Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Iowa City Accommodations

For those of you that may be traveling from afar and/or interseted in staying the night in Iowa City on Saturday, Feb 21st - Scott Tallman has spoken with the Sheraton and secured a room block rate (if we are able to get 10 rooms in the block).

The Sheraton has offered a rate of $89/night and the Vetro a rate of $139-$189/night (all suites) under the block.

If you are interested in a room and being put into the block, please contact Scott at scotttallman@hotmail.com

Thank you.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Iowa Memorial Service Information

We will be having a Celebration of Life for Jerry in Iowa City, Iowa on Saturday, February 21st from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm at Hotel Vetro in Iowa City.

Memorial Service Location:
Hotel Vetro
201 Linn Street
Iowa City, IA 52240
www.hotelvetro.com
(319) 337-4058

For those of you that are coming from out of town, Hotel Vetro and Iowa City Sheraton both have room availabilty if you'd like to stay. The Sheraton is located about 1/2 block away from Hotel Vetro. You can contact them for room rates and reservations.

Hotel Vetro
201 Linn Street
Iowa City, IA 52240
www.starwoodhotels.com
(319) 337-4961

Sheraton Iowa City
210 South Dubuque Street
Iowa City, IA
www.starwoodhotels.com
(319) 337-4058

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Jerry's memory to the Kansas City Aids Walk. Delivery address if needed is
Marilyn & Ken Cahill
2292 Highway 965 NE
North Liberty, IA 52317
(319) 331-6162

We hope many of you will be able to come and join us for this Celebration of Life.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Kansas City Memorial Information

We will be celebrating Jerry's life with a memorial this Wednesday, February 4th from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm CST at The Pavillion at Arrowhead Stadium.


Arrowhead Stadium
The Pavilion, Champions Room
1 Arrowhead Dr
Kansas City, MO

Please park in the E lot and proceed up the stairs to the Pavilion entrance. The Pavilion is a very large white permanent tent. Please see the attached map for the location of Lot E within the stadium.




Our entire family hopes that you will be able to join us and share in the life of Jerry. We look forward to sharing stories, laughter and the inevitable tears that come with the loss of our dear Jerry.

ADDITIONAL MEMORIAL INFO
We will also be having a memorial in Iowa City, IA in the coming few weeks for those of you that are not able to join us in Kansas City. That information will be posted here in the coming few days once we secure the date and location.












Friday, January 30, 2009

Memorials

Please check back as we will post informaiton regarding memorial services here in Kansas City and also in Iowa City which will occur sometime in the next week or so.

Rest In Peace

After a morning filled with family and friends saying private moments of goodbye and love to Jerry and each other, at 11:02am CST the doctors removed the breathing machines and medicines from Jerry.

Surrounded by a warm circle of love that encompassed two rooms and a waiting room - we gathered around Jerry offering words of encouragement and love for him to make his journey safely and quickly. Laughs were shared, I still tried to make a joke (and failed) and we all gave Jerry our energy and love to move on to the next phase.

After a little over 2 hours, at 1:15 pm CST on Friday, January 30th our dear Jerry has departed this Earth for a higher place. He is now resting peacefully and surrounded by love ones that have gone before him.

Rest in Peace dear brother, son, uncle, cousin and friend.... you will be missed more than you can possibly know. You will never be forgotten.

Kansas City Aids Walk 2009

As many of you know, Jerry was a firm supporter of the KC Aids Walk and had created a FANTASTIC team know as Jerryz Kidz which rose to one of the top fundraising teams the last few years.

After much discussion amongst all of us - and at the firm request of mom- we will be taking over the reigns for Jerry this year and still continue on with a Jerryz Kidz team this April.

If you are interested in participating with us this year, please leave a post here with the best way to reach you (email address, phone number, etc). When the time starts to begin planning and fundraising, we will reach out to each of you and will rally in mid-April for another year doing what Jerry held dear.

We hope to see many of you on Jerryz Kidz team this year!

~ Sherri

Quiet Moments

Today has been a day fraught with tension, emotions and quiet moments.

It was unclear whether or not Jerry would make it thru the night tonight as his blood pressure continued to drop ever lower and his heart rate rose to alarming rates. Family and close friends are all gathered at KUMed and we have once again set up "Camp Cahill" in our same waiting room.

Home made cookies; take out pizza and laughter over old pictures of Jerry and the memories they conjure have made this evening carry on at a bearable level. In Jerry's ICU room, we have gathered around him in a sort of "camp circle" and have been sharing memories and stories of Jerry and times gone by as episodes of Cheers and Friends play softly in the background... the laughter has been healing. Thru it all, Jerry has not stirred overly much, but even now I'm sure he is hearing our memories and laughing with us as he prepares for his journey.

The mass of family here have found quiet moments of solitude to remember Jerry, catch some sleep or share laughs amidst the group. To be sure, everyone is on edge and what little sleep we do manage to catch may not be restful, but we are all here for Jerry and sleep will come later for us.

It is mid-morning now and appears that Jerry is still holding on. Friday morning is the moment in which the breathing tube and other machines will be removed from Jerry... until that moment, and long after, we will all be here for him with endless amounts of love.