Inaugural Breast Cancer Awareness Game Raises over $3,500

This is from the Saint Mary's website:

St. Mary's City, Md. - St. Mary's College of Maryland women's lacrosse coach Kara Reber announced Monday the results from the inaugural Breast Cancer Awareness Game held on Saturday, March 7 against McDaniel College.

The Seahawk women's lacrosse program raised $3771.74 through the sales of pink St. Mary's College of Maryland lacrosse t-shirts and the donations collected from over 500 fans in attendance at the game.

"I am amazed by the support and participation in this cause given by the St. Mary's community," said Reber. "This type of dedication proves that there are more important things than wins and losses. We have a chance to truly impact our nation by raising breast cancer awareness and dollars for research."

The game was played in remembrance of Christine A. DeWitt, the mother of a player once coached by Reber at Lycoming College, who lost her life to breast cancer last year as well as all individuals affected by this disease.

The team's charity of choice is Climb for Hope, in partnership with EarthTreks Climbing. Climb for Hope, a division of breast cancer research that Christine believed in very strongly, was organized to raise and channel funds towards targeted and promising research in the fight against breast cancer. Their mission is to find a viable treatment for breast cancer within the next three years. In two years, they have raised over $550,000 for a vaccine being developed at Johns Hopkins University by Dr. Leisha Emens. Not only does the vaccine address some of the most aggressive and lethal forms of breast cancer, but the research is expected to derive advances for many forms of cancer as well.

de Beers Lacrosse and GTM Sportswear were involved in the inaugural Breast Cancer Awareness Game. de Beers and GTM both donated pink T-shirts, while de Beers also provided pink eye goggles, pink balls and a pink stick which was given away as part of the halftime shootout.

Lyco Lax done...

Alex's team lost yesterday. They are done and she's coming home later this week. She did get her picture on the opposing team's website which was cool.

http://www.goeasterneagles.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1336&Itemid=20

I drove up to Philadelphia and watch the game which was a very exciting game to be at. The coach's mom brought pizza for the team and I brought up a cooler full of beverages for them as well.

Women's lacrosse on the road for MAC tournament opener

I am headed to Philadelphia to watch Alex's playoff game.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. --- The Lycoming College women’s lacrosse team will travel to St. David’s, Pa. to face Eastern University on Tuesday, April 28 for the quarterfinal round of the 2009 Middle Atlantic Conference tournament. The Lady Warriors are the No. 5 seed in the tournament, while Eastern is No. 4.

Lycoming wrapped up its regular season with an overall record of 9-8 and a 7-4 mark in the MAC. Tuesday’s game will be a rematch of the Lady Warriors' regular-season finale against Eastern, which took place Saturday, April 25. Eastern held on for an 18-12 victory and locked up the No. 4 seed with home field advantage in the opener.

All fans must purchase a ticket to the event. Adult tickets are $5, senior citizens are $4, students are $2 and children under six are free. Tickets can be purchased at the gate.

Things happen for a reason.... I guess.

Yesterday morning was an interesting morning. I got up early and Mike did as well. Tyler was spending the night at a friend's house. I told Mike to get ready to go to Church around 10 as I went up to get ready. Mass begins at 11. Of course I came out of my room around 10:40 and he was in the shower, and Tyler was not home.

I was not happy and just got in the car and went to church by myself. I parked on the street in downtown Frederick and walked a block and a half to go inside. I sat down and watch the church fill up. The usher brought a young married couple to my pew and I slid over so they could sit down. The entire time I sat there I thought of the many years that Chris and I would go to church together. After Mass I found out that the young woman was not Catholic but the husband was. Also, very similar to me. Mass went into overtime as there were several 1st communions. Afterwards, I wished them well and headed for the car.

I drove over to Beans and Bagels for a bite to eat. 1st pass down the street yielding no parking spots. I kept driving and decided to go to the cemetery. I needed to check on the flowers that the boys and I planted a couple weeks ago. They were doing okay and I gave them a good bath. When I was getting to leave a car pulled up about 50 yards away. I looked at the guy walking and when we made eye contact I realized that it was my old neighbor from 8 years back, Brian. He was there visiting his son's grave site. His son died suddenly from a blood clot in his head back in June 2007. I had not seen him in quite a long time. We chatted about many things. They are busy building a memorial baseball field in Jeff's honor. Check it out here at their website http://jeffreyhayekmemorial.com/

After I left the cemetery I thought I would give B&B one more try so I drove back downtown. It's not far. I came up the street and was stopped at a light 1/2 block before. There was a parking spot on the right a few cars up so I was just going to park there. I was the 1st car at the light and in the right lane. There was an elderly woman with a cane at the corner. It was apparent that she had some sort of a mental disorder.

