I Am Here, Adele and Hadley

"You are gone and I don't like it!" was a message in my fb messages. There were a couple of more all along the same line, basically asking the same question. "Where are you?" This tells me that perhaps I am too vocal on fb if of all the people on fb, I am missed. It is both amusing and baffling. The truth is though that I am not gone. I am here. I just simply ran out of things to say or maybe more accurately I focused what I did have to say on what was most important in my life right now. Social media simply falls short in the big scheme of things.

There is much going on inside of me at the moment. I am still trying to slay big beasts, trying to organize both my life and my thoughts, trying to figure out how we will survive financially after the first of June, wondering if David will ever walk, preparing Z for prom tonight and graduation in a couple of weeks and then dealing with some new stuff which has both caught me off guard and honestly at times......left me speechless. Shocking....right? I figured when I am rendered speechless then it is really time to step back and re-evaluate the big picture. 

I actually have much to say but it is all bunched up in my brain. Some of it will eventually come out in one blog or the other and some will stay within me, be fixed.....or not and then put away in a place deep inside that no one dare touches. I guess today is the first day of me testing the waters of blogging to see what breaks loose and makes it onto the blog. 

If you remember there are two little girls that I have been praying for and writing updates on from time to time. One, a little girl named Adele , who at the young age of 18 months and right at one year ago, was diagnosed with a very rare brain tumor. With the rarity of the tumor and her age, the odds have been against her this entire journey. Adele is the youngest of four kids and for the last year her parents Melissa and Pete have divided their time traveling back and forth to KC, St. Louis and OKC getting treatment for their little girl while still keeping the home fires burning and making sure the other kids don't feel left out. They have refused to let cancer rule their lives. 

Adele spent much of the last year having surgery and receiving both chemo and radiation. The side effects often are almost worse than the disease and Melissa and Pete were warned that they could have one very sick little girl on their hands. Time and again though, Adele beat the odds and when the doctors said that they didn't think the treatment would actually shrink the tumor, she beat them again as it shrunk about 70%. I attribute all of this to prayer, as Melissa and the family never stopped praying and she was never shy about begging for prayers from others because at a time like this, you could have all the money in the world and it would not change the outcome, but one selfless prayer could bring on a miracle and that is what this family is looking for. After the first of the year, Adele finished up the last of the trial. What was left of the tumors which originated in the brain and spread to the spine, were smaller and stable. Now they waited. 

The family was all under one roof again and if Melissa and Pete had learned nothing over the last year, they learned that life was precious and to live each moment. To Melissa this meant being present in all of her children's lives and activities and getting back to normal things like grocery shopping, sibling arguments and simply hanging out as a family. This family being able to achieve this in the face of such fear is amazing and one of the reasons Melissa is my hero. Her faith has inspired me through this ordeal. Then, about two weeks ago, Adele began crying with her leg and having trouble walking. Melissa's heart stopped knowing this could be a sign that the cancer was active again. After an MRI, Melissa's fears were confirmed. Her two tumors are still stable but another one is growing. This is devastating news especially when the doctors once again are warning the couple that Adele's chances of surviving this are very small. They are currently looking for a new trial and Melissa is very well aware that this means more time away from her other kids, more time in hospitals and the need for many, many, many more prayers. She is begging and I decided to help her beg. No child, no family, no human should have to go through this disease. Please, before you go to bed, when you wake up or while you are reading this, say a little prayer for Adele.....for her life, her future and for her family. 

                                                                                                                                                           

Then there is the other little girl....Hadley. Hadley was a bit older than Adele and I believe her tumor was abdominal. It is a more common childhood cancer than Adele's but common does not mean a walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination. Hadley is the granddaughter of a girl I graduated high school with. Just a few years ago the family had gone through cancer when Hadley's grandpa both battled the disease and won, so you can only imagine what a gut shot to the family it was when in the mid part of last year Hadley was diagnosed. 

Like Adele, Hadley and her family have traveled all over for her treatment and their final destination was NYC. This is where she has had surgery and is currently undergoing treatment. Her last scans were clear but the follow up treatment is rather rough on her, both raising her blood pressure and her heart rate. I know it is a scary ordeal for her parents and family, but Hadley looks to be kicking some cancer butt! Again, I don't believe this would have happened without prayer. So if you have been praying for Hadley.....please keep it up and if this is the first you have heard of it, please say a little prayer that this little girl has a long and happy life ahead.

So this is what fell out today. Interesting, because I had no idea what I would blog about as I sat down to type. Two little girls, only months apart fighting two different versions of the same beast. Both families are walking the line of fear and hope while looking for the normal that was left behind a long time ago. Why do babies have to suffer, intimately know the inside of hospitals or endure sticks, test and procedures that would make an adult cry? Why do their families have to live in fear that they will out live their child, watch their child suffer and feel the guilt of not being their for the rest of the family? Perhaps the answer is that these little girls and their families are being used as an example of faith and hope. Both families beg prayer and yet both families also know that God's plan may not be the outcome they desire and yet still they pray. They continue on with life trying to find the moments of joy, happiness and peace when they can...... and looking life straight in the eye and facing it straight on.....the rest of the time. 

We hope for the best. We pray our hope is justified......and when a miracle occurs.....and trust me, there is ALWAYS a miracle.......we know that we have been heard and that we are not alone!