News and Stories

Happy Giving Tuesday!
L.I.F.E. News
Happy Giving Tuesday, Team LIFE! If you want to donate to a cause today but are unsure how, just click here! With your continued support over the last 17 years,…
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Support us on Amazon Smile
L.I.F.E. News
Did you know that just by visiting the URL smile.amazon.com instead of just amazon.com when making any purchases on Amazon, 0.5% of your dollars can be automatically donated for FREE…
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2019 Recipient – Sienna Howe
Survivor Grant
Sienna is a 20-year-old woman from Tennessee currently being treated with chemotherapy and radiation for her recently diagnosed nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Nashville. According to her mother Julie, Sienna has had…
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2017 Recipient – Adrienne B.
Survivor Grant
Adrienne was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this month at the age of 25. Adrienne has actually supported blood drives sponsored by L.I.F.E. and organized by Eric’s brother Lindsey. L.I.F.E.…
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Allison N
2015 Recipient – Allison P.
Survivor Grant
Allison P, a 25 year old woman from Robertsville, MO was recently diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, and her home has unfortunately been contaminated with myotoxins from a contaminated well.…
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Happy Thanksgiving 2013
L.I.F.E. News
From everyone here at L.I.F.E., we hope you all are able to enjoy a happy Thanksgiving with your friends and family this year. 2013 marks 4 years since Eric appeared…
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L.I.F.E. helps another Katelyn!
L.I.F.E. News
Meet Katelyn Crowe (Moss), a 22 year old Psychiatric Nurses Aide from Virigina battling Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia.  We received the following message: “During February my husband and I have to move…
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Cari’s Final Blog
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, This will be my last entry in my blog.  I am ending it as it was started to keep you updated on Eric’s health status. I want to…
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That’s How a Hero Lives
L.I.F.E. News
“That’s How a Hero Lives”, a song written by Eric’s friend Jeremiah Capra, is now available for download for a $1 donation to LIFE by clicking HERE. Says Jeremiah, “I haven’t…
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Update on Eric
L.I.F.E. News
We have had many wondering how Eric is doing.  As he is unable to communicate via the computer, we will be his voice.  Eric is resting at his parents home…
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Cari’s Blog #27
Cari's Blog
It’s been awhile since a blog appeared, so I’ll try to get it all in one. July 16th, we had our one year anniversary, and then Eric’s birthday the next…
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Cari’s Blog #26
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, It’s been awhile since I’ve written a blog, and from Eric’s last post, we have some updating to do. I know in Eric’s last post he mentioned that…
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Happy Mother’s Day!
Eric's Journal
Hey everyone, The past few weeks have been quite strenuous as you probably have read from Cari’s blogs. We’ve been in and out of the hospital for a number of…
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Cari’s Blog #25
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, A lot has been happening since my last blog.  I know in my last blog, as well as in Eric’s we both said the cancer was out of…
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Cari’s Blog #24
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, It’s been awhile since I’ve written a blog.  Truth is, things have been crazy, and I just haven’t had the energy.  Eric wrote a really long blog the…
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Fight!
Eric's Journal
It has been a very long time since I have last written a journal. What is to ensue will be my best attempt at an informational journal summarizing the course…
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Cari’s Blog #23
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, I know it’s been a bit since I’ve blogged…but things have been crazy.  Eric was lucky enough to get out of the hospital for Easter, but had to…
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Focus on Eric on Easter
L.I.F.E. News
An attempt to save a life. This event amounts to everyone thinking and praying during one minute on Easter Sunday, beginning at noon, CDT, that leukemia will be driven out…
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Cari’s Blog #22
Cari's Blog
Not sure where to start here. I had gotten the call on my phone confirming Eric’s leukemia jumped from .02% to a lot of chemo. We had three options.  So…
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Cari’s Blog #21
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone I was waiting for Eric to do his video before I did my update. After watching his video you got the jist of things. Eric’s inpatient for the…
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Cari’s Blog #20
Cari's Blog
I wish I knew the right words to say here right now.   Blog #19 was such a happy one.  It’s one that I will never forget.  I wish I could…
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Cari’s Blog #19
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, I have to share all about our day today.  Today started off somewhat rocky.  5:30ish am Eric was woken up by people who wanted to poke him with…
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Just Stand Up!
