Making a difference in Angie's name and memory

On Sunday March 7 we participated in a 5K Walk/Run for the TGEN Foundation - a local research firm who has a scientist and team devoted to finding improved treatments and ultimately a cure for Ovarian cancer. Kyle and I were joined by my mom, my sister Jana and her daughter Kayla, Angie's sister Patty and her daughter Madison. Madison had 4 friends join and Patty had 2 co-workers. Angie's dearest friend Shelley and her daughter Emma. My good friend Dennis and his girlfriend Terry. And our beloved neighbors, the Davenport Family, the Bergevin family and Dave and Lynette Johnson. Overall, the 700 participants raised $54,000 - our team was #1 pulling in $8,245 - more than 4 times per person than the average of the event. There was also a $50,000 match made by a local family, so the total raised was $104,000. I know Angie is beaming with joy and touched by the commitment the team showed and also by the generosity of the people who donated. Next year we are shooting for $10,000 as a team!

I also recently had the pleasure of handing Dr. Janicek a check for $1,525 from donations collected at Angie's memorial service. This was one request we made in lieu of flowers so that we could make a contribution to his practice for some comfort items for his chemotherapy room (the chemo lounge as Angie referred to it). I also gave he and his staff copies of material from Angie's service so they could know more about the great person Angie was since much of their interaction was as a patient. I received the following note from Dr. Janicek...

" Hi Jerry, I was awed by the beautiful rememberances of Angie and the donation to our Chemo Room (aka "lounge"). How I wish we could have made Angie more comfortable there...but since we couldn't, she ironically is helping us with the donation in her memory. I will give it thought and get staff and patient input. We have received suggestions from practical to aesthetic. We will go with the flow on this and do what seems right - by consensus - and share with you. Whatever we do, I will make sure it will somehow have Angie's mark...so that she remains ‘everywhere’ with us."

The reference he makes to Angie's comfort had to do with her heightened sense of smell and not being able to tolerate his office the second round of chemo. We ultimately had to change venues and go over to the Piper Center at the hospital for her treatments. D. Janicek never stopped trying to figure out what Angie was smelling - he tried candles, had his cleaning crew change their products - even mentioned to us that a maintenance crew had found a water issue that he though may have been the culprit. His reference at the end to her remaining "everywhere" was from the closing of the eulogy Angie's sister Beth delivered at her Service - I shared a copy of that with the Doctor and his staff. Beth wrote…
"Angie is everywhere now. She is in our hearts, she is in our heads, she is in our DNA, she is in our dreams. She will be there in our hesitancy to be mean or cruel or unkind. She will be there in our rush to protect a child. She will always be young. She will always be beautiful. She is waiting to see all of us again."