From Dave Smith

[Dave Smith]

Guys,

As some of you were aware, my daughter Jennifer was hospitalized for the past week at Childrens Hospital in Boston. Jenny has Cystic Fibrosis and was admitted after losing alot of weight and with a really low pulmonary function (lungs were at 60%).

The good news is that she is at home and has had a solid recovery. Her mom and I are doing the remainder of her IV therapy at home and I am back at work after a very long week for our entire family.

There are some HUGE projects at FFR going on right now like this new forum, the new design contest with Grassroots Motorsports, updates on the new mendeola transmission, the release of the new Gen 2 Coupe (a very famous person is building one shortly), and a million other things... I'll have some releases posted today and only ask for your patience as I sort thru things here.

I aslo have some really cool projects for this forum as I see in two weeks it has grown to close to two thousand members! Thanks for the kind words and help while I was out.

Dave Smith

[Hankl]

Dave,

As important as work is to all of us, your family is more important. Prayers said for you, the rest of the Smith family, and especially for Jenny.

Hank

[keys2heaven]

Dave,

Thoughts and prayers with you and your family. Family first.

Mike

[steno]

Thanks for the update Dave...thoughts and wishes sent.
Sten

[vnmsss]

Thoughts and prayers to you, Jenny, and the entire Smith family....Yes, there are lots of great things happening both here on the new forum and at Factory Five, but we'd all agree....Family first!

Karen

[riptide motorsport]

Thoughts and prayers to you dave.................Steven

[DougR]

As others have said, family first. You can always make another dollar or build another company but you can never replace Jenny or anyone else in your family. You have a great crew at FFR and here on the forum. Let them take care of business and you take care of your family. Nobody can replace you there.

Linda and I will be praying for Jenny, you and the rest of your family. Keep us posted.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Dave,
I met Jenny when she came to London, Ohio with you several years ago. She captured my heart then and has had a special place in it ever since! All of my best wishes to her for a speedy recovery :D

Jeff

[Magnus]

Thank you for being a family guy, Dave.

[Questor]

Glad to hear she is doing better.

As always, take care of your family before you worry about anything else. We'll all be here when you have the time. Don't think for a moment that anything is more important than your family.

[Someday I Suppose]

Dave, our thoughts are with you and the family, especially Jenny, great to hear she is back at home.

Some great stuff in the works at Factory Five, but you know the basis for good project management is setting priorities and family always comes first. All the best.

-Scott

[BTTFMK3]

Dave,

Always family first. You have talented folks working for you at FFR that you can rely on. Thoughts and prayers.

Shawn

[Bob Barnett]

Dave:

I'm really glad to hear that Jenny is doing well. PLEASE take care of her!

[Todd Baumann]

Dave,
Glad to hear that Jenny is home now. Hopefully she is back to normal in no time at all.
One thing I have found out the hard way is that no matter what family is always first.
Well wishes all around to Jenny and the family.
Todd

[Randy Jones]

Dave,

Wow.. So Glad she's better. Thoughts and prayers are with Jennifer and the family.

Randy and Julie.

[UpstateCobraGuy]

Here to back you 100%, take care of the important thing and everything else will take care of itself.

[Garry Bopp]

Dave,

So many have expressed it so well ... I can only add prayers from Dona and I for Jenny's health and your whole family.

Garry

[Big-Foot]

Dave, We've prayed for Jenny many times and I missed any other messages that may have indicated she was in trouble.. She (as well as her Mom & Dad) are being lifted up in prayer now!!!

[astglenn]

As the Father of a severely handicapped 7 year old with many serious medical issues, I am so pleased to hear the positive news. I get it. I totally get it. Blessings.

[Joe Mush]

Dave,

Seeing one of your kids in pain is the worst. Glad Jenny is home and doing better. Thoughts and prayers for you and your family.

Joe

[BigLeo69]

its a bummer for kids to endure such a thing and for a father to see it happen and can't have control of it, a Hail Mary for your daughter Dave, from me to your family.

[trublue]

Dave,
Take of your little girl, you have trained the Factory Five Family well and they will see to us. My hat is off to you during this difficult time. Your positive attitude will overcome all.
Art Kelly

[Dave Smith]

Thanks for all of the support. We really appreciate it. It means a lot.

Jenny is back in school today and I've been playing catch up here at work. here are some pictures from our Spring Break in Boston.

http://www.factoryfive.com/whatsnew/update/images/images/jenny1.jpg
Jenny was cheered up by some nice cards from friends.

http://www.factoryfive.com/whatsnew/update/images/images/family1.jpg
Spring break consisted of hospital food in Jenny's room, but we all had fun cheering her up.

http://www.factoryfive.com/whatsnew/update/images/images/jenny2.jpg
Jenny and her mom, Denise.

http://www.factoryfive.com/whatsnew/update/images/images/family2.jpg
Here's the goal... snowboarding with the kids. Left to right: Nicole, Adam, Madison, and Jennifer Smith.

Jenny has another week of IV antibiotic therapy and because Denise is an RN, we can do this at home. I'll be catching up for the next week or so and appreciate the prayers and thoughts.

Dave Smith

[patpur]

Dave - my thoughts and prayers are with you, Jenny and your family. Pat

[TimC]

Glad to hear she's doing better. More thoughts and prayers from Georgia.

[Rip Van Winkle]

Thanks for the photos. Because, I only know Jenny through the photos over these past many years. Wow, how she has grown. And we are glad things are better now.

[VeniceCobra]

Glad to hear that she's doing better. All the best in life to Jenny, you and your family.

[Mustang Man]

Dave, was out of town on business so this is the first time I'm seeing the thread. Glad to hear she is doing better. Like many trying to get ahead in this crazy world it can be easy to focus too much on work and next thing you know your kids are grown. My son starts college this fall and my daughter is almost 16 with her first serious boyfriend. I look in the mirror and remember being away for work on their birthdays, my anniversary, and even my own birthday. Those are times/memories I can't get back. I'm happy to see you got the message much earlier than I did.

It's ironic that when I was editor I'd tell my staff "family first" but never "practiced what I preached"...

Here's hoping you'll all be snowboarding again real soon...

Mark

[Doc_FFR]

God bless you and your daughter.

[Someday I Suppose]

Great to hear Jenny is back at school and doing better. Our girls are too little for snow boarding, but we just did tubing last week, great fun for sure.

[OttawaFFRer]

Dave,
My wife owns a yoga studio and we donate to a charity every month, we either run a full day event or give all of our specialty class income towards a cause. March and April are spoken for but May`s charity will be for Cystic Fibrosis.

Victor

[Rich_S]

Wow!

Patty and I have a 15 year old daughter Jessica, god bless Jenny, you and family, this is family not business.

Rich and family

[Jeff Collins]

Dave
Thanks for sharing, glad she is doing better.

[Rick Williams]

Dave,

I met Jenny about 10 years ago at some car event. She tugged at my heart then and she still does today. I am so happy to hear she's doing better.

By the way, the picture of Jenny with her mom...Hmmmm. You don't have to guess who she inherited the smile from!

[cwhoofgator]

Thoughts and prayers from Orlando FL. Here's to snow boarding soon...

[fact5racer]

Dave, when are we gonna get Adam on a dirtbike? :-)