L.I.F.E. News
Hey Everyone, While in chicago this past weekend,  Cari’s Dancers danced for a cure. A cure to fix all disease but we dedicated the dance to Eric.  Many people have asked…
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Cari’s Blog #18
Cari's Blog
Cari’s Blog Number…Something I know you’re all waiting for an update….so I’m going to try to as best as I can.  The truth is, I’m at a loss for words. …
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Cari’s Blog #17
Cari's Blog
Im writing a blog tonight, because Eric doesn’t really want to do a video.  For those of you who are our facebook buddies, you’ve probably already heard the news, as…
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Cari’s Blog #16
Cari's Blog
Today as I was getting ready for the day, I was thinking about how short life is.  No one really knows when their time is going to come.  A couple…
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Cari’s Blog #15
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, I haven’t written in such a long time.  I’ve really had not much to write about.  Eric’s latest video had some pretty AWESOME news in it.  Things are…
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Cari’s Blog #14
Cari's Blog
First I want to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there today.  I know I have a ton to be thankful for this year.  I have a roof over my…
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Cari’s Blog #13
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, I haven’t written a blog in a really long time. Truth is, I just haven’t had the energy to.  Eric had me start writing these blogs so I…
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Cari’s Blog #12
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, Sorry we haven’t updated you yet.  It’s kind of been a rollercoaster week, and we haven’t really had time to update you all on what’s been going on. …
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Cari’s Blog #11
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything.  I know Eric did a video while he was in the hospital this past weekend getting what we’ve been referring to…
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Cari’s Blog #10.5
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, ( I left some things out last night) What I didn’t mention in my blog yesterday is that they are doing this really cool test on Eric. It’s …
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Cari’s Blog #10
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, It’s been a crazy couple days around here.  Saturday Eric went to the hospital because he had gotten a fever the night before.  They sent us home after…
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Biopsy Results
Eric's Journal
Yesterday’s Bone marrow biopsy results are in – 0% of his cells are leukemic. This is down from 94% from last month. After just 1 chemotherapy treatment, this is incredible.…
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Cari’s Blog #9
Cari's Blog
This isn’t really an update on Eric.  We’re still waiting for his biopsy results. However, I need to get this out there.  There is someone out there who we have…
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Cari’s Blog #8
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, Neither of us has really updated lately.  We don’t really have any new news at this point.  Eric’s fevers are still spiking, and they are changing around antibiotics…
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Cari’s Blog #7
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, I know Eric just did a video, but we decided I should write a blog to go with it, just because some people have a hard time watching…
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Cari’s Blog #6
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, Quick update on Eric.  They’re still not 100% sure what EXACTLY is wrong, but we’re headed in the right direction.   Eric honestly looks a TON healthier than he…
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Cari’s Blog # 5
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, I was just informed by one of Eric’s amazing nurses that he is out of his bronchoscopy.  Most of you   didn’t know he was even having this, but…
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Cari’s Blog #4
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, A quick update on Eric.  He actually does not have the VRE like we thought he might.  VRE would have been the “bad guy” to deal with in…
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Cari’s Blog #3
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, As most of you heard Eric is back in the hospital.  Yesterday morning (Monday) and the night before, he had been throwing up blood so we called right…
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8/9/2011 Update
L.I.F.E. News
August 9, 2011 – Today was a rollercoaster emotions.  Eric has been admitted into the BMT unit at Froedtert until at least Friday this week after being ambulanced down there from…
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8/8/2011 Update
L.I.F.E. News
August 8, 2011 – Eric has been throwing up blood and is on his way from Two Rivers to Froedtert in Milwaukee via ambulance.  He has spiked a temp. and had…
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Round 5 – Update #2
Eric's Journal
Eric was released from the hospital today for a few weeks to recover! Bone marrow biopsy results last week showed 94% leukemic cells in his marrow which explains the pain…
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Cari’s Blog #2
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, As Eric said before, we got some good news today! I’m going to quick recap his video in case some of you can’t see it. When he came…
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Cari’s Blog #1
Cari's Blog
Hey Everyone, This is Cari writing. Eric and I both thought it would be cool if I wrote something. I’m not much of one for spilling my thoughts, but I…
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Gracious & Optimistic
Eric's Journal
I want to start off tonight by thanking all of the people who made the benefit this weekend possible.  There were a lot of people who volunteered their time to…
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Pneumoniaaaa
Eric's Journal
This week has been a pretty eventful week.  On Sunday, we were all blessed with the incredible performance of the Green Bay Packers.  It’s been one of my dreams to…
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Medical update
Eric's Journal
Hi Everyone,   I wanted to start off tonight by thanking all of you out there who have been sending your all of your thoughts and prayers my way.  I…
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Benefit being planned
L.I.F.E. News
As you may already know, our son Eric relapsed this past week.  We have had numerous family and friends ask how they could help, and it was suggested we plan an event.  We…
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Ironman Live
Ironman Wisconsin 2010 is today!
