The Big Climb! Help us raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

So it seems that this is the 3rd year Team Ezra! will be a raising money for the LLS. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society raises money to fund blood cancer research and to help families financially that have a loved one struggling with this disease.

Last night Milo showed me something he is reading for his science class - it was about Leukemia. The irony. Milo knows more about Leukemia than anyone sitting in his science class. At 12 years old he could give the class lecture. He could give all the facts. And then he could tell more. What is it like to lose your identical twin, who also happens to be your best friend? Not many people know what that would feel like, but Milo does. How does your family change after one of the kids die. He knows all about that too.

His homework reading assignment was just about what the disease is. But here are some facts about the disease. Fact: every 4 minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer and every 10 minutes someone dies from one. Fact: over 54,000 people in the US will die from a blood cancer this year. Fact: Leukemia, in particular causes more deaths than any other cancer in children and youth under the age of 20.

Unfortunately, Leukemia isn't just about facts to our family or to any other family touched by this disease. Leukemia is about sadness, loss, devastation, and heartbreak.

As many of you know, my son Ezra had Leukemia for less than one week before he was diagnosed. It was so fast and so silent. On the day Ezra was diagnosed he was doing fitness tests in PE and taking a test for advanced placement learning opportunities. He ran around with friends at lunch. He stayed after school to play with his brother and friends.

And when our extremely healthy 10 year old said he wasn't feeling well later that evening, we were concerned. Concerned enough to take him to urgent care, even though the consulting nurse thought it was nothing and there was no need to bring him in. Within minutes of arriving at Urgent Care, Ezra slipped into a coma. Not that we knew it, we just thought he had fallen asleep. He had. A few minutes later blood tests came back and we heard the words Leukemia for the first time. He presented with a white blood cell count well over 300,000. Ezra never woke up and died 6 days later.

We received test results after Ezra died, it seems he had a very rare and aggressive form of Leukemia that here in the US only about 10 kids a year get. Their odds at survival are less than 5%. Here is another fact. I read recently that children diagnosed with Leukemia - that present with very high white blood cell counts are not likely to survive.

Leukemia sucks. It killed my son. There aren't any facts or statistics that can explain what that feels like.

And so, for all of these reasons our family is raising money for the LLS . I hope you can join us in our fight against Leukemia. Donate to Team Ezra!

Thoughts of Ezra and Open House Feb 13 6:00-7:30pm

Of course we remember Ezra everyday, but on his heaven anniversary he is even closer to our hearts. His unicycle, helmet, and waveboard on resting in the corner of our family room with a favorite pair of his Converse sneakers. A few of his favorite things. Reminding us of his active and fun life. Always on the move. Always laughing. Always enjoying life. Sometimes I put those sneakers on and wear them. I love that I can do that. It makes me feel so close to him.

A special thanks to all of our friends who remember Ezra and think of ways to honor his memory and life. It means so much to all of us.

We will have an open house February 13, 2011 from 6:00 - 7:30 pm. If you would like to stop by, you are welcome.

Team Ezra - First Place Fundraising! $56,795 - WOW!

Thank you to everyone who donated to Team Ezra! We are very honored to announce that the first place for team fundraising went to Team Ezra and the first place for individual fundraising went to Ryan. We were so pleased to be able to raise so much money in Ezra's name, it was truly an honor and a gave us a real feeling of accomplishment.

Thank you to everyone who climbed the Columbia Tower with us. Our team was 58 members strong and had participants from far off places like Chicago, Park City, and Washougal and many from our very own hometown of Seattle. Our team members did an incredible job fundraising. I know that hardly anyone likes fundraising, but everyone got in the spirit and got behind our goal which was to raise as much money as possible to fight blood cancers in honor of Ezra. Thank you.

In addition, we had so many donations coming in from far and wide from people who could not climb with us, we appreciate every single donation, regardless of the amount, every dollar helped us reach our goal. Huge thank you!

During February and March, Team Ezra made it into the top 10 fundraising teams and we saw our team climb from team #10 to team #4. And then in the last few weeks, we jumped from team #4 to team #1, with the results not being released until last Thursday night. We were surprised and happy to hear that we had made it to the #1 spot. Incredible. Last year we raised just over $10,000. This year, over $56,000. I got to say a few words at the awards event, which combined top racers and top fundraisers from both the firefighters climb and the non firefighters climb. I thanked the LLS for sponsoring the event which gave us the opportunity to raise funds in Ezra's name, funds that will go directly to helping fight the disease that took his life. I said it was sort of like letting me write in huge letters across the sky "Ezra was here!' That his life mattered. That he made a difference in the world. That he made the world a better place when he lived and that he continues to do so through ways we honor his life today."

Other Big Climb numbers... Last year the 2 Big Climbs raised $1.3 million, this year they raised $1.6 million (23% increase). 1st place fundraising: Team Ezra $56,796. 2nd place: Team Lisa A $50,530. 3rd place: Climbing for Caleb $33,789.

