Saturday

Hello all,
Thought you might like to see what the kids are up to lately. Besides basketball and piano and tumbling and school, they are getting into some fundraising for the American Cancer Society. I am forwarding an e-mail that my mother sent so that all of you will have an opportunity to get in on the fun! This is something we have never done before and are kind of ignorant of the whole thing, but we are making an effort to help out.

The Archer County Relay For Life cancer fund raiser is scheduled for April 3, 2009. It will be held at the Archer City High School track starting at 6:00p.m. and concluding at 6:00a.m. the next morning. A number of teams will participate and usually dedicate their walk to a family member or friend who has or is fighting cancer.
I have agreed to be a team captain for the Relay. Cancer has caused some major heartache in my life so walking for a cure is an easy choice for me. Years ago I lost a dear brother, Louis Morath to cancer. This past May, after a long, long battle, my only sister, Jane Berardi died from the complications of cancer and now our son-in-law, Mark Brown is in the process of WINNING his battle with cancer. This year we are dedicating our walk to Jane's memory and in honor of Mark and are calling our team "The JAM (Jane and Mark) Crew". Abby Brown has been asked to be an angel in the opening ceremonies and she and her brothers, Austin and Landon are planning ways to raise money for the event. Abby is selling "Hugs" so have your dollars ready if you meet her somewhere!! The three of them will be our #1 team members!
Our team should consist of 15 walkers who hope to raise $100. each for the event. SO, any of you in the area or who might be in the area on April 3rd, consider this your personal invitation to join us. The first ones to respond saying they want to spend a fun night with us will be the lucky winners! If you can't be here but would still like to help the cause we would be happy to accept your checks made to the American Cancer Society and mailed to me at 4700 Willow Bend Drive, Wichita Falls, TX 76310. We will be turning in our packets before long and hope you will think this is a worthy cause. Remember no amount is too small and the large amounts are welcome also.
I'm hearing there are a number of teams from the Scotland and Windthorst area so we plan to have a fun time, pitch a tent (with cots, please), and do our part for very important people in our lives. Those of you who follow the Brown's blog will probably get much this same message from Melissa. This is definitely a team effort!
We hope to hear from you soon!
Thanks,Nancy Berend

Mark is making it after his procedure yesterday. His port was placed on his left chest, so he has been favoring that quite a bit. He is recovering well from his surgery and is even able to work. He is getting more energy back everyday. Everyone might notice how much weight he has lost. Right now, he is probably at a very healthy weight and we hope he can maintain that. He has held for several days, so we are encouraged by that. I know he is looking good, but I sure wouldn't recommend the weight loss program. I would highly encourage everyone to stick with the weight watchers!

We are still working on getting his chemo lined up. We are supposed to attend chemo school on Tuesday morning and sometime this week we have plans to go back to Baylor to an oncologist for a second opinion. We are anxious to hear another perspective and reinforce confidence in our present plan. As far as when we start, we were told it would be within the next week or two, but no date was set and we are uncertain how that will follow through. We will find out more this week.

Thanks to everyone for your help this week and weekend with getting to all of the appointments and ballgames. We were spread pretty thin with four ballgames in four different towns, but we are so lucky to have such good friends and family to help us out.

Love to all, Missy