You Are Invited to Celebrate Jim's Life this Monday

It is with great sadness that I write this final posting on the Team Hope website. As many of you are already well aware, my father Jim, passed away this last Monday, April 19th at 6:44 p.m. His absence is an unimaginable void we are slowly learning to accept.

James Donald Evavold is survived by his wife Candy and his four children; Jill, Jesse, Jennalee and myself.
All of us and his entire extended family have been battling to save him since his diagnosis, September 14, 2009.

I wanted to let you know that Jim Evavold's funeral, and the celebration of his life, will be at 10:30 AM on Monday, April 26th at St. Louise Catholic Church in Bellevue. Everyone is invited to attend and we are encouraging everyone to come. There will be a reception immediately following the service, which will last until approximately 1:30 p.m., at which time we will commence to Calvary Cemetery in Seattle for the burial service at 2:30 p.m. 

Please come prepared to share a few words about Jim. We encourage humorous memories and stories, as this is a celebration of a man who was constantly cracking jokes. If you feel that you would not be able to share a memory that you have, we will have a basket for you to place your memory in and someone else can read it for you.

The location of the service will be at St. Louise Catholic Church 10:30 AM
Location and directions can be found here: http://www.stlouise.org/newweb/

St. Louise Catholic Church
141 156th Ave
Bellevue, WA 98007

You can reach me at melissapeterman@gmail.com if you have other questions.

Flowers can be sent to the Barton Family Funeral Service of Kirkland or brought or sent to the church.

Barton Family Funeral Service of Kirkland
11630 Slater Ave NE Suite 1A
Kirkland, WA 98034

Additionally, if you would like to make a donation in Jim's memory, you can do so here at the bottom of the page. If you would like to mail a gift, please contact me and I can give you the address.

Please share this website and information with anyone who would like to be there to celebrate Jim's life and support the family on Monday.

Thank you all so much for your continued support of our family,

love,

Melissa

Cannot Thank You Enough!! A Huge Thank You for a Huge Success!

I just wanted to send out a quick post to thank you all for coming out to support the Team Hope fundraiser last Sunday. With your help we raised more than seven thousand dollars for my father's medical treatments!!!
All of us are blown away by your incredible generosity and support for our family.

I want to say thank you on behalf of my family for all of the silent auction items that were donated that helped us reach such an incredible amount! I also want to thank everyone who provided delicious food and wine donations! I have a lot of emails I'll be sending out soon- I want to make sure that everyone who purchased an auction item that was a service will be connected to the right person(s). I also want to send out a HUGE thank you to Troy McVicker, our close family friend who donated his DJ services for the event. We couldn't have done it without all of his enthusiastic help!

Below are just a couple pictures from the fundraiser. Thank you so much!

love,

Melissa and the entire Evavold gang

Hope is on the Way!

What a ride it has been since my father was diagnosed- only in September. One day he was bike riding every day after work, the next day he was lying in Overlake hospital recovering from multiple seizures caused by the tumor in his brain. Now in mid-February we are still continuing with the battle. My father is completely bedridden now but we all know he is in excellent care. I've never seen a stronger woman than my mom.  I tell you if everyone in the hospital could receive the treatment my father has been getting at home, there would be some happy patients. I'm so incredibly inspired. And! Great great news!
Today my brother Jesse went with my parents to Vancouver, Canada to see a cancer specialist who treats patients like my father dealing with his type of cancer. The center is called LEMMO Integrated Cancer Care I received a glowing phone call on their way home about all the hope they were given on curing his cancer! The specialist is Dr. Lemmo, Bastyr trained and originally from Seattle. I would love to tell you that every great cancer treatment center in Seattle can help my father, but there are many more solutions to cure cancer than chemo and radiation. Don't get me started on American politics with cancer treatments or the FDA, I could give you an earful.

I also wish I could tell you they were going over to Vancouver BC to watch the Olympics, I truly do!! But due to America's restrictions with certain treatments, they had to seek medical help out of the country to get the treatment my father needs. It doesn't cost any more than the standard treatments we would be settling with in the states, in fact, most of them are less expensive! And guess what!? The survival rates are higher!
More importantly than ever, we couldn't do it alone!!! With your help we are able to continue these medical treatments for my father and I couldn't be more excited and thrilled at the outpouring of your generous support for my father's treatments! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I'm still planning a fundraiser! Thank you all for wanting to help! I will be in touch soon!

love,

Melissa

An Appreciation of Family and Friends and New Treatment Ideas

Mark, Jill, Candy, Melissa, Jesse, Jim and Jennalee at the Seattle Symphony for Dad's Birthday

The above photo was taken this last November. The whole family went to the symphony for my dad's 60th birthday. I love this picture. Jim was already diagnosed with the glioblastoma brain tumor, but he was still very strong. My father loves classical music and it was his dream to compose his own music someday. Until that time comes, a  laptop sits next to my father's bed steaming classical music. I like to believe it is healing in ways we cannot see.
Today my mom and my brother will be taking Jim to the Tahoma clinic for some alternative treatment options, perhaps finding a cure or at the very least, buying a little more time.

Again, I wish there was a way that I could express how much your support means to our family during this unreal time. The outpouring of support from friends and family during the past few months has been so inspiring! From the generous donations, the home-cooked dinners, the visits at the hospital and the volunteers who ran errands without asking.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Overwhelming Support

Candy and Jim holding up a Hope ornament Christmas 2009

On behalf of my entire family, I want to say THANK YOU!!! Since posting this blog yesterday and reaching out, we have received an overwhelming response of donations already! This is very unfamiliar territory for my family, to ask for help, especially financial help. It's been extremely emotional to say the least.

For everyone who has reached out to volunteer to cook and bake for the upcoming fundraiser, we thank you!
I also want to thank you all for passing this blog to your friends, family and church members, we have received support from some very unexpected places!

When my dad was unresponsive in the hospital last Saturday, two doctors told my mother that my father was in a coma and given a bleak diagnosis. We had a fantastic rally of family and friends continue to pray for my father and send out positive vibes. The following sunday evening my father slowly reached out to my sister Jen and asked "how are you doing?" Tuesday afternoon, my father was delivered home via ambulance and set up at home for home health care. Each day he gets a little bit better. There are some new treatments my family is looking into and we are hopeful.

Thank you all so much for your support!

love,

Melissa