Welcome to the DuVal 5 Fight Club 🎗️ Well… apparently cancer REALLY missed the DuVals. About six years ago, cancer decided to introduce itself to our family when Dave was diagnosed. We fought that battle, came out the other side, and celebrated five years cancer-free. Apparently Cancer enjoyed our company so much that it came back for Round 2, this time choosing me. Rude. Very rude. I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), an aggressive form of breast cancer. Thankfully, all of my scans showed it was contained to my breast with no evidence that it had spread to my lymph nodes or anywhere else. That is VERY good news, and we are holding onto it tightly. Because TNBC likes to come in hot, we’re coming at it even hotter. I started chemo on August 14th. Round 1 is 12 treatments, one every week for 12 weeks. Once I finish those, apparently there is no graduation ceremony, tropical vacation, or even a complimentary toaster. Instead, I roll right into Round 2: another 12 weeks of chemo. Once all 24 weeks of chemo are behind me, the next step will be a mastectomy. So basically, Cancer booked itself a rather lengthy stay with the DuVals. And THEN, four days after I started chemo, because apparently two DuVal cancer patients weren't enough…our 14-year-old son Jaxten decided to join Fight Club. 💜 On August 17th, Jaxten went to the ER with pain and doctors discovered a mass in his right testicle believed to be cancer. Less than 60 hours later, the mass and his right testicle had been removed. Because apparently the DuVals do cancer on an accelerated timeline. 🤯😂 The GREAT news is that his scans showed no evidence that anything had spread elsewhere, and his surgeon was able to remove everything he could see. We are currently waiting on additional pathology testing to tell us whether surgery was both the beginning AND the end of Jaxten's cancer treatment or whether he will need anything additional. So yes, if you're keeping score: Dave: Five years cancer-free. ❤️ Mom: Currently fighting breast cancer. 🎀 Jaxten: Hopefully already DONE fighting testicular cancer. 💜 Cullen & Brayden: Currently staying out of the oncology department, and we would REALLY like them to keep it that way. 😂 At this point, Cancer has officially overstayed its welcome at the DuVal house, and she will NOT be getting a good review. I’d also like to file a formal complaint with whoever is writing this particular chapter of our lives. Seriously, enough with the plot twists. 😂 For the next several months, our family is firmly in Fight Club mode. And if you know the DuVals, you know how we do hard things: inappropriate amounts of humor, sarcasm, optimism, probably a few bad words, a whole lot of faith and prayer, and the firm belief that there are no rules when you're fighting cancer other than to WIN. The part I’m still learning is how to let people help. So many of our friends, family, coworkers, soccer and football families, and other amazing humans have asked, “What can we do?” My normal response is something along the lines of, “We’re good!” because accepting help is apparently not one of my spiritual gifts. But chemo, a teenage cancer diagnosis, three boys, multiple sports schedules, jobs, regular life AND stubbornness probably aren't the best combination. So here we are. 😂 One of the biggest ways you can help our crew over the next few months is simply helping us answer the dreaded daily question: “What are we doing for dinner?” If you'd like to help, you can sign up for one of the meal dates on our calendar. And PLEASE do not feel like you need to cook! Homemade meals are wonderful, but so are takeout, pizza, restaurant gift cards, grocery gift cards, food delivery gift cards, or anything else that helps keep the DuVal crew fed while we focus on getting everyone healthy. When we originally created this page, we planned to start with 2 meals a week during my first 12 weeks of chemo because, naturally, I was still convinced we could handle everything else ourselves. 😂 Then Jaxten was diagnosed. That was apparently the universe's way of saying, “Valleri, LET PEOPLE HELP YOU.” Message received. 😂 So we increased our calendar to 3 meals a week. Taking dinner off our plate a few nights each week may seem like a small thing, but right now it gives us one less thing to think about while we juggle chemo, appointments, Jaxten's recovery, three boys, sports, work, and all the regular chaos that doesn't stop just because cancer showed up. There may also be times when we need a little practical help along the way, and we're going to try really hard to actually say YES when people offer instead of automatically saying, “Nope, we've got it.” Baby steps. 😂 Most importantly, please know that we are doing okay. We are positive. We are optimistic. We have incredible medical teams, an enormous support system, a whole lot of faith, and absolutely no intention of letting cancer write the ending to this story. And when we say we're going to WIN, we don't mean every day will be easy or that everything will always go according to plan. Winning around here means taking it one day at a time. It means waking up every morning and choosing to fight whatever that day brings with positivity, faith, and as much humor as we can possibly find. Some days will undoubtedly be messier than others. But we'll keep showing up. We'll keep praying. We'll keep laughing. We'll keep fighting. That's how the DuVal 5 wins. One day at a time. ❤️ We don't expect anyone to do anything. Your texts, prayers, check-ins, ridiculous memes, laughs, encouragement, and love mean more to us than you know. If feeding us happens to be your love language, though…we certainly aren't going to argue with you. 😂 Thank you for loving our crazy crew, showing up for us, and standing beside us through what has somehow become the most ridiculous sequel nobody asked for. The DuVal 5 Fight Club is officially back in session. And there are still no rules when you're fighting cancer…other than to WIN. 💪🎗️ Want to follow along with our journey? We’ll be sharing updates, laughs and all the DuVal 5 Fight Club chaos on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/199FDG3ABn/
A few notes to make things easy: • We have **no food allergies** and honestly enjoy just about everything! Some of our family favorites are **Chicken Wings, BBQ, Cajun, Burgers any Asian cuisine (including Indian) and Mexican**, but we are equal-opportunity eaters. 😂 We’d also love to try a favorite dish from your culture or family traditions if you’d like to share something special with us. • Please do NOT feel like you need to cook! Homemade meals are amazing, but so are takeout, pizza, restaurant/food delivery gift cards and grocery gift cards. The goal is simply to take **“What are we doing for dinner?”** off the list for the day. • Some of our favorite restaurants are **Waffle House, Los Rios, Marie’s Deli, Taco Mac, Osaka, FuKu, Domino’s, Papa Johns, Chick-fil-A, Homestead, Wing Stop and Beto’s Tacos.** But these are just ideas; we’re definitely not limited to them! • For groceries, we typically shop at Kroger, BJ’s and Walmart, and thankfully, they all deliver! • We’re a family of 5, and leftovers are ALWAYS welcome. Teenage boys + leftovers = never a bad thing. • Since I’m just starting chemo, we don’t know yet if my tastes or what I can tolerate will change. We’ll update the page as we figure out what chemo decides I’m allowed to like that week. • A quick porch drop-off is absolutely perfect! There may be days when I’m feeling great and would love for you to come in, visit and chat for a bit, and there may be other days when a wave from the front door is about all I’ve got in me. Please never take it personally if we don’t invite you in. We’ll just be taking things day by day and following whatever my energy level decides to do. Most importantly, **please don't feel any pressure to provide a meal.** We are incredibly grateful for every meal, gift card, prayer, text, laugh and offer to help. It all means more to our family than you know.