Seeing the light at the end of my tunnel...

[Darin Bastedo]

I'm not sure how many remember me, but I've posted here regularly until about a year ago. I left my home on eastern TN to move my Fiancee' and her daughter to TN from their home in Upstate NY, but while I was up there she was diagnosed with Colon Cancer. There have been ups and downs, some more serious than others, but we are now only three weeks away from the end of her treatments. So soon we will be able to turn our thought toward happier endevours as the prognoses for her is looking very good.

I'm looking foward to returning to the modeling bench and finishing up a few projects, getting back to sharing the progress with you guys. Many of you have kept in touch with me and that helped me through many a tough time. Another huge help has been the American Cancer Sociaty. The nearest medical center capable of treateing my sweetie, is in Burlington VT, and the ACS helped with travel expenses, and even no cost housing in Burlington at their "Hope Lodge" With out the help of the ACS we wouldn't have made it financially, and it would not have been possible to get her the care she needed.

The Hope lodge we are staying at right now has a "Relay for Life " team that is raising money to help the ACS carry on their good work. If any of you have just a few dollars to spare, and would like to support a good cause, click here and you will go to our team's site.

I can't wait to get back to my modeling, and back to the beautiful hills of eastern TN.

[crispy]

Darin, I'm glad to hear from you. You being there for her is awesome. You've got a lot of character, charisma and all that other stuff friend. Says a lot to me.

Can't wait to see you back at the bench doing your thing. You and yours take car till then.

Chris

[LDO]

Welcome back. It's good to hear that your daughter is on the road to recovery.

[george 53]

DARIN! GREAT to see you back! Thanks for letting us know what's going on.Sorry to hear about your problems,But it sounds like things are getting better,Praise God. Yes by ALL means, take care of your family,the models (and US) will still be here when you come back. ALWAYS a pleasure to see your builds,I've missed them. Glad you took the time to stop in and let us know. God Bless you and your family.

[lonewolf]

Darrin,

I'm glad to see you back. We've all missed seeing your builds and reading your opinions. I myself have been fighting cancer since '03 and had a stem cell transplant in '06. The transplant carries a 50/50 chance that I will never have to deal with the disease again, and after 2 1/2 years, I am so-far cancer free. They are making some incredible advancements in treatments these days. Cancer is no longer the death sentence it used to be. Keep up the good fight and it's great to see you back.

[Smart-Resins]

We are drom upstate NY and we moved to Sevierville TN for short of 2 years. We moved back to NY this last summer for family. We will remain here for a while, but I long to return to TN. We may have lived in NY most of our lives, but we now consider TN our home!! Jody