Merry Christmas!

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A Special Note from Crystal and Jason

Our entire family would like to express our sincere thanks for your continued support. Friends and family near and far have pulled together to make sure our needs are met. We are touched by this support and are truly grateful for all of your help. From the rides to and from appointments, babysitting, dinners, cleaning, donations and moral support; your kindness has inspired all of us.

We would like to send a special thanks to the entire Kaiser family. As you may or may not know Crystal has enjoyed working in their Oncology Department over the last 4-years. During this time she has had the opportunity to work with the finest Doctors and Nurses in the field. Not only are these wonderful people her coworkers - they are also her friends. In addition to providing treatments the entire region has pulled together and donated substantial vacation time so she can focus on her health and family. THANK YOU!!

As you can imagine her weeks are filled with highs and lows. Spending extra time with her family is keeping her spirits up and provides the support needed to recover from daily treatments. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are the best days as her energy level is very good. Wednesday thru Saturday are the most challenging as side effects of the week long radiation combined with Chemotherapy cause nausea, fatigue, and a very upset stomach.

On Monday she started her 4th week of treatment and we are looking forward to a month long break in early January. During this time off we are going to visit her home town of Duarte, CA. Duarte is best known as the home of the City of Hope Cancer Research Center, http://www.cityofhope.org/Pages/default.aspx. This icon not only inspired Crystal to become an Oncology Nurse, but will provide us with an opportunity to look into the latest clinical trials.

We would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Please remember to enjoy the little things that we all take for granted during this time of year.

Crystal & Jason

Amazing!!!

This is Trish checking in. I felt compelled to get on Crystal's blog and let you all know about a wonderful group of people that I am associated with.

As I said before, I own a scrapbook store in California. I sent out an email asking for help creating layouts for Crystal's Scrapbooks. I sent the email to my employees, other store owners and all of my wonderful customers.

There are 20 fabulous women that work work for me. Each and every one of them have expressed to me that they would be "HONORED" to help create these scrapbooks. We are having our Employee Christmas party on Friday night. We are closing the store early and we are having a crop. Everyone was going to bring their scrapbook stuff to work on their own scrapbooks. There has been a change of plans. They have made it a Crop for Crystal. Everyone is going to work on scrapbook pages for Crystal. AMAZING!!!

I meet with 30 other scrapbook store owners. Another outstanding group of women that I am so lucky to be associated with. Wasn't I surprised when I started getting calls and emails from their customers. Many of them sent the request for help out in their newsletters. I was a little embarrassed that they got this in the newsletter before I got it in my newsletter. AMAZING!!!

I finally sent out my newsletter last night. By the time I got to work, I had several calls and emails with offers to help from all of my wonderful customers. One of my customers, Lynda put it out to a scrapbook group that she belongs to and women from Australia and New Zealand want to help. Yes, I am talking about the Australia and New Zealand down under!!! Can you believe this??? Crystal's story has touched people on the other side of the world. I am sooooo amazed!!!

I received an email from Elena who runs a company called Scrapbook Royalty. Her company is centered around scrapbook events for different charities. She has raised tons of money for various charities and was even recognized for her work by a local tv station. She wants to help too!! This is so awesome!!!

I belong to an amazing sisterhood of tens of thousands of scrapbookers. Women who scrapbook to preserve their legacy. They all want to help preserve Crystal's legacy. I knew I would get a great response but I NEVER expected all of this.

To all you fabulous, amazing, wonderful, outstanding, fantastic women......Thank you!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Trish

Chemotherapy Port

Today (Tuesday, December 9) Crystal is having an implantable chemotherapy port inserted. It is an outpatient surgical procedure. We ask for your prayers for a swift and painless recovery.

Definition:
A chemo port is a thin, soft, plastic tube surgically implanted into a vein in your chest or arm. It allows healthcare professionals to draw blood and deliver chemotherapy drugs directly into a vein without having to insert an IV needle each time.

My friend Crystal

My name is Antonella. I am Crystal's friend. In 2001, my life's journey led me to Denver, Colorado where I lived for 3 years. It was very hard for me to move away from my family and friends to this new and strange place, but fortunately for me, it wasn't long before I met Crystal. We met while working at St. Joseph's Hospital. Crystal and I immediately bonded, especially because we were both transplants.
During our first months of friendship, we talked about our old lives as big city girls-hair, make-up and fashion. We couldn't understand what we were doing here in Denver. Soon, we were able to convince ourselves that Denver wasn't such a bad place. We reluctantly tossed away some of our old city ways, bought some hiking boots and started exploring the Rockies. Life's transition seemed to be so much easier with Crystal as my friend.
But even before we started exploring the Rockies, Crystal and I spent some time in the city of Denver. One night stands out to me far more than the others. That was the night Crystal met Jason. I remember Crystal and I were just talking and enjoying our cocktails when Jason Lagrange came into the picture. He was admiring her from across the room. I immediately noticed and brought this to Crystal's attention. Unfortunately, for Jason, she wasn't interested. Her only words to me were, "He's a white boy." But Jason continued his pursuit and obviously won.
As time went on, our friendship became stronger. We went on double dates (now that Jason was in the picture), trips to the mountains, spent holidays together and yes, we still found time to go shopping.
My stay in Denver was short however. After 3 years I moved away, but my friendship with Crystal continues on. Nowadays, I too get the eary morning wake-up call while she is commuting to work, apparently I'm not her only victim. Luckily for her, I am on Eastern time-so my call is usually around 9am.
I hope that Crystal knows that even though we live far apart, she still continues to be part of my life and a very special friend.

