Entry 591: Me, My Mom, And The Royals

Lance's mom passed away from brain cancer a little over four years ago and every day there are little things that Lance will see that bring back memories of his mom and remind him of what a great woman she was.  Today was one of those days.

The year was 2003.  For the past year Lance had to have a heart operation to repair a leaky aortic valve.  It was a difficult year because he was also told that he had a genetic disorder and that if they did the operation there was a greater than 50/50 chance that he would die on the operating table.  He was also told that he would not live to be 35 and that he would be in a wheelchair within the next 3 years, but that he still had to have the operation.  Lance went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and his life completely changed.  He discovered that the genetic disorder he was diagnosed with what incorrect and that they were extremely confident that they could perform the operation successfully.

Well the operation was a success, but unfortunately Lance really couldn't do anything for a month (driving, lifting anything over 10 pounds, and walking for long periods of time uphill).  It was decided that Lance's mom would move in with him for a month to help take care of him.  They eventually fell into a routine of walking, going to see a movie, and watching the Kansas City Royals.  The Royals had been terrible for many, many years but in that year that were making a run at the playoffs.  Lance remembers many nights where he and his mom would sit and yell at the TV and celebrate the wins together.

One of his greatest memories of his mom was when she decided to get him a birthday present and bought him and his friends tickets to the Royals/Cardinals game.  Now Lance's mom had no idea where the seats were and when we got there we showed the usher our tickets and he pointed all the way up to the top.  They were cracking up because Lance wasn't supposed to walk long distances uphill and lo and behold our seats were 4 rows from the very top (we counted a little over 80 steps to get to our seats) and it was extremely hot that day.  What made it even a little funnier was that one of the friends they brought was pregnant.  We made it through the game and it is a memory that Lance will always fondly remember.

Now lets fast forward to today.  We were doing our normal thing of going to get our free drink coupon when we walked by a table for the Head for the Cure Foundation.  This is a group that is close to our heart because of what Lance's mom went through, so Lance stopped and talked to them for awhile.  Lance noticed the shirt that you saw up above and it made him cry a little bit because it reminded him of that summer of 2003 where it was just him, his mom, and the Royals.