also had a scary night with Hope on Tuesday, she was with my mom at my sister house and Hope decided to try and get a movie down from a tall movie case holder and she started to climb the case and all three units fell on top of her.  Chris called 911 and we had her checked out, her face took most of the weight and we were worried about fractures, concussion, internal bleeding etc. Hope turned out to be ok, other than a huge black eye and two big bumps/cuts on her forehead, but the doctors said it looked much worse than it was. Hope looked at her face and she said "well I am still pretty". I guess both my girls are pretty tough.

We have formed a team for Tanner, Chris and Tanner has made up a new name. Tanner's Termites, We ARE Everywhere!!! I was laughing because I thought they were joking but they were very serious. So that is the name of the team and for more information on the walk go to http://web.archive.org/web/20070528060320/http:/www.milestoneswalk.org/. To donate or sign up to walk on Tanner's team go to the website, click on "sponsor a walker" when you get there, click on the Omaha walk. You can access Tanner's team two different ways 1) enter "Lusk" in last name or 2) select search for a team and type in "Tanner's Termites".  There are two different pages, please view both to follow the team progress. We would love the support to help raise money for CureSearch. All the money goes to Childhood Cancer research, so they can find more humane treatments for childhood cancer. Tanner has had so much harsh treatment over the years and she will have to endure many complications due to all of that treatment, but we can HELP, with all of you!! Please help us make a difference and change treatments and decrease the number of children dying from cancer. The Milestones Walk for CureSearch is June 9th from 8-10 am; it will be a GREAT family event!!!

Please keep Tanner and all the other kiddos fighting this horrible disease in your prayers.

Thank You, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

I am not sure how to begin writing this because my stomach and heart drop at the same time. There are five new lesions on Tanner's brain MRI. At first we thought there was only one and we were going to have Dr. P surgerically remove it, it is the size of a grape and on the left side of her brain. As we were going to see Dr. Linn (Radiation Oncologist) we received another call and two more were found, they are very small and not able to be removed surgically. After giving Dr. Linn the disk of the MRI she also found two more, also very small and not able to be removed. After talking with Dr. Linn and Dr. P we will be doing radiation on all five lesions. We did a planning MRI late last night and we will have a mask fitting today and we should start radiation on Friday. One of the lesions is on her C-3 (her cervical spine) and early next week we are doing a spine MRI to see if the cancer has spread to her spine. I am sure we will be doing a lot more test but at this time we are getting started on these five lesions and than go from there. One day at a time!!!  Tanner is in good spirits and she was relieved to hear she was not going to have surgery. I think her exact word was "sweet, now I can play in my game tonight". When we thought she was having surgery we told her to pick any where she wanted for dinner and she said she wanted a BBQ and to play with her friends. So in the mist of all of this we had a Great BBQ, piñata and all last night. Thank you guys so much for getting it all together, Tanner had a really good time being with all of you, and we LOVED it too!!! I also wanted to thank all the wonderful staff at the Nebraska Medical Center working their butts off to get Tanner scheduled so quickly for all of her test. You guys are amazing!!! THANK YOU!! Please pray for Tanner and her strength for her upcoming test because the whole process is very overwhelming. Please pray for Chris and I so that we can make all the right decisions for our little girl.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Friday, May 4, 2007

Tanner had her first radiation treatment today (over 2 hours) and she did very well.  Tanner will have five radiation treatments on all four lesions in the brain; her last treatment will be Thursday. Tanner is scheduled for her spine MRI on Wednesday at the Med Center, which will take three hours. We want to thank Dr. Linn, Dr. Solberg and the GREAT staff for acting so quickly, you guys are the best.  We will start treatment on the lesion on her cervical spine after we get the results from her spine MRI.  The treatment plan for the spine will be everyday for 5 weeks, we hope it is the only one. In the mean time Tanner is doing well and continues to play softball, she has another game tomorrow. She will go back to school but the days will be short due to the radiation treatment being right in the middle of her school day. We are taking it one day at a time!!! (I am trying) Thank you Kellie for helping me!!! We are also still working on our team for Tanner, Tanner's Termites. We have had a good response and we want to thank everyone who has joined our team and that has made a donation. Please help us raise money for CureSearch so that we can help put a stop to childhood cancer, so that other kids don't have to go through what Tanner has to go through. Visit the website at http://web.archive.org/web/20070528060320/http:/www.milestoneswalk.org/ and click on "sponsor a walker" and than select the Omaha walk, than type in Lusk for the last name and you can join Tanner's Termites or make a donation from that page. Thank you for your support!!!  Tanner is also on three billboards, one in Omaha and two in Lincoln. We drove by the one in Omaha tonight and it looks really COOL!! Tanner got a little embarrassed at first but than she started to take pictures of it. (It is at 108th and L going west) Thank you very much for all of the wonderful guestbook entries, it still amazes me how many people check on Tanner and how many people care about our little girl and how many lives she has touched. Scott a friend in California is asking for Monday Night Prayer time for Tanner, May 7th at 9pm ET, 8pm CT and 6pm PT. Please take the time and say a prayer for Tanner.

Thank You, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Thursday May 10, 2007

Tanner had a bad day yesterday, she woke up crabby and the day only got worse. Radiation, bag fitting and than a very long MRI, Tanner was not looking forward to any of it and she was very emotional. Auntie came along for the day and that seem to help get her mind off things and she knew Zach and Maddie would be there after the MRI so it gave her something to look forward to. Thanks you guys for being there. We did get her spine MRI results today and they are not good. Tanner has never had any sign of cancer in her spine but now she has the one on her cervical spine and multiple in her lumbar spine (all small but still there) we are holding off on radiation treatment to her spine and we will be meeting with Dr. Thompson tomorrow. We are not sure what this will bring but we will take on day at a time and we WILL enjoy every second of everyday.  Tanner and her dad went to a movie tonight, Spiderman 3. I am sure they are pigging out on popcorn and candy and having lots of fun. Tanner went to school today; they had the second grade store. Tanner has been working on some clay projects for the store, so we ran over there today so she could sell her creations. It was great to see all of her class mates and the wonderful staff at Wheeler (we miss you guys) After school today Zach and Maddie came over and all the kids were playing in the sprinklers and spraying each other with squirt guns. FUN!!! We really enjoy the company of friends and family, thanks!! Tanner continues to play softball, they had a GREAT game on Monday and won, the girls had such a good time. Tanner will have another game on Saturday at Westchester Park field one @ 1:30 (for those of you who asked when her next game was) we want to thank everyone for all the support with the Milestones Walk, we hope one day that there will be a cure for childhood cancer. If you have not joined our team or donated please visit http://web.archive.org/web/20070528060320/http:/www.milestoneswalk.org/ and do what you can. We want to thank the Krueger family for dinner, which was very thoughtful and helpful. And we want to say thank you very much to Uncle Jeff and Grandma Cindy for the very beautiful quilt, Tanner loves it and she has been taking it to all of her treatments. Thank you for the guest book entries and all the prayers for Tanner. We are still praying for a MIRICLE for our little girl; please continue to pray for Tanner!!! Have a wonderful Mother's Day and enjoy every moment with your kids.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody  

Tuesday May, 15, 2007

We went to see Dr. Thompson on Friday and it went a lot better than Chris and I thought it would. She had at least three different options for us and said she would call other hospitals regarding clinical trials or opinions. So our meeting ended on a positive note and we felt so much better, we know the odds are not in Tanner's favor but we WILL continue to pray for a miracle. We did have some drama at clinic; Tanner refused her needle poke by the staff that was at the lab. In the last couple of weeks Tanner has had a lot of pokes and too many of them have been missed, which causes Tanner to become very nervous. Tanner has a favorite lab tech. Natosha (big sis), she lets Tanner (little sis) do it her way and she never misses. Since Natosha was not there Tanner refused, we had Lori and Christy (child life) there to help, tons of lab staff and still not going to work. We will get labs at a later time, they were not important for this visit. (Thank goodness) Thank you Lori and Christy for taking Tanner to lunch she had a really good time. You guys are the best!! Tanner had a softball game on Saturday and it was very HOT!!! Tanner did not play very much due to the heat but we had some GREAT fans come to watch. Mrs. Murray (Tanner's teacher) and Jessie (radiation mom) Thank you both so much for coming it was great to have you both there. Tanner has another softball game tomorrow at 5:45 pm at Westchester field #2. After the game we went out to the lake with the Beresh's and had a really nice time. The kids got to play in the water, go fishing and of course make smores. Thank you Steve and Kelly!!! Sunday was wonderful, Tanner who rarely wakes up earlier than 10:30 am was up before everyone to make me breakfast in bed. It was very nice and so very thoughtful. She is my sweetie!!! The day was great, very calm and relaxing. Vicki, this wonderful women who follows Tanner's site has been very moved and touched by Tanner, has two daughters who live in Omaha. They wanted to do something wonderful for Tanner and our family for mother's day, so they brought over dinner and a bounce house for the kids to enjoy. Tanner continues to touch people's lives and brings us all closer together. Thank you very much April and Michele and your families for the wonderful time. If you every need a bouncer for your parties look up http://web.archive.org/web/20070528060320/http:/www.omahapartypalace.com/ they will also be at the Spaghetti Feed, with Angels Among Us on Sunday from 4-7pm http://web.archive.org/web/20070528060320/http:/www.angelsamoungus.org/  I had a wonderful Mother's Day, we hope everyone else did as well. We went to clinic on Monday, after we received a call to see Dr. T regarding treatment options. Dr. T said that she has spoken to the National Cancer Institute and they suggested to implant a port into Tanner's head and do administer chemo (one that she has not done) directly into the spinal fluid. Dr. T also spoke to a doctor in Chicago regarding a phase two clinical trial that would insert chemo (Topotegcan, another chemo she has not done) directly into her lumbar (spinal fluid). We would have to go to Chicago for some of this treatment but Dr. T is following up with both options and sending all of Tanner scans and information and we will make a decision by the end of the week. What amazes me is that almost three years ago Tanner relapsed at UCLA one of the top hospitals and yet we were never given options or even HOPE. And now after everything Tanner has done these doctors are still looking for options and STILL giving us HOPE. Thank you to the wonderful doctors and nurses at Children's and UNMC. Tanner has started to have some pretty bad leg pain; it seems to be very tight muscles. We normally would give her Tylenol and sit in a hot bath but that is not working so today we ask for something stronger. Tanner is doing better, we will continue to help her with her pain and thanks to Pat and Julie at Eagle Run Chiropractic Tanner will have her legs messaged. Thank you both very much, she loves it!!!  Please continue to pray for Tanner and for us so that we can make the right decisions. Thank you for your support with the Milestone Walk, please help us find a cure for childhood cancer.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Monday May 21, 2007

