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Our young family battling stage IV breast cancer one day at a time
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The Victory

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Our beautiful Lindy, age 35, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family, September 14, 2012.    Thank you for praying for her and our family during this incredibly difficult time.  We celebrate Lindy’s homecoming and victory over her cancer battle, but we hurt so much.

A funeral service to honor Lindy’s faith and life will be held at 6:30 pm, Tuesday, September 18, 2012, at Haven Christian Reformed Church, 541 Alice Street, Zeeland. The Rev. Art Van Wolde and Rev. Scott Van Oostendorp will officiate. Visitation will be 12:00-2:00 and 6:00-8:00 pm, Monday, September 17, 2012 at the Yntema Funeral home, 251 S. State Street, Zeeland. Burial will be in Zeeland Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to the Ver Beek Children Education Fund (may be made at any Macatawa Bank).

Lindy Ver Beek and Family

She’s Winning The Battle

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(Written by Dusty)

In the last few weeks we’ve seen a sharp decline in Lindy’s health.  She’s been so fighting for so long, that I believe her body has just had enough.  I like to think of her as winning the battle against her cancer since she’ll be free of it soon.  Lindy’s Hospice nurse told us she thought she has about 4 weeks left based on what she’s seeing.    

At the end of August, we were able to spend some time as a family at a beautiful cottage at Big Star (courtesy of Mike and Marci Baumann).  I was able to speed Lindy around the lake on a Seadoo (thank you Jon and Denise Brown and Jodee and Eric DeWitt for the use of the Seadoos).  We had fires and just watched the water together.  The kids played in the sand and we pretended we were normal.   

Lindy and the Twins

We are so appreciative of all the meals, gift cards, letters and prayers; so many of you have spent time and energy to help us. Those that take care of the laundry, the lawn, groceries; we could not do it without you.  Everyone has been so kind to us.  Thank you to Hospice of Holland for keeping Lindy comfortable during her final weeks.

We’ve been crying a lot lately and sometimes the pain feels unbearable, but we are not without Hope.  Our Hope is in Jesus Christ who will bring us all together again one day.  

If you think cancer sucks, and want to join The Laps for Lindy Team (Susan G Komen Run/Walk on 9/22/2012), please click this link.

If you can’t make the walk/run, you can donate online in Lindy’s honor.  Together, we can make sure no other families have to go through this.

so tired

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I’m writing this on my kindle fire so once again bear with me. I’m going to have spelling and grammatical errors.Thank you for your prayers since my last post. We met with Dr. Schott at u of m on Tuesday. The Ct scan I had last week hasn’t been read by a radiologist yet. Dr. Schott could see that the chemo is working. The spots in my lungs are shrinking! Praise God for hearing prayers.Dr. Schott could also see that I have more fluid in my lungs compared to a few weeks ago. This explains my pain and breathing difficulties.My hemoglobin also dropped to 7.6. This brings me back to the spelling and grammatical errors. I’m sitting in the hospital waiting to get a blood transfusion.The next step will be to decide if we are going to tap my lung to drain the fluid. I’m so glad I have doctors I can trust with those decisions.I’m tired. Of everything. In every way. Sorry I have no light hearted humor today. I’m just too tired. So tired!

Fighting

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(Update from Dusty)

After ten days in the hospital, Lindy returned home late Sunday afternoon.   We were so glad to have her back with us again!

On Monday afternoon, she collapsed while I was walking her to the couch.  I was able to catch her and guide her to the floor.  She was unresponsive and her color was not good, so I called 911.  After a few short minutes paramedic support arrived and off she went back to the hospital. After a bunch of tests, it appeared a heart drug she was on caused a dip in her blood pressure (or at least that’s what they believe).  They let her go home a few hours later.

We’re trying to get her well enough to take chemo tomorrow.  Please pray for her as she’s tired, scared and very discouraged.   Her body has been through so much, it’s hard for her to imagine she can take much more.

Update

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This is going to be a quick update with a bunch of spelling and grammatical errors.

Last Tuesday I woke up not feeling very well and couldn’t stop burping. It got worse as the day went on. My stomach got bigger and more sore but we went on to U of M anyway for our early morning MRI on Wednesday morning.

Thursday I had my first chemo infusion with my stomach looking 6 months pregnant and constant burping.  Jill went to chemo with me and commented on my distended stomach.  Not only was it huge it hurt!  On Friday, Jill called me from work. I ended up in Holland Hospitals ED Friday morning. I had an EKG, Echo, x-ray, ultrasound, lab work and it was found the fluid around my heart had increased dramatically causing my heart and everything down the line to work overtime.  I went into V tach right there in the ED. Crash cart and everything. I nearly died. It was a big deal.  They got my heart under control took me into surgery and drained 600ml off out of the pericardium.  Spent the night, my pericardium filled with more fluid and a sheath was put in and I was transferred to the Spectrum Heart Center ICU.  I’ve been at Spectrum since last Saturday.

