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Bulletin Board |
- Comments - Events - Notices |
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8 Nov 2008 Dear Haley, Michelle St.Clair |
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24 Oct 2008 I just wanted
to say how much I appreciated all the wonderful cooking at the Chatsworth
rodeo! thanks for all the time and effort I am sure was needed to put it on! |
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8 Sept 2008 Hi Everybody, The long awaited surgery to close the wound on Rick's head is finally almost here. Rick is both excited to get this done, and very nervous about the whole procedure. The surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday, the 9th.We will be going up to Duke Medical Center in Durham, NC on Monday for his pre-op work and the surgery is scheduled for real early Tuesday. The surgery will take about 8 hours and there will be two teams of Doctors working with him. One team will prepare his head, while the other team works on his arm and leg. This is not the usual skin graft, but a very tedious replacement of veins, arteries, muscle and nerves. Most of the work is done microscopically. After the surgery, Rick will be in intensive for at least 24 hours, and then he will stay at the medical center at Duke for 5-8 days. Karen, Cindy and I will be there until he is released.
Rick had his two month MRI this week, and it was clear. It was a tough week for him, because a woman his age had the same cancer and surgery within a week of his last year. She died last weekend and that brought back the reality of just how aggressive and horrible that type of cancer can be. God has blessed us all so very much.
Please pray for Rick and for Karen and the girls, Annabeth and Rebecca. Your prayers have been felt by my family and we love all of you. God has strengthened us all, and He is with us every minute.
Thank You for your love and prayers. Ray & Cindy Spence |
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10 Aug 2008 Hey everyone! Hope your all ready to get back in the saddle. We're gonna have a great year! As your newly elected President feel free to contact me with any thoughts or problems. If I don't know how to help you, I'll find someone who can. Also, please pray for my Dad. He recently had a bad accident while riding a young stud colt. He got in a storm while riding the horse and was bucked off. He has 3 fractures in his back and was told he'd be out of commission for approx. 3 months. He's very blessed, it could of been much worse, but he's having lots of pain. Thanks, Cody Lanier,
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10 Aug 2008 Hi to all our friends,
Thanks to our Great God, and to all your prayers, Ricky's PET scan was "cold"! Hallelujah! Everything was totally clear, as it should be, and he is now off of all chemo. We are all thrilled and so grateful for the end of this part of his journey. The next thing is to repair the hole in his head where the skin won't grow back over his skull. (Due to radiation damage). Right now he has a place about the size of a thumbnail where his skull can actually be seen. He keeps it covered with Aquafor (great stuff), steri-strips, and waterproof bandage. He has kept it infection free, which is the biggest danger, and the doctors call it a "stable wound". He can do most anything except swim in lakes. However, he can't live with it forever, so on September 9th, he will have 8 hour surgery to repair it at Duke Medical Center. They will take some flesh and blood vessels from his arm and attach it to his head and carotid artery. It takes two teams of doctors doing microsurgery. He will be in ICU for a day and in the hospital for 5 to 7 days. This is so much more complicated than the original brain surgery!
Our main prayer now is that God will heal this wound miraculously before he has to have the surgery. Please continue to pray for Ricky, and pray that his wound heals and remains infection free. God is in the miracle business, as we have already seen. We believe God can and will do anything. Our faith is that this is totally in His hands and will be done according to His will. What a peace we have from that.
Thank you all once more for reading this, and thank you for your continued prayers for our son. We love you all, and we pray for you all to be blessed immensely.
Love in Christ, Ray & Cindy |
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7 Aug 2008 I live in the
Albany / Leesburg area and would like to get my 7 year old daughter into
riding lessons, but can't find a provider close by. Can you recommend a
stable or individual within 45 minutes or so of my area that can instruct? I
would appreciate any information you can provide. |
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5 Aug 2008 Blake Arp
If anyone could share some information on how Blake is doing, please send it to ghsra@yahoo.com and we'll share it on the web. I did hear that he is home now. Also, there will be a benefit for him. Look for that information under "Events". Mr. Pat |
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27 July 2008 Blake Arp has a crushed vertebra in his neck. He broke it during his ride in the bareback competition during the "short go" in Farmington, NM. He is in the hospital there and will be for several days until he can be flown home. It is undetermined if he will need surgery or not. His recovery will be a long process.
Our prayers are with Blake and his family. |
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20 July 2008 Hi, Dear Friends, Well, it has been a long time since last October 24th when we discovered Ricky's brain tumor. However, God has been absolutely magnificent to Ricky and our whole family through this trial. HE has never let us down, has never left us, has been so faithful to answer our prayers, and His grace and mercy abound! Ricky had his last chemo treatment this past Monday, and God Willing, that is it!!! He goes to Duke this next Monday, July 14th, and will have a PT scan Monday morning about 10:30 AM. We will meet with the doctor at 12:30 PM to get the results. We would like to ask you all to pray for Ricky that this scan is "cold" which means no "hot spots" of cancer. We expect it to be totally clear and "cold", and we know that there can never be too much prayer going up to God. He really loves to hear from us daily! Just to let you know a little bit about how he is doing, he ran the Peachtree Road Race(6.2 miles) on July 4th with his whole family, and wasn't too far off his normal time! He is also preparing to do a triathlon in August with some friends (he'll do the bike part), and he and Karen are going to Austria for a few days in early August to see their daughter Annabeth sing in a music festival that she and 5 other students from her school got invited to participate in. Ricky has weathered his chemo pretty well, although the cumulative effects have made him a little more tired this past 6 weeks. However, that should all be behind him now. THANK GOD! Ricky and our whole family deeply appreciate your prayers, care, and concern. We feel so blessed to have such a strong network of family and friends, and even the doctors have told us how important that can be in the recovery process. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR LOVE AND PRAYERS! With deepest gratitude and love, Ray & Cindy |
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29 June 2008 To All Our Rodeo Family - We would like to thank you for your thoughts, prayers, cards, pictures, and the money you all sent to us. It sure did help with the gas back and forth to Jacksonville. John Wayne is doing much better and we hope to see you all soon. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you, The Spradley Family |
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14 June 2008 My name is
Clark Klinkenberg, I run a teen website (www.get-thedl.com)
that highlights the accomplishments of teens throughout the United States in
sports and teen activities. I would like to be included in any media
information you send out so that I can put the information on our website. I
am interested in covering some of your events if possible in the future. |
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14 June 2008 It was told to people at finals that t-shirts would be available online. I don't know the website though. Doug Gowen
Send the web site to ghsra@yahoo.com & it will be posted. |
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