Please Join Us...

The moments and minutes of the last days of August 2008 and the month of September 2008 are etched in my brain forever. Ken isn't so lucky to remember everything about those days, but he does remember parts of them. The ups and the downs of those days changed our lives forever. It made us appreciate life more and realize what is truly important. During those days, Ken and I discussed the importance of teaching Charlie to pay it forward.


That realization, when thrown back into your "normal" life again, is sometimes hard to remember as we get caught up in life. What is really important? One thing we know is really important is giving back to the wonderful people at Northwestern that cared not only for Ken, but for Charlie and I as well. Giving back to those wonderful people so that they can continue to make amazing medical advancements for brain tumors, benign and malignant alike. Those wonderful people that continue to care for us we make our "every so often" visits to Northwestern. They are exceptional people doing AMAZING things for the brain tumor world. We KNOW just how blessed we are to be in their care.


We are participating in a couple of events that we would love your support with, if you are able. We realize that given the economic climate, times are tough for many families and ours is not excluded from that, but if you have the means, please consider these events as worthy organizations for your donation to go to. If you can't give at this time, we understand and thank you for considering it, but we do ask for your thoughts on these days as we spend them celebrating Ken's life and giving back to find a cure for brain tumors.


On Sunday, May 16, my brother Ted, will be participating in the Magellan Development Chicago Half Marathon. The official charity of the race is the Northwestern Brain Tumor Institute (NBTI). Ted is part of a team of Northwestern doctors, nurses, brain tumor survivors and their families running the race. The NBTI is an amazing organization that works endlessly to find a cure for brain and spinal tumors and your donation goes straight to Northwestern.


If you wish to support Ted (he's listed as Edward Peck) and the Northwestern Brain Tumor Institute you can go here to make a donation:


http://foundation.nmh.org/site/TR/Events/General?px=1075822&pg=personal&fr_id=1040

On Saturday, May 22, my Mom (Carol), Ted, our friend Julie, Ken, Charlie and I are walking in the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) 5K Run/Walk. We are part of Team Survivor which is made up of patients and family members from Northwestern's Brain Tumor Support Group. The ABTA website was one of the many that I spent much time on learning about Ken's tumor, his diagnosis and treatment. It provides wonderful opportunities to research brain tumors and find a cure!

If you wish to support any of us in the ABTA walk, the link below will take you to Team Survivor's page. You can select any of our names from that list:

http://hope.abta.org/site/TR/ABTAEvent/PathtoProgress?team_id=10340&pg=team&fr_id=1560

Ken Friedrich
Michelle Friedrich
Carol Peck
Ted (Edward Peck)

Julie Warman

The number of brain tumors diagnosised each year are staggering considering the lack of progress in successfully fighting them or in finding a cure for them. We truly believe in these two organizations and their abilities to move forward in making advancements in finding a cure for brain tumors.

From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU for your donation, for your positive thoughts for us on these days that we work to pay it forward so that other families fighting brain tumors can find successful treatments, as we were so fortunate to.