BAT BOY CAL VS. UCLA

John was so excited when Mike's cousin arranged for him to batboy for one of Cal's last home baseball games. It was a wonderful afternoon with John's special friends, family and extended family. Mike's cousins email and photos from the day sum it up perfectly......

email from Larry Ricksen~

We witnessed a great Cal baseball game yesterday, but unfortunately we came out on the losing end as UCLA scored 3 runs in the 9th inning. Jimmy and John both got to be the bat boys for the game and did a great job. Jimmy was responsible for replenishing the umpire’s stash of balls and John was in charge of retrieving the bats after the Cal batters finished their at bat. When Jimmy left for a birthday party in the 7th John took over both duties.

It was a beautiful and breezy day with sunshine, marshmellow clouds, and family. After the game ended the Cal players were really discouraged as they had rallied with 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to take a 2 run lead. John told his dad he heard about 20 F bombs after the end of the game. Eventually the team gathered in the outfield and the coach asked John to join the team. We learned from Mitch, a Cal player and Katie’s boyfriend, that the coach did not berate the team for their mistakes, but simply reminded them that although they lost a tough game, it should be kept in perspective, as the challenges many people courageously face in life, like John, should make them all realize that losing a baseball game is not that important.

Thank you OBA!

Thank you to all the OBA players and families that helped raise over $6,000 to support the John Ricksen Fund at Children's Hospital Oakland!

Lasts.......

I remember vividly the night that the doctors reviewed the 5 page treatment roadmap and went through the 20+ medications John would be on and all their potential side effects. I can not believe that we have finally completed phase 4 and will soon be entering the last and final phase (maintenance) which will last 15 more months.

We had our last scheduled overnight chemo treatment at CHO. We had dinner brought in for the staff that works so hard to care for John and the other patients. Many of these dedicated people have become friends and there was lots of emotion as we walked out of those hospital doors.

We had our last spinal chemo on Friday. These long days of not being able to eat and being put under anesthesia have taken their toll on us. We realized that we have gone through that 13 times over the course of treatment.

I administered my last round of chemo through the broviac last night! It is never easy dressing in a gown, mask and gloves and having to administer something you know is so toxic yet is helping you child.

I have been living so day-to-day that I never realized how much progress we have made. We now will enjoy looking ahead to plan for the future and that is a nice feeling!

Spring Break in the ICU...

John just completed an intensive 5 weeks of chemotherapy that left him extremely exhausted and weak. It has been a difficult few weeks. We were very emotional as we saw our son get weaker and weaker and lose that sparkle in his eye.

John came down with a fever last week and was admitted into Childrens. His ANC count was close to zero, which means he has no immune system to fight off the infection. They gave him a platelet transfussion and ran every test in the book. We were moved to one of the isolation rooms in the ICU where we waited for a few days. Fortunately, his blood cultures came back negative, his fever dropped and his counts finally started to rise. Most exciting to us, we were able to see a smile return to his face.

Under normal circumstances, John would not have been in the ICU during this recent stay. However, the 5th Floor (oncology Floor) was full. CHO had nine new cancer diagnoses last week. We were relieved to be released after just a few days, but we left with bittersweet emotions as we realized that those nine families were about to embark on their own journeys battling pediatric cancer.

The Missing Link Leads Fearless to Win #1 Over Orinda Thunder

As I mentioned in the previous blog, John was able to play in the first baseball game of the season. I wanted to share with you the email his coach, Dennis Wong, sent to the team after the game. Enjoy......

