10/12/25 Celebration of Life Details

Hi Friends - With Jason’s Celebration of Life coming up this Saturday, I wanted to get the details out to anyone interested in attending. It should be a very special service, as Jas was able to plan it while he was still alive. I also wanted to share a few encouraging updates from this past month. 

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

Date: Saturday, October 18th, 2025

Time: Visitation 1-2:30pm, Service 2:30pm

Location: Mountain View Community Church

                   8330 Fingerboard Rd, Frederick, MD  21704

Livestream Link (if unable to attend): https://youtube.com/live/0DhjwhcU-D8

I’ll be honest, this last month has been a blur since Jason’s passing.  I don’t know how else to describe it other than a constant rollercoaster of emotions.  One moment I think I am doing fairly well managing all the things and a moment later I’m paralyzed for hours as my body shuts down from the pain and grief.  Things I don’t think will be a trigger, take me by complete surprise when they become one.  I have learned to take each day, and sometimes each hour, at a time and have grace for those hard days where I’m not able to do much of anything and try again the next day. I’m continuing to learn to let myself feel the hard and allow myself to grieve, knowing it’s going to be painful yet necessary.

Has God continued to show his faithfulness through it all?

ABSOLUTELY!  I wish I could sit down with each of you and share in person how the Lord has been helping us through, as this is where I have been able to experience PURE JOY through what has yet been the hardest season of my life.  But this will have to be the forum for now.  HIS words of EXCEEDINGLY, ABUNDANTLY MORE continue to ring true over and over again in my life!  

Let me start by saying that music has always been like a balm to my soul.  There is a daily worship devotional I listen to called sing (sing.theworshipinitiative.com) that helps me stay focused on God’s truths through song.  This was introduced to me earlier this summer and has been such a gift that I have been relying on heavily.  With that, my son Tyler is very similar to me in the sense that music is therapeutic to him as well.  When we first found out Jason’s cancer had returned earlier this summer, Ty shared with me that he had a song he was going to “claim” for this journey and challenged me to find one as well.  Honestly, after hearing his song selection and searching hard for the right one for me, I decided what he chose would be mine also, as I couldn’t find one more fitting.  It’s called “Counting My Blessings” by Seph Schlueter.  Here is the link to the video if you haven’t heard it: https://youtu.be/sqVsRt_D-QY?si=GWd3jmwXbBQc2PG7  

It really has been the theme for us this summer and continues throughout this grieving process.  It challenges us to continue to keep our eyes open to see the blessings through all the hard.  The really cool part of this story is that dear friends of ours knew this was the special song that Ty had claimed and found out this artist was coming to our area this fall.  They surprised us by blessing us with tickets to it, which we found out about mid summer.  Well, in God’s divine timing of it all, the concert date ended up being the week after Jas passed. And WHAT A GIFT it was for Ty and I to go together and have that time to soak it all in.  While this sounds so opposite of my norm, it was perfect timing to be in a sanctuary full of strangers where no one knew our story as it allowed us to just focus on worshiping/praising the Lord together through our grief with tears rolling down our cheeks without knowing a single person.  It was SUCH A BLESSING and such a reprieve for Ty and I for those few hours!

Other BIG ways that God has knocked our socks off since Jason’s passing… 

The tribe God has blessed us with AROUND THE WORLD have come through in SUCH INCREDIBLE ways!  It truly is such a beautiful experience to see the body of Christ pull together in action!  The continued hugs, texts, cards, prayers, donations, meals, flowers, specialized memorial gifts, medical support, help with kids, help with the house, selling of big items, help with the Celebration of Life, you name it…have BLOWN ME AWAY!  Some from people that we don’t even know, that heard of our story and have been moved to help.  We will ALWAYS remember how INCREDIBLY kind so many have been to us and I pray will forever change how we look at helping others in our future in times like these.  And for those that I haven’t been able to find your contact information to thank, please know we are SO THANKFUL and it has MEANT THE WORLD!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention these 2 GINORMOUS things that we found out about within just 2 weeks of Jas’ passing that have lifted SUCH a heavy burden off my shoulders.  

