RELIVING THE BEST LIFE EVER
Donation protected
Many thanks and gratitude to those that supported this fundraiser – Curtis & Christina were able to fly several of their children to visit Christina this summer and again during the holidays. The funds too helped cover costs of Curtis being off work while Christina was very ill during chemotherapy treatment. This fundraising site is no longer active. A new site has been established to meet the current needs of the family.
Treatment Fundraising Site – Team Christina https://www.youcaring.com/Team.Christina
Christina has known that her illness is terminal however; she learned this week that she has 6-months to live. Christina has a current diagnosis of Triple Negative metastatic breast cancer. There are no curative treatments for metastatic breast cancer available in the US. After years of research, Christina has identified and been accepted into a clinic located in Frankfurt, Germany called Infusio. Treatment will take place in Frankfurt, Germany lasting 4-weeks and includes lodging. The cost of the treatment is $28,100 plus travel and food. Christina will travel to Germany and begin treatment February 22, 2016. She needs to raise over $30,000 for treatment and additional money for travel costs.
Please check-out our new efforts. Updates on Christina’s health are always available on her blog
Christinasrealtalk.blogspot.com
**************************************************
Dear Christina,
All my life I knew I wanted to be a husband, a father, and share my life with my best friend. It wasn't until you were diagnosed with Cancer that ....I
My name is Curtis Garrett, and the letter above is THE letter that I can't find myself finishing without thinking about losing my soul mate. Christina is someone who gives me so much life and purpose; we share our passion for joy and for helping others. Several people can say that Christina is smart, funny, irreverent, fiercely compassionate, and inspires everyone she encounters. For me, she is my reason for being a better person every day, for doing my best to love everyone around me unconditionally.
Four years ago, Christina was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. This is an aggressive type of cancer with poor a prognosis but a built in silver lining: a 90% survival rate if you make it past the first five years. My first thought when hearing about this was to automatically go into "protector" husband mode and figure out all the ways my wife could live and of course, support this process no matter what; being hopeful and positive was the only way to continue to live and love. At the end of all of her blogs, "Christina's Real Talk", she wrote, "Today I am hopeful!"
http://christinasrealtalk.blogspot.com/
This is the way she lives her life every day and as her husband I had to believe that her health would get better and that she would be one of the lucky ones. Even now, it's hard to give up and to let go of the possibility of a miracle. At the same time, because Christina is who she is ...she is preparing us all for r-e-a-l-i-t-y. How can I be hopeful and be present to the reality?
The only answer I can come up with is to be with her every step of the way. In the coming days, weeks, or months my mission is to give back to my wife and to be with her to help her relive all her best and most beautiful memories. I want to be strong enough for her so that when our only communication is eye to eye or hand to hand, she will be able to receive all the love, beautiful memories, and all the admiration I carry for her in my heart. I want to bestow upon her all of the love, care, support, and most importantly time to simply be her husband. I want to remind her everyday how beautiful her eyes are, how she still give me goosebumps when I hold her hands, and how I can fall in love with her all over again because all it takes is one conversation to understand she is the love of my life.
Christina is a great WOMAN, wife and mother. We have fostered and/or adopted 16 children over the last 11 years. Having been in foster care myself, it has always been a dream to give back. Christina made this possible and we love all our children. We never give up and once they came to us, it didn't matter where they went afterwards; we are still their parents and keep tabs on them. For Christina, this was one of the most important gifts of life.
Now I won't lie to you all if I say this is going to be easy; most days I pray so hard for any miracle to come; please keep praying and wishing to the universe or whatever other "woo woo" you like, as Christina would say, to keep her in high spirits. Christina checks in with me every day to see how I am doing; I can't tell her I don't want to lose her and I can't express to her that Iam not ready. The truth is I'm not ready to let go, so I choose to stand, sit, and be directly by her side until she takes her last breath.
I chose to take time off of work to be by her side and relive every moment of love with her; to express our love and to finish the letter I started writing to her so that I can read it to her with pride and bring her legacy and our love to light. I pray that my love will endure this pain of the unknown yet foreseen even in the hardest days.
Our financial situation has already declined to the level where it is hard for us to manage regular expenses. As we are trying not to exhaust all of our savings, I am raising money to be with my wife during this time, relive our most beautiful memories together and to be able to pay the medical and housing expenses. I will try to provide regular updates via gofundme.com, her blog, and social media. Please help me spread the word and help us accomplish her BEST LIFE EVER LIST!
The following are a few things we would like to do to relive her best memories:
We discovered we both wanted to foster children, and we would like to fly our kids who live out-of-state home to visit ($500 per kid/family x 6 = $3,000).
Over the last 11 years, Christina took care of our 16 kids and myself, it is my turn to take care and spend some of these remaining days with her. After using my remaining vacation I will need to use FMLA for 12 weeks, so we would be looking to cover our expenses during this time ($1k/wk x 12 = $12,000)
I am heartbroken to say the least, but it will warm my heart to know that others are willing to help us fill Christina’s last days with lots of love and support. Your generosity will make this happen.
