Mike and Penny Wars

Last night we got to see Mike! Remember Mike's Extra Mile? Last June Mike (a cancer survivor) ran across the state of Idaho (435 miles) in 10 days for the Tenley Foundation for our kids who fight cancer! The Idaho PTA asked him to be the speaker at their state PTA convention last night. That is the first time I heard the story of his run from his perspective.

He did such a good job, he had us in tears one minute and laughing the next. I wish now that I had recorded it. Every morning when he was running I would get out of bed knowing that Mike was already up running and I would wonder how in the world anybody could run 50 miles and get up the next day and run 50 more over and over again. He talked about how on one of the days he was so exhausted that he kept falling asleep while he was running...that that was the day that he had to dig deeper than any other time in his life and thinking about our little cancer fighters is what kept him going.  

 My friend Holly who's son fought cancer ran with him one of the days expecting to make it about 25 miles and she ended up running the whole 50 miles that day!  That was the day he was near Idaho Falls so we got to see them.  Mike choked up a few times while he spoke, one of them was talking about the kids running with him.  We loved being there for a few minutes, it was unforgettable.

Tenley, Ty, and Mike

The Idaho PTA also gave the Tenley Foundation a big check from the penny wars they held in local schools. When they had Tenley say a few words she simply said, "I couldn't be happier!" Channel 8 did a little story about her and Mike:
http://www.localnews8.com/news/Inspirational-Pocatello-girl-battling-cancer/-/308662/19736296/-/1atf2w/-/index.html

Tyson is doing great!!  We registered him for kindergarten and got our forms to exempt him from immunizations.  (He can't have them until he is off treatment because of his low immune system).  His last steroid pulse was kind of weird cause he didn't really have any steroidish cravings so hopefully he is still gaining a little bit of weight.  His food preferences are so bizarre, sometimes all he will eat is fruit and then on other days he tastes something and has to spit it out in the garbage.  He gagged on his biscuits and gravy this morning even though he loves them most of the time so he basically gets to eat what he wants when he wants.  Ice cream in the middle of the day? no problem!CHIPS right? (cancer has its privileges)  His next treatment is Friday so my next post will probably be that day.  We are so thankful that we don't have much to post about anymore!  Especially when all the news we have is good news! 

Thank you Mike!  

Thank you Idaho PTA and MaryKae Ryner for arranging Penny Wars! 

Thank you for checking on Ty!