Well when the light turned green she was still on the curb so I waited a minute before moving. Just as I took my foot off the gas she blacked out and fell right into the street!!! I couldn't believe it. Another driver and I jumped out, and helped her. She wasn't moving and just laid in the street. 911 was called. She finally woke up and we moved her to to sidewalk as she wanted to move. The ambulance arrived and started assessing her. She had a bunch of medication that she was supposed to be taking and I don't think she had.

I parked and went to B&B and told them and they said that she was a regular and knew of her. The owner went out with me and we chatted with her some more. She refused treatment so they cleaned up her scrapes and left. The owner and I brought her in and sat her down. She was much more coherent than before and started talking.

I bought her breakfast and some water along with a coffee before moving on and getting my own. The whole situation could have been so much worse had I not been the one at that light. Someone else would have taken off as soon as the light turned and could have easily have run over her.

So, the reason the boys didn't go was so that I could meet Brian and help this elderly lady! Brian and I spoke for just the right amount of time at the cemetery. That is not a coincident! Everything for a reason. Of course, the boys spent the entire afternoon cleaning rooms and doing their laundry! I was still miffed at them!

Lady laxers fall in season finale 18-12 to Eastern

Last game of the regular season for Alex's team. They made the playoffs but play away at Eastern College near Philly this coming Tuesday. I'm pulling strings to try and be there!!!

- 4-25-09 -

Box Score

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. --- The Lycoming College women’s lacrosse team concluded its regular season in an 18-12 loss to Eastern University on Saturday, April 25. Sammi Jo Bell led the Warrior scoring effort with three goals.

The loss drops Lycoming to 9-8 overall and 7-4 in the Middle Atlantic Conference while Eastern improves to 10-6 overall and 8-3 in the MAC. These two teams will meet again in the playoffs, this time at Eastern University on Tuesday, April 28, with the time yet to be determined.

Lycoming struck first, just 17 seconds into the contest. The Warriors won the draw and Bri Robertson finished a pass from Grace Gargiulo. The Eagle evened the score 22 seconds later, before Bell scored her first at 27:05 in what was shaping up to be a track meet of a game. But a three goal run by Eastern halted the Warrior momentum, putting them down 4-2. Bell cut the deficit to one, with 19:02 left in the first half, with assist going to Christi Karr. Back to back goals by the Eagles added to the 6-3 Eastern lead. Justine Titko was able to break up another run, getting the Warriors to within two, 6-4.

The Lady Warriors went down two players after two yellow cards, and the Eagles took advantage, scoring twice in the three minutes the Warriors were down. Kelli Morsey and Karr connected on a play, cutting the lead 9-5. But Eastern wrapped up the first half with another two goals and took a 10-5 lead into halftime.

Opening the second half, the momentum was still in the Eagles court, opening with a goal to spread the gap to 11-5. Grace Gargiulo found the net with 26:43 remaining in the contest, assisted by Megan McIntyre. But another four goal run all but sealed the game. McIntyre and Titko both scored late in the half, and the Warriors compiled a four goal streak with three minutes left in the game, but came up short. Bell, Robertson, Morsey and Laura Carpenter all scored in the run.

Lycoming finishes the season as the fifth seed in the MAC tournament, and will have to travel to Eastern on Tuesday for a rematch. Game time has not yet been set.

Another new domain!

I have secured and set up another new domain.

www.christinedewitt.com

This URL will now take visitors directly to the website that I created that has the updates about Chris's courageous battle with cancer.

It's still there and will be forever!! It's now a little easier to get to!

Lady laxers top Wilkes 22-8, clinch playoff berth

Box Score

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. --- Megan McIntyre had another outstanding day, leading Lycoming College with six assists and three goals in a 22-8 victory over Wilkes University on Wednesday, April 22. Lycoming now has the chance to play in the first round of the Middle Atlantic Conference tournament.