1. Rent - The same week that Jas passed, I received a phone call telling me that someone wanting to remain anonymous would be covering the next year of rent for our family.  I had taken the phone call at Taylor’s volleyball game and had to exit the gym as I began to sob upon learning this INCREDIBLE news!  WOW, WOW, WOW!  I was and continue to be in ABSOLUTE AWE of this generosity!  For those of you who haven’t ever been in a situation like this, know that it takes close to 6 months before the benefits you know will be coming actually start to come (social security, pension, etc.)  So to know we have this extra cushion while adjusting to the new norm financially is HUGE and such an incredible relief!  Especially after my job ended on October 1.  It gives me time to allow myself to grieve and really pray over what is next for me job wise and not stress about finances while doing so.  I do hope that between those who have anonymously come together to bless us in the past months by covering our rent as well as this new donor covering the next year out, please know I’m forever grateful and changed by your ABUNDANT GENEROSITY!  What INCREDIBLE examples you have been to me, all while staying anonymous!  THANK YOU just doesn’t seem to cover how grateful I am!

2. College - Less than 2 weeks after Jas’ passing, Taylor (Jr. in High School) came home from school super stressed about how she was going to be able to afford to go to college.  To the point that she was trying to marry me off already as she thought that would be the way to solve the problem.  Good gracious!  We had a good conversation that stemmed from that, but boy did that take my breath away how that conversation started off.  I assured her that God will provide in some way and direct her path, but that path did not need to involve me getting remarried for her to go to college.  In less than 24 hours from that conversation with Taylor, I had a phone call with a Memorial Foundation from Jason’s work to find out that both kids would have 85% of their college education paid for through this Foundation.  I literally ended the call flat on the floor sobbing once again. BLOWN AWAY!  WHAT AN INCREDIBLE GIFT!  The support we have received through Jas’ work has been OUTSTANDING! The timing of this all was SO DIVINE! It was such a good lesson for each of us, that we can continue to put God in this box and limit how He is going to work things out by thinking we have the solution and all He has to do is execute on “our” plan.  And then He shows us that He has an even better plan that we never even knew was a possibility and to once again step back and let Him take the lead on how He will work things out!  To be able to share back with the kids this INCREDIBLE news was so special that evening and a lesson I pray they will always remember!

Well, I’m going to wrap up for now.  I hope this provides you each with encouragement in some way!  Please continue to keep us in your prayers this week knowing it could be an extra hard one as we head into Jason’s Celebration of Life this Saturday!  Also, if you haven’t seen Jason’s Obituary yet, I have included at the end of this post.

Much Love and God Bless!

Meg

   

9/13/25 - Through the Hard, God IS at Work!

Hi All - Some quick changes have taken place since the last post that I wanted to bring you up to speed on.  Since transitioning to Hospice care a little over a week ago, Jason’s health has quickly deteriorated. As a result, this past Thursday he was moved into the Kline Hospice House, close to our home.  

We feel blessed to have such an amazing facility and team to support Jas in these final stages in a way that honors what each of us in our family were most comfortable with.  God worked in INCREDIBLE ways to make this happen with the help of our AMAZING Frederick Hospice Team!  I'm to humbled to share this story of how it all came to be!  

Originally our hospice nurse wasn’t supposed to visit Jas at our house until this past Friday (9/12), as she had just seen him that Tuesday and didn’t feel the need to come sooner. After I saw a significant decline, I called her Thursday am and asked if she could come that day instead.  After she arrived, she quickly agreed that Jason’s decline was significant from earlier in the week and that it was time to get him transferred to the facility we all hoped he would be able to get into.  We had done research for months and had decided that out of all our options, Kline Hospice House would be the best fit for his needs and had succumbed to the fact that we would need to pay a nightly room and board fee for Jas to stay there.  It’s a beautiful 6 bed facility in the country specifically for individuals in their end of life season.  Because it only has 6 beds, the first challenge to overcome was whether or not a bed would even be open and if there was a wait list. The good news here was there was a bed open with no wait list. Thank you Jesus!

So, our hospice nurse asked what my goal was on how quickly I wanted to get Jason there.  I looked at her and said NOW if possible. I felt a huge sense of urgency to get him there while the kids were at school as it was becoming disturbing/scary for them to observe the decline and all the side effects that came with it.  And within 15 minutes we were loading Jas into my car to head to Kline House.

