This is Perfecto!

Hi All!  It's Mandy again.  Been a loooong time since I last posted, but I feel this one is worth the wait.

I got engaged last summer to a great guy named Marc (coincidentally, it happened on her birthday!).  I know Christy would have adored him for lots of reasons, but the following would be at the top of the list.  

When I was first dating Marc, I was trying to explain about Christy and her blog, and how she dealt with her cancer with her own special blend of witt, sarcasm, and humor.  He immediately googled this Scrubs clip for me to watch.  It was perfect.  He was perfect :)  

Christine, this one's for you and your twisted sense of humor ;) 

Enjoy! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My5BQTKsa0w

Red Rover, Red Rover! Send "Marine the Cancer-Sniffing Lab" Right Over!

Have you heard about “Marine” yet? She is a labrador retriever in Japan that has been specially trained to sniff out colorectal cancer (in stool or breath samples) with 98% accuracy! How awesome is that? Imagine a future where you go for your annual exam, and an adorable dog is brought in to happily sniff your butt and your stinky breath….I don’t know about you, but I'd be down with that :)

Until that day arrives, be sure to get your colorectal cancer screening and colonoscopy as recommended by your doctor (see link below for current, general guidelines). After all, colonoscopies do save lives! That's a straight-up fact!

P.S. How clever are those Get Your Rear in Gear folks!? I love their recent PSA (above).

~Mandy

Related links:

www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20030391-10391704.html

www.gut.bmj.com/content/early/2011/01/17/gut.2010.218305.full?sid=2d8e10c7-b62e-40b2-bfc9-f58d3324d92f

www.cancer.org/Healthy/FindCancerEarly/CancerScreeningGuidelines

www.getyourrearingear.com/

Time for a change

You may have noticed that Christine's profile (in the column at right) has changed. Here is what it said until the summer of 2009:

"I was originally diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer that had spread to the liver in August 2005 at age of 28. After two major surgeries and months of chemotherapy, I had no evidence of disease. In May/June 2007, a reoccurance was discovered in my abdomen and I am back on chemotherapy." ~Christine, 2008.

After she passed away, it was decided to keep the blog going. Mandy wrote a wonderful tribute to add to Christine's profile:

Christine passed away Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 7:45am. She will by deeply missed, always loved, and never forgotten by all those who were blessed to know and love her. She was an inspiration, a true friend, and a hero. Her beautiful smile, laugh and witty humor -- even in the midst of battling cancer -- is a shining example to all that life IS worth living and fighting for.

Christy did not want us to be sad. Instead, she wanted us to celebrate her life by learning from her experience, and by continuing her fight against colorectal cancer.

So, let's raise a toast to our beloved Christine...and then go kick some cancer ass!

Note: Never fear, loyal followers of this fabulous blog! Christine's family and closest friends will continue making posts in her honour.

Since then, Mandy and Jan have written several posts, some touching, some hilarious (just like Christy). Now, 2 1/2 years later, we're making a slight change. After discussion among her family and close friends, it was decided that if Christine's blog was to continue, it should carry on her legacy of advocating for colorectal cancer patients. In addition to posting stories and memories of Christine, we will post information about relevant colorectal cancer studies, articles, and related topics.

We hope this blog will continue to be a useful resource for patients, survivors and those who care about them. We also hope that you will continue to read through the archives of Christine's posts - her writing voice is so strong and her sense of humor so witty that you can't help but laugh out loud (often), commiserate (sometimes) and be inspired (always).

~Kristen

Boxes, Boxes and More Boxes

I had to laugh when I read Mandy's post about the box that Christine "decorated". It reminded me that Christine was a hoarder of boxes. I'm not sure how that came about. It could have been from the days when I had worked from home and shipped almost daily. We were always scrounging for boxes. Anyway, when she shared an apartment with Jim and Robert, there was a linen closet in their bathroom that had no shelves. She took over that closet and filled it two thirds of the way with folded boxes. On top of those boxes they stored their toilet paper. It was quite the site to see. Jim had trouble understanding why she wanted to save those boxes and was always telling her she needed to get rid of some boxes but she refused. Because he bugged her about it so much she told him that he would never get to use any of them. Now thats tough love!

Jan
Christine's mom

Missing Empty Boxes

Hi All!

It's Mandy again. Been a long time, but believe me, Christy is often on my mind even still.

When Christy graduated from St. Kate's in 1999 and moved into her first grown-up apartment, her friend, Jen Bender, hooked her up with some pretty sweet boxes from the bookstore. Those suckers were a perfect size and could take quite a beating because they originally contained text books. Christy held onto those puppies over the years, even when she moved to L.A., and she shared some with me in 2000 when I made my transition into adulthood. I, in turn, also saved those precious boxes to be used over and over again for my subsequent moves.

Those boxes, along with memories, also contained multiple markings from all our many transitions through life (i.e.: "books;" "fragile;" "kitchen stuff;" etc.). There was one box that Christy had decorated during a late night of last-minute packing which was particularly awesome. On it she had drawn a stick figure of herself exclaiming: "It's Me!" I loved this box. It always made me smile when I saw it.

The problem is, now I can't find it! I've looked everywhere, but there is no stick-Christy to be found :( I must have lent it to someone at some point...and what are the chances they were pack-ratty enough to have saved it? Highly unlikely. So, here I am missing a stupid, cardboard box. Craziness.

Life lesson? Life does go on after loss, but it sure can take some strange, twisty turns down memory lane;)

Miss you always, Christy.

~Mandy