In remembrance of Jamie Tilley

Downhill Miracles A True Story!

Tilley Family Racing Team

Gravity Racing Cars

Real Life Story

Show Me The Way

Author-David Tilley

The first family ebook movie

with a Soundtrack!

Read this book and find out how we found the cure!

This is a true story about our life journey that has an important message about the most aggressive, deadliest form of Her2 metastatic breast cancer with a death sentence of 2 years from diagnosis and how the all American Soap Box Derby played a big role in our life changing events. My name is David Tilley I’m the Author and Judy is my wife.

After I retired as a Steamfitter Welder in the year 2020 I experienced having an open heart surgery getting five bypasses with a heart valve repair getting a second chance of life. All 5 of my arteries were blocked between 97 and 99 percent. I felt great and always passed the treadmill stress test with good EKG test results and I was walking 5 to 7 miles a day. One day a nurse heard a strange noise in my heart so they admitted me and found the blockage’s. It was a heart valve making the fluttering sound and had nothing to do with the blocked arteries and the little fluttering sound saved my life from the silent killer. The surgeon and nurses told me that it was a miracle that I didn’t have a massive heart attack with all my arteries blocked but it was evident that God has more work for me to do. I only had a 50 percent chance of getting my heart valve repaired but the surgery was successful and now I have a heart good as new. (This is Miracle number 1).

This is the reason I decided to write about all the miracles my family has experienced and how we found the cure. Miracles are more common than you think; you may have experienced one yourself and tell your story before it’s too late. I started looking back at my family’s true life journey starting around year 2000 and now telling my story. My son-in-law who married Brooke, our oldest daughter, was the sports director for the University of Tennessee and was the journalist who wrote the article about my family’s journey of life-changing events. You will see at the end of this book that this is an important part of making this true story possible and he had been diagnosed with a liver disease with no possible cure.

We live in Oak Ridge Tennessee and we can see the K-25 building site from the Manhattan project just across the Clinch River from our neighborhood. My grandfather was a logger in Tellico mountains, he switched trades to become a concrete finisher and helped build Fort Loudon Dam from 1940-1943 and then he went to work construction at K-25 on the Manhattan project from 1943-1945. I always thought the Manhattan project land would be a great place for the biggest fastest All American Soap Box Derby Track in the country since it is government land and now cleaned up to be occupied. The derby is a non-profit STEM organization that would benefit our city and I’m hoping to get one here.

Read my story about the miracles and the cure we found in my very on family that starts here when me and Judy get married in 1978 thinking of this hit song that come out around that time, So Into You. We had 4 children 1 son and 3 daughters, our fist child was our son David Jr. that had complications after birth and passed away. We had 3 daughters, Brooke the oldest, Jamie the middle and Katy the youngest.

Brooke our oldest daughter around 8 years old developed Perthes hip joint disease and had to undergo one of the most painful hip surgeries imaginable. She had to have her ball joint re-shaped and formed along with installing a plate with pins to keep alignment during the healing process. She loved sports but the doctors said she couldn’t play any sports and this was devastating news for any child!

Jamie our middle daughter had a brain tumor and 2 major surgeries. Keep in mind when you read about her surgeries the first one was done at one year old and the same surgery was performed the second time at three years old due to a reoccurrence. After the brain surgeries she had to undergo rehabilitation learning how to walk and talk all over again. My daughter’s brain surgery was performed in Atlanta Georgia on Peachtree St. and we stayed at the tall glass hotel where they filmed the Burt Reynolds’s movie,, Sharky’s Machine.

Watching the Band Atlanta Rhythm Section playing this song my daughter liked playing at Halloween, Spooky. Watching the Atlanta Braves baseball team play were some more great memories of this stressful journey too! During this time I was having flashbacks from when our first child David Jr. died suddenly from having fluid build up in his lungs and at this point I didn’t want to lose another child. I had to take a family medical leave from my job as a Steamfitter Welder at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant to stay with our daughter since she had to be quarantined. Her medical condition wasn’t very good because she was loosing a lot of brain fluid.

Her surgery at three years old was going to be extremely complicated and they couldn’t find a surgeon that was capable in the Atlanta area so they called around the country until they found a young student located in California originally from Mississippi and was coming to Atlanta to perform this complicated surgery and just one mistake would leave her paralyzed for life. The surgeon would have to cut her from ear to ear and split her skull open in half in order to remove the tumor that was located behind her eyes and then take part of skull pieces to rebuild the area back where brain fluid was leaking and all performed looking thru a microscope for 10 hours of intense concentration.

The large tumor was successfully removed but they had to remove a small portion of her brain with the tumor giving her a 20% chance of a full recovery with a slow process of learning how to walk and talk all over again. We were getting low on cash so I eventually went back home to Watts Bar Nuclear Plant as a Steamfitter welder. As time went by with hard work in the rehabilitation process from my daughter’s brain surgery we could see a 50 percent chance of a full recovery in the future and this was truly a blessing!