The Missing Link Leads Fearless To Win #1 Over Orinda Thunder
When I spoke of John Ricksen in a recent email, I referred to him as the missing link. Little did I know that John would be found on opening day. I should have known as I named this team after John. After all, only someone truly fearless could battle their way back into the opening day line-up while fighting an illness that would make most men weep.
It was just the spark Fearless needed as Jack Dakis skied right from the slopes to Santa Maria, leading off with a solid base-hit. After Nicholas Wong forced Jack out at 2nd, Alton Schmitt ripped a double to the hill to set up 2nd and 3rd. Big Brian Harris then thumped a hit to drive in two runs. Kaden Buckley then doubled to put runners at 2nd and 3rd once more. John and Greg Austin followed with back to back hits, but they could not cash in due to superb heads-up defensive play by the Orinda Thunder. Fearless would have to settle for 3 in the first.
The Thunder answered loudly with two runs. Alton helped limit the damage by snaring a hot shot to get an unassisted out at first, making the score 3 to 2.
Matt Lyons almost got it started in the top of the 2nd with a hard grounder to the right side, but was just beat to the bag by a hustling first baseman. Perhaps inspired by Matt's hustle, Jack kicked it off again with a triple. Nicholas doubled him home, and then scored on an Alton single. Brian got another base-hit to move Alton over to 3rd. Matt Ritchey then scored his first Fearless hit by plating Alton.
Fearless maintained their 6 to 2 lead until they hit again in the 3rd. John played the lead-off hitter with perfection by getting an infield hit. Then, two of our tiniest players showed they were anything but as Roenigk Straub and Brenden Ball had back to back hits that drove in John.
The 7 to 2 lead would stand through the bottom of the 3rd as Roenigk made a sparkling play on a ball hit to the pitcher's circle. Fielding it cleanly, he fired off to Alton who reached up to snare it for the big out. Alton then made an other unassisted play to score another scoreless inning.
Nicholas, Alton and Matt Ritchey all had base-hits to start the 4th inning. After hard grounders by Kaden and John forced in a pair of runs, Greg and Roenigk followed suit with singles to help give Fearless 4 more runs.
The talented Thunder struck back strong in the bottom half with the heart of their order. Notching five hits in a row, they answered back with three runs to make it a 11 to 5 game. With Pinto games being like pinball games, this was still anybody's game.
The 5th inning was the final key. After a Jack double to the hill, Nicholas and Alton had back-to-back "Pinto" home-runs (you know the kind). Brian tried to start another rally with his 3rd hit of the game, but he was left stranded.
In the bottom of what would be the last-inning because of impending darkness, the Thunder mounted a mighty two out rally. With their top of the order loading the bases on 3 straight hits, and their best hitter at-bat, this was the potential game-changer. With a mighty swing, the Thunder clean-up batter launched a deep drive to center-field. All the runners took off on the sound of the smash, and the ball appeared destined to go over the cones for a grand slam. Instead, the missing link was standing there with his glove ready, closing it perfectly upon impact. And yes, John's smile and the others around him was then probably bright enough to let us play some more. But even the gracious Thunder could not deny the perfect ending to the last game of OBA opening day.

On to Phase 4...

It's been a while since our last report. At the end of February, we finished Phase 3, which was our last round of Methotrexate. We were glad to finally get through this phase. The final dose of chemotherapy was very hard on John. He experienced a lot of nausea, headaches and fatigue. To give you an idea of how lousy he felt - he stayed home and watched Cal win the Pac 10 conference championship at home in bed. Jimmy brought home a whole box of blue and gold confetti to celebrate when he got home -- I'm still finding pieces of it all over my house. John did go over to Cal a few days later to congratulate the coaching staff and team. He brought a banner that he colored, balloons and a 6 pack of yellow Gatorade for coach.

Phase 3 was also difficult due to the amount of time we had to spend in the hospital. We were there for between 3-5 days at a time, with only a week or so in between. I want to say a special thank you to my siblings for their support during this time. I'm so lucky to have been born into a large family and have married into an even larger one. Although Mike and I had the logistics handled on the home front, my brother and two sisters knew how emotional the hospital time would be for me. They each flew up for one of the treatments so I wouldn't be alone. Their support was incredible - I couldn't have done it without them. John has appropriately knicknamed all of them - Geoff "Uncle Chill", Jillian "Aunt Fun" (she actually named herself), and Melissa "Aunt Crafty". It seems my mom and dad did it right - they raised loving siblings who will drop everything to care for one another.

