What you can do
This page is where we’re coordinating support efforts for the family.
Help with Meals
Now that chemo has started, Wibs and HC would appreciate some culinary contributions a few times a week. Suzanne Gay is coordinating these efforts, so if you’d like to help out, please contact her at suzanne.gay@oberlin.edu to get access to the sign-up calendar, which is located here.
Heading to Costco?
If you’re a Costco member or a Trader Joe’s fan, you might contact Kim Faber (774-5176; kim.faber@oberlin.edu) when you’re planning your next shopping trip to see if there’s anything the family might need from these stores. It’ll be an enormous help for HC if we can save her some extra drives into Avon.
Housekeeping, etc.
A number of people have combined resources to hire a housekeeper for Jed and HC to help ease that responsibility for them. There are also plans afoot to hire a caterer to help supplement brought-in meals later on. If you’re interested in contributing to any of these efforts, you can send a check to:
Oberlin Community Services
285 S. Professor Street
Oberlin, OH 44074
Please make checks out to Oberlin Community Services and add “Deppman Fund” in the memo field.
Many thanks to Marissa Sliman of Adeva Salon & Spa for donating a massage for both Ann and HC.
Ann and HC - just call the salon when you’re ready for some TLC!
Dear Jed,
I’m glad to hear the surgery went well and that you are recovering. All the Eckels are keeping you in their thoughts and prayers. Please stay strong.
-Bill Eckels
Jed,
Just checking in to make sure you are keeping up and looking forward to going home, which is always the best part of going to the hospital. Like E.T.
Yours, Neil
Jed,
So glad you are home! You will recover so much quicker there with your girlies around you. Be kind to yourself and let others pamper you.
Warmly,
Marci
Jed, so glad you are back home and getting your strength back.
Re: the Sloan-Kettering/further consultation question mentioned in a prior post:
It might be worth contacting Steve Crowley, who is presently away on the London Program.
His daughter had cancer and he may be able to give advice, not of course on specific doctors, but on how one goes about researching doctors and institutions and arranging another consultation elsewhere. He may also know how one deals with Cigna about the cost of further consultations.
Get well! Sonia
Dear Jed, I am glad to hear that the surgery went well and that you are at home recuperating. I send all my positive thoughts and all the healing powers of Emily Dickinson your way. I will also send our book — you just may find something in it to fortify yourself for this difficult journey.
Your good humour and love of life will triumph in the end, I’m sure!
My very warmest wishes, Cindy
Dear Jed,
Sending you and your family every good wish for renewed strength and recovery.
Shulamit
Jed,
I’m so glad you were able to get out yesterday. College is going well for me so far this semester… though I haven’t started classes yet.
I’m thinking of you every day and wishing you comfort, companionship, and a speedy recovery.
Love,
Jeb
Dear Jed: I hear you are back home and being pampered to the max–take great advantage of it. But seriously, I tried to send a message earlier, and brought the whole system down–I am not sure what I did but it was wrong. kepp getting well, and lots of love to you and Hsiu-Chuang and Ginger and Formosa and Ann–anu
Dear Jed,
I was thrilled to hear your first surgery went well and that you are focusing on gaining your strength for the next step. I think of you often and send healing thoughts in your direction.
I wish for your continued strong recovery.
Best
Eve
Dear Jed and all the Deppmans,
I am happier than I can say that the first surgery went well, and that Jed is home and re-grouping: go, Jed!
It’s a real comfort to be able to check this website for updates: many thanks to the keepers of the site (you probably have an official title, but I don’t know what it is).
Much love to you all,
Sandy
Dear Jed-
I’m sure it’s good to be home among your family. We’re wishing you well and thinking of you, (I remember well your Rubic’s cube experetise.)
alec and sue dick (chestertown connection)
Hi, Jed. About a week ago (?)you posted a question about Sloan Kettering. I asked my sister (hematology/oncology specialist in Los Angeles) for her contacts at SK and got this today:
I’m so sorry to be so late on this, but here are the recommendations from my friend at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Her field is lymphoma;Hodgkin’s and AIDS realted cancers, so she’s not the right person. BUT, she certainly knows her colleagues well, and her suggestions are below:
My personal choice would be to start with Nancy Kemeny…she is well known, and seems to be a very lovely person. I don’t know her personally, but have met her, and have heard her speak on several occasions.
From: noya@MSKCC.ORG
To: AMLevineMD@aol.com
Sent: 9/2/2008 8:41:19 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: RE: Referral
Dear Alexandra,
Of course. Sorry to hear. just had a similar referral from a patient.
I would suggest
#
Ilson, David H.
212-639-8306
Appointments for New Patients: 646-497-9053
#
Jhawer, Minaxi
212-639-3787
Appointments for New Patients: 646-497-9053
#
Kemeny, Nancy E.
212-639-8068
Appointments for New Patients: 646-497-9053
#
Appointments for New Patients: 646-497-9053
#
Segal, Neil H.