After closing the car door, the hospice worker checked her phone and started crying when she read her text.  She shared that she normally doesn’t get emotional with her patients, but that our case was different. (I think because she has kids our kids' ages it all hits close to home for her.)  She had just received good news that hospice partnered with Kline Hospice House and made an appeal for our case with having young kids at home still and for the first time it was approved that Jason’s entire stay would now be free!  HOLY MOLY!  We had given up on that being a possibility after doing a couple months of research on our options in Frederick County.  Yet when there seems to be no way, God still makes one!  

She said, “Thank you for inspiring us to make a change in our community and for future families in similar situations that still have young kids at home.”  And I was just in absolute AWE that here she was thanking me when I felt all the thanks deserved to go to her and the hospice team for advocating for us without us even knowing.  After hearing Jas and I express our concerns about him being at home during this final stage with kids still in the house, the hospice team recognized that they had not been able to service families with kids at home to the level they now want to and were making a change starting with us.  And you guys, this place is OUTSTANDING!  It truly is a dream to be here. It’s so serene, a huge private room, gorgeous view out his window onto a huge back deck, in the country and only 6 patients max at one time. The nursing staff here is wonderful and so attentive. Everything we had hoped for him if we had to be in this season! 

Upon checking in at the Kline House, I met the nurse and was signing some paperwork. One of the first things she said to me when I asked a question about what I still needed to keep track of and communicate with them was, ”At this point you can just be a wife. You don’t have to worry about anything else while he is here.”  I started to cry because those were the EXACT words I had told Jas months ago that I hoped and prayed for when we got to this stage.  And what Jas wanted for me also, understanding nursing is not my background nor a pressure on my shoulders that I like to have at this stage while still managing 2 kiddos.  WOW, WOW, WOW! Total confirmation from the Lord that this gift of being here at the Kline House is from Him! And on top of it all, He took care of having it 100% covered financially!  The Lord orchestrated ALL of this for Jas and our family and again it gives us a peace that passes all understanding in times like these!

Is Jas able to see visitors?

At this time we will no longer be accepting visitors. However, you are welcome to text me (Megan) at 808-634-5131 with a message or video that I could play or read to him in the short windows that he is now awake.  

How can you help?  Our dear friend designed the brochure below to share the different ways to love on our family right now. It takes a village to walk through these hard times, and we are so thankful for the village the Lord has blessed us with! Thanks for considering and please do not feel any pressure in any way! And for MANY of you who have already helped contribute in so MANY ways, THANK YOU! It is sooooo appreciated! God Bless!

Helpful Links:

Meal Sign Up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4CAAA92EA02-57366788-help?useFullSite=true#/

Financial Support: 

1. 529 Education Fund (See codes in brochure above for each child): Ugift529.com 
2. Venmo ID: @Megan-Wiles-7
3. Zelle ID: meganwiles7@gmail.com

9.8.25 - Transitioning to Next

Hi All - It’s been about a month since our last post and sadly a LOT has changed since then.  

Jas went through 2 more rounds of chemo since the last update.  While the 3rd round of chemo went as smoothly as it could, the 4th round was just unbearable.  For those who aren’t aware, the side effects of chemo are cumulative and get worse with each round.  As a result, things really came to a head after round 4 with horrible side effects.  And while he usually sees energy return by the weekend of a chemo treatment which then leads to a fairly decent week following, no energy returned this past time. This hit him HARD!  Knowing he went into chemo treatments with the mindset of continuing this path as long as his body can tolerate the side effects AND it provides him a better quality of life, we have now reached the point where neither are true. 

Last week Jas made the decision to discontinue chemo, cancel all future appointments and transition to hospice care.  This was a really heavy week emotionally to work through individually as well as a family.  With Taylor being older, she was already more aware of what this means, so of course that can be scary to hear those words.  Quite frankly, while I knew it was on the near horizon, it still took my breath away to hear the request and took time for me to process.  With Tyler, we made sure he understands that the goal of hospice is to make dad as comfortable as he can be and to make it easier for dad to receive care from the home.  We have seen how much of an effort it is for Jas to get into the car, manage through the car rides where any bump, pot hole, quick stop is so hard on his body and then use what energy is left to get through a Dr. appointment. Even talking at this point is so hard for him as it requires so much energy which he no longer has.