It has been a long week. Tanner has not been feeling very well at all, we are having a lot of sleepless nights around here. Tanner got some bug bites last weekend and they have been giving her some problems (swallow, itchy, red and hot to the touch) we have tried all shorts of things but by Saturday night we gave her some benadryl and ice packs (at least she got to sleep a little). On top of that she is still having joint pain, behind her knees and ankles; we are giving her Loratab for her pain. Saturday night she also started to have low back pain and side pain and last night is was really bad and what ever we did would not help. Chris took Tanner to the ER last night to see what was going on; she was in so much pain. The nurses had a very hard time accessing a vein due to scar tissue (to many pokes in her arms) they got into her hand and by early this morning everyone in the ER knew how ticked off Tanner was about all of that. They took an x-ray and they saw that Tanner is very backed up all on her right side. We will take poop over cancer any day (even though is was a lot of pain, I am so sorry Tanner) we are not taking any more pain killers and we are staying away from her favorite Velveeta Shells and Cheese.  We are also trying Milk of Magnesia and so far no poops yet. We are still waiting to hear from Chicago about the clinical trial, it sounds like it is worth a try but we need to work out all the details. We went to the Angels Among Us fundraiser and they had a great turn out, it was good to see families that we have not seen in a long time. We are hoping to have more info this week and hoping that Tanner starts to feel better. Please keep Tanner in your prayers and Ethan another boy fighting this horrible disease, please visit his site at www.caringbridge.org/ia/ethangrimm this is an amazing family and they have been fighting cancer for many years. Thank you for you thoughts and prayers.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody 

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Tanner has pooped and her stomach pain is much better. (She will kill me if she knew that I just announced that, sorry Tanner) She is still having bad leg pain but we are going to clinic tomorrow and we are hoping she can get a massage (I will call you Julie) Tanner has been asking for one. Thank you all for the wonderful guestbook entries and please keep Tanner in your prayers, Miracles happen every day!!! If you haven't signed up for the Milestones Walk or made a donation please take the time and help us make a difference. Tanner's Termites are very close to our goal of $3000.00, help us reach our goal, we appreciate all you support. http://www.milestoneswalk.org/ sponsors a walker, Omaha walk, type in Lusk and click on Tanner's Termites!!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Sunday May 27, 2007

Tanner's leg pain is getting much worse; she has some tingling in her toes and sometimes in her legs.  We have been waiting for this clinical trial in Chicago, but as of Friday it is still not open. I have spoken to Dr. Goldman in Chicago and he said that the clinical trial is only open to three kids nation wide. He expects it to open any day but when you are dealing with cancer you don't have time to sit around and wait. We would be willing to wait for the clinical trial but since Tanner is showing signs of disease progression we will stay here in Omaha for treatment. Her walking is becoming very unstable and she has a hard time getting up and down stairs. Tanner has been getting massages from Ashley at Eagle Run Chiropractic, which makes her feel very good, when she gets a massage she will go the whole day with out a pain pill. Thank you guys very much!!! The pain in her legs got very bad last night we had to call Dr. T and ask for something stronger. Dr. T called in morphine and Tanner slept through the night. Tanner was in the bath crying about the pain and asking WHY??? WHY do I have to have this pain??? Tanner has been battling cancer for 4 years and she has NEVER said that before. Its not like she has not had pain before (stem cell rescue, brain surgeries, chemo etc) but as any parent would know watching your kids in pain and not able to do anything about it is heart breaking, but for parents with kids with cancer its not having the ability to do anything about what is causing the pain, no control, no its going to be OK because we don't know if it will be OK!! It's hard to look at your child who has been battling so long but still had the ability to do everything is now struggling with swinging a bat. It truly breaks my heart that so many parents have had to deal with this pain and that so many children have had to suffer from this disease. So many kids are dying from this disease and yet we still have so little funding. So little that only THREE kids nation wide are allowed on this clinical trial at a time. DISGUSTING!!! Please help us raise money for CureSearch so we don't have to miss possible life saving treatment due to lack of funding.  Please log onto http://www.milestoneswalk.org/ and select Omaha, type in Lusk and make a donation to honor Tanner's four year fight and to the multitude of children who have lost their battle with cancer. These kids have suffered enough IT IS TIME TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!! Tanner's Termites, we ARE everywhere, has met our goal but I know with all of your support we can double it!! Please spread the word about childhood cancer and help support CureSearch in finding a cure. Thank you very much to everyone who has made a donation. We appreciate your support!!

 Dr. T has a couple of different treatment options, we will be at clinic on Tuesday and we should start treatment ASAP. Tanner has been able to enjoy friends, family, movies and a Royals baseball game (thank you Ashlee) she even got to throw out the first pitch (thank you Auntie). Thank you all for your kind words, love and prayers for Tanner. Please keep our friend Chandra's mom in your prayers who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Tanner slept thru the night and seems to be doing much better; we are keeping her pain some what under control. She still has leg and foot pain, you can not touch them or let them touch anything else. We went to the Med. Center on Tuesday to see Dr. T and Dr. Lin, and amazingly enough Dr. Lin was already working on a plan and ready for Tanner to start radiation that day. Dr. T called Dr. Lin to let her know the status with Tanner and Dr. Lin went into action, she had planned small dose of radiation to the lumbar spine everyday for five weeks.  This is not a cure for Tanner; it is to relieve her pain from the tumors.  Our hope is that the radiation will reduce the size of the tumors so they will no longer press on the nerves in Tanner's back.  We also hope that the tumors have not invaded the nerves but are only pressing up against them; we should see results very soon with the radiation. Tanner was able to put pressure on her knees today and she has not been able to do that in the last couple of days. The staff at the Med. Center is GREAT they all love Tanner very much and treat her like one of theirs. Thank you all for your love and support!!! They have also joined Tanner's Termites to walk for CureSearch. Our radiation family is the best!!! Dr. T has put Tanner on an oral chemo, Temodar, it is a radiation enhancer.  She is also on Zofran for nausea (which she has not had) but with chemo you never know. She continues to use Morphine for the pain but not every four hours like it was before. Tanner will go to clinic on Friday for labs and follow up with Dr. T. We got Tanner a wheelchair today and we hope it will help us get her around better (boy is she heavy) Tanner is now ineligible for any clinical trials because you must be off of treatment for three weeks or more prior to starting a clinical trial.

We wanted to thank everyone for your love and support and your words of encouragement on the guestbook. We also wanted to thank April (my sister) for taking Hope and Brody for the night last night, it was GREAT to get some sleep.  Also wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful donations for CureSearch and being apart of Tanner's Termites. Please visit http://www.milestoneswalk.org/ to make a donation.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody 

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Tanner had a pretty good day yesterday!!!  We went to clinic and brought lunch up to share with Natosha, Tanner got her poke (pain free, thanks to Natosha) and also went to the Med. Center for radiation. At clinic we checked labs, which are all good and we are going to schedule Tanner for surgery next week to have a port put in. Tanner will get Irenotecan (chemo) along with the oral chemo that she is already getting. Irenotecan is a chemo that needs to be infused over one hour every day for two weeks.  Tanner is still having pain in her feet but over all her pain is getting much better. We went to Auntie's house yesterday and Tanner wanted to go out to dinner. She has not wanted to leave the house in a long time, so that is a great improvement. Tanner's Termites are doing AWESOME!!! We have raised a lot of money for CureSearch, THANK YOU all for your support!!! Please continue to do what you can; the walk is June 9th at 8am-10am at Village Point Shopping Center. We would like to thank Ron Hornaday for dedicating the Truck Race at Dover last night to Tanner. Congratulation on your win, I guess when you have Tanner on board the sky's the limit. Ron the "Together For Tanner" bracelet looks GREAT on you. Please visit Ron's website at http://www.ronhornaday.com/ to see more on this GREAT win. Thank you for your prayers and wonderful words!!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Tanner had her line placement surgery today and it all went well. Tanner is in a lot of pain and can't move very well. We did not go to radiation today because of the pain; I think at this point we will be starting chemo at the clinic on Monday.  Tanner was having some numbness in her fingers on Tuesday afternoon, so Wednesday we started radiation to her cervical spine as well. Tanner has a tumor in her cervical spine that must be pressing on a nerve. Tanner's pain in her legs has improved a great deal and we are hoping she will start to walk again. Tanner is nervous and not to sure about trying to walk yet but we will wait until she feels better after this surgery and we will try to help. We are all very excited about Tanner's Termites, you all have raised soooo much money for CureSearch. THANK YOU!!!! Tanner is very excited about the walk on Saturday, I hope that she will be up for all the excitement. Thank you all for the phone calls emails and guestbook entries, it is wonderful to see how many people are checking on Tanner. It took a while for the update due to complete exhaustion when we got home. Thank you for your love and concern, I will update more later.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope, and Brody

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Sorry it has taken so long to update we have been having some computer problems. Pictures will be updated very soon.!!

