Almost two months ago...

Again, cleaning my desk and I came across the program for a funeral that Greg and I attended in December. This funeral was for our friend Nick Shifflet. We hadn't talked to him in many years but in high school Greg and I both have fond memories of him. Nick was in my english class, he hated that class! Our families were close and I had a great time with Nick at his sister Shenny's wedding. Greg played football with him and has lots of memories of riding around in his red bug in the summer's. Last year, I had heard that our friend had cancer but we thought he was on the road to recovery. On December 11th, we received the sad news that Nick had lost his battle with cancer and passed away. He passed away on December 10th, the same day as Kaylie and Alyss'a birthday. I will forever think of Nick especially on this day that is already so close to our hearts. Here are a few things that are posted about Nick including the story of his cancer straight from him:
Well, a little about me. My name is Nick. I was born in Pueblo, Colorado. I won't go that far back in my life, this is the story of Nick, present day. I have an older sister named Shenny, and a younger brother and sister, Tyler & Isabella. So, there I was, working in God's country, Summit County colorado. I was minding my own business, thinking of winter and all the new turns I was going to make on my new snowboard. All of a sudden, as I was lifting a rock (while building a fence) I felt a pop in my neck. I didn't think much of it at first. It started as an ache, but over time became much worse. I started losing feeling & strength in my left arm & hand. Over the next three months, it became apparent that the problem was getting worse. I tried chiropractic, with no lasting relief. I was referred to an Orthopedic Doc. The results of an MRI showed 2 bulged disks in my neck. We first tried cortozone injections, which were unsucessful. Two days later when I went for my follow up my left arm was completely paralyzed. A few days later, I had surgery to fuse C 5-6 & C 6-7. The surgery was on Feb. 1st, 2008. I was released the next day. Still in pain and still with a flaccid left arm, I went to Colo. Springs to stay with family to convalesce. Over the next 11 days my condition got much worse. I was unsteady on my feet and fell 3 times. My family called an ambulance to take me to Memorial hospital. The ER doc felt there was something up because of the neck surgery, so he ordered an MRI. They saw what they thought was a pocket of infection or collection of blood near the surgery site. They called a neuro-surgeon, and I went into surgery that night. They opened me up only to find a tumor that ran from C3 to T3. It took 6 hours to remove it. After a week we learned what type of tumor it was. Not being one to do things the easy way, my body decided to grow a rare tumor called PNET Sarcoma, or Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor. This is one of the 4 tumors in the Ewings family. Ewings is very rare. Only avout 500 cases a year in the US and only 5% are in my age group. About 25 new cases per year in the 20 - 30 yr. age group. It's been a fast 3 or 4 weeks. Last week I found out that I have another tumor in my neck that has tripled in size. My Oncologist was hoping to move me to MD Anderson in Houston, however, his colleague there reccomended that I start on chemo right away and not waste time with moving. March 1st I started my first 4 day round of chemo. Chemo...it is not one of my favorite things! Some of the drugs make me very tired and I hallucinate. I've seen dogs, talked to people who were not there, and let's not forget "Chad" & "Margaret" the kids who stood at my bedside with masks on and coughed at me then ran away laughing. They thought it was funny...me, not so much! I'm not really looking forward to the 21st, because I will start my next round of chemo. In the meantime, I am on the rehab floor, continuing physical therapy, working hard to get out of here. For the past few days, I can say that each day has been better than the one before! Thanks to the doctors, nurses, & CNA's. Thanks to everyone out there who is keeping me in their thoughts & prayers. LIVESTRONG, Nick

We lost our precious Nick December 10, 2008.