Kicking it For Jason Thompson

On Tuesday, June 2, 2009, Jason was told that he had cancer. It was near the end of March 2009 that 28 year old Jason Thompson, a self-employed window washer and post construction clean up provider in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, landed a job that required an extra person and some rented equipment. He called his father, Tony Thompson, who has a similar business in Bozeman, Montana, to come and help him. When Tony arrived toward the end of March, Jason was experiencing pain in his back. Assuming he had hurt it hauling large ladders around, he went first to his chiropractor and then to his doctor. He and his father had more than several false starts after Jason was unable to stand for more than a few minutes. The doctor treated him for sciatic nerve inflammation. Finally, after weeks of pain, a family friend was called to come and complete the job without him. It was during this time that he started waking up in the night soaked with sweat. Since Jason has just had a complete physical in December, his mother assumed he must have an infection somewhere.
On May 27 they went to the emergency room, Jason had lost over 20 pounds and was in constant pain. He was sent home with a prescription for antibiotics, having tested positive for strep throat. The same day his desperate mother called Dr. Johann Coetzee, a local MD and naturopathic practitioner. Dr Coetzee, suspicious after seeing Jason's appearance and hearing the symptoms, gave him a physical, ordered blood work and an ultrasound. On June 2, he gave Jason the terrible news.

Rare form of cancer has local man fighting for his life: Kim Helder knows the odds aren’t good that her son will survive. “I can’t go by what the protocol says,” the Santa Rosa Beach resident said. “I know logically human-wise what the outlook may look like, but I trust that it is going to be different. I don’t want to even give it the vocal power and say anything.” As of Jan. 14, Jason Thompson was in intensive care and in critical condition at the Mayo Clinic.
The self-employed window washer and post construction clean-up provider began having nagging pains in his back and legs in March of 2009. Many doctors' visits later, the 28-year-old discovered that the pain was actually the tumors in his back pressing against his spine. “Jason was so close to passing away before we even got admitted to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville,” Helder said.
Even before Thompson was diagnosed with the very rare form of cancer called Histiocytic Sarcoma/Acute Myloid Leukemia M5, doctors knew something was wrong and started chemotherapy immediately. “His whole body was full of cancer,” Helder said. “He had tumors in his lymph nodes, sinuses, bone marrow, spine and blood.” Two weeks after being admitted to the Mayo Clinic, the tumors in Thompson’s body had doubled in size. “There is nothing on file, nothing to compare it to,” Helder said. “The doctors can’t get over it. They have never seen a case like this before.”
For the past seven months Thompson has had to undergo numerous spinal taps, blood transfusions, and surgeries. On Dec. 16, Thompson had a bone marrow transplant to hopefully rid his body of the cancer. “It has been very difficult since the transplant,” Helder said. “His blood counts had dropped to 0, and he is trying to recover.” Visitors have been sparse since he is very weak and any little germ can make him very ill. “When you have a bone marrow transplant it is considered your new birthday,” Helder said. “Everything is 0 plus however many days it has been since the procedure.”
While Thompson’s whole life may have come to a stop, everything around him hasn’t. Bills, taxes, and banking issues haven’t stopped. Helder has been taking care of all Thompson’s personal matters for him. “I’m trying to get all his stuff together,” she said. “I want him to have a life to come home to.” Helder said “Thompson has only been home twice since May and she has maybe been home three or four times.” “Even if we were to leave, we have to be at the Mayo Clinic 4-5 times a week for testing,” she said. “So we can’t really go anywhere.” “The past seven months have been a whirlwind,” Helder said. “It’s like one day you are getting up and going to work, then the next day you are over in Jacksonville and you are not going home.”

Christian Franek's voice cracks as he begins to describe his friend. "He just gives and gives. He's just 28 years old and he doesn't have any children ... " Franek, the co-founder and president of US98 Soccer, suddenly struggles up from the picnic table outside Jam Bone restaurant and wanders several feet away, his hands held to his face to stem the flow of tears. Seated around the picnic table are about two dozen others - toddlers and teenagers, young adults and mothers and fathers - who have come together to support their friend and coach, Jason Thompson. After struggling through more than two months of pain, the 28-year-old was diagnosed with cancer June 2.