Tanner's Termites did it, we got first place, raising over $10,000.00!!!! Thanks to all of you and your support, Tanner was able to be on stage to receive the first place trophy. The Milestones Walk for CureSearch raised over $100,000.00 for childhood cancer!!! It was such an emotional day for every one but being on stage when they announced the grad total I was blown away. We want to thank all of our wonderful team for walking with us; it was great to have all of your support. We also wanted to thank all of you who worked so hard to get donation for Tanner's Termites, we have seen that we have so much support and love for Tanner and the fight against childhood cancer. Thank You!! Tanner's Termites, YOU are everywhere!!!  We also want to thank everyone who put the walk together and all their hard work, it was a BLAST!!!

Tanner is doing good, the pain is a lot better; each day seems to bring a new problem.  Today she just feels yucky, yesterday she had some painful pooping problems but once we get things under control she bounces right back. We are having some steroid temper problems and of course the nonstop eating is hard to keep up with, but we have had a lot of company which don't seem to mind always running to the store for her daily fixings. Thanks, Aunt DeeDee, Aunt Jessie, Uncle Beau and Auntie Kelly.

Tanner had her first day of chemo yesterday and over all it went pretty well. Claudia had to access Tanner's port for the first time and after the screaming calmed down Christy (child life) came in and showed Tanner all about her port and how it will be better than her arm pokes. Thanks Claudia and Christy, you guys are GREAT!! Tanner has clinic everyday for two weeks with a one hour infusion of chemo and radiation to follow. Tanner will have a Brain MRI at the Med Center on Friday, June 15th @ 3:30, upper spine MRI on Tuesday, June 19 @ 3:30, and lower spine MRI on Friday, June 22nd @ 3:30. Please keep Tanner in your prayers!!! Also we would like to keep Jake Beresh and Josh Larson in your prayers they both have scans on Thursday June 14th.

Thank you Aunt DeeDee for all you help while you were out here we love you and miss you very much!! Thanks Aunt Jessie and Uncle Beau for coming out to walk for Tanner's Termites it meant a lot to have your support, can't wait to see our new little baby!! Auntie Kelly is out now and we love having her here too, the kids are being spoiled ROTTEN!!! They will be in shock when every one leaves. Thank you again for your support for Tanner's Termites and raising so much money for CureSearch!!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Monday, June 19, 2007

I have been putting off updating Tanner's site because I don't know how to put it into words what we are going through. Tanner was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma at 4 1/2 years old, she was so little, she was our only child at that time and she was everything.  She has truly amazed us with her strength, courage and her love along the way. Tanner has been in treatment over half of her life and she never let it stop her from anything. She tolerated all of her treatments very well and she had very little pain, she has always been very strong and up for anything. But this last month we have seen a very different Tanner, she is tired and in and out of pain. We still have our feisty Tanner who will put up a fight but her energy is not always there. Right now Tanner's is having very little pain, she is doing her feet exercises and wearing her boots and she even took four steps for Dad yesterday on Father's Day!! So over all she is doing pretty good, no problems with radiation or with the chemo. On the brain MRI from Friday five more lesions were found. We know that this chemo was a shot in the dark but we were hoping that it would have kept them at bay for a little while. The only treatment that has worked for Tanner is radiation and she is already had her limit. The four tumors that were there and that were radiated are gone, these are all new. Her cancer is coming back very quickly and growing very fast.  The doctors and Chris and I have done all that we can for her and I wish we did not have to do this but it is time to let her go in peace. We will try everything we can to give that to her, we will treat her symptoms only. Tanner has had a GREAT quality of life, even on treatment. We will try to do that for her now as well. Tanner is a fighter and she dealt with cancer and treatment with so much courage and life. Tanner you have held up your mom and dad for so long now it is our turn to take care of you and we WILL be strong for you now. There is not a time frame because there is just no way of knowing how or where the tumors will come up, we will continue to enjoy life and take one day at a time. We are going to try and go RV camping this weekend and spend some quality time together with out all the daily stuff, we will see. We celebrated Easter last night (Tanner's request) we were in California on Easter and she was not able to dye eggs, so we had a big Easter dinner, dyed eggs and had a GREAT Easter egg hunt in the back yard. Dad pushed her around the back in her wheelchair and she thought we were all insane. I think we have to be a little to watch your child battle cancer. We will continue to pray for MIRACLES, but we know that we have already had so many with Tanner; she is a miracle in its self. Thank you for everyone's help with Hope and Brody, they both have Tanner's strength and she continues to take great care of both of them, they have a GREAT BIG SISTER!! Jane and Chelsea it means a lot to have the kids with you, THANK YOU!!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Tanner is doing very well!!! We have had a mellow week with very little pain. Tanner did have spine MRI's on Tuesday and Friday and we will get the results this week. Tanner will have yet another MRI (Novalis) on Monday to her brain; it is different machine because it is for radiation planning. Tanner has a tumor on her left optic nerve and it will cause her to go blind. So like I said we are going to treat the tumor to help with her quality of life. Tanner has had no side effects from chemo or radiation, her counts have not gone down and she has not had any nausea or vomiting. Tanner is still not walking but is able to crawl around. I know that sounds funny, it looks funny too. This morning she crawled down stairs because she was ready to have donuts and we were not ready to get up. DETERMINATION!! We were unable to go RVing this weekend but we are planning it for next weekend. Grandma Julie is coming in today and Auntie April and the gang is do back tonight as well.  We hope Kaitlyn will be able to come back with Uncle Jeff, Tanner misses her so very much, she even said she would give anything to just see Kaitlyn before her birthday. Hope we can work it all out. Tanner went to her game yesterday to watch her team play; they WON, way to go COMETS!!! I was not having a good day and it was hard for me to watch because I WISH Tanner could be up there playing with all the girls. She loves baseball so much and I am sure it is hard for her too. They play again on Monday and I hope we are having a better day so we can enjoy it a lot more. We went swimming yesterday and had a great time. Hope and Brody are very hesitant to go too far in the water but they warmed up pretty quick. Tanner had her life vest on and was all over the pool and for a split second you forget she has cancer. (Other than the fact that she has no hair) I want to thank everyone for all the positive guestbook entries, we know that there are so many wonderful people who follow Tanner's site and it really helps to see that we have your support and love. Thank you to the Baumert's for your help with Hope and Brody but with the backyard it was a nice surprise this morning. And the Abell family, thank you for the day of rest!!! And I can't forget Anisa for going above and beyond the call of duty as usual, Thank You!! We can't forget about Tanner's food deliveries this week, Kellie for the 18 chicken strips form Cracker Barrel (her eyes are bigger than her stomach) but thanks we enjoyed them too. And Nikki from California for the Olive Garden spinach artichoke dip, Tanner was confused at first; she did not know how you got that here from California. (I clued her in) THANK YOU all for your prayers!!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Sorry it has been so long since my last update, everything is going very well and we have been keeping busy. Tanner has had no pain and has not taken any pain meds for over two weeks. Tanner has started to walk on her own, every once in a while. Her legs are getting stronger but are still very weak and unstable. The results from the spine MRI's were good, no new tumors and the tumors that were there are almost gone. Tanner's tumors have always responded well to radiation but she was getting a very light dose, I don't think they expected this good of a response. Tanner finished treatment on her lumbar spine on the 29th of June and her last treatment for her cervical spine was the 6th of July. We are going to start spot radiation (Novalis) to the lesions in the brain on Monday and do that for five days. Dr. Linn the radiation oncologist did not recommend full brain radiation because it was such a light dose but after seeing the response from the spine she is now recommending light dose radiation to the full brain. Tanner continues to have little to no side effects from the radiation, she doesn't mind going down there everyday (they spoil her rotten) her counts are doing well; her platelets are down a little but over all she is doing great. She continues to eat nonstop and her little cheeks are getting bigger and bigger, the moods are the worse (steroids YUCK!)

