I am so grateful for you and all people like you who are helping to make my son's life a little easier and happier. Thank you very much for the present he received at Texas Children's Cancer Center.
Jorge Eduardo Nino Morales
Hi, my name is Dale Ekema.
I would like to tell you a little about our family. We have eight children. Yes I said eight. There are four girls and four boys. They range in age from twenty to five. My wife of twenty-one years, Kristy, was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in March 2010. Kristy was stage 4 when she started treatments and the cancer was in the left breast, Lymph nodes under her arm and on her upper chest. After eight Chemotherapy treatments throughout 2010, Kristy had a PET scan at the end of July that came back CLEAR. No cancer could be found.
This was amazing to our oncologist. Not able to find anything was a miracle that only God could have provided.
Although we had received this news we still faced surgery to remove both breasts and lymph nodes under her left arm. Kristy’s surgery was on August 10th, 2010. Everything went well. It was a long surgery lasting a little over five hours. It was good to see her after and I stayed the night with her at the hospital. The next day Kristy was still a little out of it but was eating and even wrote on her Caring-bridge page. The second day after surgery Kristy developed a headache. We were able to control it with pain medicine and we didn’t think too much of if as Kristy had a history of migraines. Surgery was Tuesday and on Friday Kristy was able to leave and come home. Kristy rested as best she could, but the headache kept getting worse to the point where the pain medicine wasn’t helping anymore. Thursday August 19th, she went back to the doctor's office to be seen for her post-op appointment. The Doctor took one look at her and told her to go to the hospital to be admitted. Friday, Kristy had a MRI of her head, which showed 4 spots on her brain. Fluid was taken from spine and sent for tests. Wednesday August 25th, will be a day I will never forget. That evening the Oncologist told us the results of the test on the fluid.
Kristy was not in on this conversation, by this time she was in so much pain that she was heavily sedated most of the time. The cancer had moved from the breast to the fluid that surrounds the brain and spine. There really was nothing we could do at this point but to help to relive some of the pain. The oncologist told us Kristy had 3 to 8 weeks. Kristy went to be with our Lord in heaven on September 9th around 9:00am. God had given me a peace that could have only come from Him. I know that I will be with Kristy again in heaven.
God has also truly blessed our family through this also. My employer allowed other co-workers to donate sick and vacation time to me. 12 weeks! Friends gave food and time to help us out in this transition that our family was going through. I think it was in October I was contacted by Dineta Frazier from A Heart Like Hers Foundation. Dineta told me that their foundation does a toy drive just before Christmas to give toys to all the children that are patients at the Texas Children’s Hospital. They also wanted to do this for our kids, and just before Christmas a huge box filled with toys and clothes came to our door. What a blessing!!! This was such a blessing for me; I didn’t have to worry about making sure everyone had something. It was awesome. I was not the shopper in the family, Kristy was. I think it may be a girl thing but not sure.
Our God has always been there bringing people beside us to help guide and strengthen us as we continue our journey without Kristy here on this earth. I want to say Thank You to everyone who donated to A Heart Like Hers Foundation and to encourage you to keep GIVING. Through your giving you continue to bless so many, including the Ekema family.
Choosing Joy,
Dale Ekema
I commend the Frazier Family for their LOVE AND DILIGENCE! This is no easy task yet a task well worth the sacrfice, I admire you! I celebrate with you and in the memory of your angel, Morgan!
Love, Miss LaShanna D Leonard
