An email to friends - April 2010

I come from strong stock. On my mother’s side our family came along the Oregon Trail to settle into the sprawling land of Eastern Oregon. On my father’s side my family made it across the ocean on slave ships and survived.

Because of this rich heritage I consider myself to have a strong will to live. So when the Doctor explained today that the Leukemia has crept back into my bones I thought to myself that it must not know who it’s messing with.

I know you will have questions and concerns and I will do my best to share more details as they come. The first step, now that the tests have revealed where we stand today, will be to undergo some chemotherapy which will entail two days a month at OHSU for somewhere between three and six months. I might not lose my hair. It may not be too dramatic to glide through. I feel as if I am an experienced patient and a veteran survivor supported in every way by friends and family and nurses and doctors. You all show a graceful state of humanity and compassion and a solid sense of humor, thank God.

I have learned since originally being diagnosed almost eight years ago that the quality of my life is held in my own hands and I am glad to have made it this far. The Doctors have not given me a terminal prognosis they believe that there is reasonable hope that I will make it through this. I felt very recently that I had just about run the marathon and now understand that I’m at about mile 12. So, time to run on.

My highest hopes for the next phase of my life is to continue to do what I love…work on my house, play guitar, listen to music, write songs, look at houses, read the newspaper, walk the dogs, talk on the phone and celebrate the occasional Happy hour. The Helgerson Team is alive and well at The Hasson Company and I am very proud to be associated with women who have such an outstanding work ethic at such a supportive company. Amelia is hopefully going to be playing shows as we regain our focus our intent is to play at least one show a month. It’s time to rock. I will be writing on a blog if you are interested in reading my wandering words, let me know.