Update from Ryan and Brooke:

Hey Everyone! Brooke and I can't thank you enough for all of your support. Everyone who has reached out, donated and shared the Go Fund Me has been so helpful and we are incredibly grateful.

We have had an incredibly busy week. Not only are Brooke and I still working full-time, but we had a lot of health updates and movement this week too. Here's the rundown:

1. We got a call from Mayo on Monday that they will accept me as a patient. However, we were stunned when they said their first available opening wasn't until November. They only have three pancreatic cancer specialists, and are obviously very busy, but it's really sad knowing that some people may not even make it that long after their diagnosis. Once we got over the initial shock, we had to come up with another plan.

2. We called Penn Medicine and were able to get in with them on Tuesday, September 12. This is unfortunate that we have to make another trip back out to Philadelphia this year, but we can't afford to wait until November to come up with a solid plan. A widow from another pancreatic cancer patient that Brooke met gave us information on a program called Corporate Angels. Corporations with private jets work with the organization and allow use of their jets to provide FREE flights for those with cancer to get to appointments. Brooke completed all the information and we have requested our flight. We have to have a back-up plan in case there isn't availability, but the fact that we have a potential free flight option is amazing!

3. Once we had the visit with Penn Medicine set up, I called to see if we could move up the MRI my oncologist had wanted. I was able to get that Tuesday this week, along with the blood test that will determine if I am still sensitive to chemotherapy or not. This test can take 7-14 days to get back, but prayers are appreciated that the news comes back positive.

4. I'm getting my 31st platinum-based chemotherapy today. The chemo nurses say I'm pretty unique. :)

So for now, we will enjoy this long weekend and relax a bit before starting up again next week. Thanks again, everyone!

Brooke and Ryan