Things where getting better for us until my wife got diagnosed in 2001 with the most aggressive, deadliest form of Her2 metastatic breast cancer at stage 4 and doctors giving patients diagnosed with her condition having a life expectancy of approximately 2 years to live and I was thinking we are going to need a miracle, this song come to my mind, Miracles.

Around this same time our oldest daughter Brooke found a stock division all American Soap Box Derby race car in a garage and thought it would be cool if one of her younger sisters could race it, but the stock car was too small for Jamie to race. Katy the youngest daughter we called our free bird was just old enough to race and would fit in the car perfectly. We transported the stock car home stripped it down and rebuilt the car back like brand new.

During this time my wife had her breast and lymph nodes removed with a port planted in her chest for chemo access. She started taking the Chemo drug called the Red Devil and she lost her hair very quickly and was bald headed within days and could only drink wild cherry sip up’s like our small children would drink.

We transported our stock car to the race city of Athens Tennessee and we passed the inspection by the strict derby rules including weighing the car and driver. Race day finally arrived and Katy our youngest daughter smoked her opponents and took the first place stock division championship trophy home and was headed to Akron Ohio at the world championships for the first time.

Katy our free bird was disappointed that her grandfather, my father, couldn’t see her win the local race because he was battling colon cancer in hospice care. My wife and father took chemotherapy together at the same Doctors office and we knew he didn’t have much time left and we started to cancel the trip to Akron Ohio but he insisted we go so Katy could race. Its finally race day in Akron with over 300 race cars from all over the world for this exciting week long event. Katy did run a good race that day but she lost by a fraction of one second and leaves empty handed, no trophy at the world championships.

2 days after we returned home from the World Championships in Akron Ohio katy’s grandfather passed away from the battle of colon cancer and we already planned on racing in the local Super Stock division the following year. After we ordered and purchased a brand new Super Stock car things went downhill fast. Judy my wife got very ill and I rushed her to the emergency room and after numerous test they discovered that she didn’t have enough bone marrow to survive the Red Devil chemo treatment and was basically killing her so we had to discontinue the treatment, I can’t tell you why.

With her diagnosis with roughly 2 years survival rate it was critical for treatment. The oncologist offered us a new trial drug for her to try. We took his advice and started taking the new chemotherapy drug called Herceptin and she had to have multiple radiation treatments to complete the process. We already knew before the race our son in law that wrote the breast cancer article you will see at the end of this story had been diagnosed with a rare liver disease with no possible cure and he was starting to show symptoms of the horrible disease.

My wife is now taking the chemo drug Herceptin on a regular basis without getting very sick like she was on the Red Devil. We started building the new super stock car kit in our garage where we built the stock racer. Everything is looking great, the new super stock car kit is coming together very well. Katy’s other grandfather, Judy’s father got very sick during this time and was diagnosed having Pancreatic cancer without a possible cure. It’s getting close to race time so we took the car to the well known race city of Athens Tennessee and passed the super stock car strict inspection to make us officially legal to race.

Race day finally arrived and Katy smoked her opponents again and took the first place super stock champion trophy home and was headed to Akron Ohio at the world championships for the second time. Katy was disappointed that her grandfather, my wife Judy’s father, couldn’t see her win the local race because he was in hospice care battling pancreatic cancer and we started to cancel the trip to Akron Ohio but he insisted we go so Katy could race just as my father told her when he was very sick. It’s finally race day in Akron with over 300 race cars from all over the world for this exciting week long event. Katy run a great race that day but lost by a split second and leaves empty handed, no trophy at the world championships for the second time.

After we returned home from from Akron Ohio we realized that the local race city just had 2 divisions to race and we have won both of them and the rule is if you win a division title you cannot compete in that division again per derby rules. The only choice we had is to race rally which means we would have to travel like NASCAR so we could earn points and hopefully make it to Akron the 3rd time. We ordered a new super stock car to race rally. While waiting for the race car Katy’s grandfather, my wife’s father lost the battle of pancreatic cancer and passed away. My wife is finishing up on her chemo treatments but has several more radiation treatments to complete. Our son in law with the liver disease is starting to have more symptoms getting more bone fractures and getting Jaundice.

The new super stock rally car come in and we started assembling the car in our extra spare time. The super stock rally car is finally completed and we started scheduling races with race cities in the southern states so we can start earning points. I met a young lawyer and his wife from Chattanooga Tn. that didn’t have any children and wanted to get involved in soap box derby since he raced in the World Championships in Akron as a young adult and had more trophies than you could count. We teamed up and hit the road on available weekends and we won 1st place in the first 3 cities we raced in, 2 in Georgia and 1 in Arkansas. We were planning on racing in Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky. Katy’s name is starting to get well known in the rally racing circuit since she is undefeated and her opponents would say, who is that little girl, What’s Your Name?

