The Day Time Stood Still- October 17, 1996, and Then Moved Forward
- Terri Tomoff
- Oct 17
- 2 min read
It was great sitting in my hot seat to finish Part 2 of Ohio in October and the writing of the HOF dinner last Friday at Bowling Green State University. I still have one or two other posts from that weekend that I will get to soon.
But today is a milestone day! It's been 29 years since our son Ryan Tomoff was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) - Pre B cell with Central Nervous System (CNS) involvement.
Ryan was two years and two months old. Olivia was 4 years old.
Our lives changed instantly on that proverbial dime at 1:00 pm on October 17, 1996, in a tiny exam room in a pediatrician's office in Annapolis, Maryland.
The entire family had a boatload (say, a vast ocean liner) full of trials and tribulations since that day, but I'm celebrating all the good to great that has come out of that horrifying day. And that is saying something since we lived with and through crisis after crisis for far too long for any child, and their sibling(s), family, and community.
How did we do it?
Faith, Family, Focus.
Through it all, those three words—Faith, Family, Focus—became our compass. They carried us through the darkest nights and reminded us where the light still lived each day. I’ll never take a single ordinary day for granted, because behind every bit of sunshine is a story of survival, grace, and grit, not just by us, but by Olivia, Ryan, and Bill, plus so many others in the battle against cancer or facing other challenging life circumstances.
Cheers and THANK YOU to the hundreds of people who walked beside us (and still do!), and the conviction that keeps all of us moving forward today. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for all of you!
I'm deeply grateful.
Terri
Photos: Ryan in Rome, Italy, 2025; Thanksgiving with my parents, John and Sophie Nolan, in 1996, and at the Party4Life in NYC on 11/4/2025 - One year and one day after Ryan's Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant.
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