7/11/25

Hey there. Sharing along a quick update as we approach a milestone in this journey. I'm wrapping up the recovery week from chemo #11 on 6/30, and set for the final planned chemo, 12 of 12, on Monday.

It's certainly been an adventure to get to this point, and we are celebrating....celebrating the fact that we made it here, celebrating that multiple things point to great progress in getting rid of the cancer, and celebrating the community effort that has made it possible.

Though it wraps up the chemo, I'm not exactly "done." We'll do a PET scan in late July to see how everything is looking which will inform our next steps. The oncologist has pointed at a "maintenance chemo" protocol and we have already begun additional treatments through our functional medicine doctor. Anyway, we will continue to lean on all the expertise from our care team and ourselves to map that out.

But, it does look possible that the hard-hitting chemo might get shelved. I wouldn't miss it. More to come on all that!

Going back to the idea of our community, which has continually lifted us up through this journey, it's hard for my thoughts to not jump to the flooding and the impacted communities. Reading a Texas Monthly article this morning felt like my heart getting ripped out of my chest as I thought about what all the affected families have endured and will endure.

I'm adding a couple of pictures below that include my friend, Lee Pool. Lee and I have gotten to know each other over the last ~25 years through playing in a couple of bands: spinach (yes, a lowercase "s") and The Logan Brothers Band.

Lee's a badass. An accomplished bass player, he continually sets the groove for the band. He's got a knack for finding the soul of a song and pulling us all into it. He's always focused on serving what the overall song needs.

I've come to appreciate that Lee is just uniquely focused on service, full stop.

When everything went to hell with my health in November, Lee face-timed me multiple times to check in and just chat/vent. He drove over to Austin with his bass, and we played music all afternoon. It was the best medicine.

Lee is an Assistant Principal at the middle school in his town, having also been a teacher in the community for a long time prior. I'm certainly biased toward educators as being some of the best humans on earth, and Lee only confirms that notion.

Last summer, when we all met up at Lee's house to practice for a gig, Lee had to step away for an hour for a haircut. I later found out that one of his former students had started a small business cutting hair, so Lee, who didn't really need a haircut, scheduled a haircut anyway just to support the young man and connect with him some.

With the Logan Brothers Band, we have been lucky to play at the Crider Rodeo the past couple of years and were scheduled to play there in a few weeks. Crider is a couple of miles down Hwy 39 from Camp Mystic. Lee got us that gig as he lives nearby, right off Hwy 39 in Ingram.

As the volunteer fire chief in Hunt, Lee's priorities quickly shifted from getting ready for a gig to serving his community in this tragedy. You can see more about Lee HERE. Lee's wife, Stephanie, has a heart of gold and is also doing all she can to serve affected families and first responders.

Lee is what makes a community work. He's selfless and as generous as could be. He models for all of us what it looks like to see a need and act on it. I'm grateful Lee is part of my community and equally grateful for his modeling of what "love thy neighbor" looks like in a life well-lived.

It's never a bad time to aspire towards more service.