And now we've made it through Phase 3, and the great thing about John is when he rebounds, he does it big. John came back feeling strong and had a great 10 days catching up with his pals and being a kid. He was able to participate in Orinda Baseball's opening day and play in their first baseball game. (more on that later)

Where are we now? John has moved into his 4th and final phase before maintenance. We have been focused on getting to Phase 5, or maintenance, which we will last 15 months. This will be the phase where John can have his broviac removed, return to school and sports and start to get back to a "normal" life. He will still be getting treatment but it will be far less intense.

Phase 4, or Delayed Intensification, began on March 8th. This phase lasts approx 2 months and we basically redo phase 1 & 2 in a consolidated form. He has already had two rounds of chemo and should receive 3 more rounds which will all be administered at the outpatient clinic. Reconsolidation will happen in April and will consist of one last and final hospital stay (24 hours), 2 weeks of chemo administered at home by me and the last two spinal methotrexates.

As far as activities, we've been keeping busy. We spent this past week on a road trip down to LA to watch the Pac 10 basketball tournament. The boys had a great time watching a lot of basketball. Caroline and I enjoyed the better part of LA - shopping on Robertson Avenue and a visit to Newport Beach. We will continue to keep you posted on our progress!

A Weekend in Carmel before Round 3

We did make it for a long weekend in Carmel. We enjoyed our favorite things....hiking Point Lobos, Wagon Wheel breakfast, cocktails at Spanish Bay at sunset. It was a healing weekend in every way. John's mouth sores improved every day and the change of scenery did wonders for all of us.

John was admitted on Thursday for his third round of High Dose Methotrexate. We were surprised that his counts were high enough to start on time. We are so fortunate to have our niece Allie staying with us for the month. She has jumped in to our daily schedule helping with pick ups, meals, etc. She will also be teaching the kids to play piano while she is here. My sister Melissa has come up as well to give me support at the hospital. (A HUGE thanks to NM for picking her up - above and beyond) Mike and I are so lucky - we are not doing this alone!

We spent the four days in the hospital keeping John busy. Melissa learned the dice game of Farkle and lost a lot of money to John. John now enjoys putting money on every game we play. He has become a gambling man - and a very rich one! His spirits were lifted as he watched CAL beat UCLA, and he will LOVE seeing them in first place when he checks the Pac 10 standings this week. I had fun seeing him watch the movie ET, which was one of my favorites as a kid. Every time we've been in the hospital and they put the oxygen light on his finger, I always call him ET -- now John actually gets why. We were released in record time again on Sunday morning.

John continues to have a great attitude. As a mom, I keep imagining that it must be getting old. One night this week as we were going to bed, he said, "Wouldn't it be great if they could cure cancer in a day?". Yes - it would! But for now we're doing it one day at a time.

2nd Round Done....

John had a great week before we headed back to Childrens for his second round of High Dose Methotrexate. We kept ourselves busy with fun outings to the Oakland Zoo, the Academy of Sciences and Color Me Mine. I was checking John's pals out of school all week and I think the school secretary may be on to me.

On Thursday, Mike's company held a fundraiser in honor of John. They raised over 100K for pediatric cancer at their annual FSG meeting in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the weather was so bad that Mike's flight was cancelled and he wasn't able to be there to personally to express our gratitude to everyone at Aon who worked so hard to make this event happen. We'd like to say a HUGE thanks to Mike Rice, Steve Keogh, Paul Kim, Karen Black and Sara Merrick for all their hard work. We look forward to sharing photos soon.

The money will go into a fund in John's name at the Childrens Hospital of Oakland Foundation. In the upcoming months, we will get to work with John to decide more specifically how the money will be allocated. John's sickness has been a big adjustment for our family in many ways, and we have been very lucky that Mike's company has given him so much support and flexibility.

John went back into the hospital on Friday 1/22 and was released on Monday. It felt like a very long stay this time. We had two nights with a crying infant - luckily I was able to get us moved for the last night. But, my patience was definitely tested and Mike picked up a cold from lack of sleep. We also learned that the hospital has no activities scheduled on weekends. The playroom is closed and the school services are not there. We got home on Monday tired and exhausted.

