BIG NEWS!!

It’s with many many many mixed feelings that we officially announce our move from Miami back to Orlando in June of this year after the boys finish the 2021/2022 school year. As many of you know, when I was diagnosed with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer back in 2017, we moved to Miami to be with my family. At that point, we had no idea how long I would live in light of the median life expectancy being 2-3 years for this disease and I’ve honestly expected to die here.

Amazingly, I’ve lived FIVE (5) YEARS with #MBC, something only about 28% of us statistically can say. Yes, many of us are living longer but there are still those of us who die quickly, especially those of us diagnosed under 40.

It’s been 4.5 years since we moved to Miami and life has changed for all of us — the boys were 2 and 4 when we moved here and they are now 9 and turning 7! Can’t believe they are getting so big (as I’m sure all of the moms say one time or another). Thank God Elliot made sure we kept our house in Baldwin Park. It’s been rented out to various tenants with various property management companies, so we’ve been hard at work since the last tenants vacated getting it ready for us to return. We are interviewing and searching for a nanny or au pair to join us in the house so that we’re ready for any emergencies or issues.

If anyone knows someone who is in the market for a live in job with some amazing kiddos, please send them our way!!

Just like we did when we left Orlando, we would love to see our friends here in Miami before we leave and spend time with you in person. I know Disney will be a draw for so many of you, so when you are in town to spend time with the Mouse, you should come by or just plan to stay a bit.

No place is perfect, but we have met some forever friends who will never be out of our lives if we can help it. We have found a wonderful community in Palmetto Elementary School PTA for our children and I’ve been blessed to be treated by some of the most amazing health care professionals I have ever known. Many of my doctors have already been hard at work helping me find good medical care in Orlando.

We won’t be saying goodbye to all of you here in Miami, we will be saying see you later, as I told our friends in Orlando when we moved in 2017. Social media helps keep us connected to so many all over the world. It is bittersweet to be thinking about moving away and we are focusing on the silver linings and the mentality that we are moving towards a place that is familiar and where we have so many people (family we share blood with and those who are our chosen family in so many ways) who we love and love us.

As the tattoo Christi Hicks Davis and I designed, Proverbs 17:17 says (I’m paraphrasing) — a friend loves like a brother and a brother is born for adversity. There are so many of you that I consider my sisters (and brothers), the family I have chosen or who has chosen me.

We will certainly try to keep everyone updated. I’ve delayed letting everyone know publicly until after we’d met with some key people (you know who you are!) and I told my medical team, but we have known about this for a bit and a lot of planning has taken place already.

I’m putting out the call for some help with the organization of stuff, meals, and child care during the first week of the transition. If you are interested, please either comment here or send me a message at StageIVAdvocacyAMJ@gmail.com and I’ll give you the MealTrain link to sign up. I will be get my last chemo infusion about 2 weeks before we move, so my energy level won’t be great. The sooner we can get out of boxes and chaos, the sooner we can focus on getting settled into our new/old environment.

No pressure, just putting out there that some help would be welcome as we get settled with two above-average kiddos in the energy department and me being depleted.

Love to you all!!