There is this post...the one that's been at the top of my blog for about 2 months now! The one about Luke. Well, I just couldn't resist sharing a part of his mom's most recent post from the Caring Bridge site.
"Today has been a bit harder for Luke. He is definitely feeling sick and tired, although his attitude still continues to amaze me. (If you're on Facebook you already saw this, but I have to say it again!! ) Today while he had his head over a puke bucket he looked up at me and said "Besides all this barfing and pooping, it still is a good day." Then he said, pointing to his head, "I still am happy in here and nothing can take that away." WOW! This kid amazes me!! I am so proud of him."
Not only does he amaze his mom...he amazes me as well. In fact...he humbles me.
To read the full post and stay updated on Luke's battle with cancer you can ALWAYS check out their family journal on the caring bridge website.
Keep praying! Luke just finished up radiation. He's on an intense round of chemo right now and bone marrow transplant is this week. PRAY PRAY PRAY!
Showing posts with label Luke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luke. Show all posts
Monday, June 8, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Be a Prayer Warrior for Luke!
When you leave a prayer of encouragement on the prayer site for Luke and his family I will add a link to Luke's prayer chain.
This time I wanted Luke to know that just as many...and maybe EVEN MORE PEOPLE are praying for him this time! So won't you join the prayer chain and be a prayer warrior for LUKE!
PLEASE remember to lift this family up in your prayer everyday! Pray for Luke's complete and total healing here on earth!!! Prayer that God's glory would be revealed through the complete healing of Luke. Pray that cancer would be completely eradicated from Luke's life once and for all!! Pray for STRENGTH for Luke's parents, Vikki and Steve. Also, please be praying for Luke's brother and sister that God would comfort them and would continue to be their source of hope!
Please ask others to pray as well. Spread the word by posting about praying for Luke on your blog and ask people to PRAY! When you post add the button below to the post and to your sidebar so that people can click on it and get to the prayer site to join the prayer chain!
Encourage others to PRAY 4 LUKE!
(copy/paste into your own
website or blog):
(copy/paste into your own
website or blog):
Thursday, April 2, 2009
It's overwhelming.....
I spent the last hour rabbit trailing from blog to blog as I clicked on sidebar buttons that were asking for prayer. I also visited a few caring bridge sites. It's sort of emotionally paralyzing. Even having a friend going through the process of having a child who is fighting cancer, I basically go through my day like any other person. True, they come to mind several times a day, and when they do...I pray for them, but I'm not LIVING it the way the are. The way SO MANY people are in this world.
When I said before that it's sort of emotionally paralyzing...I mean that my mind, my heart kind of want to just shut down. It's easier NOT to care too much. It's easier to quickly click out of the site because it's so heavy and unimaginable.
But those families can't just click out of the situation they are in, and as UNIMAGINABLE as it is...they are living the reality every moment of everyday. For many the reality includes loneliness. So many people with sick children have to go to special hospitals, and often those hospitals are not near where they live. So families are separated as one parent stays with their sick child at the hospital and the other stays home with the other children, or to work. The bills don't stop when your child is fighting a horrible disease! In fact they most likely increase!!
I'm just struck this evening by how crazy life is and how disconnected we are to what's going on around us sometimes. I'm struck by how blessed I am to have two healthy children and how basically I totally and completely take that for granted.
My friend who's son (Luke) is fighting AML is an amazing person who so easily can talk to people and truly relate with them on a personal level. She has a gift. When Luke was in the hospital last time and I would go to visit I often saw her having conversations with the other parents and observed the heartfelt love she gave to them in those brief moments. Over the last year she attended NUMEROUS funerals. Funerals of children. WOW....so many of us are so oblivious. Oblivious to the pain that is going on around us. It's everywhere...and it's overwhelming.
I'm processing as I'm writing this. I guess that's my point in posting about it.
I needed to process my thoughts.
When I said before that it's sort of emotionally paralyzing...I mean that my mind, my heart kind of want to just shut down. It's easier NOT to care too much. It's easier to quickly click out of the site because it's so heavy and unimaginable.