L.I.F.E. News
Watch for Team L.I.F.E. triathletes Mike McLean #71, #260 Chris Clausen, #370 Randy Youngs, and #2219 Anna Laatsch (who is actually racing the Ironman as her very first triathlon ever!) Click here to…
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Happy Birthday Eric!
L.I.F.E. News
July 17, 2010 – Today marks Eric’s 26th birthday.  It was already one year ago we put on a huge celebration for this day thinking it would be his last.…
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Hayden’s Hope
Eric's Journal
Hey all, This is a personal request to all of my supporters out there. There is a young girl named Hayden residing in Manitowoc County, WI that is going through…
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GREAT NEWS!! And a Call to Arms!
L.I.F.E. News
Hello everyone, Check out Eric’s newest video that he just put out tonight, #42.  He seriously is a living miracle.  http://www.facebook.com/l/1251b;www.givetolife.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=273:erics-confessions-42&catid=38:blog&Itemid=66 Last week Friday, Eric went in for a biopsy…
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L.I.F.E. Update!
L.I.F.E. News
Hi everyone, We’ve got some super cool news to report.  News that I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted.  Eric’s bone marrow biopsy last week, and it is still clean!  And…
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Happy New Year!
L.I.F.E. News
As the new year rolls around, we look back and reflect on everything that happened in 2009, and realize it’s been one wild ride!  Thanks to your support, we’ve been able to…
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Happy New Year 2010!
L.I.F.E. News
As the new year rolls around, we look back and reflect on everything that happened in 2009, it’s been one wild ride of a year!  We wish everyone a very…
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Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays!
L.I.F.E. News
  December 15, 2009 – Eric, Mike, and Mary will be visiting Pewaukee Lake Elementary School this coming Monday. Lindsay Draeger, a Kindergarten teacher there, and her students have been…
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The DLI went well today
L.I.F.E. News
November 20, 2009 – Everything went well today. The DLI is complete and Lindsey’s cells should be hard at work attacking the beast cells that do not belong!!  Eric published…
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DLI Postponed
L.I.F.E. News
November 10, 2009 – The DLI procedure scheduled for this coming Thursday Nov. 12th has been postponed.  Lindsey is very sick and they will need until she’s healthy again before…
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Billboard
Billboard
L.I.F.E. News
A few rumors were starting to spread around and phone calls were coming in that friends of mine had seen me and my website on a billboard!  It is located…
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Hazmat Nurse
Eric's Journal
Eric’s Nurse Amber garbs up to change out Eric’s chemotherapy! Though the situation is quite serious, Eric still manages to find some humor.  🙂
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Eric’s Confessions #3
Eric's Journal
For everyone that has been keeping up with Eric’s status, we strongly urge you to watch his latest video update that he posted tonight on YouTube titled “Eric’s Confessions #3”…
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Viva Las Vegas
Eric's Journal
Hey Everyone, I know it’s been awhile since I’ve last updated each of you, so I apologize for that.  The truth is, as you have probably noticed from the news…
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What’s next?
Eric's Journal
Hey everyone, It’s easily been the most insane past 4 days that I have ever experienced. List of emotions or adjectives from the past few days: Sadness Anger Terrified Hopeless…
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Tick tock tick tock
Eric's Journal
There have been many low points in the life of Eric McLean, but yesterday overshadows every single one of them. I woke up like I do every other Friday morning…
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Ups and downs
Eric's Journal
I know…it’s been awhile since I’ve last written.  Part of that is just because there hasn’t been a whole ton to write about.  I suppose the other part is that…
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Quick update
Eric's Journal
Because I said I would get a quick update out to let you all know what the next steps are, I figured I would post something on here seeing as…
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78 degrees in March?!