The win boosts Lycoming to 9-7 overall and 7-3 in the MAC. A win over Eastern on Saturday, April 25 would give the Lady Warriors a home game for the first round of the MAC playoffs. Wilkes falls to 9-7 on the year and 4-6 in the league.

McIntyre got the scoring going early, giving Lycoming a 1-0 advantage at 24:44. The Lady Colonels evened the score just 35 seconds later before the Warriors went on a six goal run. Christi Karr scored three times during the run, two of which were assisted by McIntyre. Justine Titko scored the first of her five goals, giving another assist to McIntyre, who also chipped in a tally. Wilkes cut the lead to 6-2 before Lycoming went on another three goal run with three different Warriors scoring. Titko, Amanda Baker and Bri Robertson all found the net to send Lycoming into halftime with a 9-4 lead.

Titko, Robertson and Baker all opened the second half with goals, with McIntyre assisting the Robertson goal. Karr scored her fourth goal of the game between two Colonel goals. Lycoming was able to put together another six goal win, picking up goals from Titko and Sammi Jo Bell twice each, McIntyre and Robertson. Bell and Robertson put Lycoming up 21-7 and Baker rounded out the day with the last goal of the day after a final Colonel goal.

Lycoming hosts its final home game of the regular season on Saturday, April 25 against Eastern University at 1 p.m. A win seals a fourth place finish in the MAC for the Lady Warriors and a home field game on Tuesday, April 28 against the eventual fifth seed.

McIntyre scores 100th career goal in 24-12 win over Alvernia

The boys and I drove up to Reading, PA to watch Alex's game on Sunday. Nice day to get out. She has 2 games left and the playoffs start next week. Also, this is her last week of classes and she has 2 final exams next week. Should be coming home late next week unless of course they keep winning in the tournament! Here's a link to my facebook pictures of the game. Let me know if you can't see them.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=81325&id=1532347467

Box Score

READING, Pa. --- Junior attacker Megan McIntyre scored her 100 career goal in a 24-12 Lycoming College win over Alvernia University on Sunday, April 19. McIntyre finished the game with eight points on four goals and four assists, as Justine Titko also finished with eight points on three goals and five assists.

Winning its second game in as many days, Lycoming improves to 8-7 overall and 6-3 in the Middle Atlantic Conference. Alvernia falls to 8-7 on the year and 2-7 in the league.

Lycoming accomplished the feat with 10 different Lady laxers scoring. Sammi Jo Bell had a game high six goals. McIntyre, Titko and Bell were also joined in multiple goals by Grace Gargiulo and Christi Karr, who had three a piece. Amanda Baker, Bri Robertson, Kelli Morsey, Jackie Calbi and Laura Carpenter all had one goal each.

Fourteen of the Lycoming goals came with assists. Titko set the pace with her five, followed by McIntyre and her four hand outs. Gargiulo had two dishes and Baker, Bell and Karr each had one. In the cage, Brittany Bryan had seven saves. On defense, Danielle Gargiulo had an outstanding day, causing four turnovers and picking up four groundballs and four draw controls. Titko also had four draw controls.

The Lady Warriors are off until Wednesday, April 22 when the travel to Edwardsville for an important MAC match-up against Wilkes University. The first draw is set for 4 p.m.

Post-Easter

Easter was nice. Alex was home and we went to 9am Mass with the boys. After that we went over to spend some time at my in-laws house. We even did a mini-egg hunt in the back yard! It was a nice day.

I've been feeling okay so that made it even better. I found out the results of my MRI on Friday and it was NORMAL>>> Ugh. Now what? I have to make an appointment with the gastroenterologist for sometime this week and we'll go from there.

Alex went back to school late yesterday. I had to take her up to Gettysburg where she met up with a teammate and they went back from there. I was thankful that I did not have to drive all the way up to Lyco on Easter Sunday ... again. I did it before and it's a long drive for just a drop off.

This week I am off to Philadelphia for 2 nights to attend a conference / trade-show for work. It's pretty important that I be there and it's not too far from home. The boys are on auto-pilot (long leash) but will be sleeping at our friends down the street.

Oh yeah, Saturday we drove over to our friends in Annapolis and visited for a few hours. It was really nice to get all of us out of the house. The picture shows Matty's new pets. Of course now Alex wants one!

