Cancer Sucks!

Luke 23:43 ESV
And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Hi friends and prayer warriors.

I know there has been little activity on the updates of these dear people we have been praying for but truth is there has just been not much activity on their blogs. Until recently.

You might not remember this dear one because I never got permission to post a picture of her. Kerri T is her name and she blogged at He will carry me through. Here is a snippet of the update she shared in October:

Ok so everyone has been waiting and waiting to find out what we found out. We found out where the cancer is.
It is in a lot of places:
around the outside of most of my right lung
a spot on my left hip
a spot on my right pelvis
spots in my right chest and neck
spots in my left neck
on multiple spinal bones in my back
Places it is NOT:
Liver
kidneys
brain- due to some people's lack of belief this report said my brain is normal!! LOL

Treatment:
Chemo every 3 weeks
PET scans after every 3rd treatment to see how the cancer is responding
 - IF the cancer is not responding they will change up the chemo and keep going. My dr in Philly said that she has some out of the box ideas too.
ALL of my drs said this IS treatable!!

Since then I haven't heard until a few days ago. Kerri has gone home to be with our Lord on June 4 2014. Her gracious husband Bob has updated us. Please visit her blog for the full update and read how she was able to plan her own memorial service. Here is a little bit of what Bob has shared with us:

While we are all saddened by this loss, I would like to note that because the doctors did do things to help in January, when things were looking bad, she was able to live to see our oldest son's first band concert, and also to have Easter and Mother's Day with us.  When I get pictures from the memorial service I will post them under a Memorial Service heading.  One Kerri decided to stop treatment, she started planning her memorial service; she called it, her "party".  We had around 250 guests there, and the hotel we held it at said this was the largest memorial service they have done. 

Please pray for her family as they make it through without Kerri by their side. 

Revelation 21:4 ESV
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

 Blessings,

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Update on Lisa & Sam

Psalm 119:116 ESV
Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope!

We have a praise report on Lisa from Never Forsaken.

We met with the oncologist today. He said my cancer is not a bad case at all, in fact the chemo regimen I will be on is milder than many breast cancer regimens...no radiation or hormone therapy is needed...and no cancer spread!

I will need 6 treatments of chemo...one every 3 weeks for 18 weeks (4.5 months) and one year of an immune therapy drug (Herceptin).

This is less than the standard of 6 months of chemo!

Doc said that my chance for this cancer coming back is less than 5%...If I did no chemo it would be 20-30%.

This is so amazing! I am so thankful to Father, this, at first, sounded so bad and now it looks like this treatment will be so much easier for Lisa. Let's continue to pray for her, that she will walk through this treatment with no ill side effects from the chemo treatment and for 100% health with 100% healing. 

Here is the latest update on Sam from Sam's Fans/Facebook

Ok. So. DON'T freak out when you read these next few words. This is not a bad update. That said.. It was malignant. Renal cell carcinoma. Possibly caused by his neuroblastoma treatment, but they're sending it off for some specific testing to try confirm that, which can take a couple of weeks to get back. Either way, Dr. Foley got it all with clear margins, but they may need one more scan that he hasn't had in a while just to check that is hadn't spread to other areas of the body, which his oncologist said is unlikely. (But still... Scary.) If the spot they removed was the only one and it hasn't spread, we're looking at further treatment, just monitoring with scans and labs like we've been doing all along. Not quite what anyone wanted to hear, but we're glad it's out. And we're praying and very hopeful that this little bump in the road is just that, a small bump, and we'll be over it soon.
Sam is feeling okay today. He's sore of course, but he's awake more and watching a ton of Batman. We even got some smiles out of him during our bazillionth game of candy land. Pray that he's ready to start getting out of bed tomorrow without us having to strong arm him and that he will take oral pain medicine so we can work toward busting out of here.

Considering Sam has never been NED but always been stable this is a good report. The doctors have always been watching this spot and now it is removed from his little body. Please keep praying for Sam that this spot was contained and has not spread and that the treatments he needs to have are easy on him and his parents.

Thank you for praying for these dear people who need our intercession for these days are dark and diseases are manifesting, it seems, out of thin air. 

Praying and praying,

<><

Epidermolysis Bullosa, EB

Sometimes I don't hear any updates on the children I'm praying for. Ava Rose is one little girl that I haven't heard how she's been doing in awhile. Ava suffers from Epidermolysis bullosa, EB, the nasty disease that all it takes is a little rub and the skin blisters and comes off leaving an open, raw sore. Apparently, though, Ava has been doing amazingly well! Praise GOD!!! Here is a Facebook update, Praying for Ava Rose, on Ava from her aunt...

