The Official Phil Facts- Straight from Phil's big Sister.....
Dec, 2008-For those of you that do not know Phil Williams he may be right upstairs in your living room. He is the 16 year old boy in our lives who loves all things gaming and all girls. He is passionate about growing up to be in the drama business. He loves to sing in Choir and he is the kind and compassionate kid next door. What you may not know is that for the last 7 months Phil has been waging the fight of his life to overcome Stage 3 Testicular Cancer with Metastasis to his abdomen and lungs and is waiting for the go ahead to have surgery with Dr. Einhorn's partner at IU in Indianapolis. I just hope that I will be able to live up to what Kathy and her dad Mr.Williams have asked of me and provide them with the correct information to get him the absolute seemless care he deserves.
Many of you probably already read the article in the Leelanau Enterprise. Phil went on the annual Adventure club hike to the Appalachian Mountains to experience nature and be closer to girls. Unfortunately, he did not come back with the girl but came back with Testicular Cancer. He has bravely endured three round of chemo. Two of them being major wipe out your whole immune system for the two stem cell transplants that followed closely behind them. He has undergone many testing procedures including lung biopsy's right after New Years. What was his response "What is one more scar, don't you know that girls are into guys with scars". He cannot wait to go to the Prom this year. That is his goal.
Jan 15th,2008- Met with Mr. Williams today and showed him all of the progress made on the benefit. I also gave him the releases that he requested today to work with Devos, IU and Munson. Philip was sure doing well walking around without his walker. I will try to get started on the requests from Mr. Williams and Kathy ASAP so that he will be a little less stressed out and will have more time to spend here so that he can work and not worry about Philip's medical care so much. He asked me to keep him and Kathy informed and I will try my very best to do just that. The stress that they have conferred to me has got to be overwhelming and I am so glad that I will be able to help lighten that a little bit. Maybe someone would like to help them set up a case manager with their medical insurance. Let Mr. Williams know if you are interested.
Jan 30,20008- Philip is waiting to hear from IU about his CT results and when he will be able to have a Retroperitoneal Lymphnode Dissection surgery done at Indianapolis University Medical Center in order to debulk the tumor that has encompassed his kidneys and his abdominal aorta and his family has graciously asked me to help them travel through all of the hoops it will take to get him well enough to go and to give them the resources and contacts to make this a smoother transition. I am glad to help them as I know what kind of webbed world the medical community creates. He is home getting ready for this life saving surgery and needs all of our help and prayers to support him. (FEB. 19TH @ 1545. PHILIP GOT THE OKAY TO GO AHEAD WITH SURGERY WITH DR. FOSTER @ INDIANA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER ON MARCH 21. GOD IS BEAUTIFUL AND WONDEROUS.....HE GRANTED OUR PRAYERS....)
My son is Nicholas Bardenhagen. Nick is in school with Phil. Phil is one of Nick's best friends. I see Philip in all things that my son does everyday. I took care of Phil's mom in the hospital many times during her final years. She was a blessing to me. Phil is a blessing for my son. He has shown us compassion, serenity and strength of character throughout this ordeal. I woke up one day and just said I have to make a difference for him because is that not what another mother would do for my son if I was not able to be here to protect him. I was put into touch with Kathy Stein by Noel Chimoski because she knew just how stressed out this family had become in trying to navigate all this information and treatment. Not only was it emotionally draining them but financially according to Kathy it has taken quite a toll on her dad. That is why Noel and I created The Philip Williams Medical Benefit Fund @ Traverse City State Bank. This will enable Philip and his dad to not have to worry about anything during their trips to IU or to Devos Children's Hospital. 3/3/08 - Due to generous donation from the American Cancer Society and Angel Flights Mid Atlantic Philip will not have to ride in a car the 9 hours to Indianapolis. He is going by private plane all the way. When they get there they will be staying @ The Park Place Centre Apartments. When he gets to Indianapolis he will be met by Classic Limousine who generously provided free of charge round trip limo rides to and from the airport.
Philips Cancer levels are in a holding pattern right now. Phil was visited by many Michigan Sports Personalities in Devos Hospital but he turned down the visit from Lance Armstrong from Make a Wish for a visit from Ashley Tisdale. That is our Phil, always looking for a way to cozy up to the Young Ladies...3/4/08 Philip is @ Devos Children's Hospital having his Bouveac Tube taken out. With many hours and much work on the part of many people Phili is one step closer.. Way to go Philip...Keep up the good work.
Are you wondering what you could do to help us help Phil. Volunteer your time/goods/services or make a monetary contribution to support him in his quest for a cancer free life. March 15th @ 4 pm we will be serving up a delicious Pasta Dinner to help contribute funds to the Philip Williams Benefit Fund @ Traverse City State Bank. There will be Drive Up dinners 2 the back entrance to the High School. Just drive up tell the volunteer how many dinners/hand them your oh so generous donation and they will bring the food to your comfy car. No slushing through the weather to enjoy our tasty spaghetti dinner. Or, you can join us inside for sit down dinner and bid on our Silent Auction Articles. Thanks to all of the lovely donors who will not go unmentionsed (check back for our special Donor Section) Come and support us by giving a hand in the kitchen or help us plan this event beforehand. Do not forget to peruse the 92 silent auction items that were donated to help the cause. Remember it is a good deal for you and gives you the opportunity to provide Philip with a great deal of love from you.
March 19th, Unfortunately weather did not cooperate with Angel Flight but thanks to Noel Chimoski who once again saved the day and drove Mr. Williams and Philip down to IU personally. There were bumps along the treatment at IU but thanks to cell phones I was able to help Mr. Williams get through all of the medical red tape and several medical crisis during their stay in Indianapolis. We had a running joke that in some countries we would be considered under matromonial contract. Thank God for the Medical Social Workers, floor case managers and for Noel Chimoski without all of them I am sure I would have lost my hair. I just remind myself and Mr. Williams that the end result is worth 10 times this work.
