What Cancer Cannot Do
Author: Unknown
Cancer is so limited...
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the Spirit.
Finding Joy in Every Step
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Update on Judah - April 10, 2011
Thank you all so much for praying for Judah. We realize that it has been a while since we have written an update, sorry for that.
Judah is now in the beginning of phase 3 for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. Thanks to God the first two phases were fairly uneventful. He remains happy and is maintaining his weight which is a wonderful blessing.
Phase 3 has been hard on him. He was in the hospital for 9 days! The chemo he got lingered in his system for over 10 days and did some slight cell damage in his kidneys. In response to this his blood pressure also went up, indicating that his sytem was just working hard. Once the chemo clears all the way his kidneys will begin to repair themselves. As of now the kidney tests are showing some improvement so we are relived and trust there will be a full recovery.
We will have to do this same treatment 3 more times to complete phase 3. Next week we will all sit down (our family, the doctors and nurses) and re-evaluate Judah's response to the first treatment and make neccessary chages to try to avoid a repeat of last week.
We will certainly keep you updated as things progress - we typically keep facebook posts current. Again, thank you all for praying and walking through this with us. Judah is not alone!
Blessings,
The Andrews
Judah is now in the beginning of phase 3 for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. Thanks to God the first two phases were fairly uneventful. He remains happy and is maintaining his weight which is a wonderful blessing.
Phase 3 has been hard on him. He was in the hospital for 9 days! The chemo he got lingered in his system for over 10 days and did some slight cell damage in his kidneys. In response to this his blood pressure also went up, indicating that his sytem was just working hard. Once the chemo clears all the way his kidneys will begin to repair themselves. As of now the kidney tests are showing some improvement so we are relived and trust there will be a full recovery.
We will have to do this same treatment 3 more times to complete phase 3. Next week we will all sit down (our family, the doctors and nurses) and re-evaluate Judah's response to the first treatment and make neccessary chages to try to avoid a repeat of last week.
We will certainly keep you updated as things progress - we typically keep facebook posts current. Again, thank you all for praying and walking through this with us. Judah is not alone!
Blessings,
The Andrews
Friday, March 25, 2011
Alina's Post
Legacy Youth are among the most amazing youth in the world. I am so glad we are not walking this road alone.
"So.was thinking bout cutting my hair off for a while...then one day i just thought of judah, and my mind was set. I had to cut it off.
I am now left with about two inches of hair.Tomorrow, upon my arrival into Bze city, i am going to donate that hair to the Cancer Society.
Thanks for being my inspirations.
I love you guys. Always in my prayers :]"
16 hours ago · Like · · Remove Tag
"So.was thinking bout cutting my hair off for a while...then one day i just thought of judah, and my mind was set. I had to cut it off.
I am now left with about two inches of hair.Tomorrow, upon my arrival into Bze city, i am going to donate that hair to the Cancer Society.
Thanks for being my inspirations.
I love you guys. Always in my prayers :]"
16 hours ago · Like · · Remove Tag
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Smells
In these days of ultra sensitivity to smells, Judah often finds it difficult to hang around the kitchen. It reminds me of when I was pregnant with each of my darling babies. One random smell has the potential to ruin a good meal. He must be very careful with what he eats but even more careful with what he smells and sees. These are the days of adjusting, of being flexible. A simple meal becomes "not-so-simple". Those smells sure are powerful things.
The poem below was written by Elijah for his brave brother Judah. May his days be filled with lovely smells.
SMELLS
By Elijah
When I am happy the world smells like
Sweet coconuts
My mom's Grilled Cheese
The coconut tarts at the market
Daisies in Belize at the football field
Leaf freen watermelons
Playing football with my cousins
I love you boys. I love that we can walk through this together. Bring on the smells of life, together we will walk through them with Jesus holding our hand.
Love Mommy
The poem below was written by Elijah for his brave brother Judah. May his days be filled with lovely smells.
SMELLS
By Elijah
When I am happy the world smells like
Sweet coconuts
My mom's Grilled Cheese
The coconut tarts at the market
Daisies in Belize at the football field
Leaf freen watermelons
Playing football with my cousins
I love you boys. I love that we can walk through this together. Bring on the smells of life, together we will walk through them with Jesus holding our hand.
Love Mommy
Thursday, January 27, 2011
January 27th update
First off, thank you for your faithful friendship and prayers for our family. We have been amazed by the love of God showered on us by your every act of love and obedience toward the Father. We find comfort in your continual reassurance that your prayers will be with us through this journey and beyond.
This season has been full of changes and uncertainty. We are unable to understand all that has taken place in the last two months or how God will use it for His glory, but we are sure that He has our best interest at heart. We have committed our family to Him and are confident in His ability to keep us.
