Our Events Part 3 {scroll down and read "Gage part 2" first. It will make more sense that way.}

Gage came home from the hospital and was recovering nicely. He was suffering from a side effect called "Cerebellar Mutism" which consists of loss of speech, motor skills and balance. He began to attend Physical Therapy twice a week and soon these side effects became less and less. He still loses his balance and has a hard time with some motor skills, but we are confident this will all return to its full capacity.

In the mean time we were busy planning our Run N Roll day. Eight of Gretchen and Troy's friends got on board, my friend Jamie, Cam & Erin, and myself. We began to refer to ourselves as "Team Gage." We spent our days finding sponsors, making phone calls, sending emails, planning meetings, and running around the city.  But these are just "details" what was really happening was Magic.

It seemed like every single day one of us from Team Gage would receive another phone call, message, or email about someone else that heard Gage's story and wanted to help, to donate, to be a part of, to give a hug to,  to show their love, to cry with us, to reach out, to care.
We began to hear stories from complete strangers about how their son is going through leukemia and they want to help..or someone else knew someone that was suffering from cancer..or someone else whose husband had to have a bone marrow transplant, or someone's grand daughter who was born one pound..And every single one of them had had a lot of help from other people and they wanted to "pay it forward."  People's stories, peoples struggles. And and this is where it all became clear. It began to make sense..These people..These complete Strangers...These friends..They were the ones saving US. .  They taught us what matters. They showed us what charity is. They proved to us that  human nature is good. They Changed us. Forever..They taught us that We were all the same. We need each other and
We became connected.
Connected to something bigger out there.
Connected to what matters.
Connected to Reality.
Connected to each other.
We may never see some of these people again..but we will always be connected. We will always love each other. We will always watch out for each other. And we will be more aware because of them.

Our day finally came.  Team Gage was tired, but we were ready..
We started out the day at 6:15 am setting up Murray Park for our Save the Day 5k. We had banners, sponsors,  T-shirts, cookies from Haagermans Bakery, strawberries, apples, and clif bars from Whole Foods, water bottles from Fiji water, energy drinks from H2Ooverdrive, coffee, hot chocolate, tables, chairs, a D.J., cones, caution tape, runners bags, megaphones, microphones, flags, posters, our course mapped out,  everything you can think of..we had it ready to go.
And then the firemen. Gage's firemen..OUR firemen..With their truck, ladder up with American flag waving proudly set as our backdrop to our Start line.

Then they began to arrive..by the ones, the tens, then the hundreds...
The energy and excitement was so thick you could almost taste it. The spirit that was unlike anything I have ever experienced.

And I stood there..
I looked around in AWE. I teared up at the most beautiful, amazing sight I had ever seen. All of those people were there for the same reason. They had felt it too..They KNEW we were all connected..That because of Gage, but also something much bigger, we had all been changed.

Gage led us in the "MARK, GET SET, GO!" and they were off..many high-fived Gage as they ran by him, loving him and thanking him for allowing them to be part of something so great.
We partied, we danced, we gave prizes, we had raffle winners, we laughed, we cried some more, and we CELEBRATED. Celebrated Gage and all that is good in this world.

Then we packed up, left our amazing 5k and continued on to Bonwood Bowl where we would set up for our Silent Auction and a great day of bowling. We had 81 companies that had donated to us..Items consisted anywhere from gift cards to resturants, to week long vacations. We had snowboards, spa treatments, baby items, children's bikes, electric guitars, wall art, makeup, guided river trips, guided hunting trips, wine baskets, children's baskets, anything and everything that you could think of..And it was a complete success!! Every item was bid on, every item was sold.
Every lane in the bowling alley was taken. It was a full house.

The spirit continued on there..At one point I saw my uncle Scott in the cafe where the auction items were set up and he said to me, "the energy here is unbelievable..this is an amazing sight..and then tears streamed down his face, as he said to me, I have never seen anything like this."
He felt it too.

Then in walked Dr. Walker. Gage's surgeon. We were so happy to see him. I asked him If I could embarrass him, to which he replied with a humble voice "no." To which I replied back, "well I'm sorry Dr. Walker, but we just have to."  I took him by the arm and he hesitantly followed..Cameron hushed the bowling alley and we honored that man. For giving Gage his life. For giving US our Gage.  Everyone cheered, people got goosebumps, and their were more tears shed.

The whole day was surreal. It felt like a dream. It was unreal. It was the most amazing thing I have ever had the honor of being a part of.  I will never forget it. I will never forget how hard Team Gage worked, I will never forget how many people reached out. I will never forget the connection we all felt. And I will be changed forever because of it. When I look back on that night talking to my friend Jamie, the helpless feeling that I had, to what it had become,  never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined it. Never would I have thought that I would be a part of something so incredible.
And once again I prayed and Thanked Heavenly Father for giving us this miracle.

GAGE part 2.