John came home and developed mouth sores a few days later. It is so hard to watch him suffer through those -- he had several days where he could not eat or talk. But, he was a trooper as always (thanks, KC, for the balloon and roses - first time I saw him smile in days).

We are keeping our fingers crossed that he doesn't get worse so we can sneak away for a long weekend in Carmel.

Johnny Jam

This blog is dedicated to John's CYO Basketball Team, The Warriors, who are 8-0 this season. Thank you for making him feel so part of the team!

I apologize in advance for my shrieking voice in the video.

John was released on Saturday just in time to watch his Cal Bears beat USC. On Monday morning, he woke up with a very sore mouth. The day I had been dreading was finally here! I had been very anxious about the side effects of this new round of chemo and had been told that it can be tough. We spent all day Monday at the hospital where the doctors assessed his mouth sores, hooked him up to IV fluids, administered pain medicine and checked his counts. John woke up Tuesday feeling better and it improved each day. He was eating regular food by Wednesday.

On Thursday afternoon, Jimmy and John were playing in the backyard. The music was blaring on the outdoor speakers (The Beatles, of course). One of John's best friends dropped in for an unexpected visit. As I walked in the house, I could see the boys shooting hoops. I grabbed John's Nano and took the video posted here. For a moment, I forgot all about cancer, hospitals, chemo- it was just so PERFECT!

Phase 3 Has Begun.....

3AM HOME FROM ER VISIT - IT SNOWED IN ORINDA!!!

NEW ADDITION TO GOLDEN BEAR ROSTER!

JEROME RANDLE - JOHN RICKSEN - MIKE MONTGOMERY

JOHN AND CAROLINE

JOHN ATE THE ENTIRE CRAB!

OSKI, AUNT LINDA, JOHN AND CAROLINE - CAL VS. STANFORD

LAFAYETTE RESERVOIR PLAYGROUND

NEW YEARS EVE! 2010 IS GOING TO BE A GREAT YEAR

CHRISTMAS EVE - BRUZZONE & RICKSEN COUSINS

CORDEVALLE

I did it again....I took another month to post! I guess we have been busy. I decided to post a collection of photos from the past month to share how well John is doing.

We just finished Phase 2 of treatment and it went very well. We experienced one ER visit (John had a fever from the flu) and two blood transfusions. All of this was pretty straightforward and to be expected.

John has been busy spending time with family and friends. He continues to do well with his school work and seems to be on track with his 2nd grade class. He was able to go back and visit his class before the Holidays and bring his classmates a Christmas gift bag.

As usual, the boys kept busy with Cal basketball games. Head coach Mike Montgomery and starting point guard Jerome Randle presented John with his very own Cal jersey with his name on the back. This was such a treat for John. He wears it everywhere and every day. He sleeps in it at night and it apparently qualifies as formal wear. You will see above in pictures from Christmas Eve - the jersey is on.

John continues to remain active - shooting baskets daily, playing golf with Dad and Uncle Casey and walking the Lafayette Reservoir (2.7 miles)!

My parents came up to spend Christmas with our family. We loved having them up here to celebrate with us. They even babysat so Mike and I could get away on an overnight with our close friends. We enjoyed a wonderful 24 hour vacation - complete with hiking, relaxing, good food and lots of laughs (thanks Brian and Laura)!

John was admitted back to Childrens Hospital on Tuesday morning to start Phase 3 (Interim Maintenance). Mike and I have been anxious for this phase since it will require a lot of time back in the hospital, which is hard for everyone. John received his intrathecal chemo and a 24 hour infusion of high does methotrexate. He could not be released until it was all out of his system. The doctors said this could take anywhere from 3-5 days. We are happy to say that it only took John 3 days and we were released Friday (a day earlier than expected).

John seems to be tolerating it well and we hope to remain home until Wednesday, January 20th. We will have this treatment four times over the next sixty days, which means 16-20 of the next 60 days will be at Childrens Hospital. We know that Kerry has started a meal calendar for us to help with this more intense round of treatment and appreciate all of you who continue to support us in so many immeasurable ways!