Judah has completed 4 weeks of treatment at Seattle Children's Hospital (an incredible facility for children facing a life threatening situation) and is doing GREAT! The entire protocol is two years long, but only the first 6 months are fairly intense. After six months the medication and clinic visits will be less frequent and we hope and pray that we could return to Belize then Sara and Judah come periodically for "maintenance".
Urgent prayer: Tomorrow is the final treatment for phase 1. The doctors will re-evaluate the Lymphoma, if 2/3 of the Cancer has dissolved we will begin phase 2. However, if 1/3 of the cancer remains we will hqve to repeat phase 1. Please pray with us that the treatment and our diet will be effective and we will proceed to the next phase and remain on course.
School We enjoyed 9 years of home school with the kids yet when Lymphoma entered the picture we needed a new plan. While praying over the endless changes in our life we "discovered" the Hutch School in the Seattle School District, run by the Cancer Care Alliance Network in Seattle designed for children with family members battling cancer. We enrolled Keilah and Elijah and are delighted with this choice. As anticipated, Keilah began to thrive the first day and Elijah surprised us with an easier transition than expected. It's week three, and every day his attitude and participation improves. ;) We feel very comfortable with the school and teachers and believe it is a fantastic opportunity for our kids. In between clinic appointments Judah does two hours a day of tutoring at the hospital with a teacher. He is working very hard and continues to strengthen his foundation.
Belize I traveled to Belize in early January to meet with staff and pack up our house. We prayed together and set up a system to function by in our absence. John George will be covering most of the YWAM activities and we are confident in his ability. I also met with some of the key Legacy leaders. I am thankful for Jason Twist, Kerm Thimbrell and other Legacy leaders who have a desire to see this generation impacted with truth and continue the work in my temporary absence. I will meet with both teams weekly over the phone and would like to schedule regular trips to Belize. My next trip is planned for the March Legacy Conference.
A high point of my trip was the Legacy prayer and worship time with the young people. Every other Friday night, youth have been gathering at the YWAM Belmopan campus for prayer and worship from 7 to midnight. We are confident that God is moving among the young people in Belize. We are blessed to see what He is doing, and believe that some of what is talking place is what we have been praying and hoping for for many years. Young people are passionate about Jesus, speaking publicly about their personal choice to follow the ways of the kingdom and are walking in radical devotion to the King. We know God has called us to be part of the team that will see His kingdom come in Belize as it is in heaven, and can hardly wait to return to keep building what God has called us to.
I also met with our Caribbean director, Bill Landis to process this season. While it will be different and Judah will be the priority, we are committed to keep doing all we can to move in the direction God has called us to. With today's technology I should be able to keep very involved with Belize and have more time for YWAM correspondence, putting vision to paper and sharing it in this season of our life.
We want to again thank all of you who have been standing with us over the years in what God has called us. It will be strange to live in Seattle for a while but we believe God will help us.
~ With love,
The Andrews
This season has been full of changes and uncertainty. We are unable to understand all that has taken place in the last two months or how God will use it for His glory, but we are sure that He has our best interest at heart. We have committed our family to Him and are confident in His ability to keep us.
Judah has completed 4 weeks of treatment at Seattle Children's Hospital (an incredible facility for children facing a life threatening situation) and is doing GREAT! The entire protocol is two years long, but only the first 6 months are fairly intense. After six months the medication and clinic visits will be less frequent and we hope and pray that we could return to Belize then Sara and Judah come periodically for "maintenance".
Urgent prayer: Tomorrow is the final treatment for phase 1. The doctors will re-evaluate the Lymphoma, if 2/3 of the Cancer has dissolved we will begin phase 2. However, if 1/3 of the cancer remains we will hqve to repeat phase 1. Please pray with us that the treatment and our diet will be effective and we will proceed to the next phase and remain on course.
School We enjoyed 9 years of home school with the kids yet when Lymphoma entered the picture we needed a new plan. While praying over the endless changes in our life we "discovered" the Hutch School in the Seattle School District, run by the Cancer Care Alliance Network in Seattle designed for children with family members battling cancer. We enrolled Keilah and Elijah and are delighted with this choice. As anticipated, Keilah began to thrive the first day and Elijah surprised us with an easier transition than expected. It's week three, and every day his attitude and participation improves. ;) We feel very comfortable with the school and teachers and believe it is a fantastic opportunity for our kids. In between clinic appointments Judah does two hours a day of tutoring at the hospital with a teacher. He is working very hard and continues to strengthen his foundation.
