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Don't make me turn this van around!

One family. A difficult diagnosis. An old van. And a new lease on life.

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About this blog

Until late 2015, life was exceedingly normal for the Kile family: work, school, little league, ballet – sweating the small stuff and missing the big picture. Then Jon suffered a ruptured abdominal aneurysm that required life-saving surgery. It would be the first of seven surgeries over the next seven months, including emergency open-heart surgery to save him from an aortic dissection. He was eventually diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Sydrome, in which the most serious symptom is fragile arteries prone to spontaneous rupture. Jon has adjusted to a lifestyle which forbids him from strenuous activities and stress, while finding inner peace and humor against the backdrop of raising two feral children. Jon gave up business proposals and sales presentations for writing, car-line and PTA, while Monica traded committee meetings and budgets to take on the roles of patient advocate, genetics expert, cool mom and goddess of a 17 foot Dodge van. Together they’ve determined to “live in the moment” and fill the empty spaces in the calendar with family travel and adventure.

Featured Post: ‘Live in the moment’ because a moment may be all you have.

Before we got our sweet ride, I was a frequent passenger in another type of van.

Recent Posts

Lazy Lake Days and the Best Worst Place To Have Car Trouble
What is this? Xanadu?
Rain, and vomit and bears, oh my!
We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for a medical field trip to Cleveland
Summer ’19, Part 9: Losing our marbles in Raleigh

Archives

October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018

Instagram

#stpete #dayoff

Great turnout for #preservetheburg #moviesinthepark turned into #raysbaseball watch party. Kudos to Jeff at @truffulaeco and Monica #dontmakemeturnthisvanaround (among others) for pulling this together. Hoping the Rays can pull off a late inning miracle. #keepstpetespecial #dtsp #gotosteves #beachdrivestpete #stpete #octoberbaseball

Awesome #tampabayrays game today. 10-3 over the #houstonastros. #kevinkiermaier #raysup #charliemorton #alds #playinghooky #baseball #tropicanafield #stpete #stpetersburgflorida

Great Old Northeast Field Day. Monica does all the heavy lifting, I get pelted with cheese balls. #stpete #oldnortheast #giselakopsickpalmarboretum #stpetersburgflorida #threeleggedrace #fieldday

Cool look at @mgasculpturestudio work at the police headquarters #stpete. #publicart #art #sculpture #metalworking

#mfastpete #dtsp #stpete #beachdrivestpete #artmuseum #homework

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