On June 2 at 10:30 pm Bill Ennis left this earth and promptly arrived in Heaven. II Corinthians 5:8 ...to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Billy, Natalie, Glenda, Tim and Bonni were all here to wish him well on his journey. Our sadness is beyond words but our joy is overwhelming-the suffering is over.

Thank you all, friends and family, for your love and support for us and for our dad and husband.

-Bonni, Billy and Glenda

Today, we enjoyed an afternoon baseball game -watching Riley hit the best game ever!

Thank you all for your continued prayers and visits.

Happy Mother's Day!

We've hit the 2 month mark that Bill and Glenda have been in Pennsylvania. We have enjoyed all the guests that have come to visit from Ohio, Virginia, New York and Maryland. One of our favorites is (not so) little Liam pictured here with the proud Grand-dad.

The Latest from Glenda

This is our 5th week in Pennsylvania. We are being spoiled rotten by Bonni and Tim. It's wonderful to be close to family with the grandchildren running around. Billy, Natalie and Liam come often to visit on weekends since we live much closer to them now.
The good news is Bill seems to be responding well to the new environment here. A recent blood infusion gave him a boost of energy. He went to his first captioned movie last week and we all enjoyed our local Mexican restaurant together on Valentine's Day.
Hospice comes often and their goal is to bathe Bill-but his goal is not be bathed by someone else! He is perfectly capable of taking care of himself. When the aide's plans fail, they help Glenda tidy up their 'cottage'.
Glenda reads every book available and has found a morning ritual coffee place that suits her just fine. She is looking forward to planting a little garden in the back yard when spring comes. Bonni and I have been enjoying the farmer's market every Friday. It has a touch of the Amish tradition and makes me feel welcomed to Pennsylvania. They have the best pies in the world as well as donuts, lemon bars, eclairs and so on...We pick out something special for Bill each week.
We are much closer to all our Northern Virginia and Maryland friends again. We really enjoy the visits.

Dear Family & Friends

We appreciate all the prayers and support that dad has received. We wanted to give an update on how he is doing. At the end of October he began 3 weeks of radiation on his shoulder. He made it through radiation without any serious side effects but after the treatment and just before Thanksgiving his condition worsened. For about 2 weeks he was very weak and not eating. Last week he had a blood transfusion because his hemoglobin was low. The blood transfusion has helped and dad has been doing much better the last few days. The doctors also noticed that his heart rate was high and he scheduled an echogram.

The echocardiogram showed that his heart is pumping well and strong. The doctors were glad to see the positive results from the blood transfusion and the prescriptions to boost his appetite. They will monitor his scans and blood test results and do whatever necessary to improve his quality of life. The radiation has almost completely eliminated the severe pain in his shoulder.

We are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas spent together with family and friends. We wish the same for you.

Now Updated October 14, 2008

Friends and Family,
First, we want to tell you again how much we appreciate all the prayers and support!
Dad's most recent vlog is only a week old and already outdated. Some of you may have heard that he only has 2 months to live. We assure you that is not true. No timetable has been given to us from any of his doctors.
Here is the latest: Monday Dad and Mom met with Dr. Peri to discuss the results from the scan and the report was not as good as we've come to expect. His previous scans while on the trial drug have shown excellent responses to the treatment. Either the cancer remained stable or in one case even decreased slightly in size. The latest scan however revealed that the cancer has grown. As a result, Dad is no longer a candidate for the drug treatment he has been receiving since April. This decision was not made by Dr. Peri but rather a policy established by the doctors and scientists conducting the drug trial.
This news comes to us with mixed feelings. On one hand the news that the cancer has spread is certainly worrisome. Yet at the same time we're happy that he'll be ending these treatments. Chemotherapy of any type can really take a toll on the body. Dr. Peri is essentially giving Dad's body a rest from the therapy for 6 weeks. We're hopeful that Dad's good days will be better and longer and his bad days won't be quite so bad or often.
In 6 weeks, they will do another scan and decide from there the next course of action. The possibilities....Medical technology is amazing and rapidly changing. At the beginning of this family journey we were often told that there were no viable drugs or cures for this particular kind of cancer (neuro-endocrine carcinoid) but within 6 months a new drug trial came to us, which Dad was able to get into. And in one short year, new drugs and more importantly new combinations of drugs have appeared. Dr. Peri already has other treatment plans lined for Dad and based on the scan in 6 weeks, he will decide which way to go.
Dad is doing great this week and as usual is in great spirits. Since the beginning he has never been fazed by any of the news he gets. Always positive, always trusting God will take care of him. So we ask for your continued support and prayers that God continues his care as He has done the past year.
Billy

Finally an update

Bill and Glenda are heading back to Delaware after Bill spent 2 weeks in Pennsylvania with Bonni's family. He had lots of family and friends come to visit in their new "lower level apartment". However, his visit ended with a stay in the hospital when he was diagnosed with pneumonia. He was treated with antibiotics and is feeling much better.

The trial drug Bill started in April is actually working - the cancer has stopped growing! He goes to bio-therapy treatments in Rehoboth every three weeks for about an hour. Between treatments, he has good days and bad days. We are hoping that a low hemoglobin level that discovered in the hospital can be corrected and he will bounce back with more energy.

Looking forward, Bill has a scan on Thursday and a follow up appointment with Dr. Peri on Monday(10-13). We are praying for God's continued blessing on this therapy and that we will see a decrease in the size of the tumors.