Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)

This is a blog post from my brother Craig. PLEASE READ!!!

I'm gonna end up asking you for money.... so look forward to that!

My Dad, Denny Tovey (see the Awesome! gentleman to the left), was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) last Friday. Good news is he has been at the UC San Francisco hospital since then and is already undergoing chemotherapy. He is otherwise very healthy for his age and for his type of leukemia there's a 90% chance he will recover completely, which is really great news for us. He'll spend 30 days for his first round of treatment and return for several more stays over the following 6 months. This came to our family, like so many before us, as a huge shock. No family ever sits around going:

"You know, I have a feeling Dad's gonna get cancer."

"Weird! I thought the same thing! What type, do you think?"

"I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I'd put odds on Leukemia. It's a real sneaky cancer and that's the only way it would get to someone like Dad, cause he's always, like, really... aware! You know?"

"Yeah, like the time he just knew it was me that touched the thermostat! How could he possibly know that?! But he was right... I did. It was so damn cold in that house!"

Anyway, my Dad, Denny, that is, is an auto mechanic by trade. Last summer he closed down his shop after like 30 yrs of business, due to a recently increased economic influence. So he's unemployed and has no insurance. He should be eligible for medical, but that doesn't cover all his monthly living expenses (which luckily are fairly low since he's very frugal) or the ancillary expenses involved in being hospitalized. His wife Becky pays $24/day just to park at the hospital, for example. I'm sure ALL of you know or have known someone who has had a major illness and understand the financial stress that comes from being hospitalized. His Bishop asked him to reach out to friends and family for support and so I'm reaching out to you. So if anyone has a spare couple bucks and feels inclined.... please send a check to:

Denny Tovey
6433 Beechwood Dr.
Paradise, CA. 95969

I'm seriously thinking in the $10-$20 range... more if you're really, really rich. Needless to say, for ANY help I would be very grateful! A few years back my friend Brooke Barragan and I raised some money for a struggling single mother for Christmas. (That was Part I) My Dad was the single biggest contributor at $500. He is ALWAYS the one to offer time and money when someone's in need. I'm hoping that kind of karma will revisit him now that the roles are reversed.

And if you ever need someone to run, walk, or donate time or money to the cause of your choice, I'm totally on-board! Cause without cancer funds that research new treatments the outlook would NOT be as good as it is.

Thank you,