I forgot to add in the previous post: Best of luck to Jason in his new job!!!

Hi, this is Tim Lemke. Im a friend of Jason and Crystal. I saw them in church this morning and I must say Crystal looked FANTASTIC!!!! What did someone that HOTT ever see in him anyway? And the baby Rylee...oh my God, shes a little Crystal clone. Another example of thank God when kids look like their mothers!!
I hope my attempt at humor doesnt offend anyone here. I just thought this blog could use a little of it. The funny thing is Jason admitted that Rylee looks just like mom, and he seemed grateful for that!!!!! So I know Im not offending him!
Seriously, I prayed for Crystal, I prayed for the family and I prayed for their children in particular. I figure its the least I can do. Crystal needs our thoughts and prayers now, and I think there is a good chance she will kick this things A*S!!!!!!!!!!!

Snow Day

Today is a beautiful white snowy day in Colorado. The sun is out and everything is covered in white glitter. If you don't have to drive it is the BEST!

In March of 2003 Jason and Crystal were dating. Crystal called to see if my son wanted to have a play date with Gaven. It was snowing pretty hard, but Crystal drove over in her little car, (we're used to 4 wheel drives around here) I put my son Payton in the car and off they went. I knew Crystal through Jason and we were pretty good friends, but I have to say I was a little nervous about her watching two rowdy little boys. She assured me that if would be fine. Well it snowed a little more, all night long, and next thing you know we were in the midst of a record breaking blizzard.

Payton was so excited to be at a play date that lasted for THREE DAYS. Jason dug out of the snow and walked to the nearest gas station for donuts for breakfast. That was the best adventure for the boys, they were in heaven.

I was hoping that Crystal would speak to me again. I apologized a million times. Jason dug his car out, drove to the closest open road, my husband met them in the street and they came to our house for a couple of days. It gave them time to build snow forts.

And start a profitable Hot Chocolate Stand...

Crystal spoke to me again, married Jason, became Gaven's mom and had some more babies to add to the mix. We knew that she was a keeper after the Blizzard of 03. The girl has stamina!

Ten Things I Love About Crystal

Ten Things I Love About Crystal
1. Her determination
2. Her strength
3. Her ability to stand her ground
4. Her generossity
5. Her abiltiy to make everything fun
6. How she could make me feel like I belonged
7. How she helped me find myself
8. How she is always willing to help
9. Her ability to save money
10. The beautiful person she is inside and out!!!!!

My name is Christine and I have known Crystal since kindergarden. We have been close and distant friends for 27 years. We grew up just a few blocks away from eachother.When we were 5 years old Crystal came over to my house for the first time. I was so excited to have a friend over (a special one at that I knew Crystal was special from the first time I met her) that when it came time for her to go home I locked her in my house and I did not want her to ever leave! This traumatized her and she wasn't so sure about me after that. LOL

We became very close in high school. I came to think of Crystal as a part of me like a sister. We had only good fun times, and we loved to go dancing and listen to music. We shared many special times together especially our trip to Disneyland!!!

Then it came time to grow up high school was over, and Crystal being the smart one in the group went to college and nursing school so she could help make a difference in other peoples lives.

Crystal is and always will be very special!!! She is near and dear to my heart for 27 years. I don't think she will ever know the impact her friendship had on me and how she helped shape me into the person I am today. She is my Tetal !!!!

A group of friends and family...

They say that there is power in numbers so we thought that we would attept to give that a try. We started a group that is called Caring for Crystal through Google Groups. The intent is to keep everyone informed of Crystal's treatments, meal deliveries, childcare, and getting to know all of the people that are loving, caring and praying for Crystal. Email me at deesoicher at msn dot com if you would like to join this group. Here we go!

Thanksgiving with Crystal

My name is Trish. I am Crystal's cousin. Actually we are more than cousins. Crystal is more like a sister and a best friend wrapped up into one. She left me behind, sad and brokenhearted, in California 9 years 4 months ago (I won't bore you with the days, minutes and seconds). We don't get to see each other that often but we keep in close contact on the phone and over snapfish. When the phone rings at 6 am a smile overcomes my face because I know it's my girl. She knows I get up early so she never hesitates to call me on her commute to work. I ALWAYS look forward to these calls!!

