Our Amazing Mother

Our hope and prayers are with our Mother, Wife, Grandma, Sister and Friend. She is a special person who has given so much to all of us and taken so little. She has been and still is an inspiration to anyone who has had the privilege of knowing her. She has been an example to all, in showing us how to stand up and face the adversities and challenges of life. Even with her loss of one of her legs early in life she accomplished more than most with 2 legs. She is truly an amazing person and credit to the human race. Mother was taken to the emergency room at McKay Dee Hospital in Sept of 2010 due to what we thought was pneumonia, flu, severe cold and or stress related problems. Little did we know that she would be diagnosed with “Stage 4 Non-Small Cell Carcinoma Lung Cancer”? They had found cancer in her lungs and in her lymph nodes in her lower abdomen. After a short stay in the Hospital she was released to go home. She immediately started Chemotherapy when she was released from the hospital and has been receiving the treatments faithfully every 3 weeks since then. From Sept to January she continued this rigorous schedule hoping that she was going to show improvement. After 4 months of Chemotherapy she went in for a PET scan in January. After waiting patiently to get the results of the PET scan, to her and everyone’s surprise she was told by her Doctor that she was his prize patient and that her results were what they had hoped for. The cancer in her Lymph Nodes had been cleared up and the Cancer in her Lungs had shrunk in size. This was good news, however because she has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, Dr. Grey felt that she needed to continue her treatment for fear that if she stops the treatment, the cancer would return at an accelerated rate. So she continued on with the treatment. Between the Chemo and the White blood cell shots, she has been having a rough time with always being sick and filled with constant pain. On the 7^th of April at 1:30 am Doyle her loving husband was helping her to the bath room where Mother discharged a large amount of blood. Doyle called the Hospital and they admitted her at approximately 2:00 am. After putting 5 pints into her system they had discovered a very severe ulcer in her abdomen, which they later had to cauterize. Because of the huge amount of blood loss they ended up giving her 6 pints of blood. She was admitted to the ICU unit where she battled for almost 3 weeks with what we all thought was an uphill battle. Not knowing where this was headed, the Doctors gave the family some options. And on the 18^th of April they performed a Tracheostomy in hopes to remove the ventilator tube from her throat and give her a fighting chance to recover. She was moved to the Promise Hospital in Salt Lake City on Friday the 22^nd of April. After meeting with the Staff and observing their methods and listening to their approach on rehabilitating her, we have a new profound hope for her recovery.
A special thanks to everyone who is including Mother in their prayers. Also for the love and support you have shown to the family and Mother. Also a special thanks to her Husband Doyle Odell who has been the corner stone of her survival through this ordeal. He has been there every minute of every hour encouraging her and supporting her. He has been waiting on her hand and foot day in and day out since her Cancer was discovered in Sept. Please keep him in your prayers as well.