9th Annual KPB GOLF CLASSIC

The 9th Annual KPB Golf Classic was a huge success. I want to thank everyone so much for all you support. Fundraising wise it was the best year. Every tournament is special and this was was very special. It is really cool to everyone grow and see their families grow. It seems as if the kids are starting to outnumber the adults. I don't think there was one kid at the first tournament (maybe one little Spaulding) and now there were 12 kids/babies there and Kerrie and Kim with another two on the way. In addition Stan and Bridget's new addition. Crazy!!! I can not wait until the kids are actually playing in the tournament. That will be wild.

I would also like to thank all the sponsors of the golf tourney. Without them we would not be able to raise the money we do.

Once again thank you Mom, Dad, Frank, Betty, Jason Perkins, Kathy Perkins and Sherri Calkins for helping put the raffle and food together.

Thank you all for those who helped set up the raffle and clean up.

The biggest thanks goes to my wife Katherine. She is the one who keeps the day moving and ensures the day goes right. She is a star. Baby I love you so much.

Another special thanks goes to TK sports. Every year they provide the T-Shirts. Thanks Jim Keene. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Thanks and we will see you all soon.

Additional Posts include: Newest Chemo Results and Telegraph Article.

Ponny Ride Benefit

Our neighbors just stopped by to inform us they will be holding a pony ride for my family. They have a horse farm called the Apple Tree Horse Farm. They have a riding ring and they will be holding a pony ride on September 21st. This is the day after our golf tournament. So anyone who wants to come down and take their kids for a Pony ride you are more then welcome to stop by. It is right down the road from our house.

It is an amazing gesture and it is really appreciated. We will have to drive down from Lebanon on either Saturday night or Sunday AM but we will be there.

It is Day 18 of my chemo cycle. I will see Dr. Fadul on the 16th of September to get my blood test to see if the Prolactin level drop further. I pray and hope they continue to drop. Please drop. Please.

See you all soon.
The Cancer Fighter

Tired!!!!

The Chemo is kicking in and I am starting to feel tired. I have become a professional nap taker. If I lie down I can sleep almost anytime of the day. I am also sleeping well at night since Alek is pretty much sleeping through the night.

Alek is a crazy little baby. Now I know what it means to have to babyproof your house. They get into every nook and cranny. It is truly amazing.

I am looking forward to the KPB Classic. It is one weekend away. I can not wait to see everyone.

See you there.

Back to the Blogging

I am back to the blog. Why have I have been gone this long? I guess the best excuse it being lazy. The other excuse is not having a computer for a while since we put our house on the market. Having the house on the market is almost as bad has moving your own stuff from home to home. I hate moving and by that I mean moving all your stuff from one place to another. We all know that sucks.

Well to what is going on with Kristofer Peter Beinder. First, my cancer is progressing once again. Like this is new. It is to a point that I need to something soon. The clinical trial went well but I had some serious side effects. I broke out in a major rash twice so I was dismissed from the trial. It is crazy. I find something that works and I can not use it.

The drugs that were working were Sorafnafib and Tipifarnib. We asked my doctors if I could take one of these drugs. They recommended trying to get approval for Sorafnafib. We tried to get approval from our insurance company. What a joke. They denied us from getting the drug. It is truly unreal how they deny something that was working for me. The say it is not FDA approved for my cancer. Well nothing is. Drug companies are not going to invest money in rare cancers. Whey would they. You however would think that the insurance companies would want to try to help people vs. not helping them. Right now the only thing that I can get are Clinical Trials Phase I.

A Phase I clinical trial is: Drug companies testing the toxicity of chemo drugs. They give these drugs to a certain number of people and they keep increasing the doses as they find a certain dose level is not to toxic for cancer patients. They have an idea that the drug may work but not certainty. You are basically a Guinea pig.

I will write more tomorrow regarding Alek and my recent visit to Dana Farber.

I also from this date forward will promise to write once a week in this blog. Sometimes it will be more frequent.

Tomorrow is Dave Antoniolli's bachelor party part 2. We will be golfing. I am so happy that Dave found Jess. The two of them are great together. It is awesome to see the Chief (Dave) in love. Way to go Chief!!!!

Into the Trial

Weehhh Haah, The next chapter is about to be written. I am accepted into the Clinical Trial. I will start tomorrow (4/18/08). I will then have to return to Houston one day a week for 5 weeks. That is a bit of a pain but you got to do what you got to do. I will have to be in Houston on Thursday's. That means I will fly out on Wednesday and return in the afternoon on Thursday pending any problems or side effects that may arise. If the chemo works after the first 28 days, then I only have to come back once a month. So it is just a matter of getting through the first 5 weeks. So we will see. Just another waiting game. Chemo, Chemo, Chemo.