Ava Rose

So many wonderful things happening for Ava right now - forgive our absence as we've been rejoicing and just plain having a blast with her!
I don't often get to spend much time with Ava as I live in Baltimore and she lives in New Jersey, but the other week I had the privilege of getting some one on one time with her when she was in SUCH a fantastic and hysterical mood! I know my family keeps telling me that these times are often, but I usually don't get to witness them in my short periods of time with Ava and let me tell you - what a heart swell I had as she kept grabbing my hand to walk around my parents' house, jump on the bed, "scare" Papito and Aunt C, dance, and laugh her little precious head off as we goofed around. She was being a normal and happy two year old and while I know everyone else gets to witness this often, I do not and it made me so SO happy to get that window of opportunity with her.
Ava has been having regular iron infusions which have helped so much with her healing process. Many of the abrasions on her face are shrinking day by day and the one that was on her eye earlier this year (that at that point kept growing and growing) is all but gone right now!
We praise God for the blessing of Ava's life and that He sees us fit to be her family and we are now rejoicing together in these happy and wonderful moments that we get to share with her.
There is still pain, and there are still moments of hurt and misery - but there are so many more of hope, love, joy, happiness, and healing. Thank you all for your love, prayers, and constant support. You're all pure amazing.
- Monica (Ava's Aunt Monkey)

Children are so amazing! It seems no matter the kind of difficulties they must endure they tend to thrive. No wonder Father tells us to be like little children. They are trusting, loving, forgiving, positive and in extreme discomfort they can still be joyful and they bounce back from sickness really quickly.

Matthew 18:1-5 ESV
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, ...

Blessings,
<><

Phoebe, Jaxson & Sam

Phoebe

Phoebe is doing very well, all things considered. She is tolerating the radiation treatments well, although the side effects will primarily begin to show up in a week or two from now. She should also be feeling some relief from the tumor pressure and that should continue to improve over the next 2-3 weeks. .........
....... We are holding up well, by the grace of God, though sometimes a flash of pain so intense comes over me I can hardly breathe. It’s usually in those moments that I have jumped ahead of God and imagined a life without that sufficient grace. If I stay in the moment, I do well.
Your prayers, encouragement, stories, good works and empathies are a lifeline for us,
~Amey

Jaxson Eugene

Heart surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday the 4th!!!!! Here we go!!!!

Cancer Awareness and Support

Samuel Sartin

Hi! My name is Sam. I'm 3.5 years old and I am a neuroblastoma cancer survivor.
When I was only four months old I was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer. I had to have lots of surgeries, take 6 rounds of yucky chemo, 12 rounds of radiation, two stem cell transplants, and antibody therapy which I really didn't like. But the doctors told my mom that my cancer is "stable." But all I know is that I'm awesome!
I hope that you'll donate to CureSearch for me -- or maybe even join my team and walk WITH me! If you can't walk, you could maybe join as a "virtual walker" to raise money on my behalf! That would be so cool!
Thank you for your support and for donating to help me and other kids like me!
Love,
Sam

Thank you for your continued support in prayer for Phoebe, Jaxson and Sam.

Ruth 2:12 NIV
"May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV
Pray without ceasing,

Blessings in Christ Jesus,
<><

Update Phoebe & Amy

Phoebe, An Atypical Miracle

Here is an update on how Phoebe is doing:

She seems to be tolerating the radiation so far with minimal side effects. She sleeps more than usual. She is often irritable which makes it difficult to take her out without a scene, so for now we are sticking pretty close to home if not in Dallas for radiation. Thank you all for thinking of us and praying for Phoebe. Everyone has been wonderful to our family, and we feel blessed to feel so loved.
-amey

Amy Hosmer

Here are the scan results for Amy:

Ok So the official MRI results are the tumor has shrunk a little bit but the cyst around it has grown a little bit. So for now we stay on this chemo regimine and scan again after the next two phases of chemo. So our next scan will be around november 7th or so. The doctor said hed rather the cyst get bigger and the tumor get smaller than the other way around. He also said that cyst may become a problem in the future but for right now we continue on this path and try to kill off that tumor some more.

Thank you for your faithful prayers!

Proverbs 3:3 ESV
Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

Blessings,

<><

Update on Jaxson & Lucy

Jaxson Eugene

 

Here is the latest update on Jaxson:

 I thought I had posted another update but with the lack of sleep I must have forgotten!! Sorry prayer warriors!!! Jaxson is very stable and doing wonderful! He's got a lot of neurological problems but they dont believe it hurts him in anyway. Now we are just waiting to hear from cardio. I think things will be better if they could just fix his broken heart already

Lucy's surgery went well!