But those families can't just click out of the situation they are in, and as UNIMAGINABLE as it is...they are living the reality every moment of everyday. For many the reality includes loneliness. So many people with sick children have to go to special hospitals, and often those hospitals are not near where they live. So families are separated as one parent stays with their sick child at the hospital and the other stays home with the other children, or to work. The bills don't stop when your child is fighting a horrible disease! In fact they most likely increase!!
I'm just struck this evening by how crazy life is and how disconnected we are to what's going on around us sometimes. I'm struck by how blessed I am to have two healthy children and how basically I totally and completely take that for granted.
My friend who's son (Luke) is fighting AML is an amazing person who so easily can talk to people and truly relate with them on a personal level. She has a gift. When Luke was in the hospital last time and I would go to visit I often saw her having conversations with the other parents and observed the heartfelt love she gave to them in those brief moments. Over the last year she attended NUMEROUS funerals. Funerals of children. WOW....so many of us are so oblivious. Oblivious to the pain that is going on around us. It's everywhere...and it's overwhelming.
I'm processing as I'm writing this. I guess that's my point in posting about it.
I needed to process my thoughts.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
My heart is breaking for my friends...
About a year and a half ago I posted about some family friends who had just learned that their son Luke had cancer (AML - leukemia). Shortly after that I started a blog called 500 prayers for Luke, because Luke had said his wish was that 500 people would pray for him. So many of you reached out to this family and lifted them up in prayer. As the next 6 months went on the prayers continued and we all watched while Luke continued to amaze the doctors with his bodies positive response to the treatment. Whether it was chemo or the bone marrow treatment...everything went just about as well as it could. Just a little over a year ago the bone marrow transplant was a success and Luke went home cancer free. For the past year this family has treasured every minute of life together and has given God all the glory both in the hard times and the times of celebration.
Today.....one of the hard times came. Luke's cancer is back. I've included their post from Luke's Caring Bridge site for today. Please read it and remember to be praying for this family. Feel free to leave them a note of prayer and encouragement at the caring bridge site....even if you don't know them. Last time they were sooooo encouraged by the prayers and well wishes of complete strangers.
here is their letter from today......
We met with Dr. Lamkin today and learned of the results of Luke's last bone marrow test. The results are not good. The leukemia is back, and we will need to restart treatment.
There was a tiny trace of cancer cells (too small to find in earlier test... but they were there), and those cells have multiplied to the point that they are now 15% of his bone marrow cells. Luke definitely is not at a point where he is feeling any ill effects of the leukemia; however, left untreated, he would get very sick very soon.
We have no reasonable option other than to start chemo again. Luke will receive another round of treatment (maybe more rounds, maybe radiation... we'll know more later) and will have another bone marrow transplant. Since both Jake and Tori are a match, we'll discuss with the doctors later who would be a better donor this time around.
After the appointment, we went home and shared the news with our kids. Those kids are amazing the way they responded! They understand (much better than last time) some of the challenges that lie ahead. They know that this is very real, but they are ready for this. God quite literally has graced them with a peace and a strength in the face of new fears.
So all of this new adventure will begin with Luke getting a new Hickman catheter (central line) in his chest. This might be early next week, but it is not yet scheduled. Luke will then become a resident of Doernbecher once again, and will start a new round of intense treatment.
Oh, by the way... as if all of this wasn't crazy enough, Tori fell down our stairs last night and received a minor concussion. We had to take her to the emergency room for a CT scan, and didn't get home until after 3:00 this morning. Now Tori has a bright red nose and two black eyes -- and she is a flower girl in a wedding this Saturday!!
You would think that all of this should be too much to handle. Well, it is! I'm mean, c'mon! This is ridiculous! Here's the truth: We are heartbroken. We are in pain. We are having fearful thoughts. This is very hard. BUT it is also true, at the very same time, that the Lord is carrying all of us right now. This is what is meant by 'the peace of God, that surpasses understanding..'