212-639-6237
Appointments for New Patients: 646-497-9053
#
Tse, Archie N.
212-639-7599
Appointments for New Patients: 646-497-9053
Let me know if I can help further.
Ariela
Hope these might help if you’re still looking.
Steve
Professor,
Glad to hear that you are doing well. Anne Hoffman was in town last week for a brief visit and we were both thinking of you. Lots and lots of positive energy to the Deppman family! And maybe some flan, too, if you like. (Flan is the only baking-type thing I can make, except for some mean slice-and-bake cookies.) Can’t wait to read your new book. Please rest a lot — lots of Obies are hoping to see your smiling face back on campus soon.
Sophia
Jed,
Glad to hear you are home and doing well. When I forwarded the email to Fred he said to PLEASE contact him (fmoeslein@yahoo.com or 216-832-4531). He is currently at U. Maryland in Baltimore and the treatment you are talking about for your liver is his specialty. He would love to give any help he can (reading films, talking to docs etc) wherever you end up. If you choose Johns Hopkins, obviously he can help recommend docs and be there to help out. Know we are thinking of you and love you lots!!
Dear Jed -
I hope you are having a good day today! I am fortunate to be a member of state Board in Vermont with Wibs usually sitting next to me. We have a great time together and much of the joy is hearing her family stories. I am sure her visit has gone a long way in your recovery, Jed. Hopefully it will also help to know that people far and wide, some who don’t even know you, are thinking positive thoughts for you!
Jed - I just learned of your battle and am pulling for you with all my thoughts from D.C. In order to regain your strength post-surgery as quickly as possible, I strongly suggest a diet of Mountain Dew, Cumberland Farms brand cigarettes and Belgian Waffles. And play as much bridge as you can possibly fit into each day.
Jed,
We are currently enrolling patients in a trial of using y90 (yttrium) combined with systemic chemo as a first line treatment. Y90 (SirSpheres) is a brachytherapy approach where you deliver radiation to the entire liver (and presumably kill any mets that you can see and those you cannot see). Previously Y90 has been only used as a third or 4th line therapy - but the results have been so good that we are investigating whether earlier treatment will produce even better results.
I am currently at the University of Maryland, my specialty is Interventional Oncology, and I encourage you to contact me. I would very much like to talk to you about the trial, or any treatments that you may have questions about.
Good luck and God Bless!
Fred
I’ve said this to HC on the phone, but let me reiterate: once chemo begins I can easily and willingly be a transport service if Jed needs to be at the main Cleveland Clinic facility. Per commodius vicus I wind up teaching only on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons until year’s end, so can do when others cannot.
Gary
PS Brad Ricca, who hasn’t yet necessarily found this site, adds his good wishes and offer of assistance. Among other things, if the chemo requires in-patient in Cleveland, he and I are both nearby.
Querido Jed,
although I haven’t dropped you a line in a while I think of you and your family everyday and pray for your full recovery. The road ahead may be bumpy but we all are ready to walk it beside you to help make it easier.
Be sure to call upon me anytime day or night for anything.
Un fuerte abrazo,
Esmeralda
Dearest Jed;
Mrs. Ramsay, Lily, Yozo, Breton and I(and many others, of course) wish you all the best and want you to be strong. Mrs. Ramsay is knitting you a warm scarf for the winter and Lily is painting you a surprise portrait
We want you to smile as much as you can and we want you to remember that you are ALWAYS in our thoughts.
Hug
Azi
Professor Deppman - posted a note to you on Azi’s facebook message; I do hope you get to read the condolences over there too.
I don’t have much to offer, seeing that I’m a jewelery designer in NYC specializing in alternative and edgy (was just on MTV!) which alas, aesthetically you are not
But I do have my warmest wishes and the knowledge that you were one of the few mentors in my life that left a very deep philosophical impression. Of course it took a few years before your wisdom settled and made a difference in my young obnoxious brain, but it’s never too late to thank you for your guidance.
You’re in all of our hearts!
Dear Deppman Family,
I was so sorry to find out that your family is dealing with cancer. I very fondly remember my afternoons with Formosa and Ginger and I’m sending all of you love during this hard time. I hope that your healing is swift and complete. I still have the necklace and part of the mermaid diorama that Iris and Formosa made for my going-away party.
Truly wishing all the best for you in this new year,
You’ll be in my prayers,
Rachael
Dear Jed and all the Deppmans,
What good news! I have been thinking of you all so much and sending lots and lots of energy your way. There is still much to get through and I will keep that energy coming. May 2009 be a year of mending and renewal for you all.
With love,
Carol
Dear Jed,
Wow! Judging from your Jan. 6 entry, you are not only capable of taking a punch in the solar plexus but of simultaneously generating a comparative literary peregrination on the event at the same time! We at EKU are all either praying, pulling, or meditating for your recovery.
Yours, Neil
Happy Memorial Day, Jed. Hope you’re enjoying it!
Nick