Here is the update from Kate, Lucy's mom 2 Kids, a Mini Van and a Mortage...

I am happy to report that Lucy came through her surgery with flying colors.  She was a little sore this morning (and again tonight) but she went to school today and did great.  She will have to take it easy for the next 10 days while her incision heals, but she is going to be just fine.  I just want to thank you all for continuing to pray for our girl.  I know that many more stories of precious, sick children have come your way and it would be so easy to move on from our family.  We know this and we appreciate the prayers that are lifted on her behalf every single day. 

 Lucy will be having some renal studies done during her next week of visits, which is rapidly approaching.  Sept 3,4 & 5 will be our next "hurdle" to overcome.  We are praying for clear scans but we are also praying for fully functioning kidneys and clear tests.  We ask that you please join us.  Until then, we will continue on with life as normal.  Even though it seems impossible at times, with God's help we take it a day at a time.  

Thanks for praying!! 

Hebrews 13:15-16 NIV

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Blessings,

<><

Update on Phoebe

An Atypical Miracle

Phoebe is doing okay. She had ups and downs todays, but the good thing is that we found out why her tummy hurts so much. She has something called C-Diff, an hospital infection in her bowels that causes horrible cramping and diarrhea. It is easily taken care of with antibiotics, but gives us an explanation for her fever and discomfort in many regards. She has slept quite a bit, but we also see moments of lucidity. Breathing in each moment..

Thank you for your prayers, please keep them coming. Thanks!!

Psalm 31:24 NIV
Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

Praying and praying,

<><

Phoebe

Phoebe is on her way to recovery but is still in need of prayer over a few issues. Here is a snippet from her blog An Atypical Miracle

...Phoebe has been feeling great and often comes to sit in her lawn chair and watch me in the garden. Her stamina still isn’t 100%, but she is making progress. Her feet often hurt because of the way she walks these days. She lost quite a bit of muscle in her legs during her sepsis episode and it has caused her to have knock-knees and over pronate. In other words, she puts her weight on the inside (arch) of her foot and it causes a lot of discomfort. We are looking into getting her another pair of orthotics that fit lower on the ankle but address her over-pronating. 

Her kidneys are still dumping potassium and her liver still sustains some damage, so please pray for those two things. Life is sweet these days, busy and full of activity and all of the things we usually take for granted. Joy is in the small things that make up a life and we are soaking it all in.

Thank you all for praying for Phoebe and continuing to ask after her,

Romans 8:26 ESV 
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Thanks for continuing to pray for these precious children.

Blessings,
<><

Circle For Easton

Draw the circle for Easton.

Easton is still not doing well at all. Please continue to pray and pray for him. I noticed a Facebook page put up called Draw the Circle for Easton. It is a place for you to put a prayer or a Bible verse and draw a circle around it. Here is an explanation taken from the FB page.


About
God honors bold prayers, because bold prayers honor God. 

Join us as we boldly 'circle' God's promises for Baby Easton and believe for his full healing.
Description
“Drawing prayer circles around our prayers isn’t just a mechanism whereby we accomplish great things for God. It’s a mechanism whereby God accomplishes great things in us.” Do you ever sense that there’s far more to prayer, and to God’s vision for your life, than what you’re experiencing? It’s time you learned from the legend of Honi the Circle Maker—a man bold enough to draw a circle in the sand and not budge from inside it until God answered his prayers for his people.

If you attended or watched the prayer service for Easton you heard Pastor Sean talk about circling God's promises for Easton. We have already been getting emails from people who have drawn a circle at their home for Easton. Let's see how many circles we can draw across our entire community, and nation for Easton. 

Drawing the Circle is all about confessing God's promises in his word and refusing to stop circling until God answers. 

Will you Draw the Circle for Easton with us?

Here is the picture and verse I made for Easton.

Will you join in and support Easton? He is very weak and the doctors are doing all they can. Here is the latest update from cousin Amy.

♥ Morning update: Easton is still a bit swollen as you can see in the photo...but his oxygen is between 96-100 and his vent is down to 80...they are dropping it to 70 at 5 to see if he can tolerate it. This is all wonderful news and we pray he continues to improve - thank you ALL for the support and prayers ♥ ~ Cousin Amy

Praying and praying for you sweet Easton.
<><

Update on Amy

Here is an update for Amy taken directly from her CarringBridge page.

