Megan Elizabeth-Carney Andrews

02/19/2019

This is the day that my family’s life would change forever. This is the day Megan was informed that she had an aggressive form of breast cancer that would require a year of intense treatment. Most people would say that the day they received this news was the worst day of their life. However, Megan is not most people. Megan is different. She will tell you that getting breast cancer is the best thing that ever happened to her. It has given her a true appreciation for life and the people around her that she loves. It opened her eyes to the smallest blessings and made all minor setbacks seem so petty. With a smile on her face and full of courage Megan stood tall and fought with everything she had to beat cancer. She had a double mastectomy that left her body scarred and disfigured. I watched as chemo destroyed her body and was amazed at how it could not destroy her spirit. During treatment she was hospitalized and had to have two blood transfusions and a platelet transfusion. Yet still she would smile and say “I am so great full, this is the best thing that has ever happened to me!” I watched as she lost all of her hair and it destroyed her skin from the inside out. Yet still, “I am so great full, this is the best thing that ever happened to me!” She lost all of her hair, her eyebrows, her eyelashes and got bloody noses daily. Yet still her attitude never wavered. As treatments continued her physical health would continue to decline but her spirit would not and could not be broken. During radiation I watched as she laid in bed with her arm over her head for 2 straight weeks because all of her skin had burned off under her arm. She would smile, tell me she loves me and the boys and say to me how great full she is. Eventually treatments ended and we celebrated a victory over cancer. Little did we know what was to come.

03/03/2020

The day we got the news that Megan had a rare form of brain cancer that was not operable and would result in fatality. Again, most people would call this the worst day of their life. Again, not Megan Elizabeth-Carney Andrews. While the news was extremely hard to take and required a lot of processing and grieving we as a family are eternally great full for everything that we go through in this life. After a brief time of grieving and eventually accepting the news my beautiful wife cracked a smile and said. “This might sound weird but I am so great full, this has been the richest most rewarding year of my life!” I have to be honest, even I was blown away by the fact that even still her spirit could not be broken.

We don’t know how much time we have left before Megan goes to be with God in heaven. What we do know is that we have right now. Megan’s ability to Smile Always even through all of this has changed my life forever and has been a great example to our two young boys Jude (11) and Josiah (10) of how to handle adversity. One of the biggest blessings that has come from this is getting the opportunity to see how many people can stand up and fight alongside us. To read the countless words of encouragement and love. To hear all the positive feedback on how Megan has changed so many lives and touched so many people. Even those that she has literally only had a 5 minute interaction with. I told her the other day that in the 13 years we have been married I have never been more proud to be her husband. I had no clue how amazing she really is. She is a legend in her own right.

I am now determined to live my life with the same attitude that Megan does. I intend to Smile Always no matter how tough the trial is. I have a passion to help others change in this way as well. I want to make sure that Megan’s legacy lives forever even when her body will not. Many of you know that since she was a little girl she has used the signature Smile Always at the end of every letter, note, message and greeting card. I never realized how much those two little words meant. How much of an impact that would have on so many lives. Now I do and I want to share it with the world. I want to start an international movement in her honor. The Smile Always Movement. If you read the previous updates you know that we have T-Shirts available. These shirts say Smile Always in Megan’s handwriting. We are asking people to purchase them for their entire family and then send us a group photo of you wearing it so we can post it on this website. Go to the shirt order section of this post to find out how to join the Smile Always Movement.

One last thing, anyone who knows me knows that I don’t ask for much. In fact I try to give as much as I can all the time. I have found this time to be very humbling because I have had to learn to accept help both physically and financially. However, I would like to ask for continued donations to this site. I know it looks like we have plenty and for right now we do. What I also know is that unless I spend countless hours working my 3 jobs then we won’t have much for long. I do not want to spend my the last few months of Megan’s life working. It is important that I spend every moment I can with her and the boys creating memories that will last for myself and for them. I don’t want to have any regrets.

Please help us out financially so that we can spend our time with Megan!

Thank you for all you have already done!

Smile Always,

Joe Andrews

Romans 8:28

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” NLT