We have been going all the time and we are trying to keep up with Tanner's social calendar, we have had a lot of visitors and wonderful friends who will come over to play games or even take Tanner out to lunch. Thanks to the Yarnell's for dinner, frozen drinks and my beautiful gift. Grandma was here and we painted pottery and we even made it out to Mahoney State Park. We enjoyed the water park and finally got to hang out in the RV. Thank you to the Krueger Family for all the GREAT RV stuff, we loved it! Kaitlyn arrived last week and Tanner was so excited to have her cousin here she loves her very much. Tanner has also been asking about her teacher Mrs. Murray, thanks Susie for tracking her down for us, so Mrs. Murray came over and played games and baked the best chocolate chip cookies. It was good for Tanner but Mrs. Murray said it was great for her too. Thank You can't wait to see you next week. Julie Friend came over and brought dinner and played games too and Tanner was also taken out to lunch and half the day by Carla and Julie from Wheeler, she had a blast thanks you guys!! It means so much to Tanner to get to spend that special time with all of you THANK YOU!!! Thanks Liz for taking the kids pictures and the wonderful picture of Tanner it is beautiful! We spent the 3rd of July at the Beresh's and Tanner was in one of her quiet moods and she sat at the table and made stars half the night but she really enjoyed herself, we had a good time!  Chris loved lighting all the fireworks he was even wiped out for the next night.(he still talks about how many fireworks you guys had) We left early morning for a small town 4th of July parade in Logan, Iowa and it was so much fun, the kids loved all the candy and riding Brandy the horse. Thank you Ashley and Molly!! After all that excitement I thought Tanner would have been pretty wiped out but she was ready to go, so off we went to another get together with the Timmons. Tanner was so full of energy she was ready to start playing some ball, she was hitting and pitching. Soon after the fireworks started she started to get pretty tired and was ready for home. Thanks for a good time!! Papa and Mar are going to be staying with us for a while and we are getting ready for Hope's 4th birthday and more company. It is always pretty busy around here and we are all doing very well lots of swimming and playing lots of games. Thank you for all the wonderful cards that we have been getting in the mail and thank you to the Bridgewater's for the THREE balls for all the kids that was a really neat thing to get in the mail. Thanks for everyone's love, support and prayers!! Please continue to pray for miracles!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Thursday July 12, 2007

Pain FREE is gone; Tanner has started to have some pain in her back and arms. We thought at first it was a steroid issue, we were trying to decrease the dose and than had to increase the dose, but the pain is getting worse and more frequent. Tanner has a tumor in her thoracic spine, (middle of her back), not a new one, it has been there but she has not had any treatment to this tumor.  Dr. Linn is out of town and Tanner is going to try to go to camp Coholo from Sunday to Wednesday, so we will try to keep her as comfortable as we can.  She does very well for the most part but today at radiation she had a really hard time lying flat on her back. Tanner cried thru her treatment so much that we did not finish it. Thanks to the great techs for letting me be there the whole time to comfort Tanner. It broke my heart today seeing her in all that pain and knowing that the pain is only going to get worse. I want more than anything to take her pain away, to have our Tanner back but I know that will never happen. I love her so much and it is so hard to watch her go thru all of this.........Just BREATH...........one moment at a time!!!!! 

We are excited that Tanner wants to go to camp but Anisa watch out Tanner thinks she is going to be attached to your hip. GOOD LUCK!! Tanner will be coming home at night and we will take her out there everyday. Tanner wants to go and be apart of all the fun but she is not ready to give up her night time mommy and daddy time (we LOVE it too) Tanner started crying and made me promise that we would not forget her.........If she only knew, we would never forget her.  We are still enjoying our time and painting lots of pottery from Its Yours Pottery, Judy you are the best we love you, can't wait to have you over! Kelly and Judy even gave Tanner some pottery to take home to paint, Thanks!! We wanted to thank the Snow family in Colorado for the signed baseball from the ROCKIES, it was a great surprise.  Tanner also got a cookie bouquet from our old neighbors in California the Bartholomew's, thanks guys that was very nice and very good. Tanner has also been a very busy artist, she entered the Make A Wish art contest and she has been doing a lot of water colors. Tanner, Papa and Kaitlyn did go out to dinner tonight at Red Lobster and they had a great time and ate way too much food. (Tanner was hungry 20 min. later, steroids YUCK!!)  We also wanted to thank Angels Among Us they are a great foundation, please visit their website at http://www.myangelsamoungus.org/  they help families with financial help when you have a child battling cancer. You can make a donation or email their website to companies to sponsor a family. Thank you Papa for all your hard work in our backyard and Mar for all your help with Hope and Brody, it is great to have you both here. Aunt Jessie we hope you are feeling better and have a GREAT baby shower wish we could be there, we love you! Please continue to keep Tanner in your prayers and always pray for miracles!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Monday July 16, 2007

Tanner made it to camp on Sunday but we had a REALLY HARD time!! Tanner was not ready and she was very worried about going and was really working herself up about it.  Tanner would not let us out of her site.  We tried to leave several times and she would start crying and even screamed for mom and dad. Anisa asked Jake to come and help Tanner relax about staying at camp (Thanks Jake, you are such a sweetie) Tanner got so worked up that nothing or anyone was going to calm her down, so Anisa suggested we go to lunch and calm down to come back at a later time.  We went over all the daily activities and what all the kids will be doing every day. We came back to camp around 2pm and everything went much better, Tanner was calm and stayed with Anisa (Thanks Anisa for being such a wonderful nurse and great friend) I know Tanner can be feisty but when she knows Anisa will be there she calms down. Tanner came home last night and she had a rough night, lots of pain and the meds were not helping. We took her for a message today (thanks Ashley) and she felt a lot better. Chris and Tanner went to Papio pool today to meet up with all the kids from camp. She wanted to go but she was very nervous about going in the water with out mom or dad. Thanks again Anisa for making the exceptions!!! I can't wait to see how the pool went; really hope they had a GREAT time!! Tanner is having a real hard time with all this weight gain from the steroids and not being able to walk. She was been walking more at home but she is unsteady and mentally unsure of herself.  Tanner has not seen herself in a mirror for a long time and she does not like to look at pictures of herself. I asked her to look at the wonderful pictures that Liz took and she looked at first but than said she did not want to anymore. We went to get her some new shorts for camp and she saw herself in the mirror she asked me when she was done with steroids if she would look like her again??? I said "OF COURSE" but in my heart I don't know if she will ever get off steroids.  Tanner will start radiation on Wednesday to full brain and she will have a scan to see about this tumor in her thoracic. It has been very nice to have a break from treatment; she even made a comment about that today.  To view pictures of camp go to http://www.campcoholo.com/ Please continue to pray for miracles and Tanner and all these other wonderful kids battling cancer.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Wednesday July 25, 2007

Sorry so long since my update......Tanner is doing well, she is still having pain come and go but we are still enjoying everyday and have lots of FUN!!!  We will be having a LEMONADE STAND tomorrow at HYVEE 180th and Q from 11:00am till 2:00pm to raise money for the kids who are stuck in the hospital. We are hoping with the money raised we will be able to get some gift cards from the gift shop for the kids that are inpatient. We would be happy to see as many of you that we can!!! I will update with all the other medical stuff later, we are getting ready to start a movie.........gotta go!!! Please pray for miracles and thank you for all of your love and support.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOPE!!! You are getting so BIG, you are our beautiful BIG 4 year old!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!! 

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody 

Wednesday July 25, 2007

The kids did very well at the Lemonade Stand today at Hyvee, they raised over $300.00. At first Tanner was coming up with lots of ways to raise money so she could get a Nano iPod, she has sold artwork, done chores and the next thing was going to be a Lemonade stand. Tanner got such a great response from her artwork and a generous gift from Bailey and Alexis Timmons grandpa, that money for the iPod was no longer needed. THANK YOU very much!!! Tanner had already made plans for the stand with the wonderful manager (Kelly) at Hyvee, so Tanner decided to raise money for the kids that are stuck in the hospital.  Tanner hated being stuck in the hospital, but she loved to get gifts. So tomorrow Tanner will go up to Children's Hospital and get gift cards to the gift shop for 30 kids. Tanner will be allowed to give them to the kids on the floor thanks to, Rob (a wonderful child life specialist) and Anisa for pulling it all together for us. THANKS!!!

We have been very busy around here; we have had a lot of company. Nikki and Caleb came out from California and we had a great visit, it was nice to spend time with the both of them. It was GREAT to have Caleb here for Hope's birthday party because they are so good together. We had a wonderful birthday party for Hope, she is now 4 years old (sooo BIG) Thank You Party Palace (April and Pat) for bringing over the HUGE obstacle course for Hope we had a GREAT time and the kids loved it!! Book them for your next party they are the BEST!! http://www.omahapartypalace.com/ Hope you guys are having a GREAT time in NY! It was nice for Hope to have a lot of attention, she is so used to so many people coming over for Tanner, Hope had a BLAST, Thank you everyone!

