A great weekend and back to the hospital

This last weekend was great for Nate. He had been out of the hospital for over 3 weeks and had been getting his energy levels up. On Friday he went to his sister Jocelyn's wedding rehearsal dinner and jetted out a few minutes early to go to his football game. He dressed for the game for the first time this season to the surprise of his teammates. He was a made a captain for the game and all of his family was their to see him walk on the onto the field. To see how far he had come in the previous weeks to get to this point was amazing. When in the hospital his goal was to make it back onto the field for his Sr year for at least one game. He first warmed up with the team and helped the special teams unit warm up. He walked out as a captain and was introduced last by the announcer and the whole stadium went wild which gave his family both tears and chills. He did not make it in to play but we were happy to see him dressed and walking. Below are some pictures of this moment. The last photo is of Nate with his nephews Ethan and Kaden. A few great things about his team are that the teammates all wear #15 decals on their helmets, they all close all team meetings with a team cheer of SPARKS and in all the years that we have been going to Canyon games we have never seen the name stitched on a uniform. The support has been humbling and appreciated.

On Saturday Nate went to Jocelyn's wedding which was beautiful. Here are some photos of the day. It was special that the whole family could be together. Nate hung tough the whole day but I think his nephews and niece wore him out by the end of the evening.

Nate entered back into the hospital to start his second round of chemo this last Monday. It was a great weekend. He is expected to be in for 10days of chemo and then 3 more weeks to recover from this round. Nothing is specific in terms of time but we hope he will be home for Thanksgiving and that this round is much easier than the first round. Nate is stronger this time around as he was much sicker when he went in the first time. Our prayers are that his body will take this round chemo well and continue to fight. He also knows more of what to expect and is managing everything better. Please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Coming back in the hospital has not been the easiest as he was just starting to enjoy his time out of the hospital. He still loves visitors and hearing from friends. Below are a few photos of him a few days ago of him with Kaden and Ethan before they head back to Texas. Last night was a fun night for his as his friends spent the night in the hospital with him and he is trying to keep moving and stay as active as possible to keep his strength up.