Deegan and Matthew


May 29, 2005
Deegan is 4 years old.
We invited Deegan and his family over for a BBQ tonight.
We got a few pictures of the boys in their Make-A-Wish hats.
Deegan's wish is to meet Buzz Lightyear, so he and his family will be going
to Disneyworld in September or October! Cool!

These are journal entries I wrote about Deegan back in December 2004 when he was first diagnosed.
December 18, 2004, Saturday
Dr. Pollary also told me today that he believes another child here in Vernal has leukemia. He sent the child out to PCMC yesterday (17th) for more testing. He didn't tell me any details about who the child was or the age. He did tell me the child's counts, which were all VERY similar to Matthew's counts when he was diagnosed. Matthew was also diagnosed at this time of year...5 years ago on December 13th. So being told this has really affected me. I started to cry and told Dr. Pollary to please let the family know that I would do anything that I could to help them through this shock. He said that he would tell them. Please keep this new child and Matthew in your prayers.

December 29, 2004, Wednesday
We met the family in town that I mentioned on Dec. 18 that is dealing with the shock and devastation of their child being diagnosed with cancer. Kirk's hunting friend knows the family well and he introduced us to them on Sunday evening. We took Matthew with us. Their child is 3-1/2 yrs. old and is a boy named Deegan. They also have a baby girl who is 7 months old. Deegan has ALL (acute lymphocytic leukemia), the same as Matthew. Mom and dad, Mindy and Garrett, were grateful to meet us and to meet Matthew. They are still in shock, but are handling it fairly well. My heart goes out to them. Lane and Matthew bought Deegan a couple of Spider-Man toys and I made a Scooby Doo quilt for him. Deegan liked everything. He's a very sweet little boy. Our prayers are with them.