Beating Cancer with Beau x 3

How we passed the little time we had together, boardgames!! Notice Shayla Bear hanging out on the table!!🧡 Round 1: First step, knocking down those pesky weeds Beau Dudte When I first got to the Cleveland Clinic I had no idea what was in store for me. I just assumed I'd have chemotherapy, I'd feel like crap for a month or so and if all goes well I'd be in remission and carry on with my life.  Beau at the Cleveland Clinic Leukemia floor Well I soon found out that the first step was getting it into remission, but then the next and most important part was getting a bone marrow transplant to make sure it doesn't return.  As Dr. Sobecks put it many times, over and over, imagine you have a garden and the weeds start to grow, if you don't do something about the weeds they'll eventually take over the entire garden. As we all know, if you simply cut the weeds it won't take long for them to grow back, but if you pull the weeds with the roots, they won't be able t...

Why I write Beau Dudte Writing, for me has always been a way to get out how I really feel.  When you have a conversation with me, you’re not typically going to get anything much deeper than, how I think the Browns screwed up this time, the proper temperature and preparation of meats or the size of the fish that I ALMOST caught. But when I write I have a way of expressing exactly how I’m feeling and thinking in that moment that’s almost therapeutic to me.  So when I have these moments in life that I can’t always talk about, because you know men just can’t or shouldn’t acknowledge that we too have some sort of emotion, I would just sit and write about it. Well now, with social media being the “thing”, when I got sick I started writing posts on Facebook about my experiences and things I’ve had to deal with.  Eventually, I started getting messages from friends I hadn’t talked to in years, one girl in particular who I won’t name because it’s, well her story, that I hadn’t talk...

 

The Third Diagnosis- no matter how confident you may be, cancer always has a way of humbling you.  Beau Dudte Subtitled: The summer of me that just wasn’t meant to be Sicker than a dog at the CC  but able to bounce back to show up for my kids. By the time Spring came around this year I was ready to just get outside and do all the things I enjoy doing. I always seem to have a bit of seasonal depression in the winter but this year it seemed to hit a little harder. Most of it I know stems from just not having a job or a place to just go five days a week. Sure there was the daily chores to occupy some time, but a couple months into the school year, when it starts getting cold and nasty and my boat’s sitting on the trailer, there’s only so many times a person can handle answering that same damn dreadful question day after day…what’s for dinner dad??? I had told Mandy that when it came to this summer, it was going to be the summer of me, not entirely in a selfish way, I wanted us to...

 The first diagnosis  The Deer in the Headlights           Beau's family before cancer, hiking, fishing, camping just enjoying everyday life Four years ago, I had just turned 35, our daughter was nine, my son was seven and we were in the process of getting legal custody of our nephew Owen who was also seven at the time.  35 years old. We really felt like we were getting to that point - that time when you really start figuring out life, family and responsibilities. Life was good, we still struggled like most young families, but as a father and husband I felt like I was really starting to hit my stride. We had our three young children that we could raise in an amazing lake community. I never imagined having a lake to enjoy where we took sunset boat trips, took our kids to the beach on hot summer days and where I loved to get away at dawn to search for that elusive white whale.  One day I just started getting tired and weak whenever I would...

The committee working to raise money for Beau's Benefit, want you to meet our friend Beau Dudte, third-time cancer warrior. He’s not just a warrior in the cancer world, but a fierce lover of his family. Beau loves to coach his young kids' flag and tackle football teams, and be involved as much as he can with all of their endeavors, including his daughter's cheer team. At heart, he really is 'that girl-dad'. He’s often at football games , not for the football, but to cheer on his little cheerleader. He is married to his high school sweetheart, who he first started dating over 20 years ago, and says that there’s nothing in this world that could make him fight harder than the thought of not spending another 20 years beside her. They've lasted through more cancer recurrences, more chemo treatments, more setbacks and trauma than many marriages can endure. Four years ago, Beau was diagnosed with a rare cancer, Philadelphia Chromosone Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leuke...