This past weekend was filled with meeting our hospice team, transitioning Jas to a new pain med plan to make him more comfortable and help with his labored breathing, changing scripts to being delivered to our house (which is amazing that I’m no longer running to the pharmacy multiple times a week), and setting up our living room with a hospital bed and other essentials for when he can no longer make the flight up to our bedroom at night. 

I will say, we are very much at peace with this being the right decision for the stage Jas is now in.  To know that I can call hospice 24/7 to help and that they can come out to provide the support he needs now feels like a relief to both Jas & I.  

What does this mean for the near future?

Well, his weight is at his lowest point yet.  His pain levels are increasing and it is becoming more and more painful to eat more than a small amount of food a couple times a day.  We will keep him at home as long as we possibly can and while hospice can continue to keep his pain managed from home.  We have been able to talk to the kids about what they are most comfortable with and have a plan in place to support Jason and their wishes for when that no longer is the case.  

Is Jas able to see visitors?  

Due to Jas's current state, we are significantly limiting visits to allow him to rest as comfortably as possible. If considering visiting, please FIRST check in with Megan via text @ 808-634-5131 to see if it’s a good day/time.  His pain/tolerance can change drastically by the hour and is consistently much higher from late afternoon through the night. We wouldn’t want you to waste your time making the trip to then not be able to see him. Other options are to send a video message, email or text that he can read at a time that works well for him.

Have we continued to see God’s hand throughout the hard times and be encouraged that he sees us, hears us and loves us?  

YES!  A continued BIG YES!  We continue to be FLOORED by how God has orchestrated such an army of love and support through those here on earth to help us!  The continued prayers, cards, texts, meals, surprise special treats, help with kids, gift cards, checks, specialized medical help at home, special accommodations for our family including helping transfer our child to a different high school class after the required deadline, etc. are all SO MUCH APPRECIATED!  We truly do feel so loved and are so THANKFUL!

One specific example was the week of Jas’ 4th round of chemo.  It was an awful week from chemo not going well and Jas was noticing there was a correlation between where the lung catheter was located and the pain/discomfort he was feeling on that side of his body.  We decided to ask NIH if they could remove it that week because the pain was becoming intolerable and the fluid the cancer had been producing had completely stopped.  Their initial response back to us was that the OR was fully booked that entire week.  Within a few hours, they had Jas booked for the procedure and all the pre-work up appts scheduled for 2 days later. THANK YOU JESUS!  Mountains were moved!  We are so thankful, as that did relieve some pain that Jas had been experiencing for the 2 months that it was in there while it was needed.  A HUGE PRAISE that the chemo shut down the secretions from the cancer in his lungs!

Another cool example is that Taylor desperately needed new volleyball shoes with the High School Volleyball season kicking off.  When I say desperately, I mean holes in the shoes, bloody heels coming home from practice because the heels had cracked, etc. after wearing them for a full club and high school season prior.  The same weekend we started looking for shoes, a Dick’s gift card arrived in the mail, from Jas’ co-worker, to cover the cost.  Divine timing for sure as very few knew of this need and we are SO APPRECIATIVE!

These words continue to ring true in my ears…. exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20)  His provision continues to blow us away!

8/11/25 - Round 3 of Chemo

Hi Everyone - Man these past few weeks have flown by!  We wanted to give everyone a quick update since the last post only covered Jason’s 1st round of chemo.  Since then, he had a 2nd round of chemo and is currently receiving the 3rd round today.  

The plan for now is to do chemo every other week on Monday-Wednesdays for as long as he can tolerate AND we see that the side effects from the cancer are improving as a result.  Round 2 of chemo we pushed out to the following Monday to give Jas 5 extra days to put some weight back on and get him on a better schedule with the kids going back to school soon.  Thankfully this was successful from a weight management perspective.  However, right at the 2 week mark from round 1 his neck/shoulder pain came back and we had to manage that for an extra 5 days.  

THANKFULLY, round 2 of chemo went MUCH SMOOTHER than the 1st time around.  PRAISE JESUS!  They decreased his dosage of the various chemos by 10%, changed up his support for nausea and we had a good supply of the pain med that works best for him, so nothing needed to be changed up this time around mid treatment.  Still a rough week, but nowhere near as bad as round 1.  They explained to us that when they start the treatment, they start off with the max dosage, see how you tolerate and then adjust accordingly.  Now we know, full dosage is too much.  With round 2 starting on a Monday, he was able to turn a corner by about Thursday and then food started to sound good again by Saturday.  So, we hope this trend continues so that he will at least feel decent by the weekends when the kids aren’t in school and the worst of it will take place while they are in school.

Have we continued to see improvement in the side effects of the cancer?  

We have for now, which is a BIG PRAISE!  The neck/shoulder pain went away again within a day of round 2.  This allows him to sit in a wider variety of chairs without pain and sleep in multiple positions at night vs. just 1 position.  The edema slowed down for maybe 1.5 weeks.  And we now are only draining his lung catheter 1 time a week and less than 100ml is coming out.  Such a HUGE change from 500ml every other day!  So we are CELEBRATING the wins!  

Does he still have side effects from the cancer? 

Yes.  He still has constant pain in the abdominal band area which gets worse when he eats or drinks.  This is a battle because he continues to struggle with keeping weight on, but it has been manageable with the pain meds.  He has very little energy.  He maybe has about 30-45 minutes in him to do something physical each day and after that there is nothing left.  But, this is a huge change from a month ago when all he could do was move from the bed to our downstairs couch and back.  Is this anywhere near his norm for the worker bee/busy body that he is?  No, but after being flatlined to zero, he is able to find joy in getting to do one small task a day.  Amazing how God can help us reset our perspective. And he continues to have random pop ups of nausea even with a constant patch on and pills for breakthrough for no rhyme or reason.  Could be the cancer progression, meds, etc.  We may never know.  We will continue to pray that the chemo allows him good quality time with us and for continued clarity on the next right step, one day at a time.  

Have we continued to see God’s hand throughout the hard times and be encouraged that he sees us, hears us and loves us?  

YES!  A BIG YES!  Last week I was working on bills and within a few hours I received a call from a friend telling me that our next month’s rent was again being taken care of by an anonymous donor.  HOLY MOLY!  I just had written in my checkbook a few hours earlier the amount to start taking out again for rent after having a breather this past month from an extremely generous anonymous donor.  And now another month is being taken off our plate.  WOW, WOW, WOW!  So INCDREDIBLY generous and we are so grateful!  And in texting with our landlord to ensure he knew about this, our landlord then shared that he and his wife would be waiving our rent the month after that.  WOW, WOW, WOW!  THANK YOU JESUS!  Getting to share this with Jas and then the kids was so incredibly special!  To show them how the Lord is faithful in so many ways in meeting so many needs during these hard times has been so impactful to us all.  And I pray by us sharing, it can encourage each of you also to see how God continues to work and provide!

There have been so many other blessings as well through this all that we have gotten to experience!  Jas has felt well enough to spend time with friends/family that we haven’t had a chance to spend with in a long time!  The weather this past week has been gorgeous here to where he is able to be outside more which he loves!  He has been able to make a few adventures out of the house to go to church these past few weeks, sit with Ty to fish for a couple hours at a neighbor’s, run to the grocery store, attend a team/family kick off soccer party for Ty, etc.  All things that may seem little to others, but are HUGE for us because he wasn’t able to do these things a month ago.  Additional blessings of continued prayers for our family, meals, gift cards, checks, help around the house, help with the kids, special gifts for the kids, specialized medical care for free, check ins, you name it… they have ALL been so appreciated and we feel so loved!  THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts!

I wanted to end with sharing a special moment for our family that took place 2 Sundays ago.  Jas was asked (since he is an Elder at our church) to commission a new Pastor and his wife at our church during the service.  Through the course of that, our Pastor ended up praying over Jas as well, which was unexpected yet very touching.  If you scroll to about 1 hr and 4 minutes into the video you will catch this part of it.  I’m sure for some who haven’t gotten a chance to see Jason, it will help getting to see and hear him in this video. https://www.youtube.com/live/JAwBcL2-New?si=6dVqPJLLh7C8bqOU

We ask for your continued prayers for Jas to experience significant improvement from the side effects of the cancer and a smooth week as he goes through round 3 of chemo knowing it usually is a tough week!  And for good quality time with our family and other loved ones!  

With Much Love, 

Meg

7.17.25 - Round 1 of Chemo

Hi Everyone - It’s time for an update now that we have come out of the woods for a bit!

Last Wednesday, July 9 - Friday, July 11, Jas had his first round of chemo.  It was an absolute fiasco getting to this point as it involved running down to NIH the day before for an echocardiogram last minute due to no appointments in Frederick available for days.  However, God opened the door to make it a possibility and it happened!  The importance in doing this extra step was to allow Jas the chance to have Herceptin included in his treatment, on top of the other chemo meds, which is specifically known to target his type of cancer being he is HER2 positive.  So, we felt we had clarity about moving forward with chemo this first round knowing if he could only get one chance to do chemo, it would include the Herceptin and could give him the biggest bang for his buck.  

While we were thankful for the clarity in moving forward, I don’t know how else to describe the next 4 days that followed other than absolute hell.  They could not get his nausea under control, therefore he lost another chunk of weight that he couldn’t afford to lose.  On top of that, there was an area-wide shortage for a couple days of the pain medication that had been working best, therefore he had to switch to a band aid solution that made him even more nauseated until his original pain med came back in stock.  And for those of you who have experienced this process first hand, with chemo comes steroids.  Which means you can’t sleep for a couple nights on top of everything else.  Thankfully the worst of it was ending about the time the kids came back from the family beach trip, so they didn’t have to see dad go through all that he did. 

On a positive note, these past few days have been some of the best days he has had in over a month.  The constant pain he has had in his neck for about 2 months has subsided.  The fluid that we are pulling off his lung has reduced dramatically.  And the nausea has calmed down because the amount of pain meds he has been needing has reduced.  We know each day can throw a new curve ball at us, but for now we are seeing some quick results from the treatment that has helped keep Jas more comfortable this week.  PRAISE JESUS!

What does this mean for next week/next chemo round?  Honestly, we don’t know.  Due to having lost more weight and the toll it took on his body for many days last time around, we will keep praying and asking God to make it clear our next right step. And can trust He will make it clear in his perfect timing.

Today we met with the palliative care team in Frederick.  Their goal is to help find ways to make Jason more comfortable in the stage he is in, which feels wonderful to know we have a team assigned to him that specializes in this care.  They spent almost 2 hours with us today!  And from that appointment we went directly over to the infusion center to get another liter of fluid pumped back in to help him with dehydration. 

So how did the kids do while they were gone?  They had an AWESOME time with family and we were so happy for them that they could have this mental break from reality of what we knew they would face when they returned home again.  So thankful for my family making the sacrifices they did to make this happen for them knowing we couldn’t go!  And to be honest, Jas and I were able to have more time for rest and recovery while they were gone and a much slower pace, which was needed. Here are some pics from their trip!

I wanted to end this post by sharing a with you all huge blessing that only God could have orchestrated and it has encouraged me in a VERY SPECIAL way!  A few weeks ago I had a thought (in my head only, not verbalized to anyone) about how this would all play out with the house that we have been renting for the past 4 years and our current situation.  I was trying to think through if I should share with our landlord the news about Jason’s recent diagnosis or not, as I didn’t want it to scare him to think we couldn’t afford to continue living here, because that’s not the case. However, I pushed the thought aside and didn’t think about it again UNTIL a few days later…. I was at a dear friend’s house and she pulled me aside to share that someone had anonymously covered our next month’s rent for us. I was in SHOCK!  All the questions of how did they know our landlord, how did our landlord respond (as remember I hadn’t shared the news with him yet), etc.  AND I WAS COMPLETELY AMAZED with how generous that was of whomever decided to bless us in that way!  I shared with Jas & the kids and we all were BLOWN AWAY by the generosity!  Fast forward to the next morning before church, I was thinking through this again and it dawned on me, after confirming with Jas, that I had not shared the thought above with him or ANYONE.  Only GOD knew I had this thought.  Not a single other soul. And in the former 3 cancers, we have never had someone step in and cover our mortgage/housing.  But this time, God knew I had this thought and moved someone’s heart to act to show me that he hears me and he will provide for every single need, that his plan and timing are perfect, and He is in control and here to help me through these hard times.  

Gosh, it brings me to tears again just typing this out. Time to add another stone to my Altar of Remembrance as this one was so personalized and tenderhearted from our loving Father!  

Reminds me of Matthew 6:31-34…  Do Not Worry

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

With that, I wanted to end with how THANKFUL we are to all that have shown us love in so many different forms!  Prayers, venmos, gift cards, checks, meals, help around the house, rides for the kids, grocery runs, texts, specialized medical help, personalized gifts, special fun days for the kids, you name it!  We don’t know how we would get through this without our village near and far!  We have such a unique blend of family and friends that are part of our tribe ranging from our blood family, Church Family, FC Frederick soccer family, MEVC volleyball family, Urbana/Frederick Family, World Wide Work family, etc. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!

Much Love, 

Meg

7.6.25 - Time for an update

Hey All - 

I get the privilege to address you directly this time. I guess Meg has the confidence (or maybe superior editing skills) to make sure it reads correctly and concisely.  Between the pain meds and sleep deficiency, it's been hard to concentrate, let alone read or even string a sentence together. Here goes nothing ;) 

Yesterday was a better day and maybe one of the better ones I’ve had in the past 3-4 weeks. Now better is a relative term, but I was able to sit up downstairs for the better part of the day. So praying that with each day and a little more healing, I’ll be able to lower the need for pain meds which will reduce the other side effects.

Since the last post, though not much has changed, we did learn that the recurrence of cancer is most likely from the esophageal which I had way back in 2011/2012. I know this shocked Meg and I just from the duration it was ‘dormant’. But we also get the sense that the doctors are just as puzzled. Therefore, at this point with some other genetic markers, we will see how the Oncology team will deal with it for me. 

The second and really unfortunate effect of having the catheter drainage put into my lungs was the recovery time needed.  Therefore, Meg and I weren’t able to go with her family on their beach vacation this year. This past week, just trying to make it to NIH for recovery treatment was enough to wipe me out for that day and the next. The really hard decision was made, but the blessing was that we could still send the kids with other family members. And what a blessing that was, as they need their own time away and a breather from all of the heaviness that we are dealing with. Right now it does help not having them worry as we work through appointments here. Even with the ROCKSTAR support network we have, I’ve seen the toll it is already taking on Meg to make sure everyone is set up and where they need to be. 

Now with me not going on the beach trip, we’ve been able to get into the oncology rotation a week sooner. Though we still are praying on whether this is the right path, I have an appointment on Tuesday to get a PICC line put in and then start my first round of chemo on Wednesday. While we recognize no chemo is curative, they believe that this might loosen up my abdomen to allow for more food and fluid with the hope of gaining some weight back and reducing some of the pain.  

With this all happening so fast, one of the hardest things I had to do was to cancel a fishing trip to Canada that Tyler and I had been planning for months. We were so excited to spend some ‘dude-time’ together and really use it as a rite of passage. The day we were to leave I was in the hospital, so we had to flex quickly. So as quickly as the fishing trip had to be put on hold, we decided that we’d all go as a family to watch Taylor play volleyball in Florida. The silver lining and what God knew we needed was some sweet time together as a family.  Though it was a tough trip for me physically, we got some good family time and the team was so gracious to me.  Check out the pics of the sweatshirt the families on the team blessed me with to wear as we cheered on our girls.  After this team having been together for 7+ months it feels like one big family!

Also wanted to share how God’s been working over these last couple weeks. First, I don't have enough space to articulate how the many financial blessings have matched areas where we weren’t even thinking.  Second, having the kids still go on the beach trip, though it time away, will restore their souls and their hearts. Third, we have felt confident so far in the decisions we’ve been praying about. 

We do ask that you continue to pray alongside us, for it be clear on each next step we need to take on treatment, pain management and/or palliative care. We also can’t THANK YOU enough for your love, support, help with the kids, meals and financial blessings you’ve flooded us with.

Love,

J

6.26.25 - It's Been a Hard Couple Weeks!

Hello Friends - It's hard to believe our last post was from 2022!  Sadly, after taking a few years off, it's time to rev the blog back up again as we have some heartbreaking news to share with you all.  

This past week we learned that Jason's cancer has returned and metastasized to his lungs, abdomen, spleen, liver & spine.  To be honest, we and our team of Doctors are all in shock at this point.  Jason was 5 years out since his last surgery and typically you can start to let your guard down at this big mile marker.  

What started off as what we thought were 3 separate issues of a bad/scary sounding cough, GI issues and intense neck/upper shoulder pain led to an x-ray being ordered last week that showed an enormous amount of fluid that had nearly collapsed his left lung.  This then led to an immediate admission at NIH to drain 3 Liters of fluid off and then having a CT and PET scan to find out of this metastasis.  Jason was admitted for a few days last week to work through all of the testing needed.  

As of this Wednesday, he is back at NIH again for a few days to retrieve biopsies needed to determine which cancer has returned.  They have confirmed so far that it is a carcinoma, but it will be a few days before we know if it's the esophageal or the gastric cancer that has returned.  Their best guess is that it's the gastric cancer.  During the biopsy process today, they drained another 3 Liters of fluid off his left side of his chest and put in a lung catheter so that after he returns home he will be able to drain the fluid out himself a few times a week.  Even since his biopsy earlier today, another 1.5 liters of residual fluid has come out.  No wonder he has been so uncomfortable!

At this point the plan is for him to come home tomorrow (Friday) and head straight to an oncology consult @1pm in Frederick that our Dr. has arranged.  Their hopes are that we will receive official results back from the biopsies early next week.  Once they have confirmation which cancer it is, they can then tell us our best treatment options and possibly even start treatment next week if Jas chooses.  They feel even 1-2 rounds of chemo could be enough to slow down the secretions the cancer in his lungs are causing that are leading to all this excess fluid and slow the spread of the cancer to buy us time to see if Jason qualifies for immunotherapy.  If he qualifies for immunotherapy, it could be up to a 2-3 month waiting process as they work on harvesting, growing what they need to grow and then infusing the cancer fighting cells back into his body.  Due to him being on steroids for his horrible neck pain, there is a 6 week waiting process they require before they allow them to use biopsies that may have been exposed to steroids.  They have seen some positive results from immunotherapy recently, but it's a matter of whether he qualifies and if he is in a good enough state to do so 2-3 months down the road.

So in the meantime, our goal is to try to build back as much weight on Jason as we can, as he has lost a significant amount of weight and muscle mass extremely quickly this past month, even this past week.  He is getting close to the point that they may not even allow him to do chemo if he chooses that path due to how weak and frail he is right now.  And if he continues to struggle with appetite/eating, not getting enough calories in, they may need to go to a feeding tube.

We know this is a LOT for everyone involved as we have such a loving tribe God has blessed us with that cares deeply for Jas and our family  We ask for prayers on clarity for the path forward.  The poor guy has been through 3 cancers already and has done a LOT of medical treatments these past 15 years.  He knows the choice is up to him and we understand and will support him in whatever decision he chooses to make.  And we also know that every time we have been in a position where we have turned to the Lord for clarity, He has provided it.  

It's so interesting that for the past few years God has laid on my heart the importance of building my own personal Altar of Remembrance, like he called those to do in the Old Testament in Joshua 4.  By this I mean digging into the significant moments of my life where the Lord showed his love and faithfulness to me in INCREDIBLE ways.  I was even asked to speak about this at a women's ministry retreat a handful of years ago.  And boy am I glad I have that Altar of Remembrance mapped out and have frequently visited it over the past handful of years.  I see now by taking time to reflect on how God has showered me with his love and faithfulness in the past, my faith has grown so much in trusting Him and His plan.  And that however hard the future may be, I can trust that God will be right there with us each step of the way and continue to show us how He is able to do "EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY above all that we ask or think." Ephesians 3:20-21

For those in our tribe reading this, know we love you and are so thankful for all of the love you have poured out to our family already!  We can't imagine walking through this without you!  You are literally the hands and feet of Jesus here on earth!

With Much Love,

Meg