March 25th-Just a little update. We were able to make over $10,000 for Phil's medical care that is uncovered by his medical insurance. The Beach Bums also donated season tickets for him and friends along with a game jersey specially presented by the fantastic Jon Cahill. One of the nicest guys I have ever known. Phil had many, many people that donated to his cause but special thanks goes out to Leelanau RV park and Mr. & Mrs. Wilson for their donation of love to help Phil. What a blessing. It was well worth the 5 months of work coordinating the benefit and helping the family with Philip's treatments. The 400 hours that my family put into it was richly rewarded with the smiles that never left his face. Now we are on to the task of cleaning up the high school and putting it back into shape. Dr. Foster thinks he got all of the abdominal tumor and now Phil just has to wait for his second surgery to remove the adenomos in his lungs this early summer. He is so excited to go back to school...
My biggest Thank You goes out to Mrs. Caplinger for donating her time and wages to the dinner. Without her help it would have never happened. Thank you to the Cedar/Maple City Lions Club members who came and helped us. We would have been lost without your help. Thank you to Bea Kurek for being there to set up the dinner and for being our go to girl. Thank you to Kayla for slicing all 90 loaves of bread for the dinner at the last minute. Thank you to Stone House bread for donating the bread. Thank you to Village Inn and Cammie from Epicure Catering for the magnificent sauces. Thank you to all who donated desserts and to Tom's for the great big cakes that we were able to share with Leelanau Tendercare residents as a special treat. Thank you to Gus for all of our flatware and take out dinner plates. Thank you to Coke for supplying all of the soda for the dinner. Thank you to Sladek's Catering for giving us salad and dressing for 500 people. Thank you to Sue Poirer for all of her help I would have been lost without her support . Thank you Kelly Halvorson for sending out all of the announcements and for washing all of those dishes with Mr. Send. Thank you to Nick Collins for being such a stand up guy and washing all of those tables. Thank you to Mrs. Send and Mrs. Gaudard for serving us the delicious desserts and Mrs. Gaudard for getting so many tasty donations to top the dinner. Thank you to Kathy Stein for always being there to help us when she could throughout the planning and Thank You Mr. Williams for trusting me enough to ask me to help you and Kathy facilitate Philip's continued treatment. It is an honor and I only hope that I will live up to your expectations. Thank you to Tina Shelder for helping in arrange so many super donations for the silent auction. She really went out of her way. Thank you to all of the business that donated to the auction. Especially the Candy World. Tim and Bridgette are the best... I will try at a later date to update this thank you note but for now I am whipped and my brain is oozing. With a new job, all the coordination of Phil's medical treatment, the benefit and 3 kids I need to pack the brain back in and let it rest a minute...
April 4, 2008, Noel and I decided it would be best if we set Phil's Fund up as a Medical Trust. We want to protect it for his medical costs. Those interested in donating may call Mr. David Becker Attny 946-8228 in Traverse City. He would love to help anyone who is interested in the fund growing. Our intent was to protect Philip and the people that donated to this fund. I also will be only coordinating Phil's care through his sister as we are to worried that it will create to much stress in Phil's life to have his dad so worried about missing work so frequently in order to keep appt. with me and Noel. I am sure that Phil would love to hear from his peers and the community so keep your best wishes coming. He may even end up having surgery closer if I can fulfill Mr. Williams wish and have his surgery here with Dr. Stirling or Dr. Drake. It was just way to stressful for the family to have to travel to IU an they would love to lessen that strain and lessen the time taken away from making an income.
April 12-May 17, 2008. Noel, Mark and I have been busy returning unauctioned items back to the donator's and delivering won auctions to the winning bidders. I still am writing thank you notes and keeping up with Kathy about Philip. He loved Prom but it would have been better if Jon and Nick were there. Maybe next year. He is doing rehab at Excel and getting stronger everyday.
May 30th,2008. Spoke with Kathy at length . She is worried that Philip is losing weight and worried about her dad's health. I told her I would give her the resources to help coordinate his trip to IU again for his next surgery but due to my new job, kid commitments and having a sick husband myself would be unable to coordinate it himself. I asked her to talk with Noel and ask her to maybe help out more. At the moment I can hand off the info but just have to much on my own plate. I hope that they fare well but I feel that Phil is out of the way of harm and think that they will do alright without me for the moment but will continue to reassure Kathy that I am just a phone call away. I never thought that someone outside of my family would come to mean so much to me so that I would think of them as family but that is how we feel about Kathy and Philip.
June 2008- For anyone interested in Philip's wellbeing please contact the Williams family for any new information. The Chimoski family and the Urban/Bardenhagen families are no longer involved in any manner of communications or coordination for Philip and wish him all the best for his future. Any inquiries regarding his medical fund can be directed to Mr. David Becker Attny 946-8228. He is the acting trustee and is responsible for any inquires. Noel Chimoski and Elisabeth Urban are hereby reliquishing any and all financial responsibility for this medical fund.
PhilipWilliamsBenefitFund@gmail.com.
Living with Cancer
Have you ever been so down that nothing makes sense?
Have you ever felt so scared that it feels like your heart will rip out of your chest?
Have you ever been so angry that it feels like you might explode?
Well, I have but none of it matters when you have great friends and family by your side
I will tell you that living with cancer is like riding a rollercosater, it has a lot of ups and downs
A lot of people are afraid to ride but once the ride is over you feel like you defeated your fears
Nothing can beat you so let me ask you something...
Have you ever felt so loved that you never want it to end? 
-by Phil Williams
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