So, please pray for healing for Luke, for God to protect his body from all the potentially vicious and life-threatening side-effects of the treatment, for protection on the hearts and minds of each of our kids (Jake and Tori have been in the 'backseat' before, and it's not easy), for our faith to prove true in this new test of endurance, and pray that God would be glorified through all of this.
It's a lot to pray for. God is big enough!
Steve
Today.....one of the hard times came. Luke's cancer is back. I've included their post from Luke's Caring Bridge site for today. Please read it and remember to be praying for this family. Feel free to leave them a note of prayer and encouragement at the caring bridge site....even if you don't know them. Last time they were sooooo encouraged by the prayers and well wishes of complete strangers.
here is their letter from today......
We met with Dr. Lamkin today and learned of the results of Luke's last bone marrow test. The results are not good. The leukemia is back, and we will need to restart treatment.
There was a tiny trace of cancer cells (too small to find in earlier test... but they were there), and those cells have multiplied to the point that they are now 15% of his bone marrow cells. Luke definitely is not at a point where he is feeling any ill effects of the leukemia; however, left untreated, he would get very sick very soon.
We have no reasonable option other than to start chemo again. Luke will receive another round of treatment (maybe more rounds, maybe radiation... we'll know more later) and will have another bone marrow transplant. Since both Jake and Tori are a match, we'll discuss with the doctors later who would be a better donor this time around.
After the appointment, we went home and shared the news with our kids. Those kids are amazing the way they responded! They understand (much better than last time) some of the challenges that lie ahead. They know that this is very real, but they are ready for this. God quite literally has graced them with a peace and a strength in the face of new fears.
So all of this new adventure will begin with Luke getting a new Hickman catheter (central line) in his chest. This might be early next week, but it is not yet scheduled. Luke will then become a resident of Doernbecher once again, and will start a new round of intense treatment.
Oh, by the way... as if all of this wasn't crazy enough, Tori fell down our stairs last night and received a minor concussion. We had to take her to the emergency room for a CT scan, and didn't get home until after 3:00 this morning. Now Tori has a bright red nose and two black eyes -- and she is a flower girl in a wedding this Saturday!!
You would think that all of this should be too much to handle. Well, it is! I'm mean, c'mon! This is ridiculous! Here's the truth: We are heartbroken. We are in pain. We are having fearful thoughts. This is very hard. BUT it is also true, at the very same time, that the Lord is carrying all of us right now. This is what is meant by 'the peace of God, that surpasses understanding..'
So, please pray for healing for Luke, for God to protect his body from all the potentially vicious and life-threatening side-effects of the treatment, for protection on the hearts and minds of each of our kids (Jake and Tori have been in the 'backseat' before, and it's not easy), for our faith to prove true in this new test of endurance, and pray that God would be glorified through all of this.
It's a lot to pray for. God is big enough!
Steve
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Delivering the blessings from all of YOU
Today I got to go to the hospital and visit Luke. I took the stars that I had and the booklet filled with all the prayers I had received as of 10:45 am this morning.
As I showed Luke how many pages (6 so far) of stars there were and how many people were praying for him his eyes just got big, his face smiled and I think he was a little embarrassed even. It was really sweet.
The family felt really blessed and overwhelmed. Vikki didn't read through any of the prayers at that time, as she says she likes to do stuff like that at night when Luke is sleeping.
Vikki said that today was a good day for Luke. He looked just great and it was good to watch him smile and play games.
I had an eye opening experience while I was at Doernbecher today. I didn't really realize that people come from all over the country to be treated there. There is one lady who has a 3 year old with a rare cancer in Doernbecher and an infant at home. They live in North Dakota I think. She comes for a month to stay with her daughter and then goes home and grandma comes to stay for a month. Can you imagine? So many kids and families are there without friends and family all around because their friends and family are half way across the country.
What a blessing for the Jensen family to be here near this wonderful facility and to be able to have friends and family dropping by all the time.
The Jensens have started journaling about Luke's battle with Leukemia on a caring bridge website that they have set up. You can visit their site by clicking here. Once you are there you can subscribe to be updated when they post journal entries.