To read and follow Jason’s story, or to make a donation in his name you can go to www.kickingitforjason.com

Window Cleaning News

Tony Evans a.k.a. Mr Squeegee of "A New View" Window Cleaning in Iowa has just followed on from his Winter how-to series: "Weather or not" for the new Summer version. The third episode & fourth episodes are below.

Contractors.com was founded in 1997 as one of the first Internet sites to help homeowners locate, free of charge, reputable contractors in their communities. Contractors.com has the world's most comprehensive, most researched online contractor directory with more than 1.2 million residential and commercial contractors across the USA and Canada, including thousands of registered Members. Having been voted "Best of the Web" by Forbes Magazine two years running, Contractors.com continues to provide top quality service to both homeowners and contractors. We make it easy and quick for householders to find and to get in contact with the nation’s top contractors. We value the contributions of homeowners by posting their reviews of contractors and testimonials about their home improvement experiences.

TORQUAY'S most expensive new-build home has been unveiled at Ilsham Marine Drive — with an asking price of £2.2million. Sunset, the second of two dream properties built by Martin Marine Homes Ltd on the road popularly known as Millionaires' Row, is billed as the Bay's highest-spec home. Chaz Martin, of Martin Marine Homes Ltd, said: "All of the rooms are bristling with cutting-edge technology. "There's no need for a window cleaner as the windows are self-cleaning, and the arctic blue tint stops the house from getting too hot on sunny days, with a type of glass on the inside which retains the heat in the winter." .....we're not taking bets!

A Tennessee window washer was arrested Saturday after he hit a traffic signal control box and a business sign at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Little Road, and then ran away, police said. When police caught up with Anthony B. Oszaniec, 23, he told them he had taken a Xanax and drunk half a bottle of whiskey. "I get stupid when I drink," he told the Florida Highway Patrol. "At least I didn't hurt anyone." He did damage the box, the sign and his 2008 Hyundai, and he was driving with a suspended license, police said. Oszaniec was taken to the Land O'Lakes jail and will be extradited to Tennessee, where he has three active warrants for charges of burglary and vandalism.

Teen Summer Worker Safety Campaign Kicks Off: The Indiana Department of Labor (IDOL) has launched a Teen Worker Summer Safety Campaign. The campaign, aimed at educating and informing Hoosier employers, teens and parents on occupational safety and health hazards and Indiana’s Child Labor laws includes a series of informative bi-weekly press releases. Prohibited and hazardous occupations for teen workers are discussed in this series of the scheduled releases.
Indiana Child Labor laws regulate the employment of minors ages 17 and younger. These laws, enforced by the IDOL’s Bureau of Child Labor, establish specific requirements applicable to the employment of minors, including restrictions on the hours teenagers are permitted to work, types of establishments in which minors are prohibited from working and the types of jobs they are prohibited from performing.
Including: Outside window washing that involves working from window sills and all work requiring the use of ladders, scaffolds or their substitutes,

Jason Thompson, a 28-year-old Santa Rosa Beach man, is facing a rare and extraordinarily aggressive cancer. After pursuing a diagnosis for more than three months, doctors at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., are still not entirely sure what type of cancer is present. What they do know is that some of the multiple tumors which have been detected in Thompson's body have doubled in size in the past two weeks. Since treating one type of cancer may actually spur the growth of another, informed treatment decisions are critical to Thompson's chances for survival. As a result, a large team of specialists has given his case extensive attention, including daily interaction with doctors at the Mayo Hospital in Rochester, Minn.
Thompson came to Santa Rosa Beach more than four years ago and has been self-employed as a window washer and in the post-construction cleaning business. His mother later joined him, moving from Michigan at his invitation two years ago. She has since assisted her son in the cleaning business, which is now under extreme duress during the busiest season, with both mother and son at the hospital in Jacksonville. Thompson's brother has postponed his wedding and has travelled to Santa Rosa Beach to help out with the business during this time.

