10 years already

Ok so I am not finishing my last story at the moment because I have been working on something else that I thought I just might share. This coming weekend is my 10 year reunion from High School (crazy I know and NO I am NOT OLD!!!). Since I can't make it they asked me to write a "What I have been doing the past 10yrs" update thing and I thought hey I haven't blogged in a while and I just wrote this for my classmates I will kill two birds with one stone and put it on my blog!! Lazy? Yeah probably. Good idea? ABSOLUTELY!!! So please enjoy the run down of my last 10 years out of High School!!!!!! ENJOY :)


What have I done with the last 10yrs of my life? I feel like I have lived an entire lifetime in the past 10yrs which if I really think about it I have lived an entire lifetime…I have lived, loved and lost…


Right after graduation I started school at Cochise Community College not really majoring in anything, just getting my basics out of the way. In December I moved out and into a place with Melissa Greene and Jennifer Kloos. We had tons of fun until I moved out right before I got married. I married my High School love Clinton Flake on February 16th 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Umm…nope I wasn’t pregnant or anything we just decided that is where we wanted to get married and loved every minute of our wedding there. We lived in Benson, AZ for a little while longer until we decided to move to IDAHO!! In June of 2001 we headed out for Idaho and we lived with my cousin Joy and her husband Clinton. I worked at a Fitness Center and he worked as a debt collector for a cell phone company. We loved Idaho but the time came when we felt the need to move back to AZ so we left and moved into Thatcher, AZ. During this time I had two miscarriages pretty close together and it was really hard on me but thanks to a great husband I got through it.

Shortly after we got there I enrolled in the Safford School of Beauty to become a cosmetologist and Clinton quickly found work as a mechanic. On our 1yr anniversary we got sealed in the Mesa, AZ Temple and it was a wonderful time in our life. On May 16, 2002 our first child came into our life he was 8 days late and we were excited to have him, his name is Mathew James Flake he weighed in at 10lbs 12oz. Clinton moved jobs to E.A. Glass and in January of 2003 I graduated Beauty School and started working as a Cosmetologist. We bought our first house right after I graduated and moved into Safford, AZ it was the perfect house for our growing family. I shortly found out I was pregnant with our second child and had to stop working because of complications and Benjamin Harris Flake arrived on November 28, 2003 exactly one week early he weighed 7lbs 11oz.

After having 2 kids so close together we needed a break!!! Clinton started a new job at Valley Security where he stayed until last year. I started a Mary Kay business and did really well with it for quite some time. We basically lived our life happily for several years and we did a lot of traveling to visit and spend time with family that didn’t live close to us. The end of 2005 we found out I was expecting our third child and we were pretty excited. I had major problems with this pregnancy and was flown to Tucson where I stayed for 3 weeks until he came into our life 3 weeks early on July 31, 2006, his name is Nathan Lee Flake, he weighed 7lbs 4oz. Six weeks after he was born I enrolled in school with Joy, my Aunt Karen and my sister Valerie. We took 18 credits and at the end of the semester got our Medical Transcription Certificates. I started some part time work doing this but it is really hard to find a job in this field unless you have prior experience but I was glad to have something to fall back on “just in case” even though it wasn’t what I really wanted to do with my life.

After I had Nathan I was told I could only have 1 more child and we found out we were expecting not long after having him. I told Clint that this was my last shot for a girl and he better get it right!!! On January 14,2008 2 weeks early our little girl made her entrance into this world weighing in at 9lbs 10oz we named her Alizabeth Joy Flake. We had our family completed we had 4 kids in 5 years, Clinton had just bought Valley Security and I was staying home with our kids…life couldn’t be more perfect!!

In March of 2008 I came home from a trip and Clinton was pretty sick, which was surprising because he was NEVER sick!!! We took him to the Dr and they realized he was anemic he iron level was at a 7 and they were pretty shocked with that. So after some tests they decided to send him to a gastroenterologist who later said he had Ulcerative Colitis. We started a diet for him that took out 25 foods that he was told he was allergic to and if we took them out of his diet he would start to feel better. We did this for 6 months and he wasn’t getting any better and I was pretty concerned so I took him back to his specialist in January of 2009 and he stuck with his initial diagnosis. So we kept at it for another couple of moths. In March of 2009 he needed to get his first blood transfusion while we were there our family Dr wanted to do a CAT scan of his belly because he was concerned about it rupturing because he was pretty distended well that scan showed our worst fears…they found masses!!

From there they sent him to TMC and they did some biopsies and blood work and the results made my world stop: Stage IV Metastatic Colon Cancer, it had already spread to his liver. They started his first round of chemo the next day. We figured no problem we will get through this and he is going to beat it because he is only 28 and was always so healthy. We did 9 rounds of chemo and in between chemo treatments we would travel and just enjoy our life together. In August of 2009 we decided to do a major surgery that would remove his colon so that the chemo can start working on his liver. While they were in surgery they found cancer all over: his pelvis, abdomen, stomach, kidneys…basically everything from his liver to his colon was covered in cancer. We were shocked, we had no idea that his cancer was that extensive but we were still determined to fight it. As he was recovering from major surgery he just wasn’t doing well and he was not eating and on Sept 25th he slipped into a coma at home and I rushed him to the hospital and they realized he had no blood sugar because the cancer invaded his pancreas. We were able to pull him out of his coma and he looked at me and said it was his time to go home. I made the calls to all of our family and they started the trek to Safford to say their good-byes. The hardest people to tell were my children I didn’t think that conversation would ever take place. He talked and counseled over 100 people in the hospital on the next day and then he passed away on Sept 27th, 2009.

I still can’t believe that he is gone but I wouldn’t want anyone else watching over me and the kids than him. That day started my new life: April the Widow and single mother of 4 amazing children. I decided we needed a new start and I promised him that I would go to school to get the degree that I have always wanted and would make me happy. So in October 2009 I applied and auditioned for Boise State University and I got accepted. In November 2009 we left Safford and set out on our new life in Idaho. We have bought a house in Caldwell, ID and I am attending Boise State University for a degree in Music Education. We love it up here but miss our friends and family in Arizona but we visit as often as we can. So I have lived a whole lifetime in 10 years and it has been an amazing experience. I am sad that I can’t be there this weekend to see all of you but I hope you much happiness in your future. I have learned so much during these last 10 years and it will be amazing to see what the next 10 years brings me.

Much love!!

April Forbes Flake