A Well-Deserved Week Away

After receiving the news that Megan’s most recent scans were clear, we could now focus on one of her favorite things to do…travel.  With Spring Break this past week, we were able to get away to Megan’s favorite place…Los Angeles.  Since the very first time we traveled there years ago, Megan has always been infatuated with everything about the City of Angels.  She loves the weather as the dry air helps her to breath easier.  Since her chemo treatments, Megan has a lot of trouble handling heat and humidity as she tends to overheat easily and struggles to catch her breath.  However, in the relatively humid-free air of LA, she gets around much easier.  She also absolutely loves everything about the entertainment industry, and thanks to some native Illinoisans and the magic of social media, Megan has made some amazing connections in the Hollywood scene.  Obviously, Megan was really looking forward to this vacation, and it didn’t disappoint.

We are so thankful for Kay Cannon and her family for allowing us to stay with them in LA.  I have spoken of Kay’s amazing success story in the past as she continues to climb the ladder as an esteemed writer and director in Hollywood.  However, even with all of her success, she has never forgotten where she came from, and is still one of the kindest, most giving person I know.  I was one of her teachers when she was a student at Reed-Custer High School, but she and Deb have always shared a special bond as Deb was her volleyball and track coach.  Kay and her family always make us feel so welcome and comfortable, and we could never thank them enough.  Here is a picture of all of us. I’ve also added a few of just Megan and Kay.  She is so much fun!

As you can see from the picture, Kenzi isn’t with us.  Unfortunately, for the first time ever, her spring break from college was different than ours, so she was home the week prior to our vacation.  We really missed having her with us on this trip, but hopefully our entire family can get away somewhere this summer.

One of the first connections Megan made in LA via social media was the actor, Jonathan Sadowski.  He has been so supportive and generous with his valuable time every single time we visit, and this week was no exception.  We met up with him on one morning for breakfast and he was kind enough to also join us for my birthday supper, which was at an incredible barbecue place he picked out.

Another highlight of the trip was attending the “Late Late Show with James Corden”.  One of my good friends is Diane Cepela, and her daughter Jill works as an Assistant Writer for the show.  When Diane heard we were heading to LA, she contacted Jill who kindly got us VIP tickets for the show.  It also just so happens that Kay Cannon is friends with James Corden, so she contacted him prior to the show and asked if he could come out and meet us.  It was quite a thrill to meet him in person, and the show was so funny.  Thanks so much to Jill Cepela for allowing us to attend such an exciting event.

Megan and Jill

One of the most special aspects of southern California for Megan is that two of her long distance cancer-surviving warrior friends live there.  As I have explained in the past, these friends have become such an important source of support for Megan, and when they are together, you can feel the connections instantly.  This trip, we were so thankful that Kasey Harvey and her lovely family made the drive to meet us for dinner.  Kasey was the very first person Megan connected with via social media, and getting these two brave cancer survivor sisters together again was very special.  Here is a picture of the two of them.

Sophia is another cancer warrior that Megan met via social media, and her mom dropped her off so the girls could go shopping together at The Grove in LA.  Megan had so much fun catching up with Sophia.

We stayed pretty busy for the entire week we were there, so the easiest thing to do is share the rest of our vacation via photos.

Megan went with Kay Cannon’s daughter, Leni, to Duff’s Cakemix where they had a blast decorating a cake.

Another LA connection Megan has made via social media is with Melissa, who is the mother of Maddie and Mackenzi Ziegler who were featured on the TV show “Dance Moms”. When Melissa found out Megan was coming to LA, she generously took time out of her busy schedule to have lunch with Megan and Deb.

We also took a drive to Malibu to visit Pepperdine University and to have lunch at “Paradise Cove”, which is right on the beach.  Megan had heard the views from Pepperdine University were incredible, and she was right!

Megan and I walked one of the trails at Runyan Canyon. It was a little tougher than we expected, but Megan hung in there 🙂

We also visited the campus of UCLA, which is full of history.

We took a walk on Venice Beach, but it was a little cold that day 😦

John Halloran is from Coal City and attends San Diego State University. He made the two hour plus drive to LA to spend an afternoon and evening with us. We had so much fun walking around Hollywood.

When Megan was getting her proton radiation treatments, her favorite technician was Brittany. Megan was devastated when Brittany took a job in LA. She was so happy when Brittany kindly took time out of her schedule to meet Megan for coffee. They talked nonstop for an hour, and Megan had a blast. Brittany has been a very important part of Megan’s recovery effort.

And of course…what’s a trip to LA without a visit to In-n-Out 🙂

Although we had a great time in LA, there really is no place like home.  Until next week…