We love Steven Mackin

So if you've visited Blabbeando over the past week, you might have noticed the "Photo of the Moment" has featured a hottie with the caption "Mackin on my mind."

If you have been a loyal Blabbeando reader you might also know that we have previously featured Steven Mackin (above) in the past when he daringly questioned P. Diddy's credentials last year and then again this year when he expressed his embarrassment when his mom told him that the sex scenes in "Brokeback Mountan" were kinda "hot."

As some of my friends have commented, we rarely get personal in this blog but today we are making an exception. Turns out that on Saturday I got a call from Steven and I initially thought he was going to tell me about his escapades in Las Vegas, where he'd been spending a few days. So when he first said "It's back" I didn't fully capture what he was saying. "What?" I asked. "I'm in Nashville at the Hospital Center, it's back," he said.

My stomach dropped. You see, back in 2003 Steven (a/k/a coolukman) was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in tissues surrounding his lower spine for which he had to get surgery and chemo-therapy. Recent check-ups seemed to indicate that he had beaten it but, as of late, Steven had complained about stomach pains. Last week they got so bad upon his return to Kentucky that his family decided to take him to the doctor. The news was that the cancer was back and that he unfortunately had to have another operation as soon as possible.

On Sunday, he told me he was blogging about it. "Are you crazy?!" I said, "You need some privacy! Not to have everyone calling you day or night to know what is going on!"

So why are we writing about it today? Well, Steven reminded me that one of the reasons why he began to write on his LiveJournal blog was to share his experience dealing with cancer so that it might help others in a similar circumstance and that he was not about to back down. As a matter of fact, he made me promise that I would blog about him this week. Hence the "Photo of the Moment" - and this post.

Today, Steven posted his thoughts on the latest developments on his LiveJournal and other friends are keeping up on the latest as well.

Surgery is tentatively scheduled for tomorrow though it's a long-ass 8 to 12 hour stint which might be postponed a day or two. It's tough to provide support from afar but we've tried to make sure that Steven knows that we love him and that we hope for the best possible outcome tomorrow.

Please join me in whishing the Mackin boy the best!

Updates:

• Word is out so... (Oct. 28, 2006)
  
• Damn, Steven (Oct. 26, 2006)
• LJ bears *heart* Steven Mackin (Oct. 13, 2006)
  
• I *heart* puppies (Sept. 29, 2006)
• In a change of plans, no surgery, for now (September 28, 2006)