It was Valentines Day 2012. Gage was scheduled to get his 3 month scan to make sure he was in the clear and his tumor had not returned. Although, we were all a little bit nervous, we were mostly confident that this visit would be good news. I was at Old Navy looking for little Valentine gifts for my kids for our annual candlelight dinner that night when I got the call. It was Gretchen. I answered and what I heard on the other end stopped me in my tracks. Through a voice I could barely understand bc she was crying so hard the words "Gage's brain tumor is back and its growing toward the brain stem. They have to go back in for surgery." I was once again at a loss for words. That all too familiar helpless feeling hit me again like a ton of bricks. All I could say was "I'm so so sorry." Needless to say, our Valentine festivities were sullen. We were quiet with our minds racing of what may be this time. Questions like 'what does this mean? will it be cancerous this time? will Gage be okay? What if...." the unthinkable.

A few weeks passed and we all tried to go about "normal" life with pits in our stomach waiting for surgery day. A few days before Gage's surgery would take, my boys tutor, named Jamie Cheney, was at our house. I was telling her the story and expressing my thoughts on how helpless I felt. I didn't know what to do. Jamie started to tell me about a 5k she had done for her neighbor that needed help with medical bills.. And a LIGHT went off in my mind, a feeling came over me, YES! I CAN DO THAT!! I CAN HELP RAISE MONEY! Suddenly, I didn't feel so helpless, and THAT gave me a purpose! I know how to do a 5k! I have run them before! It won't be that hard!! What could really go into it! We just plan and people will come! I wish I could take credit for such a genius idea, but it wasn't mine. However, I thank God for Jamie every day for planting that seed.  I got on the phone that night and told Gretchen "I'm going to do a 5k for you!! Maybe we can make some money to help with the growing medical bills, it won't be much, but anything helps right?!!" Through tears, all she could say was "thank you." Then I called Cameron, he said "Let's do a Bowl-A-Thon also! We can use the facility for free and all proceeds can go to Gage!" Then I called Gretchen's friend Brooke Amidei..she excitedly was on board and said "I will be in charge of the Silent Auction and help get sponsors!" ...this is where I got a little nervous...
So within a 48 hour time period, our little 5k had turned into something much bigger than I could have dreamed.
We quickly put together a Facebook page, created a blog, got our run advertised on 'Utahrunners.com and braced ourselves for a long day of surgery.
 
SURGERY DAY:
Gretchen, Troy, Gage and I arrived at Primary Children's Medical Center at 6:15 a.m. on February 29, 2012.  Gage was in pretty good spirits, Gretchen and Troy were trying to be so brave for him. We waited in waiting room after waiting room as the Doctors and surgeons got prepared for what would end up being a grueling 12 hour surgery. This time was different. We knew what to expect PERSAY...but it was brain surgery. Gage was only 4 years old. We were still so afraid. I tried to stay in the background and let those three have their time together. I knew what was in both of their minds..I knew the unthinkable was being thought..and I knew that the unthinkable could be a reality. The thought was unbearable. We forced ourselves to go on faith. To be positive and try to be strong. We smiled at Gage, reassured him and let him know that "every little thing was going to be alright."
Then the time came for Gage to be taken in. I watched and took photos of Gretchen and Troy saying 'goodbye' to their brave little superhero. "Goodbye sweet angel, we will be here waiting for you when you wake up..we love you, be brave buddy!"

Shortly thereafter, mom and dad arrived, John and Diane arrived, {Troy's parents} then Zach, Cameron, Ryan, Trevor and of course Matt Alba.. Who is their friend that is always first on the scene. We waited..tried to keep ourselves busy. The nurse in the Operating room would call every hour with an update, as we received updates, we would update the cyber world. And within hours, we had hundreds of followers praying for our little Gage, hitting "refresh" on their computers and waiting for any kind of news. A 4 year old beautiful boy had already won over the hearts of so many.
We immediately felt the love, the prayers, the thoughts, the support. We cried at each new comment and every new "like." We were shocked at how many people were caring about our Gage.

After 8 hours Doctor Walker called and said "I'm going to close him up, take him in for an MRI and depending on what I see, we will either go back in or be done." Well, the tumor was still there. He had to go back in. This was Gage's 2nd MRI for the day thus far. We paced the hallways, tried to laugh, had running races down the hallways of the hospital, tried to keep our minds busy. Hours passed. We were impatiently being patient. At this point, it was me, Gretch, Troy, John, Diane, and mom and dad that were there.
There was a big snowstorm happening outside. It seemed fitting.
Then Dr. Walker called again..same thing.."I'm closing him up and taking him in for another MRI. If the tumor is gone, we will be done..if it's not, we will go back in." It was now around 5:30 p.m. We waited. And we waited some more. Finally after about an hour and half, Gretchen received the call...we stood around her as she fell into tears and exclaimed "IT'S GONE???!! IT'S GONE!!!" Tears of joy were shed, relief felt was an understatement. We embraced and cried and cried some more. I took photos for our loved ones so that they could share in this joy with us. We walked down the hallway to the ICU and waited for our Gage. It was here that I finally, personally fell apart. I couldn't stop crying. I could not get a grip. The anxiety, the fear, the emotion, the exhaustion, the 'trying to be strong for them' all came undone for me. And I prayed to Heavenly Father in my mind and Thanked him over and over again for giving us this miracle.

Part 3 "Our events"