In Need of a Miracle, Again

by Martha

I just spent the evening having dinner with my good friend, Juli, and well, the kids too. Edward is on call tonight, along with Juli's husband, Bryce. Juli and Bryce are probably are closest friends here at Ft. Bragg; they are a year behind us in the residency program, so they'll be here another year. Bryce is taking over Edward's office as one of the incoming chief residents. Nolan, their son, makes occassional appearances on the blog, as he's a great friend to Madison and Luke (and helps to keep them entertained while Juli and I get brief moments of sanity).

I'd like to say our dinner conversation was fun and uplifting, but it was far from it. The past two months, Juli's niece, Abby, has been taking chemo to beat a brain tumor. Abby is four years old. I've never met Abby, but I feel like I have known this sweet little girl forever. Sadly, this isn't Abby's first bout with a brain tumor. At 18 months old, she was first diagnosed with a tumor, and after surgery and weeks of chemo and radiation, she was found to be cancer free. Frequent cancer checkups kept things looking positive; Abby seemed to have beaten the cancer. Then, just a couple of months ago, the cancer was not only back, but it had spread to another part of the brain.

Abby has spent the past six weeks undergoing a new chemo treatment at St. Jude's Hospital. A scan last week provided devestating results. Not only is the tumor still there, it has grown to five times the size it was just six weeks earlier. In just a matter of days, Abby has been pulled from the clinical trial at St. Judes and is back home in Nebraska. Her family is seeking other routes. Juli and I spent our dinner talking about this.

As a parent, I cannot even begin to imagine what this would be like. I look at my own two beautiful children and just can't bear the thought something like this happens to any child. Then, looking from Juli's perspective, this is her niece. I have a niece the same age, just four years old. While preschoolers think they own the world, they are still just babies...innocent babies who don't deserve such a lot in life.

Abby has had one miracle already in her lifetime. God granted her life after cancer once before. I ask that you pray for a miracle, for someone you don't even know because that's what I'm doing. Even if you don't have kids, just imagine what this could be like...it could be your niece or nephew, anyone. Cancer is awful and doesn't discriminate. This has been weighing heavily on me since Juli first told me about Abby's diagnosis. And, pray for her family. They are the adults who have to make sense of this, question where God is in all of this, wonder how they will get through all of this.

Sorry if I brought anyone down by this posting. This blog is usually the "happy place" where my kids show themselves, but I am so bothered by this I had to ask you to pray for a miracle.