Thank You, From Chris

While we haven’t really gone into details to this point, given the good news I think it’s appropriate to appreciate how far Barbara has come, and humbly acknowledge the vast community that have lifted us up each and every day.

Barbara was diagnosed with Stage 3-B Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), given that she had a 4×3 cm tumor, one biopsied positive node and 7 total cancerous nodes later confirmed by the pathologist. I was told by many wise people to not google that, but of course I did, and it shook me to my core.

To go from that starting point to, as the pathologist put it, “near complete pathologic complete response (pCR)” (yPT0 yPN0(i+) for the doctors in the house), which means (almost) no detectable cancer remaining (a few isolated cells remained in 2 of the removed nodes, none in the breast), is a credit to the excellent medical staff and current treatments, of course, and I will be forever grateful for their wonderful work. But even with modern treatment, the odds were not in our favor for such a result, and the outlook was… not so great if we didn’t get to this miraculous point, and we fully credit God and the multitudes who have been praying without ceasing over these many months for bringing us to today’s good news.

The daily support of so many of you throughout this process – even as Covid brings us all so many challenges – is completely overwhelming. This result puts us on solid ground for long term recovery, which was at times almost beyond my (but never Barbara’s) ability to hope for. I find myself completely at a loss in comprehending our many daily blessings – our access to such medical care, at this good news, at the vast and constant outpouring of prayers, support, and love by so many, and am in wondrous awe at this wonderful, miraculous result. I have felt your prayers – daily, and deeply in my soul – in a way I can’t begin to articulate, and I am nothing but humbled by all of you.

It seems trite to write, but all I can say is Thank You All, for… well… everything. You all have tenderly cared for my family in so many ways, taking the load of the past seven months off our shoulders and making life bearable. I look forward to the day when we can have a big party to begin thanking you in person for your touching care, food (sooo much great food!), prayers, and complete selflessness in supporting my family!