My Sullivan Sweeties: PAT

I know that several of you know Pat Ours and I'm often asked how she is doing, so I thought I would give an update on my blog. For those of you who aren't fortunate enough to know Pat, she is an amazing woman who has played a major role in my life.

Pat holding Audrey

She grew up with my mom in Carlsbad, New Mexico. My mom and Pat both made their way from Carlsbad, NM to Pasadena, CA to attend college at Pasadena Nazarene College (currently called PLNU). Pat would always "tag along" on my mom and dad's dates to serve as their chaperon...or maybe just to snag a free dinner.

Pat and my mom at Pat's chemo treatment

Fast forward about 10 years or so and both my parents and Pat and Howard ended up in Hemet, CA. This is where my brother and I spent our entire childhood, along with the Ours kids (Sara, Jeff, and Amy). Neither of our families had any extended family in town so we served as their family and they served as "Ours."

Pat and Howard (left) with my mom and dad in Alaska '09

Almost every memory of my childhood has Pat in it.

...from spending every family vacation together...road-tripping our way around the country, with Pat in the front passenger seat talking on the CB and snacking on her red licorice,

...to our weekly trips to Taco Bell (Pat's favorite),

...to having huge parties at our house on sunday nights after church. What were supposed to be small get-togethers always turned into Pat inviting the entire church over to our house, cause with Pat, its always "the more, the merrier!"

As you can imagine, growing up with Pat in my life was an adventure!

Howard, Pat, Jeff & Issac, Krista (Jeff's wife), Sara and Amy

About 10 years ago (roughly) Pat was diagnosed with Breast Cancer but after a successful treatment plan of chemo and radiation, she went into remission...until about a year and a half ago.

The cancer had come back...and it had spread into her lungs, liver and bones. Since then she has tried several types of chemo but lately (in the past few months) things have taken a turn for the worse.

Pat has been having an extremely difficult time breathing because her chest is filling up with fluid and putting intense pressure on her lungs, making it impossible to catch her breath. She just recently came home from a 10-day hospital stay, where they inserted a drain so she will be able to drain the fluid while at home. Pat is VERY low on energy. She is sleeping around 20+ hours/day.

Pat's daughters Amy and Sara (along with Sara's husband Dan) were at our house on Saturday night when they decided that now was time to get out to New Mexico to spend time with Pat and to help Howard with Pat's care. My mom and dad picked Sara and Amy up at the airport yesterday afternoon and dropped them off at Pat and Howard's house last night. They were able to surprise Pat who didn't know that they were coming.

Pat has a doctors appointment today and tomorrow so please pray for her...as it takes ALL her energy to get out of the house these days.

Here is the link to Pat's blog: http://patriciaours.blogspot.com/

or you can just click HERE to be taken directly to her blog. Sara updates the blog regularly so be sure to check-in to see what they find out at the doctors appointments.

I love this lady.