Police close in on burglary gang: The net is closing in on a team of bogus window cleaners who burgle Islington homes, Islington Police said this week. But detectives are still looking for witnesses to help their case. DC David Poole, of Islington’s burglary squad, has issued a warning to residents to be vigilant following four similar burglaries in the past couple of months. The most recent theft occurred just after 5.30pm on June 10, in Wallace Road, Canonbury, when three men pretending to be window cleaners targeted the home of a 35-year-old woman. They said they had just finished her neighbour’s windows and offered to give her a quote on work at her house. The victim let them in to the house to see her rear windows, agreed on a price and then one of the men went to the kitchen to fill his bucket.
A little while later the victim, who was in the sitting room, realised the men had left and her purse containing £130 cash and bank cards had been taken. One suspect was described as being in his mid-twenties, tall, with dark cropped brown hair, stubble and wore a royal blue t-shirt and stubble. A second suspect was around 28 to 30 years old, large, with short clipped, light brown hair. The third suspect was about 40, tall, skinny, with wispy brown hair. DC Poole said there were definite links between two of the burglaries but that he believed up to four were connected, adding: “We’re hot on their trail”. He said: “It appears they might actually genuinely clean windows, although not very well, and take the opportunity to take things when they can.”
He added: “I want people to be very careful when they employ people to work in their homes. They need to make sure that people knocking on their doors are VAT registered and give receipts for their work. “Common sense needs to be used. If they are offering to do things cheaply then the chances are they are not likely to be bona fide.” • Anyone with information can call DC David Poole on 0207 421 0371.

A FAMILY has paid tribute to a man whose body was found on a seaside path at Saltburn. Luke Welsh had just marked his 32nd birthday two days before his death - but his family said his heart had been a “time-bomb waiting to go off.” His mum Patricia Welsh, of Darlington, said Luke had a passion for rave music and had a collection of hundreds of records, disks and CDs. She said: “His ambition was to go into the Royal Navy following his grandfather Bob Welsh, of Redcar, with whom he lived for much of the past year. “But he had a hearing defect as well as a heart problem. “He loved life and was popular with a wide circle of friends, many of whom attended last week's funeral at All Saints Church, Skelton.” He met his fiancee Sarah Wood in April, and she said: “I want to remember and I want other people to remember Luke's love for life. “He always wanted to live for the moment and was always happy and smiling.” The former De Brus School pupil gained a retail management diploma in Middlesbrough and worked at a Middlesbrough electrical shop. When he was about 23 his health started to deteriorate, and more recently he took on window-cleaning franchises in Carlin How and Brotton, living most of the time in Saltburn. He leaves two children, Sophie and Stephen.

UK rental company, Blade Access took delivery of its 12th truck mounted platform at the Vertikal Days exhibition last week: a 70 m Wumag WT700 bought from UK dealer Skyking. Mark Bell and Jamie Bairstow co-directors of the company, based in Bradford, Yorkshire, first came into contact with aerial platforms through their industrial window cleaning business, now the company is a thriving access rental business with a fleet which also includes van mounts, self propelled booms and scissors and track mounted platforms. The new Wumag was particularly appealing said Mr Bairstow because of its "far superior technology and the reliability and service are second to none. We also liked the vertical rise which keeps the operator parallel to the face of a building." The Wumag also offers the capacity to narrow the jacking so the machine can be used in more restricted spaces. Click on pictures to enlarge.

Homespun guide to economic survival: REPORTS indicate that members of our community, like communities generally, are altering their lifestyles and adopting various schemes to cope with the economic crisis. There is even talk that bartering is being introduced, with points being given for goods and services. Older folks are exchanging gefilte fish, chicken soup and other popular foods for mowing lawns, window cleaning and a diversity of activities.

In the Good Morning Maryland @ 9 series, Get Back 2 Work, we usually try and give unemployed people the chance to talk about their struggles or help those of you looking for jobs find the best path to a new job. Today, we found a different way to help people either find that new job or make the decision to find a new career. Jamie introduced us to Sean Carr. Sean is a former teacher who probably thought he would retire as one. But he literally looked out his window and found his new career. Sean now does windows and it has been one of the best decisions of his life.