THANK YOU!!!!

I have been overwhelmed with the amount of support that I have been given from my family, friends, neighbors, and even strangers. There have been many prayers in my behalf and I am so grateful for everything that you have done for my family and me.

I want to thank from the bottom of my heart Durke and Jessi Gordon. They organized a bike race this past Saturday for our family's benefit. There were lots of raffle prizes that local business' donated and there were many people that donated and raced and had a lot of fun. Durke and Jessi gave all the proceeds to our family to help with medical bills and we are so overwhelmed and grateful for their sacrifice and service in our behalf. I feel like I will never be able to thank them sufficiently or repay them for their generosity. Thank you to everyone who donated and has helped our family. We knew we had a lot of great friends and lived in a great community, but we have been humbled by just how great you are! I hope that you are blessed abundantly by our Heavenly Father for your selfless service in this difficult time for us. Thanks Durke and Jessi, we love you guys!

I want to thank my darling family for all that you have done for me. It was such a comfort to arrive (terrified) at the hospital on Sept. 24th and have the two "men" in my life there to support me. Jason was there with me and my cute Dad was there before 6 a.m. in the morning to be there for me too. I was able to be comforted by a Father's blessing in the pre-op room. Thanks Dad and Jas for being there for me and for waiting and waiting while I was in surgery and for all the massages and help fighting off bad nurses and P.C.T.'s afterward. I love you guys so much!!

Each member of my family has been an amazing part of my recovery. Thank you for all your visits, massages, support, mp3 music finding, blessings, courage, faith, walks around the nurses station, flowers, and everything else that you have done. I really do have angels for sisters (and I am lucky enough to have 3, Zac you are amazing too!). They took such good care of me at the hospital and afterwards at my home. Thank you so much to my sweet parents and grandparents that showed up at just the right time to give me comfort, blessings and a good laugh. When I was fevering, my Grandma had "angel hands" that were cool and comforting. When I heard bad news, Jason's sister left work and was at my side holding my hand within minutes and my Grandpa was there to give me a blessing of comfort. My sisters were there for me to care for me and cry with. I have always had a good relationship with my siblings and parents and love my family more than anything, but I have truly realized through this how much they love me too. I don't know what I'd do without them. Thanks guys, for everything.

Thank you to all of my darling friends and ward members that fasted, went to the temple, prayed, visited, brought me treats, gave me flowers and amazing gift packages to survive the hospital. (Which I loved by the way, and did help me survive my 8 day incarceration in the "clanker"). Thank you to Erin and Cass for visiting and washing my hair when I couldn't. The nurses were hesitant to let them, but you know they would get the job done anyway! My sisters are jealous of HOW MANY good friends I have!! You guys are amazing. I will never be able to thank you enough or be able to make it up to you!! Thank you to everyone who have helped with my children, brought me meals, the words of encouragement, the loaves of bread etc... I am amazed at how much service has been given to us. Thank you SO much for all you have done. I love you guys! I have an AMAZING bishop that is the most optimistic, inspired person I know. I am so grateful to him and his counselors for all the blessings and words of comfort. Thank you so much!!

Thank you to all of you that have prayed for me that don't even really know me. My friend Erin told my story in a presentation at the Mall of America and had an audience member spontaneously say a prayer in the middle of her presentation! My mom works for the Seminary and has a class that prays for "Sister Rhodes" every day and they don't even know who I am!! I am amazed at how many people will offer prayers and worry about my family and they don't even know me! Thank you to those of you that I don't even know. I hope that you are blessed for thinking of me. Thank you.

I am recovering from surgery very well. I feel great and am able to get around well. I am eating normal and am almost feeling 100%. I am SOOOO grateful that I have health insurance and they are paying for things. They were trying to throw "pre-existing condition" thing at me, but as we all know, no one, especially me, knew what I had. I had a neruoendocrine tumor (which is now gone) that it is oncycitic, meaning it is a cancer and has spread. It is NOT a carcinoma or an adnecarcinoma. It's not what Patrick Swayse had. It looks like its a slow growing cancer and hopefully we can find the right people to treat it. My insurance is allowing me to go to Huntsman, which is a huge relief. I am going to hear the opinion of 2 tumor boards and then see what they have to say at Huntsman. Hopefully, they will be able to treat me. I haven't had a good experience with my Oncologist. I couldn't handle the horrible approach he had in telling me about my situation. I actually had do dismiss him from my room in the hospital because I knew I couldn't handle the way he was going to present the information to me. I am in search of a new Oncologist and hopefully will find an optimistic one that will give me HOPE. That is what I need right now. I will try to give more updates as I find out more information. Thanks again for all you have done. I appreciate all of you so much!!!