Two more ways to honor Jessica

Members of Team Jessica will be participating in two events over the next two weekends. Please help support these two great organizations.

Orchard of Hope Walk, Saturday, June 12th. The Orchard of Hope Foundation, http://www.orchardofhope.org/index.php is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization that is dedicated to improving the quality of life for cancer champions in Fremont and Pueblo Counties. The Orchard of Hope provided assistance to our family to help with medical bills. Two teams are raising funds in Jessica's honor. Check out the Judicial Junkies on the Team page.

Livestrong Challenge Seattle, Sunday, June 20th: http://seattle2010.livestrong.org/matt8evans A number of Jessica's friends and family will running/walking/riding to raise funds for the Livestrong Foundation. Seattle friends: It's not too late to join us. There are a number of ride/run/walk options and we have members in each category.

Thanks and take care,

Matt

Las Vegas Walk for the Cure, 05/01/2010

What a great weekend! I was so lucky to meet a great group of women that supported Jessica in so many ways. You are all amazing! The team honored her memory by fundraising, walking, and partying.

Team Jessica's final totals are not in yet(Komen is keeping the fundraising open until the end of the month), but the last total posted was $11,235. Great job Team Jessica!

You can find more pictures on the Team Jessica Facebook page.

Look for future posts on the Orchard of Hope Walk, American Cancer Society Relay for Life, Livestrong Challenge and the Komen 3-day walk.

Susan G. Komen Southern Nevada Race for the Cure – May 1st, 2010 – Las Vegas, Nevada

http://rfclv.convio.net/site/TR/Race/General?team_id=23130&pg=team&fr_id=1050

Jessica met an amazing group of women through an on-line support group for women trying to become pregnant. Their friendships bloomed and the support they gave each other while trying to have children continued as they supported Jessica in her battle. The group, spread out across the U.S, decided to come together in Las Vegas and walk as Team Jessica. Jessica had plans to join them, but I will be walking in her stead. With less than a week to go, Team Jessica is leading the fundraising with over $10,000 raised. Thanks to the members of Team Jessica and those that donated.

The Fight Is Not Over!

After much thought, I’ve decided to continue Jessica’s blog. Though Jessica’s personal battle against cancer has ended, the war is not over. We can honor Jessica by remembering the courage, humor, and grace she fought with as we support the various organizations that search for a cure and support families in the midst of the battle. Whether you are participating in a Komen run/walk/multi-day event, Livestrong Challenge, American Cancer Society Relay for Life, Orchard of Hope fundraiser, etc.; you are all Jessica’s Warriors.

I will be posting information about the various events that Jessica’s friends and family will be participating in. Please let me know if you are participating in an event and I’ll be sure to add that as well. You can check out the Team Jessica page on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=239756241609. We would love for you to join us.

Let’s build an army to continue Jessica’ goal to “Kick Cancer’s Ass!”

Take care,

Matt

After two hard fought years, my beautiful, courageous, wonderful wife lost her battle with cancer. Jessica passed away around 9:40 a.m. on Friday, January 8th. Her mother and I were with her when she passed on. Harper was able to spend some special time with her mother Thursday evening and several family members and friends were able to say their good-byes. Jessica died knowing she was well loved.

In lieu of flowers, feel free to make donations in Jessica's name to either of the following organizations:

Fremont County Orchard of Hope

111 Orchard Ave

Cañon City, CO 81212

Sangre de Cristo Hospice West

Cañon City Main Office

601 Greenwood Avenue

Cañon City, CO 81212

We will also be setting up a college savings account for Harper and will post that information once it is organized.

On behalf of the Evans and Bunt families, thanks for all the love and support that you showed us.

The Latest

Updated by Matt:

We first wanted to thank all of you for the love, support, gifts, etc. that you have sent our way. We're very fortunate to have people like you in our lives.

Jessica's been in the hospital since New Year's Eve due to decreased kidney and liver functioning. She was pretty disoriented, weak, and her eyes had turned a little yellow when I took her in. The've been rehydrating her to help flush the toxins out of her body. She also received blood platelets and a blood transfusion. Her oncologist wants to start her on a new chemotherapy treatment, but her counts are still too low. Hopefully, she'll be able to start in a day or two and that this will be the chemo that works. The doctor thinks that she'll probably need to stay in the hospital until Thursday.

Oh, I almost forgot...Disneyland was great! Harper had a terrific time and Jessica showed a lot of heart by gathering up all the strength she could each morning so that we could share that time as a family. It was great having our friends Tim, Kara, Ellie, and Andy there with us.

Thanks again for all your support. Jessica or I will try to update soon.

It's been awhile

After almost finishing up the Xeloda oral chemo I had a CT scan to see if the cancer had spread and what was going on. It turns out that the Xeloda had not been working. The cancer has spread throughout my liver some more and some spots are bigger and also the same with my lungs. So it is good news that it has not spread to any other organs or bones but not so good that we lost those 12 weeks or so trying the Xeloda.

So on Monday I started two new kinds of chemo IV that I can't remember the names to. They are making me so tired. I am just exhausted and can barely get out of bed. But the pain is lessening which is a good sign (they said the pain would go away when the tumors shrank) but it does seem a bit quick acting but I'll take what I can get.