Happy 17th Birthday Taylor!

If you've got to have chemo on your birthday, it's nice to be in a hospital where everybody knows your name! Arnold Palmer Doctors and Nurses are wonderful. We are Blessed to be in their care!!

I love my boy!

Dr. Sutphin will always be a part of our family!

Dr. Levy is one of Taylor's favorites!

APH 4th Floor Nurses are so special. Thanks ladies!

Taylor's cousins are right down the street from APH and wouldn't have missed his bday for the world!

Taylor was happy to have a surprise shorter chemo!! And cousins and best friends the Thurstons showed up to cut the birthday cake! (luckily the nurse stopped me before I lit the candles) who knew you couldn't light a candle in the hospital? Sprinklers on the 4th floor at APH would not have been welcomed!!! Hope Taylor made a wish anyway! 

Happy 17th Birthday Big Man! 

We love you!

Relay for Life — Thank you Team Taylor!

There would not have been a "Team Taylor" if it wasn't for our good friends and neighbors, the Hebelers. Lauren—Taylor's long time friend and classmate— wanted to do something to support Taylor along his road to recovery, so she and her best friend, Alex, and sister Veronica signed up for  The American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life" race. Their team, "TEAM TAYLOR" raised over $1000 for The American Cancer Society. Way to go girls!

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12FL?team_id=1052342&pg=team&fr_id=37642

Lauren Hebeler (right) and her sister Veronica (left) with Taylor at the Relay for Life Walk

We all know that behind every wonderful leader there is an equally wonderful Mom!! Thanks JoMarie:)

The whole Team Taylor Gang! 

All these wonderful friends and more set up camp for a night under the stars and took turns walking for Team Taylor. What a wonderful show of support.

Painted Mustaches were a hit during the Walk! (That's Tyler on the Right—the mustaches were his idea.)

When Tyler pulled out his mustache painting supplies and yelling, "Painted Mustaches for a dollar!" as all the Teams passed by our tent, we all thought it was kind of lame, but surprisingly mustaches quickly became the "must-have" for the night! Tyler's hair brained idea raised almost 100 bucks for Team Taylor! And guess who was the number one customer— Taylor himself. He sported a mustache, beard and eyebrows, saying it was nice to have some hair again!

These guys and gal took a break from walking for a game of late night football. 

The "crazy's" come out after 2:00am!!! This was the "beach and bikini" lap!

A long day for the Grandparents, but they wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Like so many other days along Taylor's Road to Recovery, Ya-Ya and Pop-Pop's love and support never cease to amaze us. Their day started with a 9:00am Auction decorating session at St. Andrew Catholic School that ended up lasting all day! Then we quickly headed home to pack up camp and relay supplies! Before we knew it, it was 12:00am...Ya-Ya and Pop-Pop walked many laps, got mustaches, set up tents and chairs! Mom and Dad have been our rocks, we are so blessed to have them here to help with everything!!!!

It was a fantastic event. Thanks so much to Team Taylor!

Taylor will be checking in Monday morning bright and early for his next round of chemo (a 5-day stint). Please keep him in your prayers. God bless!

WE ARE TEAM TAYLOR!

RELAY FOR LIFE WALK, CLERMONT FLORIDA— A crowd of friends and family gathered at Tent #8 to cheer Taylor on as he and other cancer survivors made the first lap around the track. It sounds kind of weird saying that Taylor is a a cancer survivor, even though he's in the midst of his treatments, but he is a survivor! He has been through so much in the last seven months, and his attitude is fantastic. He was all smiles at the Walk and really enjoyed being out and mixing it up with his friends.

Melissa and Spencer stayed the night with the Relay for Life Team. Stay tuned for more pictures!

Easter Weekend with the Family!

Taylor and Melissa arrived home last Thursday just in time to spend the holiday weekend with family! The Thurstons made this cool welcome home banner for Taylor.

Taylor joined us at church on Sunday and then the whole family had a wonderful dinner together, prepared by Sam and Cheryl! Thanks Ya-Ya and Pop-Pop!

T got a little Basketball in.

 A family that prays together, stays together!

And finally, we celebrated cousin Kaylee's 9th birthday!

It was a very Happy Easter indeed!

Taylor went in for his 2-Day chemo session this week and was sent home because his white bood counts were low. Hopefully, they'll come up over the weeknd and he'll be able to get back on track on Monday.

What are low blood counts?

