Saturday April 2nd we celebrate the life of Stephaine K Marshall (7-8-01 to 4-11-15)

Not only was she an amazing daughter. She's also the co-founder of "A Mission Of Love"

Steph loved to laugh and was passionate about helping others. On Saturday April 2nd. We're going to accomplish both with our 6th annual celebration of life show.

The show takes place at the MRCC Banquet Center 23401 Mound Rd, Warren, MI 48089.

We have 6 comedians performing, gift basket raffles, a 50/50 raffle and a special guest host...

As seen on "Problem Solvers" and " Hall Of Shame" Rob Wolchek.

For more information and tickets click here.

All of the proceeds from this show will be donated to 3 local families battling cancer.

Meet Pryce Redmon.

We first met Pryce a couple of years ago when we provided him with some Christmas gifts.

Here is a little about Pryce from C.S. Mott...

“Pryce was diagnosed with Stage IV neuroblastoma in August 2018. He endured 10 rounds of chemotherapy, 12 rounds of radiation, immunotherapy, surgeries, and two stem cell transplants before he had his first clear scans.

Three months later, the cancer had returned and had spread to his brain. In January 2020, Pryce had emergency surgery to remove a golf ball size brain tumor. Since then, he has had multiple rounds of radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. He continues to fight with a smile on his face.”

Meet Lisa Shields. 

In the beginning of September 2020 I was having some pretty serious stomach pains and difficulty with eating certain foods. I knew I needed to see a doctor, and thought maybe I had IBS or colitis, as many in my extended family do.

In the middle of the month, my father in law, our girls sweet Poppie, died suddenly. We went to be with my mother in law, and my symptoms were getting worse. However, I chalked it up to grief. When I came home, I made an appointment with my GP. He was so attentive, and listened to me, and sent me right away, that same day to see a Gastroenterologist.

He also scheduled a CT the next day. On my way home from getting the CT, he called me. You could hear the shock in his voice that there were multiple tumors in my lower abdomen/pelvis. He put a rush on an MRI and they were able to fit me in at the hospital the next night.

Thankfully, we have some dear family friends that are physicians, and they made personal calls to get me in right away, in fact, six days from the day I saw my GP, with a wonderful gynecological oncologist. His plan was surgery right away to debunk the tumors, followed by chemotherapy.

However, he wanted one more scan. The scan area covered a greater part of my body, and metastases were found in my neck. The surgery was called off and chemo started right away. I officially have Stage IV metastatic ovarian cancer. My doctor told me that in order to operate the metastases had to be undetectable. He said we’d start with three rounds of chemo.

Each round of chemo is three weeks long. One day of infusion followed by a period of (necessary) recovery. After which, I would have repeat scans to see where we were at. The first round of chemo, which was six hours at the infusion center, I had a pretty severe reaction. The decision was made that in order to keep going with the chemo, I would now have it inpatient at the hospital, over the course of eighteen hours, with several medications as pre-treatments to help prevent any reactions. After the second round, my white blood cell count and neutrophil count were too low to have my third infusion.

We had to wait a week for them to go up, which they did, only incrementally, but enough to continue. After the third round, it was decided that 24 hours after chemo ended, I would have an infusion of Neulasta, a drug that would help my body made neutrophils. After three rounds, scans were repeated. Thankfully, the ovarian tumors have shown significant reduction. However, the metastases were still detectable, although a bit reduced.

My oncologist has decided that we will do up to six more rounds of chemo, trying to shrink the metastases and get to surgery. He also decided to add a biologic to my treatment course on the same day as the Neulasta. Surgery is my best chance for survival. This is Stage IV, so it is considered that if, no, when I survive this, it will be a chronic condition for the remainder of my life. I have every intention of beating this cancer. I am doing everything in my power, and we have so many people doing what they can to help us. We are ever grateful. But, we realize that we will need the support of our friends and family for quite a while.

I am on a medical leave from my job. I am also working with an integrative oncologist, whose job is to help my survive this chemo and treatment, and help keep the rest of my body and organs healthy. She is wonderful, but it is a great expense, not covered by insurance. I am eating a specialized diet to help me get through treatment, which is more than our normal grocery bill.

Our oldest child was sick for five years previous to this. Thankfully, she is well and doing wonderfully, but the majority of her care was out of state and not covered by insurance, so we are coming at this a bit depleted financially. We are so very grateful for all of the help, prayers, caregiving, house cleaning and support that our friends and family have provided us. We look forward to coming to the other side of this cancer journey together, as a family.

Meet Jeff Rydman.

My husband, Jeff, was diagnosed with breast cancer in May of 2021 after what seemed like an over night change in the appearance and feel of his left nipple. Needless to say, it was a shock to discover it was cancer, since less than 1% of breast cancer cases occur in men, but thankfully, all the amazing research and funding that the courageous women before us with breast cancer have raised and participated in all applies.

We soon discovered it was stage 2B, meaning it had spread to his lymph system, but luckily, he didn’t have any of the genetic components that can make it more aggressive and lower the chances for remission. Plus, it was what they call hormone positive, which means there are treatments available after the cancer is gone which greatly reduce the chances of it returning.

So, we embarked on 6 months of chemotherapy, followed by a full left breast mastectomy with removal of 10 lymph nodes, physical therapy following the surgery and we are currently (as of January) halfway through 6 weeks of post-surgery radiation. As of now, it looks like the treatment plan has worked and we expect him to be cancer-free after radiation!

Then, he begins 8 years of hormone therapy in hopes of it not returning. Above, the picture shows us celebrating his last day of chemo back in October and it’s been our ability to celebrate these little moments throughout this journey that have kept us positive and moving towards healing. We are so grateful for the support Apple and its resources have given us, but it’s truly the soul of our company, the people like you, that have made this journey even easier! Thank you!