Services for Don Floyd

As promised, Don & Joyce Floyd's daughter Donna, has shared the following information regarding the services that are scheduled for her dad..

So many of you have asked what you can do to help Joyce and her family. At this moment, I don't think there is anything - any of us can do. But if you recall with our own experiences, the weeks and months ahead are when she will truly need all of our support - whether that is someone to help with the household chores (especially those that Don always took care of); or to prepare a meal or two (or better yet an invitation to dinner), to be there to hold her hand or just hold her....... but again, we will try to keep you posted... In the meantime, we would ask that you continue to keep Joyce and her family in your prayers...

Here is Donna's note about the services... as always if you know someone else who should receive this information, please pass it on so that Joyce and her family will have as much support as possible..

Dearest Family and Friends

We will have two services for Dad, locations and times are as follows:

Lake Havasu Service
Saturday, September 10. 2011 @ 11:00 am
Calvary Baptist Church
1605 S. McCulloch
Lake Havasu City, AZ 86406
(928) 855-6533

California Service
Monday, September 12, 2011 @ 10:30 am
Forest Lawn Memorial Park HopeChapel
4471 Lincoln Avenue
Cypress, CA 90630
1-800-204-3131

We hope you will be able to come help us honor him and celebrate his life.
Much Love - Donna Michelle, the middle child

Prayers for the Floyd Family

Again we are asking for your prayers for Don & Joyce Floyd and their family.. Their daughter Donna posted the following on Don's caring bridge site last night - I in turn am posting it here and will send an email to all our moms whose email addresses I have... We know God is good and ask that he give Don and Joyce and their entire family the strength they will need in the coming days...

Dearest Family and Friends,
After a difficult meeting this morning with the two ICU doctors administering Dad’s care, and their consultation with his Mayo Pulmonary specialist, it is clear that his situation will not be improving. After hearing all the options, Dad’s decision was to go into hospice care. Which means all the IV’s will be removed and the only measures of care for him now will be just those that bring him physical comfort.

He isn’t in the kind of pain one usually associates with cancer, however he is suffering considerably trying to breath. He will remain on an oxygen mask to help him breath.

He is being moved to an in-patient hospice room, which is much larger, and doesn’t have visiting restrictions. We can bring a few of his favorite things give him comfort.

Dad has been a mighty man in his lifetime, and we all know, as my brother David said this morning, that when he stands at the gates of Heaven, he will hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant”.

We are all incredibly heartbroken at this point but the heartbreak we see in Mom and Dad is a testament of what true love is really about. Please keep them both especially close to your hearts.

Dad is still very conscious at this time and we are treasuring the time he spends with each of us, and he has said that although he doesn’t want to leave us, he is at complete peace.

As much as we have loved and appreciated the visits from our friends, we would like to request that now his time is saved to spend with his family or Pastor. Thank you for understanding and honoring our precious time with him.
We still have family coming in from out of town and are praying he will hold on for a few more days.

Please continue to pray for our Lord to rain down the peace that passes all understanding, and the grace that only comes from Him, as we rest our weary selves in His presence.

Thank you for your love and support.
Much love,
Donna Michelle, the middle child

SPECIAL PRAYER REQUEST FOR DON FLOYD & FAMILY

Special request for prayers for Don Floyd who is in ICU at Lake Havasu Regional Hospital and for Joyce, Don's wife and our dear sister in grief who founded our Mom's Group an Don &Joyce's entire family that God will give them the strength to face this current challenge.

Please also pray that Don will heal and come home to enjoy more time with his family, who are all in LHC to help Joyce..

This poem was posted in Don’s caring bridge update by his loving daughter Donna, whom we’ve all come to know and love as the “middle child”…

The Oak Tree
'A mighty wind blew night and day.
It stole the oak tree's leaves away,
Then snapped its boughs and pulled its bark
Until the oak was tired and stark.
But still the oak tree held its ground
While other trees fell all around.
The weary wind gave up and spoke,
"How can you still be standing, Oak?"
The oak tree said, "I know that you
Can break each branch of mine in two,
Carry every leaf away,
Shake my limbs, and make me sway.
But I have roots stretched in the earth,
Growing stronger since my birth.
You'll never touch them, for you see...........
They are the deepest part of me.
Until today, I wasn't sure
Of just how much I could endure............
But now I've found, with thanks to you......
I'm stronger than I ever knew."

Thank your for your faithful, faithful prayers, we feel the power of them every moment. Your love and freindship are a blessing to each of us. In the words of our friend Carla Garretson:

"As long as there is breath, there is hope."

Update on Don Floyd

Sadly, the news about Don is not as good as we'd all hoped - so more than ever your prayers and good thoughts are needed.

Much to their disappointment, the doctors have explained that the cancer in Don's lung is very aggressive and very advanced - Stage 4, and although it is treatable, it is not curable and concern is it may have already begun to move to the brain. They will return to Mayo early next week for a MRI Brain Scan but know already that the first step will be to begin aggressive chemotherapy. Radiation may be done at a later time to reduce the largest tumor, but sadly there are too many tumors to address with radiation.

There is hopeful news: Don has NO symptoms and this is a good sign, and those who know Don, know how strong a man he is physically, as well as emotionally and without any doubt - he is incredibly strong in his faith. And he has tremendous support from his family, friends and his adoring wife, Joyce... They know that God is with them and they will continue to rely on the strength that can only come from Him.

Don, Joyce and their entire family know and appreciate the power of prayer and know that your warm thoughts are with them. They truly appreciate our understanding for their need for privacy right now and are so grateful that they've not been inundated with calls and visits, so that they can continue to concentrate on the tasks at hand..

So we ask that you and your families continue to keep them in your prayers and we will keep you posted..