Go Steve - Steve's Updates

Updates from Steve’s cancer-free life

March 17, 2009

Lots of exciting news!

Filed under: check ups, living life — Tags: , , , , , , , , — By steve @ 8:39 am

First off-welcome to my new little nephew, christopher glen larson! He’s a great looking little man and I’m elated to have a nephew after 13 years of having nieces [who are growing up!].  Congratulations kathy, chadd, ashly–now a bigger family!

I will be giving two presentations, both free and open to the public, on Monday, March 30th at LAHS! One at 2:30PM with a second to follow at 7:00PM, each about an hour long. I’ve received (and STILL receive) support and well wishes from so many people in Langdon that I want to come and give you my first person account of the struggles and battles my family and I faced while I was sick and fighting for my life. I’m extremely, extremely excited!

The website re-design is coming along, lib is doing a great job! The best feature will be the ability of you all to post comments and create forums…

Work is still going great, we are in the close-to-the-end-of-the-year crunch (our year ends in June), so the team is feeling some pressure. Lib is also enjoying her new job in grand-forks, although I think she’s getting bored with the commute every morning!

If you are in Fargo on April 7th, please please please go out and support GO STEVE JONES as they are in the final round of the Q98 Battle of the Bands.  Good luck dudes!

Oh yeah, lest I forget, in health news: I have scans on April 27th (CT, echo and x-rays of my residual limb)…more good news ahead!

onward!
SDS

January 24, 2009

oh thriving economy, where art thou?

Filed under: living life — Tags: , , , , — By steve @ 8:34 am

It’s been a long time! I hope everyone had a fun Christmas and enjoyed the time with family and friends.

lib and persy, fargo nd, 2008

lib and persy, fargo nd, 2008

As with a lot of families, our life has been a bit turbulent as of late. The company that lib worked for, psa mags, laid off 24 people over the course of a month. After almost 3 years of loyal service, she was a casualty. On to bigger and better things! (The link to the in-forum article will only be active for a few days. They only allow people to view articles for up to seven days.)

I have an interesting update on my leg, and it’s quite comical! Due to the intricacies of the C-leg, it has a warranty. One stipulation of that warranty requires me to send it in for maintenance once a year- an oil change, if you will! Among other things, they replace bearings, swap out the fluid and test the computer chip. The loaner leg I was given (yes, loaner leg-kind of like the dumpy Ford Taurus you get when your car is in the shop!) has massive wear-and-tear, and functions slightly different than mine. It took a few days to get used to the swing and resistance of the new leg, even though all the options were set identical to mine.

I’ve included some pictures.

I’m going to start speaking publicly more often, and I’m going to come to Langdon the first half of this year to tell my story to all that supported me during the tough times. I will advertise as much as possible and it will be open to the public. More info to come as I know more. I’ve booked one more speaking engagement and have started discussions for others. I’m working with lib and Jay Peltier to make this happen–he is a great guy and amazing to work with. I met Jay at NDSU through Blue Key and have stayed great friends since!

Look for a complete overhaul concerning the design and layout of gosteve, as we are going to bring in more functions, different features such as posting comments, more pictures and an overall professional feel. Lib will work her magic and produce a great site. I’m excited!

onward!
SDS

April 20, 2008

relay for life went great!

Filed under: lung scare — Tags: , , — By steve @ 7:48 am

It did! Relay for Life went great! Great weather, great attendance and an overall great atmosphere to support the fight against cancer. I spoke to the crowd for about 5 minutes, led the survivor lap and eventually got to light my own Luminaria.

Happiness, sorrow and optimism circled my mind in a tooth-and-nail fight to take the trophy for lead emotion. Each completed (and heavily contested) lap brought a new depth to my emotions as a survivor fighting the good fight–a good depth, one that comforts and wards off some fears that tend to tiptoe around in my head. The winner has yet to be decided.

I’ll post photos as soon as they are sent my way…I’m also working on getting the video of my speech transferred to the web and posting it here for all to see and hear. (view it here!)

It’s been a great week full of spending time with my close friends and family and seeing great old friends who have been absent from my daily life lately. Sometimes rekindling past friendships sets the heart at ease.

I’m also in the process of getting my hour long speech from the Blue Key National Conference split into sections and posted at goSteve.org so all can see it.

:.:T-minus-3 days until I’m cancer free again:.:

onward!
SDS

April 18, 2008

surgery is scheduled…NDSU relay for life!

Filed under: lung scare — Tags: , , , , , — By steve @ 7:41 am

My surgery has been scheduled for Wednesday April 23 at 11AM. It will be at Fairview, the same hospital we called home for almost a year.

I’m still fuzzy on the details of the surgery, but here is what I know. It will be a thorascopic operation, consisting of three holes where they are able to see the tumor on the lung with a camera. They will remove the tumor and tissue surrounding the tumor and close me back up.

I hope to see you all tonight at the NDSU Relay for Life, Shepards Field, starting at about 7ish. I’m an honorary survivor so I’ll be giving a little speech at the pre-Relay Survivor’s banquet.

video of gosteve @ NDSU relay for life

onward!
SDS

January 30, 2008

The first is always the worst…

Filed under: post chemo — Tags: , , , , , — By steve @ 7:19 am

The speech at Blue Key Nationals went very well. I was very excited, nervous and scared to see how it would turn out. It is emotionally draining to pour over all the pictures and stories, the memories and the pain of what happened. The first time is always the worst, but this one turned out to be the greatest. I spoke for nearly an hour, laying out my struggle, telling others what I’ve learned and answering some amazing questions.

Speaking of Blue Key, the chapter at Truman State in Missouri is holding a blood drive on February 7 & 8 on their campus. If you are anywhere near, please please go donate and help out. Blood is hard to come by and many don’t know the dire need. It saved my life-I alone recieved 42 units throughout my treatments. Without it I wouldn’t be here. Again, if you can, please donate your blood and time to make their drive successful in saving lives!

I was cast for another socket today. My limb is still shrinking, but slower now. If you don’t know, residual limbs tend to hold fluids and get larger. As soon as the stump is exposed to the constant pressure and compression of the socket, it begins to shrink. As it shrinks, the socket doesn’t fit and I can’t walk properly. Eventually the limb shrinks so much that you need a new, smaller socket. I am working on my fifth socket because my limb has compressed itself so much. I will have a new one in a week or so.

January 2, 2008

plethora of emotions…

Filed under: post chemo — Tags: , , , , , — By steve @ 7:17 am

I’ll be giving a keynote address for the Blue Key Honor Society National Conference on Saturday, January 19th. It will be my first time giving a ‘real’ speech on my battle, and it’s brought back a plethora of emotions I haven’t had to deal with.

I am walking!! (since May) but I’m on my third socket, trying to stabilize the size of my limb so I can get back to therapy and maybe even get rid of my cane! I’m thinking about getting one with flames, what do you think?

NDSU commencement last December signaled the end to my undergraduate life…now can I just find a job?

GoSteve.org was started by members of Alpha Tau Omega to help Steve Symons raise funds to assist with medical bills. Just as the dynamic world of Steve has evolved, gosteve.org will continue to grow into a site to help others with their courageous battles against cancer and amputations. More

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