Tanner had an MRI at Children's on the 19th due to increased and burning pain in her hands and arms. It is not constant but she is having pain everyday and more frequent in the evening. The MRI showed that she had some enhancement in her cervical around 4-6, no solid tumors but they think it could be invading the membrane around her spinal cord.  We know that the cancer is spreading but we will continue to enjoy every moment we can and live in the moment. Chris is very spontaneous, it does not matter what is going on, so on Monday he decided that we needed to go to a Yankee's game in Kansas City.  We all loaded up in the RV with the Timmons girls and drove down to the game ( 3 1/2 hours away) We had a great time and Tanner did very well (Thanks Vicki for all the Yankee gear) I think Tanner loves all the snacks and goodies you get at the game just as much as being there. Chris was having a real hard time because in his mind this might be the very last game that we will ever be able to take her to. Chris has such a love for baseball and Tanner and he share that with each other. Live in the moment and ENJOY everything you can!!!! Tanner has been walking around a lot more and has really enjoyed having her cousin Kaitlyn here with us. Kaitlyn is leaving tomorrow and Tanner does not want her to leave. Tanner is used to being the oldest and always looking after Hope and Brody, it is nice for her to have someone to always play games and hang out with. Thank you Kaitlyn for staying with us and making it GREAT for Tanner. Papa and Mar will be leaving this weekend and it has been very nice to have them here, you guys are WONDERFUL and you both have been a HUGE HELP!! Thank you very much. We have also got to enjoy lunch and a magic show from Gavin (Brooke's brother) www.caringbridge.org/ne/brooke this is a very nice family that lost their daughter/sister in 2005 to Wilms cancer. It is nice to have someone to talk to about all your fears thank you Darby, and Gavin is so great with Tanner, he treats her so normal but yet he is so sensitive to her as well. I have lots of new pictures and I will try to post them. Please continue to pray for miracles for Tanner and keep Hannah in your prayers, she has scans next week and that is always a scary time.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Saturday, August 4, 2007 

Happy birthday Daddy, we love you!!! 

Tanner is doing very well and has very little pain.  She's walking around a lot; she has been keeping busy with her artwork and all of our company.  We had Great Grandpa and Polly here from Indiana.  It was great to see both of you, we love you!!!  We also had some old friends from California and faithful Tannerville followers (now living in Colorado), the Snow family, come for a visit.  It was wonderful to see all of you!!!  It was fun catching up with old times.  You were so thoughtful with your gifts, the kids just loved them.  We hope your trip to Minnesota went well and we hope to see you again soon.  We also had one of my friends from California (now living in Missouri) drive up here to help us get Chris' business stuff together.  THANK YOU SO MUCH, GINA!  It was great catching up and gorging ourselves on cookie dough and wine (bad combination)!  It's great that we are always able to pick up our friendship right where we left off. 

Tanner got an exciting phone call last Sunday from Ron Hornaday inviting the three of us out to a NASCAR truck series race in Nashville, Tennessee on August 11^th.  Ron and Lindy (his wife) are flying us out and giving us their hotel room for the weekend.  Ron will be driving out in his motorhome and Tanner will have a place to get away from the heat and enjoy the race.  Tanner is very excited, and we can't wait to see all of you.  Thank you so much for this wonderful invitation and your generosity.  Please visit Ron's website at http://www.ronhornaday.com/

Tanner will do labs this week and her daily radiation treatment.  Please pray for all of the kids who are fighting this horrible disease and remember to enjoy every moment.  I know that the daily routine life of family and kids can get crazy where you want to just pull your hair out.  But, instead of doing that, take a moment, step back, and think of the moms and dads who have lost their children.  Just breathe and give your kids a hug, because you still can.  Life can change so quickly, so enjoy all of the opportunities that you have.  I have a sign over a door in my house - "Remember the day's blessings, forget the day's troubles."  Sometimes we get into the habit of complaining about little things that mean nothing when a lot of parents wish they still had something to complain about. 

Please continue to pray for miracles for Tanner. 

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope & Brody (and Pumpkin, our kitty)

Thursday, August 9, 2007

We are leaving tomorrow for the NASCAR race in Nashville and we are very excited. The truck race will be on Saturday August 11th at 5pm on Speed channel. Good luck Ron, see you soon!!!

Tanner is doing well, she has had some stomach pains but they are getting much better. She continues to walk around and be in good spirits. I on the other hand am having a hard time, I want to take in every moment and love every second, but it is so hard to look at her and know that our time together is so limited. Last night she could not sleep so she played video games and I laid there with my arms around her and thought that some day I will not be able to hold her and look at her loving face. She tries to take care of me by getting me a pillow and blanket and letting me know that it was ok for me to go to sleep even though she was not ready. I had my arms around her and she grabbed my hand and gave it a kiss and I started to cry because I thought of all those moms and dads who wished they could do that with their angel babies just one more time. And than I knew that I would be wishing for just that one more time, one more kiss, one more hug. How do people get thru this? How do you let go of your child? How do you live with yourself knowing you will never touch them again? My heart breaks for all the pain these parents felt and still continue to feel daily! I will continue to live in the moment, I try not to focus on the sadness but sometimes it consumes you.

Thank you Mrs. Murray for coming over on such short notice to do marble art with Tanner, she had a GREAT time! Thank you Susie for all the wonderful art supplies for Tanner, she was running low, THANK YOU!! Liz has taken some more great pictures, I will post some of them, and they are beautiful!! Thank you Liz! Auntie Kelly is coming out again next week and we are all very excited. Thank you Kelly for always being there for me and my wonderful kiddos, they love you very much, ok we all love you very much!!! Please continue to pray for miracles for Tanner and HUG your kids for all those parents who wish they could just one more time.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

We are home from the race and we all had a wonderful time. I have posted some great pictures but you can view even more on Ron's site. http://www.ronhornaday.com/ First we want to thank Ron and Lindy for flying us all out to the race and Bill and Colleet for starting it all. We also wanted to thank all the other truck drivers and their crew for being truly amazing with Tanner, she was given so many hats and autographs and they took the time to give her some great attention. THANK YOU!!! Tanner did very well no real problems, a little over heated every once in a while but for the most part she did very well. Tanner is at the movies right now with Auntie Kelly who just got into town today. Tanner has done radiation everyday and will go to clinic tomorrow for labs, she has been doing great at radiation, no problems just in and out (just some mommy chit chat with the WONDERFUL STAFF) Dr. Linn still seems to get amazed by Tanner disease, how well it response to such a low dose of radiation and how fast her symptoms subside after a few treatments. Tanner's cancer has always been very unusual but I do believe that is why she has been able to be with us for so long. (That and she is such a fighter!!)

We will be leaving again this weekend for Illinois to see Papa, Mar, Uncle Beau, Aunt Jessie and Aunt Elise. We are all excited to see their new home and to go fishing and swimming (hope you are ready Papa) Chris is planning on going but he has been very busy at work and is not sure if he will be able to. He really does not want to miss out on this great weekend and he hates to disappoint Tanner, so I know he will try everything he can to make it.

Thank you Amy for watching the kids they had such a good time with all of you. Thanks Grammie for watching the kids a lot this week so that Tanner and I can spend some great time together. I also wanted to thank Liz for giving Tanner (and me) the most BEAUTIFUL picture canvas we have ever seen, Tanner just pops out of the picture, I will try to post a picture of it. We also spent a good day with Liz and Tanner loved playing LIFE with her, so Liz, Tanner would love to do that again soon. Thank you Ashley for the wonderful massage for Tanner and the girlie time. Please continue to pray for miracles for Tanner and enjoy your weekend with your kiddos.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Friday, August 24, 2007

Well a lot has happened in the last week since my last update but I will start with all the positive. We had a great weekend at Papa's and Mar's, we went fishing, swimming and got to visit with family. Aunt Jessie is still pregnant and wants the baby to came NOW but has she will find out we can't control the timing of this wonderful moment, so just relax because all the pain you have now will be wiped away once you hold that sweet little baby in your arms. Oh and Tanner would like you to wait until she is able to came back over Labor Day (we hope) and welcome her new cousin. We are hoping if Tanner is doing ok to go back to Illinois and visit again, she loves fishing and being with her family. Auntie Kelly came with us and she was so excited to go to Iowa and Illinois but once she drove thru them she realized they were not very exciting but she was able to see plenty of corn......which she did not notice all around us here in Nebraska. It was great to have her with us, she took a lot of wonderful pictures and we did way too much shopping but we miss her already. Thank you very much Jeremy for giving us another great trip with Auntie Kelly. Tanner did very well all weekend very little pain, she was crabby on Monday but over all she did very well. Monday night is another story, she had bad shocking pain to her tail bone, could not get comfortable. Tuesday was ok, but by the night time she had the bad shocking pain again but in her peepee, she could not sleep. She felt like she had to go to the bathroom but could not go; she would try every hour or so but nothing. Again no sleep and pain meds did not seem to help much at all. Wednesday she slept until 4:15pm she was so wiped out and needed to catch up on her sleep, when she woke up she had pain in her head, and stomach. She felt like she was going to vomit because the pain was so bad but did not want to take any pain meds, she was worried about throwing them up. Anisa was on her way here with Tanner's morphine prescription already and dad was also on his way home, Brody was running around being a normal little boy but it was making things pretty crazy here. Joe our neighbor came over and took Brody until we could get things under control (thank you very much Joe) Dad finally got Tanner to take the morphine and she did not vomit and about 20 min. later Tanner was feeling better. Tanner did well until late that night, she was having bad stomach pain.....we thought she was constipated, she was up every couple of hours in pain and very uncomfortable. By early morning it got much worse and we new that something else was not right, Tanner still had not gone to the bathroom, so we called the doctor on call and she said that Tanner would need a catheter put in her bladder to drain it and she gave us the option to go to the ER or wait until the clinic opened at 9:00am. I spoke to Anisa and she said she would have everything ready for us when we got there, getting down to the clinic was very painful for Tanner and now her back, hips, stomach and legs are in so much pain. It was very scary and Tanner was nervous about the catheter and what was going to happen. Anisa and Claudia were amazing as usual, we walk in the doors, Tanner was back in a room, port accessed and morphine given and ready to insert the catheter. Tanner was very nervous and still very unsure about the procedure but she did very well, thank to the great job of Anisa and Claudia. Tanner hates tricks and likes to know and watch every step of the way and they did that for Tanner. Half way through the process of draining the bladder Tanner was her normal self joking and giving the girls a hard time. She even offered some apple juice (pee) to Dr. Thompson, I know it's gross but that's Tanner. They drained over 1000 cc's of urine from her bladder, that is over a liter, I could not believe it! So the status now is they have her on a med to help her pee but they think that Tanner has new tumors on her lower lumbar that are either on or pressing against nerves that is causing her the shocking pain and loosing the ability to pee. At this point Tanner has not received radiation treatment to this area and we are not sure if this is an option, but I will see Dr. Lin today and see what we can do. Dr. Thompson thinks it might be an option because Tanner's cancer responds very well to radiation. On a very good note, Tanner was GREAT the rest of the day and was able to spend some fun time her cousins Zach and Maddie. Grammie and Tanner spent most of the night baking....brownies, cookies, lemon bars, and churros. She even got to spend some time with Darby and Gavin they came over last night so that Tanner was able to give Gavin a gift she had bought for him while we were in Nashville. She had so much fun yesterday even though it started out extremely horrible.

