The website chronicling Mo's battle w/ brain cancer can be viewed here. Click the "Progress" link.

July, 2007
I have been remiss in updating Mo's website - Long overdue, here some updates on Memorials to Mo:

For 3 years running, Z104, a local radio station, has conducted a "Cure Kids Cancer" radiothon to raise $$ for the UW Children's Hospital.  I was interviewed the first year, and Anne and I were interviewed the second year.  These were emotional interviews about what it was like to live with Pediatric cancer.  After the interview I told them I'd email some pix of Mo for their website.  Of course I could not possibly decide which pictures could represent him to people who didn't know him, so ended up gathering 33 photos. A zipped file containing the pictures can be downloaded here (approx. 20 Megabytes).

After the Tsunami struck Indonesia in we donated money from Mo's Memorial Fund to the Red Cross Relief Effort.

In 2006, Mo's Memorial fund provided about $1300 for donations. We donated money to the local chapter of the Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation and to the updating of a book which helps families understand the many facets of childhood brain tumors - a book we found useful when we began the ordeal.  The Candlelighters' mission is:

Our mission is to provide information and awareness for children and adolescents with cancer and their families, to advocate for their needs, and to support research so every child survives and leads a long and healthy life.

On the local level, it translates to assistance with food, rent, medicines and other essential life needs - very helpful, tangible support for people who have more than they should on their plates.

As mentioned in a previous post, we planted a tree and a memorial stone in the schoolyard at Glenn Stephens in June of 2005.  Last year we planted annuals and perennials around the tree, and this year it looks great.  Here are a couple of pix:

The Madison Water Utility created a Memorial to Mo in their new building, see 6/14/05 entry for the story.

Local artist and owner of Aardvark Art Glass Kathy Leinbarger created some beautiful beads to hold a tiny bit of Mo's ashes.  Mo loved crabs and fish, and so:

And finally, we comissioned Jef Raasch, a Milwaukee-based ceramic artist to create new urn to hold Mo's ashes.  We told him about Mo and sent pictures of his favorite things and this is what he came up with:

To describe living with this grief - it's like having a thick emotional scar.  I keep busy and don't think too much about it most of the time (though I think about Mo many times each day).  And when things slow down and I look at pictures of Mo and relive the good times and the ordeal, it still shocks me deeply that this has happened.  Completely shocking.  It still doesn't seem possible.  But then I move my thoughts back outside of the scar and remember that I've learned to live with the grief and there are so many human tragedies in the world.  And so much more depressing are the horrible personal tragedies that we have wrought upon the citizens of Iraq.  Hundreds of thousands of people killed, maimed, displaced permanently from their homes.  There is no flag large enough to cover this horrible crime, no prayer powerful enough to absolve of us our guilt in this misadventure for the vile war profiteers.