Fri, June 27th - Sun, June 29th - Late Thursday evening my 28 year old niece Kristen came into town from NYC for the weekend to assist. It was a great weekend, as Cole seemed to feel a little better each day and it was great to have my niece here. Cole went from lying on the couch for most of the day to being up and about. He was definitely getting some of his energy back. Kristen was able to spend some good quality time with each of the kids over the weekend. This was a welcome break for mom & dad. Cole even felt good enough to go for a swim in our pool with her! On Friday, my daughter Madisen had 2 showings of a play she was in with Standing Ovation Performing Arts summer camp. Madisen had gotten the role of Belle in Beauty and the Beast. She did a great job and she was excited that her cousin Kristen was able to see her in it. We were unable to bring Cole, as it was a small and crowded location for the play. However, we did video her and Cole was able to watch the video.

Cole again had a steady stream of visitors throughout the weekend and even went over to a friends (Tristen Rucker) house for his birthday party. The Rucker's neighbors are a very sweet family named the Coman's, of whom I have met on several occasions. Their son Robbie Coman plays baseball (catcher) for the University of Virginia and played during this years college World Series. Cole had met Robbie before and his parents told us that he knew of Cole's situation and was thinking about him while he played. Robbie took a game used ball and had all of his teammates sign the ball for Cole, along with a couple of other nice items. This was an incredibly thoughtful gesture! Thank you to Robbie, the Coman family and his Virginia Cavaliers teammates.

Denise and I are getting used to Cole's medicine routine. Wednesday brings another big day, as he will have another spinal chemo and they will again will test his fluids. We are hopeful that the results will continue to show that the treatment plan is indeed working as planned.

We received our first dinner delivery Friday night. Thank you Jessica Quastler for the delicious pulled pork. mac & cheese and others. It made for a good dinner and lunch the next day. It was great not having to think about or even having to plan for dinner. Thank you to Jessica Strikowski for arranging all of this. I think she has dinners scheduled out into late August now! We have amazing friends!

Bracelets will hopefully be in today or tomorrow. Will post here and on Facebook when they arrive. We are awaiting 2 shipments. The first is for 200 and the second which should come later in the week is for 1,000. We will fill the smaller, local requests with the first shipment and then send out to those of you who ordered 50 or more to those from the larger order. Thanks all for your patience on this.

The Cole Strong 28 baseball tournament looks like it will be Aug 2nd & 3rd at West Boynton fields. Just awaiting final word on field availability. Once approved we will need sponsorship dollars, donated items and volunteers. We plan on selling bracelets, t-shirts and having a concession stand. The shirts will list our sponsors on the back of it. So anyone looking to reach a good number of local 8-11 year old kids and their parents, here is your chance. Details will be coming very soon on this.

Thurs, June 26th - It felt good to have us all under one roof again. Cole finally had a complete night that was absent of the continual interruptions that he had at the hospital. He looked and felt great in the morning. Enough so that his Friend Jacob came over and spent most of the day with him. Cole wanted to go outside, but it was clear that it was too hot and his body was not ready for much of it. So we returned inside and watched a movie. Denise and I are getting used to his new regimen of drugs that we need to administer at particular dates and times. I think I need to create a small spreadsheet to keep tract!

Cole received several visitors in the evening and we shared Denise's birthday cake that we were unable to have the night before because it had gotten too late.

His treatment for the next 20 days or so will consist of weekly (Wednesday's) outpatient chemo at the hospital and the remainder of drugs will be given at home. His weekly outpatient visit consists of being put under anesthesia and given his triple dose of chemo into his spinal column, followed up by a 2 hour chemo infusion and then 1 hour of monitoring. As long as all goes well,he is fever free and his ANC counts are good, then he is able to come back home.

In general Cole is feeling pretty good and he is in good spirits, but his body is pretty tired most of the time and requires rest. I have continually let him know of all the love and well wishes that he has received from all of you and he is very appreciative, as are we!!! I am also completely amazed by the outpouring of support from people that I have barely crossed paths with or in some cases that I don't even know. It is very humbling and heartwarming!

Many of you continue to ask for the Cole Strong 28 bracelets. Thank you! We do have more on order, but they are taking longer than we would like to receive them. So hang in there, we haven't forgotten about you. I will post here on this blog and on Facebook when our next shipment arrives and we will make sure all get as many as they would like.

Wed, June 25th - Another uneventful evening. No food for Cole this morning, as he will be getting anesthesia around noon so he can have his weekly triple dose chemo cocktail injected into his spinal column. Fluids will also be taken from this area at this time, so we can test them to see how he reacted to last weeks 1st triple dose that was given. He woke up around 2pm and was very hungry. He had preordered a sausage and egg on a bagel sandwich. That really hit the spot! His ANC counts are still good, so Cole will be going home this evening after he has a 2 hour Chemo infusion. Dr Saxena (Cole's Oncologist) came into our room in the afternoon to let us know that Cole's Leukemic cells that had a count of 4,000 before his 1st treatment were down to around 450. This is great news as it means that the Chemo is working. Hope this number will be close to zero next Wednesday. It's now 7pm and Cole and I are on our way home, yay!!! This is a great birthday present for Denise!

Cole is craving Outback, so we will order in because we need to keep him away from crowds while his immune system is suppressed. We arrive home and are surprised that our house has been decorated with balloons and a nice sign welcoming Cole home and Denise a happy birthday. Again, I cannot put into to words what a special group of friends we have. THANK YOU GUYS!!! We ordered up some Outback and had a nice family dinner together. This hadn't happened in a while and it felt great. It was also good to see Cole have a good appetite again.

I heard from my friends Steve Lashley and Chad Rucker that they are organizing a baseball tournament in support of Cole at the West Boynton Fields. They are still awaiting final approval for field space, but it looks like it will be first weekend in August. Stay tuned for details on this tournament.

Again, thank you everyone for all of your support, kind words, prayers and all else. It has been so meaningful to Cole and our entire family. I know this is just the beginning for us, but you have made it so much easier for us to this point. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Cole with his nurses

Leaving the hospital with his pops

Welcome home!!!

Cole with his Outback getting photo bombed by his sister and brother :)

Tues, June 24th - Cole and I had a good night. The morning doctor consult showed that his ANC counts were good and at 1,050. Looks like Cole may be able to go home tomorrow late afternoon/early evening. That will be a great birthday present for his Mom. The morning brought a visit from our friend Lara and her Daughter Sarah. Sarah is also a Leukemia survivor that has been off treatment for 4 years now and she looks great. She is adorable and it was nice to see her and Cole together. I had to get a picture of these two cuties together :). Then the Child Life Center at the hospital had a pizza party for the kids. Sarah joined us for a bit and then had to go.  After a little fun at the pizza party, Cole was ready to go back to his room for some rest. This was early than usual. I am guessing that all these meds are taking there toll on him. So far he still looks good and generally feels good, but it won't be long before the weight gain from the steroids and the inevitable hair loss from the Doxorubicin. Shortly after his nap began his 3rd grade teacher Ms Gadberry again came to visit him. Unfortunately Cole was sleeping so they couldn't enjoy any time together. So Ms Gadberry and I went and got a coffee from the hospital coffee shop and enjoyed an hour or so of conversation. Cole continued to sleep so Ms Gadberry wrote him a sweet note that I read to him a little later in the day. She is so very sweet! Later in the afternoon Hillary from the Child Life Center came up and we enjoyed a game of monopoly. Shortly after, Denise and I switched out for the evening. Later in the evening we received a visit from Debbie, Ashleigh and Ryan Brown. Cole enjoyed a little piano action with Ryan and also played some video games. I went home and picked up the Madisen from the Esgro's and Michael from the Lashley's. It has been a god send not having to think about having to pick up this one here and this one there and not have to worry about their dinners or anything. Our friends have been so amazing in so many ways! THANK YOU!!!

Mon, June 23 - Denise's night at the hospital with Cole was thankfully uneventful. The morning again brought some nice visitors. Ms Moretto, the principal of his school - Coral Reef Elementary, came to visit and spend some time with Cole. It was great to speak with her and to discuss the educational challenges for the upcoming school year for Cole. Yes, Cole will be unable to attend school this coming year, as his immune system will be challenged and he may not even be in town for a good portion of the school year. I was able to go into work for a few hours and catch up on a few things. Then I headed up to the hospital with lunch from Panera bread. I arrived to find Cole's 1st grade teacher Ms Conant from Hagen Road elementary had came to visit and spend some time with him. A little later a really nice cookie bouquet arrived courtesy of the Polimeni family. If you do not know them, they have a nice Italian Restaurant in Boynton Beach called Dean Anthony's (http://deananthonyspizza.com/). Thank you guys! Cole took his afternoon nap and was then greeted by our friends the Nemet's. Denise Nemet brought me a much needed large Dunkin Donuts coffee and her kids played with Cole for a while. Shortly after the Gurevich's with Ethan Strikowski in tow came to visit. Before they arrived, Cole had let me know that he was craving a meatball sub from Subway and the Gurevich's were nice enough to bring one for him. I was glad to see Cole have an appetite again. Cole's and his buddies Aiden and Ethan had a great night together. We had some nice conversation for a while and then a couple of fun filled hours playing XBOX baseball. It was great to hear Cole laughing like I hadn't heard in a while. After they left, Cole took his evening meds. He really doesn't like taking a few of the meds, as they taste pretty bad and make him nauseous. However, he has been a trooper about taking all without too much fuss. Then it was off to bed for some much needed ZZZ's.