We finally earned enough points to win the Rally Super Stock title and heading to the world championships in Akron Ohio for the third time. During this time of racing my wife had been taking a lot of radiation treatments and it’s taking a toll on her body. My son in law is getting worse every year but does not qualify to move up higher on the liver transplant list yet.

My wife finally completed her 2 year long chemo treatments and she completed her radiation treatments. It’s time to start her reconstruction surgeries in the near future. We are finally ready to make the trip to Akron Ohio to compete in the world championships for the 3rd time.

It’s finally race day in Akron with over 300 race cars from all over the world for this exciting week long event. Katy raced an incredible race but lost almost to close to call and leaves empty handed, no trophy at the world championships for the 3rd time. We realized that this was most likely the last trip to Akron since Katy won all three divisions that we could race in unless our city starts racing the masters division.

They have never raced the masters division in our city for several reasons, the cars cost more, they are more difficult to build and race, and it would take longer to finish all the races in one day. We returned home from Akron Ohio thinking about how we went undefeated in all the local city and Rally races with 7 first place trophies and managed making it to 3 world championships in such a short amount of time in our racing career. Even though my wife has completed her chemo and radiation treatments she was dreading the painful breast reconstruction procedure that was ahead of her after we returned home from the world championships.

This year feels like something is missing since we are not racing in the All American Soap Box Derby local city race so I decided to work all the overtime that was available so I could pay off the medical bills that had been accumulating over the last several years. My wife finished the painful breast cancer reconstruction surgery and then shortly after that she was in need of a hysterectomy most likely because of side effects from the extended chemo and radiation treatments, we already knew that she had some nerve and artery damage from it all. She will always have the port in her chest to have access for the nurses to collect blood test or giving her any needed medication.

My son in law that has the liver disease is getting worse this year. The liver transplant is the hardest transplant to get and so many patients die while waiting for a liver. You have to be near death to move up the list and then you have to find a perfect match when someone dies. This is why I think everyone with a valid drivers license should be considered a donor automatically and then you change it not to be a donor if you choose to.

We got some great news on this day from our race city in Athens Tn. They are going to race the All American Soap Derby masters division for the first time ever. We signed up for the Masters division race for next year and ordered a new Masters All American race car kit. This has been a fast year and my wife is still in remission completing all of her treatments and surgeries.

Our daughter that had the brain tumor was talking and walking normal and doing well in school, they discovered that most likely a portion of the human brain that we do not use took the place of the portion of brain she lost, what a blessing with an answered prayer, (This is Miracle number 2).

We are still worried about my son in law because he is experiencing more bone fractures and many more side effects from the disease. Sometimes we worry that his organs will start shutting down and he want live long enough to get a new liver.

The new masters race car kit come in and we are going to make this car special. I had to call our Lawyer friend that is now race director for Chattanooga Tennessee has been great support for our racing career because of his experience as a great racer himself and he traveled rally racing with us too. I couldn’t wait to tell him about getting to race in the Masters division next local city championship race in Athens Tn. coming up in the spring.

The Masters race car is harder to build and it has to fit the racer perfectly since they lay down on their back in the race car. Getting the drivers head positioned in the head rest perfectly can be time consuming and the same goes for getting the foot brake and steering wheel positioned perfectly. We finally got this special race car completed and Katy fits perfectly in the eye catching breast cancer themed car painted deep blue with a large pink ribbon wrapped around the whole car with the letters Find A Cure written on both sides of the car. We transported our masters car to the race city of Athens Tennessee and we passed the inspection by the strict derby rules including weighing the car and driver.

Race day finally arrived and Katy smoked her opponents and took the first place masters division championship trophy home! We are headed to Akron Ohio to the world championships for the fourth and final time!

My wife that was given only 2 years to live has been in remission going into the 5th year! The Chemo drug called Herceptin that she used for treatment has been officially called the Miracle Drug! This is the biggest breakthrough in history for Her2 breast cancer patients and has saved millions of lives! (This is Miracle number 3).

We finally made it to Akron Ohio getting ready for the Masters division race for the last time in our racing career. This is the race of our life time with over 300 race cars from all over the world for this exciting week long event, and for the first time in 5 years we haven’t lost a love one in death or no one else in the family is battling cancer. Katy’s eye catching race car is getting lined up with the other 2 masters cars at the starting line and our race car stood out from the rest with a blue body and pink ribbon with the words Find A Cure written on both sides of the car. I helped her get positioned on her back getting her body comfortable in the car and placing her head in the head rest. I gave her my normal instructions on how to drive the lane accordingly.

