StumpTown Blog

Merry Christmas everyone. A couple fun news items in StumpTown today. First, my Dad has his new medication. Praise God. No really, I’m not just saying that to indicate that I am praising God or that it is something praiseworthy but because I am hoping that you will actually praise God. I know many of you have been praying for this, so please take a minute and say thank you. The new medication will allow him to avoid having to travel out of state to a drug trial. In a truly amazing turn of events, when his insurance company would not pay for this drug, the drug company (Bayer…my new favorite) agreed to give him the drug for free. How often do you hear about that happening? It is true though. Now the important part. This drug needs to work. The others have not or have stopped and the tumors are growing rapidly. Please keep us in your prayers. Second, we had 4 snow days this week and it was awesome. I worked from home and mixed in a little sledding and snowball fighting with t...

A bit of light in the storm today. My Dad has been trying to get in a drug study to get his hands on a Kidney cancer drug called Serafanib. Since my Dad doesn't have kidney cancer, it is very unlikely that his insurance will approve the hefty sum of money to purchase this drug. So, getting it through a drug trial has been the only option. If he can get in he would have to travel to Denver or maybe Chicago to get the drug and the expense and inconvenience factor, even if he could get in would be very high. Still, it has been the only options. Today came news though that it appears the drug company has approved my Dad to receive the drug free of charge if his insurance company declines to cover the cost. So, while it hasn't happened yet, it appears that my Dad may be able to get access to this drug without participating in a study. That would be very good news. Praise God.

You may know where you are, but do you know where you are from? Our good friend Connie inspired my wife to answer that question in the mold of a poem following the pattern of the more famous poem also called "Where I'm From" which I believe was written by George Ella Lyon. Ordinarily my lovely wife is more likely to spend her creative energy on the visual arts, but she has a gift for the written word as well and so I was thrilled that she decided to write her own "Where I'm From." It is a beautiful insight into my Wife and her beginnings and she was gracious enough to allow me to share it here. Though you likely won't enjoy it quite as much as I did (since I doubt that is possible), I hope it inspires some of you to give some thought to your own history. Anyway, enjoy Where I’m From I am from 172nd court From sawdust and custom designed Barbie clothes I am from a triangle tree house with a green corrugated roof Sheltering my sleeping bag and books dur...

Greetings everyone from your long lost lawyer blogger friend. Things have been particularly busy of late. The month of November was taken up entirely preparing for and then doing the lawyering in a two week jury trial. I basically did nothing but work on that case for about a month. Now I am slowly recovering and trying to get to know my family again. Thankfully all that hard work ended with a win for my client. It was an especially gratifying win not only because of all the hard work that went into it but because my clients are genuinely good people and it would have been a grave injustice if they had lost. If it weren’t for all the darned confidentialities and professional etiquette involved in such a thing, I could fill this blog with good stories from this trial for months to come. Instead, I will just offer this bit of advice for any new or would-be litigators out there. When your entire case comes down to your own client’s memory and understanding of events, calling an exp...