Hi Everyone

Hello Deqlans Army

Sorry we have been so quiet - its been a whirl wind week with lots of ups and downs !

Where do i begin?

Friday....oh boy....Nanna was still sick in bed and I needed to come and print a few things here at the office. Deqlans eye looked a little swollen to me but i didnt worry to much about it. When leaving Nannas house , Nanna also commented on Deqlans eye looking swollen and my heart immediately sank....we both had a good look and could definitely see swelling on the bottom of the eyebrow....panic....i called Dr Dejager and while chatting to him, decided that it could be remoulding of the bone , as has happened in the past when Deqlans eye was healing, and i said we would keep on eye on it.

I decided to take Deqlan home again and we put him back in his car chair, holding the keys as he always does, but then we closed both doors at the same time and just as we thought - Deqlan has the keys! , he locked the car , from the inside!!!!!!!!!! More panic! Luckily Grandpa came to the rescue as he always does, and got the window out , yes , it shattered, but that didnt matter as long as it didnt hurt Deqlan, and we got the keys to open the car again and let Deqlan out - what a relief....Deqlan LOVES keys and normally we are so conscious about where they are, but through the worry and panic ..this happened...needless to say Nanna and I where in more of a panic now and just so grateful to get Deqlan out the car ok.

We spent the weekend praying and trusting and praying and asking and being still and we saw slight improvements on the eye.

Monday morning was not good for me - again, panic, worry , a million thoughts through my head....but i just sat with Deqlan on my lap and prayed and read the Bible and other books. I opened a book called Healed from Cancer on a random page, and it said I REBUKE FEAR, FEAR IS NOT FROM GOD, AND I DEMAND YOU TO LEAVE MY BODY THIS VERY INSTANT. So I said this a few times and continued to say it through the day and I started feeling more at peace. I continued to pray and pray and pray and Deqlans eye started looking much better by lunch time.

Yesterday was a definite improvement and today looks almost normal!

Thank You Dear Lord, for hearing my prayers, for healing Deqlans eye , for being by me every step of this journey, every second of every day, every thought & every worry

Deqlan is so active at the moment, and has tumbles and bumps all the time, that this is what happened, he bumped that area of his eye and because the bone is still not completely set, it was disturbed and took a beating and swelled up - looks like we are back in the healing process and all looking great again

Please say an extra special prayer for our Deqlan , that his eye continues to heal and that he remains NED forever

This journey still remains frightening at times - and as we have all realised this week ,every temperature, bump, bruise will cause us to stop and ask - WHATS THAT? Our Faith stregthens with each day and I will not let anything let us doubt Gods miracles in Deqlan and His Healing in our soldier.

As you know, we follow a lot of the NB and other cancer kids around the world, and it seems that a lot of us feel like we just needed a break for a while to let things sink in , in our own heads and minds and to find ways of dealing with our journeys- thank you for continuing to check in on us while i had my little break away!

Deqlan is doing very well! He is still battling his cold, still has a very chesty cough and we are battling to get rid of it, cause he doesnt understand to cough the awful stuff out! We are trying everything to avoid physio, cause that means tying him down and he HATES that let alone them suctioning something out of his nose or mouth - so we got a few excercises from the physio and we have been working on these !

Speech and occupational therapy went well yesterday - but Deqlan is definitely wanting to be around children and it is vital for his further development - it so difficult because he is sick at the moment, but also because his immune system is not yet where it should be , and the chemo cancelled his vaccinations, so he has no immunity to the dangerous childhood diseases like measles and chicken pox etc so we still have to be very careful until we start with the vaccinations again in October. We are going to perhaps work on a plan of trying to get 1 or 2 specific friends of Deqlans age, that dont go to a creche and not around other sick kids and of course are not sick themselves - we are hoping to get some play time together even if its once a week, but we still have to be very careful especially during winter .

I know that this is very important in Deqlans development especially now during his therapy - i know he needs someone to talk with and share with and run with , so praying about this to !

We continue to hear such terrible news the past few days in the nb world of children that have relapsed, those who have lost hope, and today I was so shocked and saddened to read about Kata going home to be with The Lord. Kata was 4 years old and was treated in Cape Town, she had a stem cell transplant and things where looking so good - she picked up a rare virus in march , but then recovered. Apparently 2 weeks ago, she complained about leg pain , they did scans and found there was nothing more they could do and she went home and wend to be with The Lord 3 days later. Please pray for Kata to be safe in Jesus arms, i know she is, and pray for her family to.

Please, please do all that you can to spread the word, to help us fundraise, to come up with funds for more research to be done,more trials to develop , more children to be saved. Please continue writing to Oprah and Ellen and anyone who could possibly help bring awareness and hope and the path to a cure !

Please continue to pray for Deqlan and all our friends in South Africa and around the world , Lord graciously hear us.

Let us know how you are , Gods richest Blessings on you all
Lots of love
Mark, Samm & Deqlan

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD