prayer requests and updates

Hello Friends

Hope you are all well, lots of prayer requests and great updates for today:

LOREN, GAUTENG , SOUTH AFRICA – PRAYING HARD FOR LITTLE LUCY LOREN AND FOR YOU ALL:

My heart is breaking because little Lucy went in for surgery on her 3-month birthday last week Tuesday to try and join her oesophagus and her stomach, but the surgeons were unable to get it right. They ‘left her open’ in the hope that they could stretch the oesophagus enough within the week to complete the operation – however see the update as of today:

Lucy’s “stretching procedure” is going well however on Saturday her left lung collapsed and the doctors had to act very quickly to stabilise her and on Sunday she had to have a blood transfusion, her little body is battling to keep up. The paediatrician is very concerned, the surgeon hopes he can perform the attachment within the next few days .

At this point I don’t know if Lucy will make it and any and all prayers will be needed – please help?

Attached is a picture of my cousin Jarrod, Jack and little Lucy.

Thanks girls – I know you guys have a strong prayer network and every last prayer will help!


ZITA, GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA – PRAYERS WITH YOU ALL Z, PLEASE LET US KNOW HOW LUIS GRAN IS TOMMOROW

Please could your circulate this for prayers. Luis gran slipped and fell at her house on Saturday morning and cracked her hip. The doctors say that they have to do a whole hip replacement. The operation is scheduled for tomorrow. She is in hospital and in a lot of pain, they are giving her injections to help relieve the pain. I pray for a successful operation and a speedy recovery thereafter. She is 72 years old.



UPDATE ON CONNORS SCANS, WE ARE SO THRILLED FOR YOU ALL:

I know it has been quite a while and don't worry we have been around but it has been very stressfull as Connor had his scans. After a long and frustrating wait we finally have the reports and opinions from the CT and MIBG scans that Connor had recently, and the consensus from both oncologists is that the chemo and radiation have had the desired effect and the mild progression has been stopped. The new spots in the lung that appeared in the July scans have responded to the antibiotics that Connor has been on, confirming that they relate to an infection and not new disease. It was a bit difficult to get a conclusive opinion from the MIBG scan as it was done here in Cape Town, the first MIBG since May 2006 that was not done in NY. The report concluded that the 2 spots we have been treating (sacrum and femur) were less intense then the July scan from NY, with no other spots showing positive - the scans done in NY always refer to "grossly-stable lesions in the axial and appendicular skeleton" so we are not sure how significant the effect of scanning at different centres is. But we will gladly take stable at worst, with possible improvement!The good news for Connor is this means no more chemo, and he will now move onto a maintenance protocol of Thalidamide and Celebrex. The NY team originally recommended Revlimid and Celebrex, but getting Revlimid in South Africa is just prohibitively expensive and the patient-assistance program from the manufacturer is not available outside of the US at the moment. Connor also played his first cricket match today and our school won, wish you were there to see the smile on his face when they were told that they won. It is so nice to see him smiling more than usual and I think it is also because we told him no more chemo. When I told him the news his first words were "will I have hair by Christmas" and that he is so happy no more chemo. Thanks again for checking in on us and for keeping Connor in your thoughts and prayers but we will continue to stay positive and try to live "normal" again. Till next time.
PLEASE CONTINUE THE PRAYERS


UPDATE ON KATES SCANS, PRAYERS CONTINUE FOR GREAT GREAT NED SCAN RESULTS:

Hooray for a bit of weekend relief! Late this afternoon Kate's oncologist called. He let us know that the consulting radiologist would NOT have flagged her MIBG scan. To be on the safe side and erase any doubt our oncologist recommended getting a CT scan next week. So, scan week isn't over and we can't officially say NED yet. We'll call on Monday morning and try to get the first available CT appointment they will offer. We are so very anxious to put this behind us! We cannot thank you enough - our friends, family and supporters - for all the wonderful notes of support, prayers and positive energy you have sent. More to come next week but for now we have a few days to relax and regroup.


PLEASE CONTINUE THE PRAYERS


UPDATE ON ELOISES DAD – PRAYERS CONTINUE ELIE FOR YOUR DAD TO HAVE A SPEEDY TOTAL RECOVER AND REMAIN CANCER FREE

Elies Dad is now out of icu and in a normal ward and doing much better, please continue your prayers