Sun, June 22nd - It was another good evening. Cole was happy to have his brother spend the night at the hospital, since they share a room most of the time. They have there own rooms at home, however they continue to "sleep over" in each others rooms most of the time. The next day brought more visitors. Gonzo Carcache (Coach C) his PE (GYM) teacher (who is also the Director of his summer camp - SuperStar Sports Camp) came to visit and play with him for a while. We also had a visit from our good friends the Disistos. They played some board games with Cole for a while and Cole had some good laughs. He has been feeling pretty good in general, however you can tell that the meds are starting to wear on him. His ANC counts are still ok (~1,000), but have been dropping. This is expected to happen. However, if they continue to drop then we will need to begin to restrict visitors. Every afternoon seems to bring a 2-3 hour nap. He seems to feel better after these naps and they are also a good time for me to catch up on my work emails. Denise came up in the mid afternoon and I was able to go home with Michael. I held a 3:30pm practice for my Vipers Baseball Team. It felt good to have some normalcy back in my life for a few hours. However it was very different not having Cole at practice. This is the first time I have ever had a practice without both of my boys there. Nonetheless we had a good practice and the boys told me that they are going to dedicate the season to Cole. We have such a good group of boys and parents, and I am looking forward to the upcoming season. Hopefully I will be able to continue to participate in practices and games. If not, I have some terrific coaches/friends that are ready to run things in my absence. The evening brought our friends the Soto's to the hospital. Cole enjoyed some good time with his good buddy Javi. 

Sat, June 21st - It was my wife Denise's night last evening at the hospital and my daughter Madisen joined her. It was another peaceful evening, or at least as peaceful as a hospital room can be where nurses are in and out all night checking vitals and the like. Our daughter Madisen got a first hand lesson on what a night at the hospital is like and I am sure she will welcome her own bed this evening. I went home last night and was joined at my home by 2 of my very good friends Steve Lashley and Manny Soto. We had some great conversation late into the evening and Manny and I put a good dent on a bottle of wine. The morning and early afternoon at the hospital brought many visitors and Cole was excited to see all! Is was a day full of Nerf gun target practice, video games and some nice conversations. We were visited by the Lasheys, Nortons, Walkers and Jacobsons. Cole finally ate a decent lunch today. This was the first time in a few days for this. I don't anticipate that this lack of appetite will last for long, as the steroids will be kicking in soon and then I am sure that he will be an eating machine. So far his ANC counts are up and visitors are still welcome. When these counts are down, his immune system is more susceptible and we need to restrict visitors. This evening we were joined by the Ruckers and Cole enjoyed an evening with some more good friends. The Ruckers also brought my son Michael up to the hospital, as it is his first time to sleep at the hospital with his brother and myself.  The Ruckers let me know that we had sold the 200 bracelets that they had ordered and they just had ordered 200 more. I am just amazed at the traction that this effort has gained and the amount of love and offers of support that we have received. We are truly blessed.

Cole continues to accept his treatments with little adverse affects on him except for being a little tired. We are scheduled to be in the hospital until Wednesday or Thursday, and then we will complete the remainder of the first 30 days of treatment on an outpatient basis. This first 30 days is very important and will be very telling. If all goes well, we will reach remission in this first 30 days. Then we follow up with 60 more days of chemo. At some point radiation will be introduced. This is very scary and we will be doing quite a bit of research regarding the best facilities to administer it. Once the first 90 days of chemo are done, our study / treatment plan has 2 distinct paths. One path calls for a multi-year chemo treatment plan and the other calls for a bone marrow transplant. Both of these paths will be a long and challenging road.

So continue to send your positive thoughts and prayers, so this sweet young beautiful boy can get rid of this terrible disease once and for all!

Fri, June 20th - Last night was a peaceful night. He slept through the early evening, so we were up late building a Lego truck and tow behind trailer of jet ski's. 47 pages of instructions, yuk! Thanks a lot Disisto's :) Today thankfully he was feeling good again and it was very busy and fun filled day. The day started with me teaching him how to play Heart & Soul on the piano. We made a nice duet after an hour or so of practice. A little later his 3rd grade teacher, Ms Gadberry, came to visit. He was very glad to see her, as they had formed a very special bond this year. She came bearing gifts and treats. They played for a while and then our floor had a pirates and princesses party for the kids. Ms Gadberry joined us for this party. Cole made a nice necklace for his mom (shh don't tell her, as she hasn't seen it yet) at this party. All of this action tuckered out the little guy and he has been resting peacefully since. We are expecting mom, sister and a friend this evening. On the Facebook front; we are amazed and overwhelmed by the beautiful and caring messages of support that we have been receiving. The bracelet requests are incredible. My good friends, the Rucker family, are ordering more. I am incredibly moved by the number of people who have changed their profile picture to this bracelet photo and that have shared Cole's story in an effort to create more awareness. I also received a message from our good friend Elissa Levine, who is naming Cole as their Honored Hero at an upcoming Leukemia and Lymphoma Society "Team in Training" marathon. She has 12 people running on this team. Stay tuned for more information on this effort. We are truly blessed to have so many special people in our lives. Words cannot express how thankful we are to each and everyone of you!

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Tues, June 10th - Test Cole's spinal fluids and find that Leukemia has returned.

Thursday, June 12th - Cole's bone marrow is tested and the Leukemia is also found in his bone marrow. All of this testing has been done at St Mary's hospital in West Palm Beach. The oncologists here are part of a nationwide children cancer team called the COG (Children's Oncology Group) that has 300 member organizations/hospitals worldwide, including the finest cancer centers in the world.

Friday, June 13th - We call to confer with Doctors at the Dana Farber Institute in Boston for a second opinion and to both confirm the diagnosis and treatment plan of action.

Sat, June 14th - We need to check into the hospital on Monday, so we decided that we are going to enjoy our weekend with our family. We went to a Miami Marlins game with some close friends and on Sunday we went golfing and played 9 holes. All the time my mind keeps asking myself, how can this beautiful, happy boy really be so sick. Nonetheless it was a great weekend and thanks to those of you who shared this very special time with us.

Mon, June 16th - Our next adventure begins. We check into the hospital and Cole gets an initial dose of chemo.  After further consultation with Dana Farber, it was decided that we need at least start our treatments here at St Mary's.

Tues, June 17th - Cole continues to receive fluids and few other medical necessities. We have our formal sit down with our oncologist to discuss the formal diagnosis, prognosis and to review his treatment plan. This was pretty scary, as a parent never wants to hear cure percentages that are any less than absolute. The treatment plan we are presented with will initially consist of 3 x 30 day heavy chemo dosage treatment cycles and then assuming Cole's Leukemia goes into remission as it should, the continual treatment options consist of 2 paths; one which is a multi-year chemo treatment plan and the other consists of a bone marrow transplant, assuming we have a good marrow match. Testing for a match with his siblings will be done in the coming weeks.

Wed, June 18th - Cole gets an infusaport surgically implanted. This port will allow for treatment to be delivered easier and without continuing to poke his arms or hands for access. We return to Cole's room from surgery to fins that 5-6 players from the Jupiter Hammerheads baseball team had come to visit the kids on the oncology floor. It was fun for the kids, as a couple of the players allowed the kids to shave their heads. Cole had good conversations with a few of the players and took some nice pictures. A little later in the day a couple of local golf pro's came in to the hospital and hung out for a couple of hours with toy clubs and gave the kids some lessons. Cole had a lot of fun with them. In the early evening our good friends, the Esgros, came to visit Cole and brought Cole's brother and sister to come see him. This was the first time he had seen his siblings since early Monday morning. It was a nice early evening, however the late evening was not so great. He received his first full dose of his chemo cocktail and he didn't feel well, as his body was reacting to all these new drugs being given to him. It was a tough night him and his mom who stayed with him this night!

Thurs, June 19th - Cole feels much better this morning. His mom had spent the night with him last night and tonight is my night. I came to the hospital around 1pm and Cole was feeling great. I brought him a Nerf gun and we had target practice with an empty water bottle in the hallway. A little later our good friends, the Disistos, came by to say hello and play with him. Unfortunately Cole was not up to it and he took a long nap while we talked with them. Just received a text from my good friend Chad Rucker letting me know about a fundraising effort that he and his family are putting together called "Cole Strong". They had some bracelets made up and will be selling them for $5 each. The bracelets says Cole "Strong" with his baseball jersey #28 on it. Cole just saw the picture of the bracelet and said that's cool, can I have one? I will try to get a picture of the bracelet online soon along with where you can get one. This is a very special thought! We are blessed to have some amazing friends!

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