The crowd was loud and spectators ringing bells for so many people knew the meaning of this Masters race car that we built from scratch to get the message out to Find A Cure for breast cancer. The race cars are off the ramp starting down the hill and the crowd was louder than ever with the racers running neck to neck all the way down the hill and then the race cars come across the finish line with just a fraction of a second apart! Katy drove the car perfectly and came in second place in her last heat of her racing career! In our mind this was good as winning it all because what this Masters car stood for!

The cure was found! Thank God above for the Miracle drug Herceptin! Katy our Freebird won the race of her life!

The Conclusion

Read this article written by my son in law when this event took place that I put in my personal webpage that is updated this year in 2024 for breast cancer awareness to document this true breast cancer story that started in the year 2000/2001, Must Read!

Now that you have read the article above you can see the outcome for my son in law that you were reading about in my ebook that has the liver disease. The liver transplant is the hardest transplant to get and so many patients die while waiting for a liver. Thomas wrote the article about our life journey of breast cancer that happened over 23 years ago now leads up to his own life saving battle from an incurable liver disease he battled since 2000 and he finally got his cure in 2018.

If you remember at the first of this story Brooke is the one that had Perthes hip joint disease and couldn’t play sports. She had the plate and pins removed before her high school career started. She had already been making progress to overcome this terrible disease and she was working very hard to be active in sports. She played tennis in high school on the starting lineup and continued playing tennis earning a starting position at Tennessee Wesleyan College with winning seasons! She was a great swimmer and worked as a lifeguard during her teenage and college years and continued her education graduating from the University of Tennessee to be a certified nurse anesthetist. Brooke definitely proved everyone wrong about getting to play sports after they told her she couldn’t play sports, (This is miracle number 4).

Brooke was a good big sister role model with her little sister, Katy the soap box derby racer following her footsteps playing tennis and being a starter on the high school swim team with winning seasons and being a lifeguard her teenage and college years where she graduated at the University of Tennessee to become a Nurse Practitioner. Brooke and Katy both were Valedictorian of their class and both were Jr Miss contestants and both winning the spirit award by showing off their guitar skills! This was definitely an amazing accomplishment! Watch this video of Thomas with my daughter Brooke and see how Thomas found the cure for his incurable liver disease, (This is Miracle number 5). Must Watch!

The Final Chapter

This true story of my family’s life journey is dedicated to our middle daughter, Jamie Tilley. If you remember at the first of this book Jamie is the one that had the two major brain/tumor surgeries and we tended to over protect her as a child. It was a miracle her life was saved by the grace of God on Peachtree street in Atlanta when she was a little girl. When she was a teenager she started working at Lowe’s and after she graduated from high school she worked there many years. She knew the store like the back of her hand by product and exact isle location. She would amaze everyone how she could finish a 1200 piece puzzle in a very few short hours. Jamie couldn’t play sports due to her brain surgeries but she was a great swimmer especially doing the backstroke and loved to laugh and how fun! She loved going to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg where she visited uncountable times since we live so close to that area. She had three children she loved dearly!

Recently Jamie told me that God was talking to her and sent her to a Christian faith based facility in Atlanta Georgia to help her battle the struggles she was experiencing of being diagnosed as Bipolar over the last few years and plus multiple side effects from her two major brain surgeries as a young child. It got to the point over the last few years she put her three children up for adoption because she knew as a single mom with mental and physical health issues she couldn’t give them what they needed. All three of her children were placed in the best loving homes that any child good dream for and we are thankful to have communication with them. Our family couldn’t understand why she let her children go to these wonderful families and now I see that it was in Gods plan!

Suddenly Jamie got very sick with her brain swelling so much it put her into cardiac arrest, caused by meningitis. She was transported to a hospital located on Peachtree street in Atlanta where she was unresponsive for over three days. Peachtree street is where she had her brain surgeries when she was a little girl, which is where it all started. Peachtree street is the very place her life ended while her two sisters held her hand when God took her home on April 16th, 2025, location……Peachtree st. Atlanta Georgia.

The doctors said some pieces of the puzzle were missing in her diagnosis such as not having a final test which would require a spinal tap and would be risky creating more complications so it wasn’t completed to verify it was for sure meningitis and how it took her life suddenly within hours after first getting sick with never having a fever. It was just considered a fluke! I know the answer to the heartbreaking ending of this story, it was Gods plan to take her home! She is in a much better place now. She’s in God’s hands with no more suffering, For Only God Knows!

Downhill Miracles

Show Me The Way

THE END

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Miracle Drug!

About The Author

This is all of my family members you read about in my personal family book of our life journey we shared together. This picture was taken in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. From left to right, Thomas Satkowiak, Brooke Satkowiak Tilley, Katy Tilley, Jamie Tilley, JudyTilley, and Author-David Tilley

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In remembrance of Jamie Tilley, Jan-31-1985, April-16-2025 and our grandchildren, Joshua, Anna Catherine, Daniel, Emmy, the youngest Everett Blaze Hays!

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