We have met some incredible people out here. This place (MD Anderson Cancer Center) is remarkable. It is such a HUGE hospital dedicated to cancer. The people you meet are amazing people. Some are worse off then you and some are better, but the fact that you are surrounded by thousands of cancer patients puts a lot in perspective. It is scary in one way that so many people have cancer. It provides hope in that so many people have the chance to be treated and live longer lives. It is inspiring because you know you are not the only one going through this. And trust me, I have had a tough go but there are many people that may have not had as long as a battle but are worse off. That is what gives me hope and sometimes makes me cry. I know I am a complete sap, but when you have gone through what I have your emotions run at an all time high. Most of you have witnessed it. There are a bunch of people that I have seen wearing this T-Shirt and hat with a very cool logo. The logo is "CANCER SUCKS!". I got a kick out of that. We may have to make up some our own "Cancer Sucks" t-shirts for the KPB Classic. It is never to early to think about the KPB Classic. Wow, we are getting to the age where some or your kids are going to be playing. Scary!!!

Over and out.

The Beinder Man

Houston

In Houston, TX baby. The weather is really nice here. We sat out the first day and I actually got a little sun burnt. My mom has been sitting out every day. She is a sun worshipper. It has been sleep, eat, test, eat and sleep out here. I have had MRIs, CT scans, X-Rays and blood tests. It has not been relaxing but also not to hectic.

Meet with the Docs tomorrow to determine the plan. I am anxious, scared and hopeful about this meeting. I am still not feeling the greatest I have ever felt so I am a little scared to start chemo again. That is where I am right now mentally so I have to push on. I am sure the Docs will also help me figure out if I am ready for chemo yet or not. It is just scary to start chemo when you are still not 100%, but the thought of waiting is also scary. I am in a catch 22. A win win situation.

I miss Katherine and Alek really bad. I shed at least one tear a day thinking about them and especially Alek (sorry baby, I love you so much you know that). I was telling someone here in TX that he is the reason to live and push forward but that is also the scary part. I just want to be here as long as possible for him and Kath and all of you.

Well keep it real y'all

Kris

Short People Make Good Athletes

Wow it has been a long time since I posted. Sorry about that. It in not for a lack of thinking on my behalf. It is the act of being lazy and content. A quick update. My throat is much better. I am starting to eat almost anything I want. I am starting to gain some of the weight I lost back. Going to Houston next week. Marg and I leave Monday in the early morning.




This morning I was thinking about what has shaped my life and what in my aspects of growing up has given me the strength to fight this mad disease they call cancer. There were two things that came to my mind. One was the fact that I was into sports and was an athlete. The other was my size or should I say lack of size. You can laugh. We all know I am not the biggest guy in the world. I was always picked on from the early days all the way to College. I can remember many times being called every name you could think of for a short person. You name it I've heard it. I remember playing soccer in high school and the opposing team's fans would stand behind the goal and just tool on me. Can you grab the cross bar? Well they had a right to pick on me, I was short but I had something that always helped me. I was smart and I was crazy. That helped. When I was young the name calling tended to bother me more then when I was older. I guess I was used to it and I got good coaching from Mom and Dad on how to deal with it. Maggie and Bruno were great in coaching me on how to deal with it. They would say "you show them that being short does not matter by doing .........". I did show them. I think this is where a great deal of my perseverance comes from. I never let people who put me down get in the way of my goals. I always felt like I had something to prove. I always had a challenge to overcome. I never had anything given to me. It wasn't like someone said look at that Beinder kid, he is really short. He is going to be a star. No that did not happen. I had to prove myself and show people my worth. There was one thing I know is that I always gave it my best. Whether it was learning a foreign language so I could fit in. Whether it was trying to find friends after we had moved to a new town. Whether is was stepping on the ice with a bunch of Austrians without knowing German and trying to figure out what they were doing. What ever the situation was I managed to get through it and I never quit.


So in my opinion being short helped me gain the no quit attitude and the idea I could persevere through anything. The other part that I mentioned was sports. If you have ever read Lance Armstrong's book "It is not about the bike" this may sound familiar. Athletes tend to have this attitude that when they are injured or in pain, that they will just power thought it. Lance experienced the same thing. He powered through the pain, the headaches until it was so bad that he knew something was wrong. I experienced the exact same thing. I powered through the pain and the loss of vision until I knew there was something wrong when Kesten was beating me at tennis. However the point I am trying to make is that athletes have this gift of being able to move forward no matter what the circumstance are. They can always find a way to finish the game in an attempt to win. If you are down, you can not put your head down. You must keep moving the ball up the field. When you couple a small fry like myself who had all the odds against him with his size and and give him the heart of a lion, you get quite the athlete. Yes I am bragging and reliving my glory days. But I can not help to think that being an athlete, a small one, has given me a mindset that has helped me fight. I don't know what to call it, but it is almost something that you either have or don't. The great thing is all of my friends have it in one way or another. That is why we are such good friends, we all have that x-factor. We all have that competitive drive. That is the best part about our group. This bond is what has given me the stength to keep fighting.

What else is going on. Alek is great. He is growing and changing every day. It is crazy. I really am not looking forward to going to Houston. I just don't feel like going out there. I know I have to but I'd rather stay here. There is something about going for blood tests, MRIs, and doctors apointments that is just not appealilng. I guess the good thing about Houston will be the weather.

Well I am out of here. Keep it real

Kris