Eric's Journal
What’s up everyone?  It’s about that time again…blogging time.  I guess I’ll start off again this time by talking about some of the other health issues that I’ve had lately. …
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The smoke clears
Eric's Journal
So…what happened with the Harley-Davidson layoffs?  Well, in case you did not hear, Harley-Davidson made a company decision to lay off 1,100 workers last week.  They announced the layoff decision…
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Reality Bites
L.I.F.E. News
Reality bitesBy Helen ClarkeGannett Wisconsin Media Life sure gives a good slap in the face. I had been real content feeling sorry for myself the past month or so. You…
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Blog from the hog
Eric's Journal
Well, this is it. Today is December 24th, 2008.  I woke up this morning and got in the shower.  I was in the exact same place I was 365 days…
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Question number one
Eric's Journal
Question: Why are you going to stop writing in your journal?   Answer:  Alright, I’ll address this question now because if I don’t, I am sure that my inbox will…
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Happy Thanksgiving
Eric's Journal
Happy Thanksgiving!  I suppose that’s a good way to open things. Let’s see here…what could I possibly be thankful for?  Well, I’ll start out with the obvious and say that…
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‘Tis the season
Eric's Journal
I know, it’s been awhile since I last wrote.   Quite frankly, it’s just because I haven’t had a whole lot to say.  Every time that I write on here, I…
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5 years later
Eric's Journal
Yes, that’s right!  As all of you know, in June of 2003 I was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.  On October 21st of 2003 I received a stem cell transplant…
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My outlook on life
Eric's Journal
I’m going to take a different approach to my entry today, so please bear with me… The past couple of months, I have been spending my nights outside in my…
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Another tragedy
Eric's Journal
On September 17th, a Wednesday, sometime at night, a 2nd cousin of mine got into a motorcycle accident and very sadly, did not make it.  Her name is Lisa Martin. …
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Beating the Demon
Eric's Journal
Growing up, I always did the best I could to look out for my siblings.  It was my job to make sure they were never bullied (except for sometimes by…
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IronMike 2008
Eric's Journal, Team L.I.F.E.
It’s finished!  Well, at least my brother is with the Ironman this year.  Mike finished the race in under 12 hours…successfully accomplishing his goal with a total time of 11:46:04. …
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Jason
Why
Eric's Journal
Yesterday and today have been two of the worst days of my life. For those of you that read my last journal entry, I told all of you how a…
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Movin’ right along
Eric's Journal
Well, a couple weeks have gone by now since I’ve last written.  A few things have happened…but not too much.    For one, as I said in my last post,…
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Life is good
Eric's Journal
Hey everyone! Well I finished Day 1 at Harley today.  It was truly a surreal moment as I walked through the front doors of the Harley-Davidson headquarters on Juneau Ave.…
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One week to go
Eric's Journal
I just woke up and I feel terrible.  My joints are aching like no tomorrow, and my head is absolutely pounding.  So I figured…it’s time to write something in my…
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News from Harley
Eric's Journal
Hi Everyone, I’ll just come right out and say it.  This past Friday, Harley-Davidson called me and informed me that my start date is July 14th.  The conversation only lasted…
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Busy busy busy
Eric's Journal
Hi Everyone,   It’s been a very busy time of the year for me and my family.  A couple of weekends ago I went up to Two Rivers to attend…
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McLeans
Ups and downs
Eric's Journal
Well, it’s been one very crazy week.  Where do I even begin.  I guess I can kind of start where I left off last week talking about how my younger…
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Hickman central line
Hangin in there
Eric's Journal
Hi Everyone   It’s been awhile since I last wrote, so I thought I would get a few words out there to let everyone know how I have been doing.…
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Bring on summer!
Eric's Journal
Hi everyone!   First off, I would first love to talk about the wonderful weather we have been having here in Wisconsin.  When I saw the temperature gauge sitting at…
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I’m out!
Eric's Journal
Well, it’s been about a month and I am out of the hospital!  I was almost in tears as I walked down the halls to the car with my pillow…
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Feeling better
Eric's Journal
I’m starting to feel much better. My mouth and digestive system have been my main issues. I haven’t been able to keep one bite of food down and it’s been…
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Blood Counts
Eric's Journal
Key: CTX = Citoxin chemotherapy TBI = Total Body Irradiation MTX = Drug used to suppress Lindsey’s cells so they don’t attack my body WBC = White Blood Cells ANC…
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Non-stop nausea
Eric's Journal
I haven’t written in a few days and there are a couple of reasons for that.  The main one is this damn nausea.   Every single day since the transplant…
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Insomnia is lurking
Eric's Journal
Hey everyone,   My white blood cell count is bottoming out. This now means that I am neutropenic and my diet is now somewhat restricted. I can’t eat fresh fruits…
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Thank you!
Eric's Journal
I would first like to thank the Two Rivers High School for promoting the basketball event under my name to help raise money and awareness for cancer research. From what…
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Eric's front
1000 rads down….200 to go.