As I showed Luke how many pages (6 so far) of stars there were and how many people were praying for him his eyes just got big, his face smiled and I think he was a little embarrassed even. It was really sweet.
The family felt really blessed and overwhelmed. Vikki didn't read through any of the prayers at that time, as she says she likes to do stuff like that at night when Luke is sleeping.
Vikki said that today was a good day for Luke. He looked just great and it was good to watch him smile and play games.
I had an eye opening experience while I was at Doernbecher today. I didn't really realize that people come from all over the country to be treated there. There is one lady who has a 3 year old with a rare cancer in Doernbecher and an infant at home. They live in North Dakota I think. She comes for a month to stay with her daughter and then goes home and grandma comes to stay for a month. Can you imagine? So many kids and families are there without friends and family all around because their friends and family are half way across the country.
What a blessing for the Jensen family to be here near this wonderful facility and to be able to have friends and family dropping by all the time.
The Jensens have started journaling about Luke's battle with Leukemia on a caring bridge website that they have set up. You can visit their site by clicking here. Once you are there you can subscribe to be updated when they post journal entries.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Guest Book
I completed the Guests & Prayers book for Luke's hospital room. It will be something the family can have there so that when people come they can sign the book and if they want they can write a prayer in there as well.
Tomorrow I'm headed to the hospital to deliver this gift as well as a binder filled with all of the prayers that have been left for Luke and his family so far. I will continue to fill the binder each time I visit with all the new prayers that come in.
I will also be bringing all of the stars with me that I have so far. It has taken 6 posters filled with stars. I used 3 different sized stars. Large for those who posted as a family, medium for individuals, and small for the anonymous prayers. I'll get a better feel for it tomorrow, but I may need to resort to only using small stars so that we don't run out of wall space!
It's been overwhelming to see all of the prayers pouring in and how far Luke's story has reached. It really shows that in this big world we are bound by Christ into one small family. Keep those prayers coming. I've set up a new blog for Luke's prayers. You can check it out here.
I'm so excited to go give these things to them tomorrow and just watch how the Lord blesses them through everybody's prayers.
Monday, October 8, 2007
It seems weird
I'm having trouble posting something after the posts about Luke. It seems weird to post a craft or something like that. It all seems so silly and trivial. I felt like I needed to clarify that, yet at the same time there is no denying that life continues to go on in the midst of everything.
I'm headed to the craft store today to get some supplies. I'm going to make a guest book for Luke's hospital room. I bought a notebook already and now I need to go get some paper and embellishments to alter it. I also need to check out my options for cutting out those 500 stars. I'm hoping to find a sizable star punch. I'll post pics of the guest book when it is completed.
I'm headed to the craft store today to get some supplies. I'm going to make a guest book for Luke's hospital room. I bought a notebook already and now I need to go get some paper and embellishments to alter it. I also need to check out my options for cutting out those 500 stars. I'm hoping to find a sizable star punch. I'll post pics of the guest book when it is completed.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
500 Prayers for Luke - Will you Pray?
TO MAKE POSTING YOUR COMMENT/PRAYERS EASIER I AM REDIRECTING EVERYBODY TO A NEW BLOG I SET UP FOR LUKE'S PRAYERS - PLEASE CLICK HERE TO POST YOUR PRAYER FOR LUKE!
Our friends son Luke, who will soon be 7 years old, was just recently diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. I was talking with Luke's Aunt the other day and she told me a story about how someone asked him what he wanted. He replied with two answers. He said that he wanted "100....no 500 prayers." Then he said that "before he left the hospital he wanted a needle so that he could give every doctor a shot." Well, I don't think there's much we can do about the shots, but we can give him 500 prayers.
So here is the idea I have. If you already have been, or you will commit to praying for Luke and would like to be a part of his 500 prayers just leave a comment with your name, the state you live in and your prayer for Luke.