We want to thank every one who has sent some GREAT cards and wonderful gifts; it is very thoughtful and kind for so many people to think of Tanner and our family. I wish I could mention them all by name but this week she has received so many wonderful gifts. Please accept this THANK YOU for all the wonderful things that has been sent to us!!! I will post all new pictures, as soon as I can. Please pray for miracles for Tanner and all these other kiddos fighting this horrible disease.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Tanner had a good day Friday and Saturday, she was active and having fun. We had some company this weekend from Colorado, the Snow family. Tanner and the kids played WII very late on Friday and by Saturday afternoon we were off to the zoo. Tanner did ok but the crowds started to get to her, so are stay did not last to much longer. We enjoyed having the Snow family out again, thank you guys so much for coming. The snow family gave Tanner a wonderful gift, a Colorado Rockies jersey with Lusk on the back and the front was signed by the whole team, it is very cool. THANK YOU!! I will post a picture of Tanner in it.

Sunday, Tanner did not feel very well, her stomach was hurting and she was very achy. Tanner wanted her cousin Zach to came over and watch movies and just be there with her. By late afternoon she was feeling better and wanted to do something, so we went off to dinner. Shortly after we got there Tanner's head started to hurt and she thought she was going to vomit. The ride home was very scary, I rode in the back with her and she felt very weak and seemed to be in and out of it. Tanner wanted us to call Anisa because she would be able to fix her headache and drain her pee too. (Anisa has been draining her bladder on a daily basis) Tanner started vomiting and her pain was getting worse in her head and stomach. Tanner has been on Miralax because Tanner has been unable to poop for almost a week. Anisa called Dr. A and Dr. T and they both felt it was because she was so backed up and that was causing this problem. They both felt that Tanner needed to go to the ER and get cleaned out but Tanner was not ok with that. We told her she needed to poop or we would have to go, so Tanner gave us two little treats and we were able to go to clinic in the morning. They took an x-ray of Tanner's abdomen and yes she was completely backed up, and now we needed to tackle the job of how we are going to get it all out. The new tumors on S1 and S2 are pressing on nerves that are causing Tanner to not have the ability to poop and pee on her own. Her bladder and bowel all work fine but nerves that tell them open have tumors on or pressing against them. We started radiation on that area on Wednesday and we are hoping that Tanner's cancer response to the radiation like it has in the past and we can give her back the ability to pee and poop on her own. We were in clinic all day Monday trying to get Tanner cleaned out, Anisa tried so many things and finally by Monday afternoon Tanner was feeling much better. Anisa did a wonderful job and kept Tanner out of the ER. Anisa, I am not sure how many times I have said this but you are AMAZING and we love you very much for being so wonderful to Tanner. THANK YOU!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!! Hope you had a GREAT day! Hope and Brody are doing very well, Hope starts preschool three days a week on September 5th. We also signed Brody up for mom's day out program, two days a week at Hope's preschool. They are both very excited to go to school and be around kids their age. Aunt Jessie is in the hospital right now getting ready for the new baby, and we all can't wait to see the new addition. Chris has been very busy at work and he is trying to juggle it all. The business has really taken off, faster than any of us thought it would but struggles because he would love to be here with Tanner and enjoy every moment. Tanner was cute the other night she wrote dad a note telling him that she had a surprise for all of his hard work for the family, she had made brownies with candles and painted him a USC photo frame. She was very excited and wanted to make her dad feel good. Tanner, daddy and I are so proud of you and we always know that you are thinking of us, we love you so very much. We hope Tanner has a good weekend and has very little pain, please pray for a pain free weekend for Tanner. Thank you all for your kind words and always checking on Tanner. Please continue to pray for miracles!!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Tanner is not doing well!! She was very sleepy on Friday and she has slept all day today. Thursday night she had some dry heaves and a lot of side pain, so  I called Anisa Friday morning and asked for some home care for Tanner to help with her pain. Friday, Tanner was very tired and slept most of the day. She woke up once Friday night but for the most part she slept very well, we all got some sleep. Tanner has been pain free today and very sleepy. She has not eaten anything and we are waking her to drink thru out the day. The home health nurse came by today and Tanner showed signs of discomfort, complaining of leg pains, arm pain and being warm. The nurse examined her and all vitals are stable, she will continue to follow Tanner but she will change care to hospice when needed. Chris was at work most of the day but when he came home Tanner seemed to liven up a bit, she was talking and wanted to Hope and Brody to come sit with her.

I spoke to Dr T and at this point she is not sure what is going on, we have not had scans or test to follow anything. It could be disease progression or a result from full brain radiation, very tired and not thirsty. We are not sure but we are trying to cherish every moment but at the same time try our hardest not to fall apart every second of the day. We hope and pray she won't suffer and that she would not have to endure a long death but it is so hard to watch your child be taken from you. This has been our nightmare for so long and now it is our reality. We always had our HOPE and STRENGTH but now I am not sure what to do or how to do it. As a parent with a child with cancer you give in to the fact that you can't control things but we have always had a voice and a choice but now we just have to sit back and let this monster take over our baby's body. Please continue to pray for Tanner!!

All our love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Thursday, September 6, 2007.......September is Childhood Cancer awareness month

Please view this YouTube about Childhood Cancer and see what you can do to make a difference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGS4yE5v9rM  Childhood cancer is the number one killer of children.....and NO child is immune.

We have switched all of Tanner's home care to hospice as of Sunday the 2nd. Tanner is not having too much pain; the oral morphine is helping her with her pain now. She has been very tired but every once in a while she will get up and play webkinz or solitaire on the computer. We have been watching a lot of movies and lots of Disney channel. Tanner started to pee and poop on her own as of Monday, which is wonderful! She had only had three treatments of low dose radiation to that area. Dr. T feels that if Tanner is up for it we should continue to do radiation to that area to reduce any problems or pain she would have from that. After talking with Dr. Lin we will try and do three times a week if Tanner can tolerate it.

Hope and Brody started preschool and a two year old program on Wednesday; they loved it and had a GREAT time. Hope will go three days a week and Brody two, it will be very good for the both of them to be with some friends.

We want to thank all of our friends for all of your help with Hope and Brody. Watching them and all the help with back and forth to school. We could not do this with out all of you. We also want to thank everyone for your help with dinners; Susie said that the response she received to help was overwhelming. THANK YOU!!! All of these things that everyone is helping with makes this a little less stressful. I don't have to think about what's for dinner or how in the world I would get Hope and Brody to school. I will never be able to thank all of you enough; it means so much to us. We have some very incredible people around us all of you have been a great support. We have so much help with my mom and my sister, it is great sometimes when I have a hard time asking for help the both of them just do it anyway. Thank you both very much, I love you!! Thank you for all your love not only for Tanner but for our family.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 * Childhood Cancer Awareness Month*

Tanner's pain has increased; she is having pain in her right shoulder, neck and arm. She is still sleeping a lot and she has very little activity. Tanner is no longer peeing and pooping on her own, we are now back to the catheters and we are going to try some laxative suppositories. Tanner is drinking lots of fluid but has not eaten in over a week; she has no desire to eat anything. We are trying to keep it very calm and quiet around here, so we have had a lot of help with Hope and Brody. THANKS very much!! We had a wonderful visit Friday from the Apostle and the District Elder Sorrenson (ministers) they came and prayed with Tanner and our family. We prayed for a miracle for Tanner but we also prayed that if this is God's will to let her be in peace and to give Chris and I strength in the time ahead. But to be honest God has already given us so many miracles, it may not be the one we have been praying for but we have been blessed to have Tanner in our lives has long as we have. We were told almost three years ago that she only had 5 months to live, so we have had a miracle for the last three years. So much love and memories have been shared and all of those will be ours to treasure .......our miracles. We also had Brett (the pitcher) from the Bellevue baseball team come and hang out with Tan. Thank you Brett and the team you guys are GREAT!! Tanner has been very lucky with her cat (Pumpkin), she is wonderful for Tanner, she stays in bed with her and when Tanner is in pain, Pumpkin seems to get very close and meow for some petting love. I am so glad Tanner has her for comfort.