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Thanks for Supporting Team Ezra 2010

It has been about a month since the Big Climb. I think we have finally recovered!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who supported Team Ezra, we appreciate it so much! This Big Climb was very exciting for us as Ezra was the official honoree of the 2010 Big Climb. We felt so honored to have him chosen for this, but we also felt a lot of pressure to get Ezra's story out there and involve as many people as possible. This translated to many hours of emails, phone calls, interviews, and emotional exhaustion. But through this great effort we hoped to raise Leukemia awareness, and help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society raise funds for blood cancer research, as well as helping patients and their families currently fighting blood cancers. We received donations from a great number of people far and wide and appreciate each one of our supporters. The Final results will be tallied and released next week and I will post them here at that time.

Our team had about 50 people climb, which was awesome. Some were walkers, some were racers. Our fastest team member was my nephew Eric, who traveled from Park City, UT to climb with us. Milo was our 2nd fastest team member, and also the 2nd fastest racer under twelve. He finished in 12 minutes, which was smokin' fast. As with last year, most of our fastest times went to the kids on our team. In the recovery room after our climb, we got to watch my nephew Eric - who is a firefighter and paramedic - "assist in saving a life," when one of the climbers, not from our team had a heart attack and collapsed. Eric is as modest as he is awesome.

Stay tuned for final result tallies.

Fight Leukemia, join Team Ezra!

So as many of you know, we are gearing up for the Big Climb Sunday March 21, 2010. The Big Climb is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's biggest fundraiser in the Washington/Alaska region. Every year they choose a patient to represent the cause. This year they chose our son Ezra. We are honored.

We know lots of people read this blog and lots of people have been touched by Ezra's life. We are asking you to donate to Team Ezra. $5, $10, $25, $100, $1000. You get the picture. Donations to the LLS go to researching blood cancers and financially helping patients dealing with these horrible diseases. Ezra's oncologist at Seattle Children's Hospital receives research money from LLS for her work. The LLS is important. Every single day in America a child dies from Leukemia. Every 10 minutes in the US someone dies from a blood cancer. You can make a difference. Join us. Donate to Team Ezra today. We are counting on you. If you are reading this, go to bigclimb.org. Click on donate. We would love it if you pledged either Ezra's twin brother Milo or his one and only sister Luka! Please help this be the biggest year EVER for the fight against blood cancers.

Thank you for your contribution. Ezra's family.

Thank you everyone for coming to the candle lighting for Ezra

It was really nice to see everyone last month for Ezra's 1st heaven anniversary. We were delighted to have over 150 friends crowd into our home to share pink cupcakes and pink lemonade in Ezra's honor. The candles were beautiful and lit up Ezra's shrine, casting a beautiful glow over the photos and hundreds of origami cranes that still decorate our porch.

It was wonderful to here the stories of how Ezra has changed the lives of so many people - both young and old. We found that many people thought that that day would be so hard for us, but in reality, that day was not as hard as most, because so many of our loved ones were gathered around and talking about Ezra. We love to talk about Ezra. Unfortunately when someone dies, many avoid talking about that person or even saying the person's name for fear of causing pain. Ironically our pain comes from not hearing Ezra's name.

As you can imagine, this has been a really hard year for us. The one year anniversary was an important marker for us and one we wanted to share. At Ezra's candle lighting there was a very interesting conversation going on about how other cultures mark the death of a loved one, yet in our culture there is no set way to do this.

In our grief therapy group - with other parents of children who died last year, we were able to hear what a few other families had done to mark this important day and we got some ideas from them. We are so greatful to Seattle Children's Hospital for creating these grieving groups, this allows us to come together with others who are on the same path as we are and we appreciate their comfort, wisdom, support, and friendship and especially just being able to share our honest feelings about grieving with others who completely understand.

One common misconception that many have about losing a child is that after the first year of loss, things begin to get easier. This is quite simply just not true at all. Most of the first year is spent in shock and as you come out of the shock you are actually in a very painful place, often even more painful than the first year. Also, we face many side effects from grief, sort of like post traumatic stress - problems staying focused on things, problems remembering things, problems getting things done. Everyday simple tasks are hard for us to accomplish. And so we find that time has not made Ezra's death easier for any of us, but the love, friendship, and support of our friends continues to warm our hearts and helps to give us courage to face each new day.

Thank you for being Ezra's friends and ours too. We are thankful to have you in our lives. Thank you for sharing Ezra's first Heaven anniversary with us.

Friends of Ezra - Light a Candle & Open House

Friday, February 5, 2010 is the one year anniversary of Ezra going to heaven.

We invite all who would like to join us to come by our home on

Saturday February 6

from 6:30 - 8:30pm.

You are welcome to come and light a candle in Ezra's memory. Bring your own or we will have some here as well. Also, we will have an open house during this time and you are welcome and encouraged to come in and visit or if you would prefer to leave your candle at Ezra's shrine on our porch and not come in, that is fine too.

Kids are welcome, adults are welcome, we hope you can join us. If you are so inclined, we would love a note or letter that expresses how your life has been touched by Ezra's life, we will keep them for a book.

If you are far away, feel free to light a candle in your home for Ezra and if you want to write something on the blog, that would be lovely as well.

On Friday, February 5, kids and teachers at McGilvra Elementary will wear PINK in memory of Ezra - thank you amazing teacher friends for organizing this lovely tribute.