Brian Zahn: From real love to real loss, to learning to live again - for their son and because that’s what she would want! Somewhere between classes, tests, parties, and everything else that goes on when young people go off to college, Brian and Melissa met. It was 2005 on the campus of the ...

Mark Mattson: Looking back with fondness and love. Looking forward with courage and resolution, knowing that she will always be with them! Mark & Teri - August 2019 High school sweethearts They met in high school through mutual friends. Soon after, they started dating and continued dating ...

Ishmael Israel: Dreams interrupted by parent’s worst nightmare. Waking up every day now, thinking: ‘it’s the first day of the rest of my life.' Ishmael Israel has spent much of his life helping others. Over the past 2 decades, he has advocated for people in his community and around the country ...

The First Year of Grieving Today, April 26th, marks the first anniversary of my husband’s death. What a difference a year can make in your life. At this time last year, I was running on very little sleep. I was so afraid that he would die while I was asleep on the couch next to him. By the day he ...

Caregiving is an interesting and winding journey Blessings in the Storm Until you, yourself, are a primary caregiver for someone you love, you have no idea what this adventure entails. In a way, it’s like being a kid that’s been transferred to another school, in a new country with a foreign ...

Rich Anderson: Breaking down, reaching out, living each moment to its most, every day. It was 2017, two years into their cancer journey, and Rich was feeling the weight of it all. He was struggling, trying to parent their daughter, Brielle, run a successful and growing business, take care of ...

“When you don’t know, talk to someone who does…” … she’s Diane Leavitt, from The StewARTworks Foundation, and she knows pain management and palliative care, and she’s here to talk about it and educate us.

Last time I saw Bob, he was sharpening an axe and practicing trick throws at an axe-throwing event hosted by Jack’s. Here I was, several years later, in the Dunn Brothers across town in Eagan, just waiting and wondering if there was more to Bob than what I'd seen of him that day.

Thanks to COVID-19, there’s a great big cloud of uncertainty that’s settled over all of us. And the long shadow it casts upon us is odd because we can’t see it. Heck, it was sunny out today. And the longer days and warming temperatures make us feel like spring has almost arrived and summer is just ...

Michael Greene: Cancer caregiving, but then dealing with life, too. And then finding himself.

Alan Christensen: On living life in fast forward. I met Alan at his St. Paul home in mid-December. He and Sara, his wife, had moved there in early 2018, 4 months before her first symptoms began and 5 months before she was diagnosed with Angiosarcoma cancer.

My wife, who has been living with cancer for over 4 years, received some troubling news about our cancer journey. This isn't uncommon for those of us in the cancer world and there's actually a term for it: Scan Day . Despite what the name might imply, Scan Day isn't the scan itself that causes ...

Chris Meuleners: happiness, sadness, hope, despair, and places between. Caring for his wife, Amanda, who has been fighting AML Leukemia for over two years. Like the flip of a coin, never knowing if it's heads or tails, and living like it landed on its side. I met Chris on the last Saturday of ...

Tony Peterson: Between Seasons Tony Peterson loves all things outdoors and nothing beats duck hunting in the fall. To him, true beauty is a crisp fall morning, with the sun coming up over the swamp and the geese migrating South, forming patterns across the blue and white sky. He’s preparing for ...

Through the tragedy of a terminal cancer diagnosis, the desperation of multiple failed treatments, the reality of facing their children with the truth of it all, a mission and hope shines through.

It has been 50+ months since my wife's diagnosis with cancer and a lot of things have changed during that time. Yes, there's been a lot of undesired changes that cancer-goers, caregivers, friends and family must traverse on the cancer journey -- but there are also good things that happen as well. ...

On an unusually chilly August morning, 5 brave souls met at the shores of Lake Minnetonka for what it was to be a totally new and exciting experience (as usual as it happens with Jack’s). None of us knew exactly what we were in for but were willing to give it a go. That kind of feeling is very ...

Michael Greene, Bringing The New ‘Jack-to-Jack’ Program To Life - But Getting So Much More! Michael Greene was thrown into caregiving for his wife, Sarah, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. At the time, he had no peers he could relate to; no one he could talk to about what he was ...

They inspire us: Cindy Bartlett on her mission, Priceless4Purpose Meet Cindy Bartlett. Her purpose is priceless.

Our weekend at Mystic Views B & B – no agendas, no stresses, no expenses. To us, it was Priceless! Mystic Views, just north of the Tension Zone

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac? — George Carlin The author appears to be winning our recent "Stupid Fast Go-Karting" Event, but in reality he's being lapped!

With summer finally here, it’s the perfect weather to have a BBQ, and that’s exactly what we did at our BBQ Fam Jam—but to us, the event is so much more than just another BBQ! It’s an event where Jack's members can meet and spend time with Jack's volunteers. It’s the perfect opportunity for ...

*This is the second of a two part blog series on parenting through cancer. Here's part one. Hashing it out with Kyle, my Jack-to-Jack Coach – who’s also a dad. Kyle Kyle, how did you know your kids were getting the support they needed to get through your cancer journey? No one can know that with ...

Eyes blurry, I found myself dazed waiting in the Gilda’s Club lobby while my wife was inside taking a Qigong class. My wife had recently been diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. She “beat” cancer six years prior, but it was returning like a two-headed monster. And it was bad.

This isn’t a rant about toxic masculinity. On this Father’s Day, my mission is for you to be inspired by men. If you’re like most people you’ve never considered what the masculine ideal looks like. But most of us can think of a man in our experience that we admire. It’s time to illuminate those men ...

I’m 33 years old. My big brother Kyle is 40. And I’ve always looked up to him. Despite the scar in my eyebrow from the ping pong paddle that supposedly slipped from his hand. And that other time that he convinced me to chew up a vitamin that was NOT a chewable vitamin…. Liz, the author, and her ...

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a caregiver for a loved one with cancer? Imagine you're riding in a plane (your life) without a care in the world and all of a sudden the pilot comes on the intercom and says, “folks, there’s something wrong with the plane (cancer) and we all have to exit. Exit the ...