More on me later...

Scan results

Okay so the my General Practitioner calls me Monday morning at 7:45AM! Immediately I'm already sweatin' bullets.

The CT results showed the following: no tumors, cysts or things of that nature (Oh thank god!), slight inflammation of the pancreas, and an inflamed gallbladder. So something is now causing the gallbladder to be inflamed which causes the pancreas to be agitated which produces higher levels of lipase. You following me on this?

She called a gastroenterologist in Frederick that does some specialized test called ERCP. He in turn said no lets do a MRCP. Basically this is a non-invasive and specialized MRI of the duct work of your pancreas and gallbladder. I'm scheduled for that on Wednesday morning at 7:30 AM. The ERCP goes in through your mouth similar to an upper GI and it can actually cause you to get pancreatitis because of all the irritation that it can do. After that then we'll see how / if we can fix what's been causing the pain and issues for the last 6 weeks. All indications are gallstones followed by gallbladder removal.

Today I feel better than I have in a long time so maybe I'm on a rebound too. Still have pain but more localized. Thanks for pulling for me and looking out for me. I'll let you know more as I find things out...

CT Scan done..

Deja Vu!!

Just got back from my scan. No big deal. Side is still hurting but it may be from no food as I had to fast.

The Dr.'s office called and my amalyse is still normal but my lipase is still elevated. Although it is now 147 (4/2) vs. 249 (3/26) and normal is 70. So it is trending down which is good. Hopefully I'll make it through the weekend this time!

Update on Me.

I've been feeling pretty crummy the last 4 weeks or so. Started with a small pain to the left of my belly button and now there's pain across my abdomen and back. Not severe. More achy.

This was very similar to what I went through right after Chris passed away back in Sept 2007. At that time I finally went to a gastro dr. and they did many tests and finally discovered some erosions in my small intestine, gave me some drugs and it eventually went away.

I went to the Dr. last week and she prescribed the same drug and said lets see how that goes. I also went for a blood test. This past weekend while visiting Alex I had a few beers on Saturday night. Later that evening I experienced some severe back pains that I toughed out. Tuesday I went back to my primary care Dr. who told me that my lipase enzyme was elevated yet my amylase enzyme was normal. Both produced primarily in the pancreas. She gave me a pain med and we were going to let it go 1 more week.

Well, Wednesday the pain med (or something else) made me nauseous all day long. It was horrible. I was in bed all day. Finally started going away and I eat some soup around 7pm.
Thursday I was back up and about, and I went to get another blood lab drawn. I awaiting those results. At the same time today, Friday, I am going in to have a CT scan done of my abdomen area. Not sure what's next. The pain is moderate, more achy than anything else. Should know these results Monday or Tuesday. So that's where I'm at...

Check back later for updates.

Lady laxers overpower King's 24-5 in conference victory

Alex SCORES a goal!!!!!

Box Score

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. --- With 14 Lady Warriors scoring a goal, including a six point night from Grace Gagiulo, the Lycoming College women’s lacrosse team overpowered King’s College 24-5 in a Middle Atlantic Conference match up on Wednesday, April 1.

After taking the win, Lycoming is 5-5 on the season and 3-1 in the MAC while the Monarchs slip to 0-8 and 0-5 in league play.

Freshman Grace Gargiulo had the finest game of her young career at Lycoming, finding the goal four times on five shots while assisting on two other goals, tallying all six of her points in the first half. Bri Robertson also had a fine day, scoring three goals and registering one assist. Sammi Jo Bell and Jackie Calbi both had two goals, while Bell also registered an assist.

Justine Titko played a solid game through the midfield, putting up three goals and one assist, while also picking up seven groundballs and earning three draw controls as well as three caused turnovers. Bell was the game leader in draw controls with six. Lyz Logan put the ball in the net once, while handing out two assists. Megan McIntyre also tallied two goals as Crystal Cody, Christi Karr, Morgan Reale, Alex DeWitt, Kelli Morsey and Danielle Gargiulo all tallied one goal, with Gargiulo’s being the first of her career.

Lycoming hits the road this Saturday, April 4 when it travels to Arcadia University for another MAC match-up. The first draw is set to go off at 1 p.m.