note from Valerie-

This has definitely been a journey for me and my entire family. The surgery was very scary, but once I met with the doctors in Denver, I was confident of their abilities and knew why the Lord sent me there. The doctors and the care were awesome. We even thought of moving to Denver strictly for the medical care.
It was a very stressful time for us. The surgery went well and the surgeon was extremely pleased with me and his work and impressed as to how well I was recovering. Now, the part of my lung that was removed has to be biopsied. They have sent it to Virginia and we all are waiting for the results.
Recovery is definitely hard. It won’t be for a few months that I’ll start to really feel better. My boys are definitely helping me recover as they constantly make me laugh and smile. Laughter is the best medicine, right. I am truly blessed with having my boys, including J.J. He is truly a blessing, and thank goodness for his patience, understanding, and love.
I couldn’t do it without the rest of my family and friends. Our parents were a big help spending almost all their time with us in Denver, as well as keeping the boys the entire time so JJ could stay with me in the hospital.
It was definitely financially stressful not being at home for a month and JJ not working during that entire time. We want to thank Ben and Adrienne for setting up this fund raiser. We never imagined that we would be in such a position for a fund raiser to be initiated (although who does), and we definitely didn’t fathom a fund raiser actually being set up for us. We are extremely grateful and blessed to have so many people support us. There are not enough words to express how thankful we are for all the support you have given.
God Bless you all!
Love,
JJ, Val, Brendan, and Blake