I am doing both of the following with all the comments:
1. Put your name on a blue star (Luke's favorite color is blue) and taking them to Luke's hospital room and hanging them on the wall so that Luke will have a visual reminder each day that he has his 500 prayers.
2. I am making a booklet for Luke with all of the names and prayers and bringing it to him to have in his room as a tangible reminder of his 500 prayers.
If you are a local...SHHHHH...don't tell Steve and Vikki. I'd like it to be a surprise. Spread the word! I'd like to get these to Luke as quickly as possible so that he can see just how many people are praying for him.
Comment Below!! If you got here by clicking on a link from an email that was forwarded to you, you will need to scroll all the way down to click on the words "post a comment" to post your comment. If you got here by just coming the the eightcrazy blog itself then just click directly below where it says how many comments have been left.
Our friends son Luke, who will soon be 7 years old, was just recently diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. I was talking with Luke's Aunt the other day and she told me a story about how someone asked him what he wanted. He replied with two answers. He said that he wanted "100....no 500 prayers." Then he said that "before he left the hospital he wanted a needle so that he could give every doctor a shot." Well, I don't think there's much we can do about the shots, but we can give him 500 prayers.
So here is the idea I have. If you already have been, or you will commit to praying for Luke and would like to be a part of his 500 prayers just leave a comment with your name, the state you live in and your prayer for Luke.
I am doing both of the following with all the comments:
1. Put your name on a blue star (Luke's favorite color is blue) and taking them to Luke's hospital room and hanging them on the wall so that Luke will have a visual reminder each day that he has his 500 prayers.
2. I am making a booklet for Luke with all of the names and prayers and bringing it to him to have in his room as a tangible reminder of his 500 prayers.
If you are a local...SHHHHH...don't tell Steve and Vikki. I'd like it to be a surprise. Spread the word! I'd like to get these to Luke as quickly as possible so that he can see just how many people are praying for him.
Comment Below!! If you got here by clicking on a link from an email that was forwarded to you, you will need to scroll all the way down to click on the words "post a comment" to post your comment. If you got here by just coming the the eightcrazy blog itself then just click directly below where it says how many comments have been left.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Urgent Prayer Request
This was originally posted on Trish's blog. Steve, Vikki, and their entire family are long time family friends of ours. Please pray daily for their son Luke!!!
We have some friends whose seven year old son has just been diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. Please lift this family up in your prayers. They are embarking on a season of life that no family ever should have to endure.
Luke is beginning chemotherapy immediately, and while the statistics for this type of leukemia are scary, we believe that God is capable of miracles.
The sepcific requests from the dad at this point are:
1. A "brave heart" for Luke (he has a fear of needles!)
2. A new form of normalcy for their family, especially the two other children as their mom and brother will be away at the hospital for an extended period for treatment.
3. That God will be glorified through all this.
4. Healing for Luke
Here is a quote from Steve's (the dad) e-mail that was sent shortly after the diagnosis:
"Praise the Lord! The Lord is good all the time, and He truly has been good to us. He is strong enough to accomplish whatever He wills. He is the only One who loves Luke even more than Vikki and I. I don't know (thankfully) what lies ahead of us, but I absolutely know that God is good!"
We have some friends whose seven year old son has just been diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. Please lift this family up in your prayers. They are embarking on a season of life that no family ever should have to endure.
Luke is beginning chemotherapy immediately, and while the statistics for this type of leukemia are scary, we believe that God is capable of miracles.
The sepcific requests from the dad at this point are:
1. A "brave heart" for Luke (he has a fear of needles!)
2. A new form of normalcy for their family, especially the two other children as their mom and brother will be away at the hospital for an extended period for treatment.
3. That God will be glorified through all this.
4. Healing for Luke
Here is a quote from Steve's (the dad) e-mail that was sent shortly after the diagnosis:
"Praise the Lord! The Lord is good all the time, and He truly has been good to us. He is strong enough to accomplish whatever He wills. He is the only One who loves Luke even more than Vikki and I. I don't know (thankfully) what lies ahead of us, but I absolutely know that God is good!"
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