I got a call from Dr Fisher the oncologist last night. I wish I can say we got all positive news but its only cross our fingers and pray kinda news. Radiation is not possible. Chemo alone wont cure this, brain surgery alone wont cure this. Brain surgery and chemo together is our best shot. He believes they can get a biopsy and find out what kind of tumor this is (they think it is a low grade glioma but there is a chance since it is a reoccurrance that it can upgrade to a high grade glioma and for that there would be little chance of a cure, So pray for low grade please.) the biopsy will help them determine what chemo treatment to use. We have a 10.00 am meeting with the neuro surgeon Dr. Storm on Tue dec 18 th Amys birthday. (i just told her last night that i would make it after her birthday but he only sees people on tuesdays-sometimes i feel that its like the world is out to get me. oh well its just a consult and she will have the party that night to lift her spirits again after hearing all the scary stuff about surgery)  Well thats all i can give you for now.


If anyone has any ideas how i can make scotty feel less overlooked please let me know. Im trying really hard but I am also concentrating on keeping everyone updated and doing little things around the house that need to be done and of course concentrating on how to keep my little girl alive. Shes getting cards and stuff and he jealous because hes not getting anything. Although I do have him signed up to get stuff it just takes time. If someone would like to write him a little card every now and then email me and ill give you our address. He told me yesterday he feels like we love amy more than him. I tried to explain we are just trying to help her survive. But hes little and doesnt understand. I hope talking to a therapist will help. I love them both so much but its really hard right now not to be concentrating solely on amys tumor and what is going on. So please if you have any ideas speak up and if its constructive critisism ill try not to hold it against you I will do anything to help my babies through this rotten unfair horribly scary situation.

 God Bless you all and thank you so much for the prayers I can feel the love. And I know he hears us and he will take care of us.


Friends, you know we serve a mighty big God so will you join me in asking big? I'm praying for the biopsy to come back clean, no evidence of cancer. Also will you pray for Scotty, Amy's brother. He is feeling unloved and not special. If you have any ideas on how to make him feel loved, please send a message to Etta. You can send a friend request to her Facebook page here.

Matthew 4:23-24 NASB 

Jesus was going throughout all Galilee,

teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom,

and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

The news about Him spread throughout all Syria;

and they brought to Him all who were ill,

those suffering with various diseases and pains,

demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.

Praying and praying,

<><

EDIT: Update: Beautiful Light & Katie

Google Image

 EDIT: New update from Beautiful Light

Yesterday morning, while I was praying, I got a text message from a dear friend. In short, she said that God had been nudging her to make her 3 bedroom condominium unit located in an upscale, beautiful place of ----- available to me and my daughter to live in while we are searching for a place of our own to move to. The unit is for sale, but at the moment there are no takers yet.
Lets hear a PRAISE GOD!!!!
Prayer warriors, I have an update from Beautiful Light and Turquoise. The following is taken from a recent email:

...we have found a little bachelor's pad not too far away from where we live that is for rent. It is very small, with only a tiny kitchen and one toilet and bath, but it is currently occupied and the tenant's contract ends on September 30.

It is good enough for my daughter and her maid and her dog, and to start with, we will have to buy a few basic furniture - two beds, some chairs and a table at least, a kitchen stove and other kitchen essentials, as we are not taking any with us.

We plan to move out of our ancestral home by Oct 1,. PLEASE PRAY THAT THE CURRENT TENANT MOVES OUT SEPT 30. HE SEEMS INCLINED TO STAY EVEN IF THE CONTRACT ENDS BY MONTH END.

Pray also for the spirit of Elijah and the spirit of Jehu to arise in me that this evil diabolic spirit of manipulation, control, and greed will be disarmed and toppled down.

Please continue to pray for God's financial spiritual provisions, as well as the wisdom to know the right action to take.

This is only a temporary step. Turquoise my daughter and I feel that there is a new home of God's choosing and God's providing available for us... 

Update from Katie:

Katie had a Bone Marrow biopsy done, and although quite painful, we received the results back today.  They came back negative, meaning that it is not in her bone marrow, which is phenomenal news!  At the present moment, we have not received many answers that tell us exactly what Katie has and how to treat it, but tomorrow they will run the PET scan and get the rest of the biopsy results back that will bring conclusive answers and how to start treatment.  Right now, we're hoping to start treatment on either Monday or Tuesday. 

Please continue to hold these two sisters up to our Lord. Crystal Mary posted a comment praying the following verse over Katie. Let's claim this for both of our sisters!

Google Image

Isaiah 54:17 NKJV

"No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their righteousness is from Me, Says the LORD."