Many of the chemotherapy drugs temporarily stop cells from dividing, especially the cells that divide quickly. Blood cells; red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets are made by the bone marrow. These blood cells divide quickly. Chemotherapy may lead to low blood counts, causing the possibility of a variety of symptoms. like fever, fatigue, etc. 

Thanks for keeping Taylor in your prayers!

Proton Radiation Therapy Complete!

We're so glad to have accomplished this milestone! Six weeks in Jacksonville away from the rest of the family was tough, but we made it through! Just wanted to share some pictures of the actual Proton radiation therapy Taylor went through six days a week for 6 weeks.

Proton Therapy has been used as a form of Radiation since 1954. Since then more that 60,000 patients worldwide have received proton therapy. It is a form of radiation that uses protons which are easier to control instead of X-rays. The UF Institute is one of the busiest in the world. They have treated over 250 children within the past 3 years.

Taylor would lye in a customized body mold for each treatment. Lasers would align the beam so that proton therapy is delivered precisely to the tumor site each time. His daily treatment would take 45 minutes. Most of this time is spent replicating and verifying the correct body position for treatment. The average time to actually deliver proton therapy is only one to three minutes. During this Taylor did not feel or see the proton beam. 

Pretty amazing stuff!

An Update from Jacksonville!

17 Proton Beam Radiation sessions done only 11 to go! Dr. Danny Indelicato says he is thrilled with Taylor and how he is doing with the radiation. The UF Proton Institute is truly amazing and is helping so many people! 

The Jacksonville Ronald McDonald House has been so wonderful to us. Most nights the 30 room house is full. Many are like us traveling to Jacksonville to receive Proton therapy. There are quite a few families from Europe. The house is lucky...volunteers and businesses provide dinner each night. There is a playroom, playground, laundry room and community kitchen that is open 24hrs a day.  

Spencer, Sammy and Brad were here this weekend to visit! Spencer and Sammy made friends with a very special little boy named Bradlee. He is 3-1/2 and has a brain tumor, and he's here getting the Proton Radiation too. He wore out Spencer and Sammy with tricycle races, basketball and sliding down the playground slide!! (You can keep up with Bradlee and his story on Facebook at "Fighting for Bradlee".

We took the boys to Dave and Busters to watch the Gator Game on Saturday night. Most of the tables were a little too tall for Taylor!! I guess we could have just shoveled the food right in his mouth! 

The Jacksonville Zoo was a MUST for Sammy. If you did not already know....Sammy wants to "own his own Zoo someday". The Zoo was really fun.  Taylor decided to take Ya-Ya and Pop-Pop for the UF Proton Center tour and lunch...he is not much of a Zoo guy.

Hope everybody has a great weekend!

Jackson's Family Birthday Party!

Jackson, the youngest cousin in the family, has been Taylor's a shining star along his road to recovery. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, Jackson's way of showing his love and support for Taylor has been through constant gift giving. He has built Taylor a Lego church, a Legoman in a wheel chair (complete with a Lego knit cap just like Taylor's), and a picture of Jackson at Christmas with the Chick-fil-A Cow. He has drawn pictures and cards and Valentines and even gave him some Gator themed Duct tape for Christmas! Jackson knows Taylor is a huge Gator and Tebow fan, so he too has become one, dressing the part almost every day. So it didn't surprise us when Jackson decided he wanted to have a "Gator/Broncos" Birthday party at the Becorests for his 7th birthday. Everyone happily obliged (even me, the lone Seminole fan!).

The whole family helped decorate!

Everyone wore Orange and Blue.

 Jackson loved his Tim Tebow Jersey from Taylor, Spencer and Sammy.

 I bet Jackson wished for Taylor to get well!

 Taylor took a stroll!

Spencer built some Police legos for Jackson!

Ya-Ya read the boys one of their favorite books from when they were little.

Needless to say, Jackson had a fabulous birthday!

Taylor made a special trip home from Jacksonville to celebrate Jackson's birthday. He wasn't feeling all that great after his latest chemo treatment last week, but he was really looking forward to spending the weekend at home. Early Sunday morning Taylor started running a fever so Melissa and Brad took him to the ER. His blood counts were really low and he was admitted. He's staying over night or until they can get his fever down and his blood counts up again. They are due back to Jacksonville Monday to continue radiation. We'll keep you posted on when they are able to leave.

Feel better Taylor! We're all praying for ya!