Hello, Wisconsin!

Another month, another post. The good news. There isn't much news. Last month I did my stem cell collection in Madison, Wisc. The collection process is the easy part. It's kind of like giving plasma. One line takes the blood out, one line puts it back in, after going through a centrifuge that collects the stem cells. Now just sit there for four hours. But try not to move, otherwise you're constantly setting the machine off. The worst part of it was all the shots and the aches you get as a side effect leading up to it. They really weren't that bad. 

I was paused on treatment during that time to let my body make as many stem cells as possible and luckily I was able to collect enough stem cells in one day. (It's generally a 2-day process)

And then I went immediately back into treatment later that week and back on my medications. The downside to that is getting your body used to all the medications again, in particular, your digestive system. 

But once again, all of these are minor inconveniences. I've been back on treatment for a few weeks now and seem to be adjusting just fine. It's been nice to see my team back in Rockford again. 

It's been great running into people I haven't seen in awhile. Clients, friends, acquaintances. Everyone comments on how healthy I'm looking and once again, it's always a quick pause moment for me because I forget how bad I was looking in the winter. 

Now for the bit of discouraging news. Because we've been so preoccupied with my recovery, we have had to let some things fall by the wayside. One of those things is our annual Art Fundraiser auction we do for our Art Fund that we started in 2018. For anyone that doesn't know, Stephanie and I started an Art Fund through the Rochelle Area Community Foundation with the aim of helping fund and promote art in our community, with an emphasis on permanent art displays. The fund will eventually help with those projects in the community. Each year we've always held an auction of some of my artwork and the last two years we've started inviting guest artists to auction their artwork as well, with all funds going to the Daniel and Stephanie Willliams Fund for the Arts. 

It's honestly one of the highlights of the year for me. I love seeing the community come together to support a great cause and I have loved seeing some of the work from other local artists, including some high school kids. Watching a piece of their artwork being sold for the first time is the absolute best!

But...health and priorities come first. So we promise, the event is not going away. It's just on pause until next year. With that said, if anyone would still like to help grow the fund this year, you are still able to donate through the website and directly to the Rochelle Area Community Foundation. We always encourage large and small donations, whatever you can afford. You can click the link above or contact Emily at the Foundation to donate.

I'm still hopeful we might be able to do some sort of other less laborious fundraiser this year, but time will only tell. As we move into our busy fall schedule there's no guarantee, but if we can get some donations to help grow our fund this year, it won't feel like a total bust. 

I also want to take a second to thank everyone for the love and support. Whether it's been a gift card, a meal or just words of encouragement. It's meant the world to me. 

Beyond that, life has been fairly normal. We've been cramming in our last minute summer plans because the kids are almost off to school in a week and a half. So we've been fishing, camping and letting the kids have sleepovers.