She called me last Monday to tell me about the cancer. I never imagined how one phone call could change my life. I sat in California feeling so far away and absolutely powerless. Within hours of finding out of her prognosis, I booked a flight to Colorado. All I knew is that I needed to hug my girl. By the next day the crowd of people who also felt the need to hug Crystal had grown: Miguel, Crystal's Dad/Cindy, Crystal's Sister/Michael, Crystal's Brother/Alex Crystal's Brother/Arturo and Vivina, My mom and dad and Crystal's Aunt & Uncle/Art, my brother and Crystal's Cousin/Scotty, Crystal's Cousin/Gilbert my husband and Crystal's Cousin in law and I were on our way to Denver. Since Crystal's mom, Alma, has been here for several months caring for Rylee, we would all be together with Crystal, Jason, Gaven, Aiden and Rylee. There was a total of 15 of us!! I couldn't think of a better way to spend Thanksgiving!!

Usually we feast and overindulge on Thanksgiving. Oh boy, did we feast!! As a matter of fact, we feasted for four days straight. Remember the movie Soul Food, we had Mexican Soul Food. Comfort food, like chicken enchiladas, tacos, beans and rice. We had it all. We also had another special occasion. It was Crystal's mom, Alma's Birthday on Saturday. My mom came up with a great idea to make Tamales for her. You all know that making Tamales for Christmas is a HUGE Mexican tradition. It is no different for our family. The tamales turned our fabulous, they were so delicious. Over two days we finished every last one of them.

Crystal's brother made a birthday cake for Alma, but something went wrong. The cake didn't cook right. It was actually concave. This was the source of lots and lots of laughter throughout the day. Even little Aiden said "What happened?" We tried to make Michael feel better by telling him that it must have been the altitude!?!?! In the end the cake tasted just fine, it was made with lots of love and that is all that matters!!

We had such a wonderful weekend. We reminisced about old times, we laughed and we cried but most of all we relished this unforeseen opportunity to be together. Except for going to church, we locked ourselves up in Casa LaGrange and simply enjoyed each others company.

I am THANKFUL for this long Thanksgiving weekend!!

I guess it doesn't need to be said that I am a Chatty Cathy or to personalize it a Talking Trish!! I always have alot to say. My grammar and my spelling may not be the best but I love to write. I still have so many stories to share. I plan on sharing them all (ok, maybe not the ones from our single days...hahaha). I own a Scrapbook Store in California. Crystal has asked me to create scrapbooks for her children. I plan on posting lots of photos and scrapbook pages too. Please make sure to email Dee at deesoicher@msn and/or ellenmcv@comcast.net with all your stories so I can include them in the scrapbooks that we create for Crystal.

Thank you for taking the time to read this,
Trish

By the way, Crystal goes for her second Chemo treatment tomorrow and another round of radiation. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers!!

We give thanks today...

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.

~Melody Beattie

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

The journey begins...

Crystal has started the treatment program to fight her cancer. She will be doing chemo and radiation together for the next six weeks to see how her body responds. Mondays she has both treatments together and Tuesday through Friday she does radiation by itself. Crystal is an oncology nurse at Kaiser where she is being treated. So although she is familiar with her surroundings, it is something very different being on the other side. She is so fortunate to work with an amazing group of doctors and nurses who love her very much. Along with the very powerful medicine comes great caring from her friends and co-workers.

Whatever your religious beliefs, we ask for your continued prayers at this time. Please pray for Dr. Azar and the amazing staff at Kaiser Oncology, for Crystal and her family, and for the team of caregivers that are ready and waiting to do their part.

It feels like a sprint right now but we need to get in shape for a marathon. Crystal ran one a few years ago and I know that it requires amazing strength and determination. She has them both. We are all ready to run along with her. I hope you will join us.

A Note From Jason LaGrange

Dear Family and Friends:

As you may or may not know Crystal was diagnosed with an aggressive rare type of Cancer located in and around the Cervix. Unfortunately, since Crystal is HPV negative and completed annual Pap tests the problem wasn't diagnosed until it reached stage 3.5 - 4 with the primary tumor growing to a length of 8cm. We will continue to explore all options, but this is a fast moving disease that is not curative. This is difficult to say and it may sound like we are giving up, but that is not the case. We are going to fight this disease and expect good things to happen.

Radiation and Chemotherapy will start on December 1st and we are confident that new combinations of therapy and or surgery (not to mention the support of the entire Kaiser Oncology staff) will reduce the size and slow the growth so Crystal can enjoy time with Rylee, Aiden, Gaven, family, and friends.

No one knows for sure, but we were told to expect a couple of years depending on how she reacts to the upcoming 6-8 week treatment. After that she must balance future treatments and quality of life. With a little luck, your support, and prayers we are going for her 40th birthday (about 6 years from today). We can do it.

We appreciate all of your support, thoughts, prayers, and our door will remain open. Crystal wants to make sure you know it is ok to visit and call anytime.

Her only request - no flowers.

Crystal, Jason, Gaven, Aiden, Rylee

6584 S Quantock Ct
Aurora, CO 80016