January 2000 Updates on

Mary Beth

The following page contains updates regarding Mary Beth's progress for January of 2000. Links to other pages: Home / Pictures / Prayer Chain / Prayer Angels December / February If you wish to contact Mary Beth's family, you may do so through contact us. 1/4/00 Mary Beth started the new millennium by attending a partial day of school on Monday, Jan 3.  She then had her daily hospital visit where she received a radiation treatment, chemotherapy treatment and a two-hour MRI.  The results of the MRI showed that the treatments are effectively fighting the cancer. There is no sign of any tumor on her brain, there has been no new growth and the tumor on her spine is shrinking.  Mary Beth is half way through her radiation treatments and your prayers are working!!  I started to update the website this week and wish to thank Judy Rieke for developing this site and posting the previous updates for us since MB's diagnosis. Thank you and God bless you! Gerry Ricken 1/17/00 The response to the prayer chain has been tremendous.  We have heard from a ton of people from OLP Parishioners and students to friends and relatives around the country and world who have joined it. We would like to thank all who have joined in prayer for MB.  We have also incorporated the Father Chaminade prayer as part of our daily prayers. The radiation treatments are starting to physically take their toll on Mary Beth. Her blood counts continue to drop, but she has not yet had a transfusion. She can't come to school until her blood counts rebound, and this won't occur until radiation is over. With 24 treatments a part of history, the good news is that she has only 6 treatments remaining. If all goes well, Radiation Freedom Day will be next Tuesday after her final treatment. She will then get about a week off before her heavy duty chemotherapy starts on February 1st. When this occurs, her blood counts will fall as well. She is catching up on school work and is planning on participating in selected activities for Catholic School's Week. God bless, Gerry 1/24/00 Last week, Mary Beth's radiation treatment changed slightly to incorporate "radiation boost" treatments specifically to the areas of her spine and brain where the tumors appeared. She completed these treatments to her spine on Friday and will be receiving five such treatments this week to her brain. So, Radiation Freedom Day will officially come on Friday of this week, about the same time as the all school mass for Catholic Schools Week. The collective side-effects of these treatments are physically challenging for her. She received a blood transfusion last week to regain strength to continue treatments. By Sunday, she had gained enough strength to attend the NFC Championship game and watch the Super Bowl Bound Rams beat the Buccaneers. She also had the opportunity to meet the team after the game in the players family area as a guest of Natalie and Amp Lee. She is planning to attend selected activities at school this week and wants to express her continued gratefulness to all of you for your prayers and support. God bless, Gerry Home / Top of page / Prayer chain / December / February