Thank you,
Curtis
http://christinasrealtalk.blogspot.com/
Treatment Fundraising Site – Team Christina https://www.youcaring.com/Team.Christina
Christina has known that her illness is terminal however; she learned this week that she has 6-months to live. Christina has a current diagnosis of Triple Negative metastatic breast cancer. There are no curative treatments for metastatic breast cancer available in the US. After years of research, Christina has identified and been accepted into a clinic located in Frankfurt, Germany called Infusio. Treatment will take place in Frankfurt, Germany lasting 4-weeks and includes lodging. The cost of the treatment is $28,100 plus travel and food. Christina will travel to Germany and begin treatment February 22, 2016. She needs to raise over $30,000 for treatment and additional money for travel costs.
Please check-out our new efforts. Updates on Christina’s health are always available on her blog
Christinasrealtalk.blogspot.com
**************************************************
Dear Christina,
All my life I knew I wanted to be a husband, a father, and share my life with my best friend. It wasn't until you were diagnosed with Cancer that ....I
My name is Curtis Garrett, and the letter above is THE letter that I can't find myself finishing without thinking about losing my soul mate. Christina is someone who gives me so much life and purpose; we share our passion for joy and for helping others. Several people can say that Christina is smart, funny, irreverent, fiercely compassionate, and inspires everyone she encounters. For me, she is my reason for being a better person every day, for doing my best to love everyone around me unconditionally.
Four years ago, Christina was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. This is an aggressive type of cancer with poor a prognosis but a built in silver lining: a 90% survival rate if you make it past the first five years. My first thought when hearing about this was to automatically go into "protector" husband mode and figure out all the ways my wife could live and of course, support this process no matter what; being hopeful and positive was the only way to continue to live and love. At the end of all of her blogs, "Christina's Real Talk", she wrote, "Today I am hopeful!"
http://christinasrealtalk.blogspot.com/
This is the way she lives her life every day and as her husband I had to believe that her health would get better and that she would be one of the lucky ones. Even now, it's hard to give up and to let go of the possibility of a miracle. At the same time, because Christina is who she is ...she is preparing us all for r-e-a-l-i-t-y. How can I be hopeful and be present to the reality?
The only answer I can come up with is to be with her every step of the way. In the coming days, weeks, or months my mission is to give back to my wife and to be with her to help her relive all her best and most beautiful memories. I want to be strong enough for her so that when our only communication is eye to eye or hand to hand, she will be able to receive all the love, beautiful memories, and all the admiration I carry for her in my heart. I want to bestow upon her all of the love, care, support, and most importantly time to simply be her husband. I want to remind her everyday how beautiful her eyes are, how she still give me goosebumps when I hold her hands, and how I can fall in love with her all over again because all it takes is one conversation to understand she is the love of my life.
Christina is a great WOMAN, wife and mother. We have fostered and/or adopted 16 children over the last 11 years. Having been in foster care myself, it has always been a dream to give back. Christina made this possible and we love all our children. We never give up and once they came to us, it didn't matter where they went afterwards; we are still their parents and keep tabs on them. For Christina, this was one of the most important gifts of life.
Now I won't lie to you all if I say this is going to be easy; most days I pray so hard for any miracle to come; please keep praying and wishing to the universe or whatever other "woo woo" you like, as Christina would say, to keep her in high spirits. Christina checks in with me every day to see how I am doing; I can't tell her I don't want to lose her and I can't express to her that Iam not ready. The truth is I'm not ready to let go, so I choose to stand, sit, and be directly by her side until she takes her last breath.
I chose to take time off of work to be by her side and relive every moment of love with her; to express our love and to finish the letter I started writing to her so that I can read it to her with pride and bring her legacy and our love to light. I pray that my love will endure this pain of the unknown yet foreseen even in the hardest days.
Our financial situation has already declined to the level where it is hard for us to manage regular expenses. As we are trying not to exhaust all of our savings, I am raising money to be with my wife during this time, relive our most beautiful memories together and to be able to pay the medical and housing expenses. I will try to provide regular updates via gofundme.com, her blog, and social media. Please help me spread the word and help us accomplish her BEST LIFE EVER LIST!
The following are a few things we would like to do to relive her best memories:
We discovered we both wanted to foster children, and we would like to fly our kids who live out-of-state home to visit ($500 per kid/family x 6 = $3,000).
Over the last 11 years, Christina took care of our 16 kids and myself, it is my turn to take care and spend some of these remaining days with her. After using my remaining vacation I will need to use FMLA for 12 weeks, so we would be looking to cover our expenses during this time ($1k/wk x 12 = $12,000)
I am heartbroken to say the least, but it will warm my heart to know that others are willing to help us fill Christina’s last days with lots of love and support. Your generosity will make this happen.
Thank you,
Curtis
http://christinasrealtalk.blogspot.com/
Organizer and beneficiary
Curtis Garrett
Organizer
Corvallis, OR
Curtis Garrett
Beneficiary
