Dear Friends,
I had two wonderful visits to Chico State University speaking to the Residential Life Staff, and to Claremont Mudd Scripps to address the Student Athletes in cooperation with the Kravis Leadership Institute. One school a public state university in Northern California, and the other a consortium of private colleges in Southern California. The common denominator? Great young men and women pursuing their dreams and vocations.
Special thanks to Dr. David Stephen and Dr. Carolyn Stephen for their hospitality and to Connie Huyck for coordinating my visit to do two workshops for the Resident Assistants. Their willingness to advise other students, provide programs, and create community in the halls is admirable! David and I have been friends for 30 years and Carolyn and Connie are not far behind. A shout out as well to Sara Thompson, Betsy Hipple, and Dr. Ron Riggio for making me feel so welcome at Claremont. Their students were exceptional and it is hard to think of a more collegial environment in our nation. Donna and I also were blessed to see Chloe Rodman and Madeleine Edwards, two of my former softball players, who are attending CMS and playing softball. They have really fallen in love with the place.
One of the Student Athletes from CMS told me that her Aunt calls her cancer "her unruly cells." I thought this was very creative. Another young woman told me she had been diagnosed with melanoma at age 11. She was now 20 and had been through 13 biopsies. She said, "You can live with this Dr. Keim." Sometimes I wonder who is teaching who! Students from both CSU and CMS shared their personal cancer stories and those from their families. We are a big group and as horrible as it is, cancer brings people together and creates community between them.
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I provided my Doctor Matt Taylor a Top Five List of "Why It Is OK To Have A New Year's Eve Doctor's Appointment With Your LDS Doctor." Matt is Mormon and a great friend. He truly enjoyed the list and took it home to share with his wife. If you don't know all the places and concepts, that's alright.
Top Five List...
5. I am your only patient who has been to Nauvoo.
4. If you weren't with me, your wife would be making you listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Greatest Hits.
3. I am your only patient who knows that the Angel Moroni is not a pasta dish at an Italian restaurant.
2. If you weren't here with me, you would be home with five women is varying states of estrogen development. And...
1. Who really cares if I cut into your Apple Cider time on New Year's Eve!
Dr. Taylor thought number three should be number one, but he loved the effort and together we try to face our cancer with positivism and humor. Our 12/31 infusion went well as did our January 21st appointment. My next infusion will be February 12th and then we will have a CT Scan to see how well the treatments are going. Your continued prayers are appreciated!
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I was blessed to meet a great guy from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan named Tommy. He and his wife had visited our home with Dave and Sandy Bonsall and we became friends. He served in Vietnam and then as a maximum security prison guard. Now retired, he sent me a wonderful note about my use of the word 'negotiation' rather than 'fight' with cancer. He said he wanted me to show the same Sisu the Finnish soldiers exhibited when the Russian Army had invaded Finland. Sisu is a Finnish word that means 'adamant courage and stamina in the face of adversity." Tommy wanted to know that I was 'all in' because he considered himself a 'battle buddy' and that I had those kind of friends all over the country. This was very touching!
I want you all to know that we are not going softly into the night and taking this passively or as a predestined outcome. I want to be healthy. I pray to God that I will be healed. My Doctor and I are fighting the good fight and trying to use positivism and humor to supplement and enhance the drugs and infusions. We are very serious and I confess that sometimes at night I get scared. The dark 'what ifs?' sneak in and I wake up frightened. But then I think of all of you, as Tommy put it, my 'battle buddies', all of your prayers, cards, calls, visits, and efforts to help. I pray and remember that God is more powerful than any disease including cancer. I use the word negotiation but be clear we are battling, we are hopeful, and we are determined to beat these unruly cells. The Keim Family and Dr. Matt Taylor are all in!
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Donna and I are preparing today to leave for Nashville, Tennessee to speak to the AOPi National Sorority Leadership Meeting and then to give a workshop on Leadership for the Woodmont Christian Church Deacons and Elders in Nashville. Rev. Clay Stauffer, one of my former students from TCU and now Senior Minister, has also asked me to preach on Sunday. It has been a while, but the scripture from Matthew 6:24-36 will get me through. The people at Woodmont are very kind and welcoming and it is one of the larger congregations in our denomination, The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ.) We will return on February 11th and take a treatment the next day.
Blessings to all of you, my 'battle buddies'. You are making me stronger with more sisu than I could ever have been alone. I am thankful and grateful! With love,
Will
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