Tanner has been getting some great mail and she loves to open it all her self. Thank you all for wonderful cards, letters and gifts; it really gives Tanner something to look forward to. Thanks you again to all our great friends that have been helping with Hope and Brody, they are having a hard time leaving home to go on so many play dates, but I know that is what is best for them right now. (And for mom)

Please remember September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month, so please raise awareness in your families, work and friends. Spread the word about budget cuts and lack of funding, please help make a difference. Too many children are dying from this disease and one is too many. Please continue to pray for Tanner and our family, and thank you for all of your support and prayers.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Sunday, September 16, 2007 *Childhood Cancer Awareness Month*

Our hearts are breaking, I really have no words to express how incredible hard this is. Tanner has gotten much worse, her nausea and vomiting were bad but we are hoping that today we have some what control over it. Tanner has had some blood in her vomit/spit up because she is so dry and raw. Tanner is now on anti-nausea meds every four hours, morphine around the clock....with bolis' if needed, zantac to coat the stomach and throat and Lorazepam to help with anxiety. She is sleeping a lot and she seems comfortable. Yesterday, she woke up and said she was sorry for being grumpy to the kids, but it is just not a good time for her right now. Sometimes she will ask for Brody to come in so she can rub his head, she loves them so very much......she has always been their little mama.

Thank you for all the guestbook entries and the wonderful cards and gifts for Tanner and the kiddos, they all love getting mail. We want to thank everyone for all their support in this time, we would like to ask if any phone calls or unplanned visits be kept to a minimum, we are trying to have it quiet and peaceful for Tanner and we want to soak up every possible moment we can with our little girl........who we are so very proud of her, she is so strong and we will miss her more than I can even imagine. Thanks again for all of your help, prayers and support!! I know it is hard because you don't know what to say or do but knowing that you are all there for us is all you can do right now. We cherish all of your love and support. Tanner knows how much she is loved.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Tanner passed away peacefully at home at 8:45pm. She was lying in the middle of Chris and I right where she wanted and asked to be. Tanner is in peace now, no more surgeries, radiation, needle pokes, doctors, and chemo. We are all in a loss and there are no words to express our sadness. I will post more info later, now we need to be together. Thank you for your prayers, love and support. We will need it more than ever now.

Love always, Chris, Marjorie, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Tonight at 10:00pm will be a news story KETV channel 7 on Tanner and Childhood Cancer Awareness. It is the number one story online at http://www.ketv.com/  Thank you Julie Cornell for doing this story and for showing our amazing little girl to Omaha, and for bringing attention to this horrible, deadly disease that is so under funded and continues to be cut. Julie you have been touched by Tanner and her spirit but you have shared that with so many others. THANK YOU!!

Viewing Sunday, September 23^rd from 4PM to 8PM

At the viewing the family is asking everyone to wear a team jersey or team t-shirt.  "Jersey Day' was Tanner's favorite day at school and will be an incredible way we can honor her.
 -- At the viewing there will be an opportunity for you to create a page in a scrapbook that the family will keep as a lasting memory to you being a part of Tanner's life.  Supplies will be provided by the family but please bring a special photo(s) you would like to use in creating your page. 

John A. Gentleman Mortuaries 14151 Pacific Street, Omaha, NE 68154 http://www.johnagentleman.com/ 

Memorial Service Monday, September 24^th at 11AM

The attire for the memorial service will be traditional funeral attire.

 Lutheran Church of the Master - West Campus 1207 N. HWS Cleveland Blvd.Elkhorn, NE

Friday, September 21, 2007

Tanner's family would like to share the obituary that will be in the Omaha World Herald on Sunday.  The obituary will also be listed in The Signal in Santa Clarita, CA on Saturday and Sunday.

Lusk-Tanner, age 8, died 9/19/07 at her home surrounded by her loving family after a 4 year courageous battle with Ewing's Sarcoma-a childhood cancer.  Beloved daughter, kind and generous sister and brave warrior.  Tanner was born in Santa Clarita, CA on November 12, 1998.  Tanner was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma of her skull at the age of 4 and underwent a year of surgeries, chemo and radiation.  For 7 months she enjoyed remission and started school until she relapsed.  Given little hope from doctors in California, Tanner moved to Omaha with her family to receive care from doctors who had as much fight in them as she did.  With steadfast courage, Tanner faced even more surgeries, chemo, radiation and a stem cell transplant.  She lived life to the fullest while relentlessly fighting her disease.  With her outgoing and feisty personality, Tanner injected fun into every situation, enjoying baseball, video games, animals, fishing and making crafts.  She attended Wheeler Elementary, played softball for the Comets and enjoyed the many friends she made so easily.  Tanner adored her teachers, friends, cousins and the wonderful staff at the hospitals where she was treated, including Omaha Children's Hospital, The Nebraska Medical Center, Loma Linda and UCLA.  Even with all the challenges she faced, Tanner cared so much for others in need.  She sold crafts and lemonade to buy gifts for other sick children and with her team, Tanner's Termites, raised over $10,000 this summer at a walk for childhood cancer research.  Tanner was a pint sized hero with a huge heart and she will forever live in the hearts and minds of those that knew her personally and through her website (http://www.tannerville.com/).  Tanner will be dearly missed by her parents, Chris and Marjorie (Radtke) Lusk, sister Hope and brother Brody.  Other survivors include her grandparents Gus and Marilee Davis, Linda Radtke and Julie Davis; beloved aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.

In celebration of Tanner's incredible spirit, a visitation with the family will be held on 9/23/07 at John A. Gentleman at 14151 Pacific Street, Omaha, NE from 4-8 p.m.  In honor of Tanner and her love for sports, we ask that those attending her visitation wear sports jerseys.  Memorial services will be held on 9/24/07 at Lutheran Church of the Master West Campus, 1207 N. Cleveland Blvd., Omaha, NE at 11:00 a.m.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the family of Tanner Lusk.

68022  http://www.churchofthemaster.com/

Friday, September 28, 2007 HAPPY BIRTHDAY Auntie Kelly

There are no words to express the loss that we feel in our hearts. We are dealing one day at a time and one question at a time. The service and the visitation were  wonderful!! Everything turned out just they way we wanted them to. So many people came to honor Tanner and her fight for life. All our wonderful friends and family from California, all of Tanner's incredible medical providers, family and friends from Omaha and complete strangers that have let Tanner touch their lives in so many ways. Tanner is an amazing child, she had so much strength, love and kindness. As a parent you want to be proud of your children and you want them to make a difference in peoples lives, and Tanner did both of those things, we could not ask for any more. The response we have received from people about Tanner and for Tanner have been overwhelming. We can not thank people enough for all their love and support in this time. So many nice things have been done in honor of Tanner. We are honored as her parents that so many people have been touched by Tan and how we lived our lives. People were amazed by the amount of photos and video we had, but what you have to remember we have been living the last four years like they were her last. Every Christmas we thought was her last Christmas, every birthday was her last birthday. There was no planning we just did what we wanted because we never knew if we would have tomorrow. Tanner lived a full life and we have so many wonderful memories with her, yes it is very hard to live like you might not have tomorrow but it also makes it worth living and not always planning for the future.

Hope is having a hard time; she is not sleeping very well and has lots of GREAT questions. She wants to know when she will see Tanner alive again. And why can't I just call her in heaven because she forgot her bear Frankie? We encourage her to talk to us all the time about Tanner and to talk to Tanner in her dreams and tell her how much you love and miss your big sister but for a four year old this is all to much. It's too much for us so I know Hope and Brody are going to have a hard time. Tanner was their BIG sis and she took care of them, even some of her last words she said is that " Hope and Brody won't understand" and that she didn't mean to be so grumpy to them. She always worried about everyone else, I think that is why she kept going on Wednesday so that we would have enough time to say goodbye. I am really not sure if we are in shock still or if we are relieved that she is no longer in pain, what ever it is, it does not seem real. I still look in her room and call the kids by the wrong name but I always smile when I look at the many pictures that we have all around our house, such GREAT memories. I miss her so much, she was so much more to me, she was my best friend, and we did everything together! I am not sure how life will be with out her here but I know that she will never be to far from us, she will give me a BIG kick in the butt when things are going the way she thinks they should. Miss you BABY!!!!

Thank you to everyone for all of your help!!! Brooke at John A. Gentleman, you are amazing and you made us and Tanner feel so very special! So many people to thank for so many wonderful things, I can not begin to list everyone. Please know that with all of your help, love and support you have helped our family while we are trying to deal with the loss of our little girl!! THANK YOU!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, ~Tanner~, Hope and Brody                   *Pumpkin is missing you like CRAZY!!*

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

We are not doing well, we are trying to figure out how to live our life with out the one life we have been trying to save for so so long. Tan, we miss you so very much. I had given an example to a friend yesterday that right now does not even seem to compare but try just for a moment to imagine your 8 year old child going away to camp (not that I think she is at camp, but for normalcy) and you have no way of knowing if she got there ok? Or how she is doing? Or what she is doing? And you have no end in sight to ever have any answers to any of these questions.