Eric's Journal
Hi Everyone, Anyway…thought I would use today’s journal to show you what exactly Total Body Irradiation is and looks like. Step 1:(enter Mary McLean/Mom) Eric is not up to continuing…
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One more time
Eric's Journal
Hi everyone,   I’ve had a pretty good past few days. On Saturday I spent the day in Milwaukee with three of my very good friends from high school. We…
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A week to go
Eric's Journal
Well…it is less than one week until I go back to Froedtert. This time I will be there for six weeks or so. I have had an amazing time the…
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Fighting Leukemia
In the Press
Fighting Leukemia Reporter: Erin Koskovich Email Address: ekoskovich@nbc15.com Posted Monday, March 3, 2008 — 9:30pm A 23 year old man is fighting for his life–for a second time. Meanwhile, his…
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Me feeling better!
Some mental relief
Eric's Journal
Hi Everyone!   Sorry it’s been so long since I last wrote…honestly there just hasn’t been much going on for me to relay to all of you. My mom and…
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Radiation…fun.
Eric's Journal
Hi everyone!   It’s been a week or so since I last wrote and I have quite a few updates as far as everything goes.   I would first and…
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Glad to be out again
Eric's Journal
Today, I was once again released from the hospital. When I was readmitted this past Thursday for my round of consolidation chemo, the last thing I expected was that they…
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Round 2
Eric's Journal
Hi everyone,   I am back at the hospital for my next round of chemotherapy. The same room I had then was available, so I took it. As I wait…
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More news!
Eric's Journal
Hi everyone! It’s been a few days since I have written anything, and I can’t seem to get any sleep tonight for whatever reason; so I thought I would blog…
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Donor match?
Eric's Journal
Well…I’ll come right out with it.  My younger sister, Lindsey, is a perfect match to be a donor.  They said over the phone that she was an equivalent match like…
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Home sweet home
Eric's Journal
Yesterday I was officially released from the hospital. They gave me my discharge papers and a handful of prescriptions of meds that I would need to take while I stayed…
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HUZZAH!!!!
Eric's Journal
My mom came in this morning and kept me company for most of the day. We sat around and watched TV and talked for awhile about all sorts of things.…
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Good and bad news
Eric's Journal
Well, I’ll start with the good news. Today I was supposed to get back my biopsy results from yesterday. Dr. George came in to tell me that the leukemia cells…
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Harley!!!!
Eric's Journal
Today I had another bone marrow biopsy.  They gave me some fentanyl and vercid to somewhat sedate me.  It’s a conscious sedation that makes me feel a little loopy, but…
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Had a scare today
Eric's Journal
Well the day started off with a high temperature again and when my blood results came back, they noticed that my hematocrit and platelets were low but my white count…
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And so we wait…
Eric's Journal
About the time I heard the news from my doctor yesterday about my bone marrow biopsy results, I started getting some slightly elevated temperatures. Sometimes these higher temperatures are classified…
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Can’t move!
Eric's Journal
Well I told myself I wasn’t going to post anything again today and that is mainly because I cannot seem to shake this headache. I have had it since the…
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Headache blah…
Eric's Journal
Hi everyone. I still have a pretty intense headache from that spinal tap so I am going to keep tonight’s blog fairly short.   Started off my day with an…
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Long day
Eric's Journal
This is Mary, Eric’s mom. I am writing this, as Eric is not up to it and has asked me to send out a little update for today. What a…
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Full house!
Eric's Journal
Hi everyone! Spirits are still pretty high. The side effects from the chemotherapy still haven’t been showing their true colors. I expect them to come full circle by Monday or…
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CHEESECAKE!!!!
Eric's Journal
Well last night definitely did not end well. Almost right after I finished posting yesterday’s blog, I became very nauseous, and then ended up vomiting and dryheaving for the next…
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Merry Christmas
Eric's Journal
Merry Christmas! I got to start my Christmas day off with two pieces of what the hospital calls “sausage,” some corn flakes w/ milk, and a bowl of mixed fruit.…
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It begins…again
Eric's Journal
There are things in life that I will never understand. Today, after over four years of remission, my cancer has relapsed and I was diagnosed with leukemia. My worst nightmare,…
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LLS Scenic Lakeshore 150
Survivor Grant
The McLean Family set out to ride in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Scenic Lakeshore 150 from Milwaukee to Door County and raised nearly $1,000 for research and patient care…
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Our First Effort
Survivor Grant
Following Eric’s diagnosis on June 22, 2003, we felt almost helpless to do anything about it.  His life was entirely in the hands of his medical team at Froedtert Hospital…
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Heart of Iron
From https://badgerherald.com/news/2003/09/03/heart-of-iron/ UW senior races to save his brother’s life By: Caley Meals Features Editor Badger Herald When University of Wisconsin-Whitewater sophomore Eric McLean decided to get his wisdom teeth…
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