Welcome to our blog

This blog is the brainchild of a few of us children from the Blaine and Renie Hatt family. Since mom and dad have lived in New Brunswick, Alberta, Manitoba and now Ontario, they have made quite a few friends along the way. We know the kindness and love they have been shown from so many along their travels. Because it is sometimes difficult for us to keep up with everyone, we decided it might be a good idea to start a blog so we could keep people up to date with the goings on in our family.

Most of you who have been in touch with us in the last year or so know of mom's diagnosis with stage 4 colo-rectal cancer. It came as a complete shock to us all as mom was the picture of health and had virtually no indicators she was so ill. She has been on chemo almost non stop, except for a 2 month period last summer, since that time. Her quality of life, for the most part, has been extremely high. She was able to maintain a balanced diet and rarely felt nauseous. In fact she tried her hand at an alternative way of eating. She adopted the vegan lifestyle and was very adventurous in her quest for new and exciting recipes. She pushed dad way out of his comfort zone, but he was able to find some new favorites and actually quite enjoyed most of what mom prepared. Mom being the great cook she is, there aren't many complaints that come out of her kitchen.

Kara, Kalie and Kendra were able to correlate their busy lives for a much needed girl's weekend in Toronto 2 weeks ago. The only one missing was Justin's awesome wife Kaiti who was, sadly, unable to break away from her work to join us. We were able to leave our respective lives at home, except for Kendra's 8 month old baby, and enjoyed a great relaxing time with pedicures and shopping. We were then able to drive north to visit with mom and dad for a couple days before each heading our separate ways. Mom was in quite a bit of discomfort when we arrived so we spend most of the evening with her lounging around her bedroom, visiting and treating each other to facials. Mom was so happy to have us there, laughing with us and enjoying us each snuggling with her in a different corner of her bed. Dad even came in to join us and was able to go to sleep with all 4 of his girls! (There were 5 in the bed and the little one said "Roll over, roll over...)

That night was rough on mom and after Percocet was no longer managing her pain effectively we, along with dad, decided she needed to be taken to hospital. They admitted her and found she had some kind of blockage in her abdomen. She has been unable to digest food in the traditional sense and is being fed intravenously. She has been receiving very thorough care including either daily X-rays or CAT scans. The surgeon is in close contact with dad keeping him updated on any change he sees in her condition. This is the same surgeon who preformed mom's initial surgery and has maintained a close working relationship with mom, recommending alternative procedures, re-reading CAT scan results for her when findings from her oncologist were unclear and answering any questions she may have had throughout the last year and a half. He is a good man and a reputable surgeon, we have confidence in his skills and abilities.

As you can well imagine, dad is having an incredibly hard time balancing everything alone as none of his adult children live near him. We spend hours on the phone to each other sharing updates, talking with dad or just sorting things through. We are remaining in close contact with dad for updates on her condition. We are committed to keeping this blog updated adding new posts as her condition changes or as we receive any new or pertinent information. We appreciate the prayers and love of all those who have reached out to our family during this time. Mom has often related that she feels so blessed to have had this time with us. She has felt the strength from the prayers offered on her behalf. So please, keep them coming.

Dad tries to return phone calls and e-mails as often as possible, however, the weight on his shoulders is extremely heavy at this time. He simply does not have the time to return everyone's phone calls, however, he greatly appreciates your love and concern. We, as a family, would appreciate it if you would use this website as your main resource for regular updates. You could help us by passing along the address to anyone else wondering about mom and how she is doing. Feel free to leave us any comments and we will do our best to respond. There has been quite a few requests for their address, so I will list it at the end of this post. Thank you again for all the love and support. We feel it.

The Blaine and Renie Hatt Children

Blaine & Renie Hatt
30 Sergio Ct
North Bay, ON
P1B 9A9