I really don't know how to put into words all of our emotions; we kindly say that we are ok, because if we go any further than that we would be a mess. Everyone is moving on, we have to move on but it is so different, it is like you are on auto pilot and you have very little emotion to what you are doing and you are just doing anything to keep your mind from thinking, but your heart always aches.

People have said to us, you are so brave or I don't think I could ever go through what you've been through. We are no stronger or weaker than they are. We all do what we have to do when we don't have any CHOICE. Sure, we act normal, sure we smile and joke. That's not brave....that's survival. They don't see us at night!

We will get through this, I am not sure how but we are fighters and we will do it in Tanner style with our "Game Face On" (thanks Kellie)

Tanner has tough so many people different things but what we have learned from her is to keep going, no matter how hard it gets keep fighting. Tanner fought to the very end, she is our strength, and she is our drive. Our 8 year old daughter taught us more about life and more about love than I could ever imagine.

Hope and Brody still have so many questions and are not sure what to do with out the love of their big sister. But because of her I will be a better parent, Tanner was very good at comforting them when they would get into trouble, she soothed their worries, their owies, their little or BIG breakdowns. Now it's in my hands and I find myself thinking, what would Tanner do? I know what she would do, she would comfort and try to soothe and if they would still be a mess she would scream "MOOOOM, come take these kids, they are not listening to me" and then she would proceed to tell me that I need to have a talk with them so that they would start to listen to her from now on. (If only I could figure that out myself) Hope and Brody are our saving grace, because they literally drag us out of bed most mornings "JUICE, UP, JUICE, MILK" you have no CHOICE.

Chris and I thought of Kelly...Skylar's mom, www.caringbridge.org/ne/skylarberry/  she lost Skylar over a year ago and Skylar was her only child. Kelly, I know you don't feel brave or strong because like I said before you do what you have to do, but you made the CHOICE to get out of bed one day at a time and I admire you for your will. If Skylar is anything like Tanner, I am sure he played a huge role in that will.

Hope and Brody are so funny and so very busy, even when I try to go sit in Tanner's room and take it all in, Hope or Brody start yelling about something. They keep it very busy around here but it is very different, some one is always missing.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, ~Tanner~, Hope and Brody

Sunday, October 7, 2007

First, I want to start out thanking so many people for all the wonderful cards, poems, letters, gifts and donations in Tanner's name. I received a great poem about The Angel Penny, (it's your guardian angel tossing them down from Heaven whenever you are down, to make us smile and know that they are thinking of us) that day I was finding pennies all around. When I got home that day I checked the mail and there was a wonderful letter from an old friend/neighbor in California, and in it was two little packages for Hope and Brody with that poem on them and a penny with an angel attached. I Love IT!!! I explained to Hope what it was and now every time she sees the penny she smiles and says Tanner is thinking of her. THANK YOU LARA!!! It breaks our hearts to hear Hope and Brody miss and cry out for Tanner but it also shows how much she will not be forgotten. We talk to Tanner and we say goodnight to her every night!

Wheeler Elementary has an amazing group of people! Thursday, after Tanner's death a crisis team was called into the school to deal with all of the children and staff emotions. At first I was horrified because I can only guess what questions and emotions would arise for all these other parents, but after thinking about it, I was in awe of the impact that Tanner made at Wheeler for the little time she actually got to attend school. They also had a mystery person paint a beautiful ANGEL on the mural overlooking the school. (I will post a picture, soon) It is so sweet and very thoughtful. They are also going to decorate their staff conference room with some of Tanner's artwork that she loved to sell to raise money. Mr. Defreece is also talking about a bench in honor of Tanner by the baseball field; she would love that and think that is cool! All the wonderful words about Tanner in the Growler are so very kind and I am very glad that all of you took so much time to get to know what a GREAT kid she was. THANK YOU, for all your kindness, you guys are the best!!!

I also have to mention the Bellevue Bruins baseball team. When the whole team showed up to Tanner's visitation it was overwhelming!  They just met Tanner last year in October, after an interview with Julie Cornell about a fundraiser at Wheeler Elem. After the interview Tanner was invited out to practice with the team, not only did we fall in love with all the boys and the coaching staff but they fell in love with Tanner. Tanner showed up ready to play ball and did not let their size or strength intimidate her, she was going to show them what she was made of. At Tanner's 8th birthday (they all attended) she was made an honorary player, they had made a real baseball jersey with her name and #1 on the back. Tanner kept her cool, but went upstairs to put it on and start playing ball with the team. Tanner was invited to more practices and to throw out the first pitch for their home game. Tanner was treated like one of the boys, not a kid with cancer, not someone to feel sorry for, but a kid that loved the game of baseball, just like they all do! The Bellevue Bruins will be wearing Tanner's initials on their hats to honor Tanner; they will be retiring Tanner's #1 jersey and framing it so that it can go to all the games with the team. The team has also invited us to throw out the first pitch of their home game to honor Tanner's place at the field and for her love of them and the game that she played so well. Please visit their website and see what an incredible group of college boys they are and coaches who let their team touch Tanner's heart and ours! http://www.bellevuebaseball.org/  THANK YOU!!

Liz Larson Photography, http://www.lizlarsonphotography.com/ she is a GREAT photographer and she has given me so many memories to cherish forever. I had some GREAT friends over Friday night to share some great memories of Tanner and to watch home videos and the slideshow from the funeral. I had such a good time spending time with all of you, you all mean so much to me and are such a great support. So if you don't mind I think we need to do that every Friday, so that I can show off my beautiful little girl (Tanner would hate that)....my way cool kid. Just kidding, maybe every other Friday!!! Liz and her sister Julie brought me over a photo album loaded with wonderful pictures of Tanner and the family together. I love it!! Thank you. Liz also brought me over a picture of Tanner and I and at the bottom it said "Forever in my arms and in my heart" I can't thank you enough Liz, you have given me a gift that will last a lifetime, something I will cherish forever. You captured the love between Tan and I and that is something I could never thank you enough for, I love you, thank you, thank you!!!

We have been keeping busy this week. I started working with Chris and trying to get caught up on so many things that have been put to the side. The kids have gone back to school and we seem to be moving on. Not sure what that even means, because moving on after losing your child seems sick to me. We miss her so much; it seems so lonely, so unnatural to just be moving. Every scan we did was the worst day possible because you knew our life could change so quickly, we knew if the scan showed anything her chance of survival would decrease. You have nightmares about losing your child to cancer, about attending their funeral and how you can't even imagine what life would be like with out them...you would feel like vomiting just thinking about all of it. (Scans were every 4-6 weeks) Now we have to live that life that we had so many nightmares about........it seems so unreal.....as if we weren't living a nightmare before....now we have to live, and right now that seems to be just going through the motions.

FIND A CURE!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, ~Tanner~, Hope and Brody

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Thank you for all the wonderful guestbook entries and all the wonderful support that everyone has shown to our family. We are not sleeping well and we have had some pretty hard days. We miss her so very much!! Some days don't feel real, like we are going to walk pass her room and she will be in there. But other days feel so real and we break down longing to feel her touch or hear her voice. We talk about her all the time, we tell the kids that it is ok to be sad but it is also ok to be happy and play with all their friends. They still ask for her but I think they are starting to realize that she is not coming home. Hope seems to be doing better in school and she has had some play dates to help. Hope and Brody have been a little under the weather lately but they seem to be feeling better.

We enjoyed a nice evening at the Yarnell's with lots of good friends and they all got together and named a STAR......Sweet Angel Tanner, in honor of Tanner. They named the star and registered it into the Universal Star Catalog. Very Cool!! Thank you GUYS!!! We have also received so many wonderful cards, thank you!! Also thank you for all the dinners that everyone has been bringing, they are wonderful!!

We need to find a CURE for childhood cancer and here are some ways you can help: http://www.curesearch.org/ to purchase your Christmas cards or any cards, these cards are made from kids that have cancer or their siblings. You could also do a walk or a fundraiser in your area for CureSearch, go to their website and find out how.  You can also write of call your Senators or House members to sign the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act Bill; all these kids just like Tanner need your help. You can find their phone numbers at http://www.senate.gov/ or http://www.house.gov/ or you can go to CureSearch website for more information about the bill.  Cancer is the #1 killer in children and the funding continues to be cut, please help us make a difference so kids like TANNER, kids like YOURS don't have to suffer the treatments and or die from this disease anymore.  Do what you can, it doesn't need to be a long letter but let them know kids are dying and my daughter died because there is a lack of research to find a cure. Tanner is no longer here to fight cancer but we CAN!!!

Kellie and Jen made these wonderful cards with a candle attached for everyone who attended Tanner's funeral. THANK YOU!! The message was......... Light a candle in memory of Tanner.  In a tribute to the life she lived so brightly, live your own life with courage, happiness, energy and love, taking not one moment for granted.  Go light your own world and share it with others as Tanner shared her light with us.

Tanner made a difference in a lot of people lives and you can too, please help save other kids who are fighting cancer and who will be diagnosed.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, ~Tanner~, Hope and Brody

Wednesday, October 30, 2007 HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE JEFF!!

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated, I am really not sure what to update at times. We are missing our little girl so very much but at this very moment there seems to be some peace. Not that we wouldn't rather have her in our arms right now but we watched some home video's and realized even more how much Tanner was really struggling in the last 4 months. We lived it everyday so yes we ne