Sun, July 27 – Wed, Aug 6 –
On Friday the 25th Cole started a new 30 day chemo plan with the
hopes of ridding Cole of the stubborn Leukemic cells still residing in his CNS
(Central Nervous System). Cole has been very lethargic since our arrival to
Boston, however on Tuesday that began to change. He began to be awake more and
wanting to get up and talk walks, go to the play room and more. This is a good
sign and a relief to us. His energy is getting better with every subsequent
day.
On Wednesday, we are able to
check Cole out of the hospital for a couple of days. We need to return him on
Friday morning. We bring him to the Ronald McDonald house and he is able to get
a few good nights’ sleep and allow him a sense of normalcy for a few days.
On Thursday, I (Chris)
return home to Florida to handle last minute items in preparation for our Cole
Strong 28 Baseball Benefit tournament. I come home to find that my good friends
have handled most everything already and I have only a few things to do. This
allowed me to spend even more time with Michael & Madi. We are so very
fortunate to have such great friends.
On Friday, Denise and Cole
check back in at Dana Farber and then are admitted to Boston Children’s
Hospital as planned. Cole is assigned a room and this time we are in the new
wing where the rooms are better equipped and larger. This is a much more
comfortable situation for both of them.
At home, Madi, Michael and
I go to the mall to get some last minute school shopping done. A little later
in the evening, the organization team for the tournament meets at my house to
gather all auction items and to discuss any last minute items. We are in good
shape! The only area of concern is the weather. Rain is in the forecast in a
pretty big way and baseball and rain don’t get along!
Saturday morning is here
and our organization team and other volunteer arrive at the field at 7am. It
had definitely rained pretty heavy throughout the night and the fields needed
some work. The guys got to work on the fields right away and they begin to take
shape. Other volunteers are working on concessions, tents, tables, auctions
items, registrations desks, etc… There was a lot to do and so many pitched in
to do a great job.
The games are about to
begin and our daughter Madisen sings the national anthem. Then I welcome all to
the fields, thank all who made the tournament possible and Cole announced “play
ball” via Skype. Cole was able to watch throughout the day from Boston via
Skype. This was amazing, as he was obviously unable to join us in person. It
began to rain again, but soon after went away and the rest of the day was
beautiful. The concessions are doing well, people are bidding on auction items
and shirts and bracelets are selling well. Before I knew it, the day was over
and I was shot! Everything went great. We only needed to go out and buy more
water and Gatorade for the next day. After this long day, me and the kids went
to my friend Ed and Marci’s house and basically collapsed in their pool.
Sunday morning arrives and
we are again at the fields at 7am. The fields are much worse this morning.
County officials are about to close the fields on us and we basically convince
them that we have enough volunteers and equipment to get the fields playable.
They allow us to try and a couple hours later play begins. We shortened the
games so that all will get their games in and all are happy. The rest of the
day again is very nice and all seem to be having a great time. We again Skype
Cole in and he gets a virtual tour of the event, as we were able to Skype from
an iPad. Everyone is saying hello to him and wishing him well. It was pretty
special. The last games of the day are upon us; however these games are cut
short due to lightning. Finally, this event is over and what an amazing event
it was. All that is left is the tear down and clean up, and plenty of
volunteers are here to assist.
In Boston, Cole gets his
treatments over the weekend and continues to feel well with a decent amount of
energy. In my absence, Denise’s sister Michelle, brother in-law Steve and their
son Bryce (2 months older than Cole) come to Boston to assist. Cole is having a
great time with them. Before you know it, he is playing PlayStation baseball
with Bryce, laughing and having a good time. It was great to see. Denise is also
enjoying the help and the great company.
On Wed, Michael, Madisen
and I flew up to Boston. They’re excited to see Cole, Denise and a little bit
of Boston. We arrived around noon, dropped off our things at the Ronald
McDonald House and then head over to the hospital to see Cole. He looks good
and is feeling good as well. It was great to see the kids all together again. Madi and Mike then get a tour of the all of
the fun places and things to do while in the hospital. Shortly after, Cole is
off to the play room for a good game of air hockey against his brother.
Cole continues to feel pretty well. He gets fluids and Chemo at predetermined times. His ANC counts (value that tells us about his immune system) are very low, which is to be expected at this point in the treatment plan. We are at day 14 of 30 of his current plan and Cole will not be tested for Leukemic cells again until around the 30th day. So we are basically day-to-day for a couple of weeks and hoping and praying for positive results. In the meantime we will enjoy as much time with him while he is feeling pretty well.
Our Baseball tournament was
an unbelievable experience and not for baseball reasons, but because of the
outpouring of support. For the great friends that were made, the laughs and the
cries and for the feeling that you get when the community you live within stands
up and basically wraps their arms around you. I have no way to put that into
words that would properly define how that feels.
I can’t thank enough some dear
friends that made this weekend possible; The Lashley’s, Ruckers, Soto’s, Levine’s, Esgro’s,
Norton’s, Strikowski’s, Disisto’s, Hodge’s, Applebaum’s, Shiflet’s, Gurevich's and the
countless volunteers that helped to make this past weekend the incredible
success that it was! I also want to thank Jim Henneman of the Palm Beach County
Parks Department for keeping the fields open for a couple more days and
allowing us to have this tournament, the West Boynton Little League for
welcoming us on their fields and allowing us to use the equipment and supplies
to get the fields in playing shape, to all of the umpires who volunteered their
time to umpire our games and to all of the very generous people and companies who donated items for our auctions.
I also want to thank all of
our corporate sponsors: The Law offices of Berman & Berman, Seaside Bank, HammerHead Motors,
Robert Hodge/ProBall, Simon Orthodontics, Office Depot Foundation, Brownie
Brittle, Boca Executive Realty, The Materetsky Financial Group, Lissauer
Dental, Mandel JCC of the Palm Beaches, GlobalServe, Edward Jones, Agliolio's,
Walker Construction, Ellen Flaum LCSW, Falk Prosthethics, Chicken of the sea,
Benik Baseball, Associates in Childrens Denistry, The Neighborhood News, Wizard
Creations, Yale Sports Enterprises, Dr Fara Bender, Dr Katie Rand, Carolyn's
Creations, Rawlings, West Boynton Little League, Alabama Joe's, Home Depot,
Anixter, Ucube, Strathmore Bagels and West Boynton Travel Baseball League.
Here are a few links to the terrific press we received this weekend.
Link to a news story on CBS12:
Here is a link to a video recap of the tournament:
Great article in the Sun-Sentinal:
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| Dad returns home |
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| Bryce and Uncle Steve visit with Cole |
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| Cole's team having a mozzarella stick in his honor |
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| Madisen singing the National Anthem |
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| 11u Vipers sporting some cool Cole Strong 28 jerseys! |
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| Some great friends that helped make the tournament possible |
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| Michael and Madisen arrive in Boston to visit Cole |
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| Cole and Michael playing a little air hockey |
Happy to see the entire Malone family together! We are praying everyday for Cole's health and the doctors and nurse's who are treating him. Keep your Faith ....and always stay Cole Strong
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