On Tuesday, I had a window (hole) put into the pericardium of my heart so if it fills with more fluid it will drain out on its own.  I now sit with two drains coming out of my chest, a hefty scar and a drip of heparin.

Two things will get me home:

1. The drains have to come out.

2. I have to be switched over to coumadin.

We ask for NO visitors (immediate family only) and lots of prayers. Please contact Dani, our point person with questions.

Don’t Forget to Race!

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Yes friends it’s that time of year again. Time to lace up your tennis shoes, tenny-boppers, kicks, high tops, low tops, whatever you have and get ready to crawl, walk, jog, run or race.

Jill and Jen have organized a For The Love of Lindy team to support Race for the Cure. This is our third year and I hope you can make it. We had a great team last year. Thank you for signing up in the years past and I hope you’ll do it again. It’s a lot of fun.

Click on the following link to sign up:

http://westmichigan.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/GRR_WestMichiganAffiliate?pg=team&fr_id=2147&team_id=177464

Christmas Reflection

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It’s pretty obvious 2010 hasn’t been our best year.  In many ways, we’re glad to see it go.  Still, we reflect back the journey and the ways that you’ve all come along side us during this time.  We thank God for blessing us through your kindness and support. 

I don’t think everyone will understand exactly what I mean, so I’ll give you a few examples from just the last three weeks: 

A few weeks ago a group of special Ridge Point Community Church members dropped off a huge box of food.  So much food, I couldn’t even lift it.  They circled us and prayed for us and showed such love and compassion. 

At the Ensing Family Christmas party, we were presented with a couple dozen sizable gift cards to use to offset takeout food expenses.  When Lindy is nauseous the last thing she can do is cook, so these come in so handy.

There’s been a group of 2nd graders from Holland writing letters to Lindy and coloring pictures and cards.  We get a new envelop filled with more of them every week.  It’s hard to be sad when you read/look at these honest and uplifting expressions by these little people. 

Yesterday, I was presented with an over-flowing gift basket from my Marketing coworkers at Herman Miller.  Inside, in addition to several goodies and movies, there was a certificate for a weekend away to Great Wolf Lodge and $500 cash to use for the trip.  Our instructions were to make memories and enjoy the time together.  Amazing. 

This past summer and fall, we were the benefactors of several fundraiser efforts.  Once again, we’d like to thank the For the Love of Lindy Committee for organizing the bake sale, our friends at Dutch Studios, Crazy Horse, Elhart Collision (Community FUNDay), Kibler’s Kreations, Beechwood Restaurant, Avon, Dress Code, Englesman’s Greenhouses and the list goes on and on. 

Also, for all those that have sent us money or other assistance this past year, we thank you all.  Your gifts had made life easier and allowed us to focus on what really matters.

Patty, your daily messages of love are so appreciated.  What a gift you are from above. 

Thank you to our family for helping care for our kids and for taking us meals.  We could not do this without your loving care. 

In the midst of an unimaginable situation, we are so blessed.  This Christmas holds a new meaning for our family; we pray it does for you too.  Merry Christmas. 

What Cancer Cannot Do

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We just heard that the MRI scan showed no new tumor activity, so we’re dealing with something far less serious.  Praise God–this is such welcome news!  Thank you all for your prayers of intercession for Lindy and my family.  

I thought a lot about life today and about cancer and what large part of our lives “it” has become.   Here’s what I do know: 

What cancer cannot do

Cancer cannot weaken our faith.
Cancer cannot steal our will to live.
Cancer cannot keep us down; we will get back up.
Cancer cannot diminish the love we have for each other.
Cancer cannot erase our memories.
Cancer cannot make us forget where we’ve come from.
Cancer cannot cause us to loose hope.
Cancer cannot crush our dreams.
Cancer cannot ruin this day.
Cancer cannot overcome God’s plan for us.

A Lindy Update From Dusty

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After several days of vomiting, fever and more intense headaches, Lindy’s doctor at University of Michigan requested that she get an MRI of her brain today.  She’s currently at Spectrum-Butterworth awaiting that test, which is scheduled for 4 PM.  Please pray that this is just simple stomach flu and not more tumor growth causing the symptoms.   Our hope is that she’ll also be able to celebrate Brooklyn’s 7th birthday tomorrow.    Please pray for us, we need to feel peace. 

Happy 2nd Birthday
Maxwell & Samantha!

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Happy Second Birthday Maxwell & Samantha Ver Beek

Today we celebrate the twins, Maxwell & Samantha, who turn 2!  It seems like yesterday they were born. 

Happy Birthday Max and Sam!

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