Rachel and I have been facing a tremendously taxing decision on what is next for Trey.  Do we have him go through a treatment that has a roughly 66% chance of being successful (shrinking or slowing the growth of his tumors) at a certain if not unknown cost to him and our family (physical, mental, emotional, etc.)?  Should we instead forgo the treatment as he is perfectly fine…right now?  The last time we did something aggressive when he was perfectly “fine” it ended terribly (though this is far less risky).

If we go through our motto of “no regrets” the question is, if we do the treatment and it doesn’t work, something goes wrong, or the cost is far greater for whatever reason, will we feel worse than if we forgo the treatment and he becomes symptomatic and we wonder “what if we had?”  Perhaps that is a defeatist way of looking at things but it’s a way we have filtered things…lately at least.

Oddly or ironically, just before Rachel and Trey headed to Philly, on a whim I priced a trip to Disney for our family.  Then, at a point where I was really frustrated with the decision making process and tired of putting this boy through so much (and the thought of putting him through so much more), I thought of one thing.  I just want him to be happy, to live, to enjoy life.  I want him to get to go back to Disney.  Then, something else hit me…hard.

I’m not ready for Joe and Bella’s next big memory of Trey to be of him dying.  That’s all…that’s it.  If we go to Disney and then go through with the treatment, we will have the memories of the trip no matters what happens.

So, I need to be completely open, honest, and vulnerable as I encourage all of you to be time and again.  We need help financially to get there.  Rather than putting together 15 different fundraiser selling this or organizing that, I would like to give you the opportunity to simply help make this happen directly.  We have set up an account here.  We feel that this is the best way to cast the widest net possible to help us reach our goal and get there before he becomes “symptomatic.”

As always, we really appreciate everything all of you do in supporting us through this time.  We expect nothing and are constantly humbled by everyone’s willingness to be here with us.  We will be keeping you updated on how things are going and how things are progressing on our desire to take them to Disney.