Belize I traveled to Belize in early January to meet with staff and pack up our house. We prayed together and set up a system to function by in our absence. John George will be covering most of the YWAM activities and we are confident in his ability. I also met with some of the key Legacy leaders. I am thankful for Jason Twist, Kerm Thimbrell and other Legacy leaders who have a desire to see this generation impacted with truth and continue the work in my temporary absence. I will meet with both teams weekly over the phone and would like to schedule regular trips to Belize. My next trip is planned for the March Legacy Conference.
A high point of my trip was the Legacy prayer and worship time with the young people. Every other Friday night, youth have been gathering at the YWAM Belmopan campus for prayer and worship from 7 to midnight. We are confident that God is moving among the young people in Belize. We are blessed to see what He is doing, and believe that some of what is talking place is what we have been praying and hoping for for many years. Young people are passionate about Jesus, speaking publicly about their personal choice to follow the ways of the kingdom and are walking in radical devotion to the King. We know God has called us to be part of the team that will see His kingdom come in Belize as it is in heaven, and can hardly wait to return to keep building what God has called us to.
I also met with our Caribbean director, Bill Landis to process this season. While it will be different and Judah will be the priority, we are committed to keep doing all we can to move in the direction God has called us to. With today's technology I should be able to keep very involved with Belize and have more time for YWAM correspondence, putting vision to paper and sharing it in this season of our life.
We want to again thank all of you who have been standing with us over the years in what God has called us. It will be strange to live in Seattle for a while but we believe God will help us.
~ With love,
The Andrews
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Update from Dec 22
Update on Judah December 22, 2010
Hello everyone, Merry Christmas from rainy Seattle!
we just got back from the hospital and had a good long meeting with Dr Thompson and Dr Cheung. The results from the original biopsy and MRI were examined and it is conclusive that Judah does indeed have lymphoblasic lymphoma and is at stage 3. However, thank God the cancer is NOT in his blood or bone marrow. This means it is not leukemia.
The doctors are confident in their ability to deal with the illness and will begin treatment next week, after Christmas. The whole process will take about 2 years with the most intense part being the first six months.
Needless to say this was another big blow for us, after so much good news the past few weeks. Thank God for His grace and strong presence with us in this time, and thank you for your continued prayers for our family. A lot of decisions and changes will have to be made in the next week as we prepare for the next season of our lives.
Among other things please pray...
for each of us, as we feel like our life has been flipped upside down.
for Judah and his physical and emotional strength through all of this.
that we hear positive news about our medical insurance soon.
We love you all and find so much strength in your friendship. Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you know who has been praying for Judah. Thank you!
The Andrews
Hello everyone, Merry Christmas from rainy Seattle!
we just got back from the hospital and had a good long meeting with Dr Thompson and Dr Cheung. The results from the original biopsy and MRI were examined and it is conclusive that Judah does indeed have lymphoblasic lymphoma and is at stage 3. However, thank God the cancer is NOT in his blood or bone marrow. This means it is not leukemia.
The doctors are confident in their ability to deal with the illness and will begin treatment next week, after Christmas. The whole process will take about 2 years with the most intense part being the first six months.
Needless to say this was another big blow for us, after so much good news the past few weeks. Thank God for His grace and strong presence with us in this time, and thank you for your continued prayers for our family. A lot of decisions and changes will have to be made in the next week as we prepare for the next season of our lives.
Among other things please pray...
for each of us, as we feel like our life has been flipped upside down.
for Judah and his physical and emotional strength through all of this.
that we hear positive news about our medical insurance soon.
We love you all and find so much strength in your friendship. Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you know who has been praying for Judah. Thank you!
The Andrews
Friday, December 3, 2010
1st Update for Judah
Hello friends,
(We will try to send out periodic updates on Judah's condition as time goes along, and ask that you please forward them to anyone you know who would be interested).
After submitting our paper work for medical insurance this morning, we had our first appointment with Dr. Brown (a Christian pediatrician). He checked Judah's paperwork and examined him. Dr. Brown referred us to Children's Hospital in Seattle and will take care of transferring all paper work and setting up the first appointment. By Monday or Tuesday we will know when the appointment will be.
After a lot of discussion and praying we have decided to initiate a strict health plan specifically designed to fight cancer and increase the immune system. Incredibly, a $200 juicer did not sell at our churches missionary auction last week so we have been able to discover the incredible world of juiced fruits and vegetables!
We have a great support system in place with expert individuals able to give advice practically every step of the way. We sincerely thank those of you who have given financially, sacrificed time and prayed, fasted for a breakthrough, spread the word to others, and those who have hugged, cried, laughed and researched with us. We are in this together and God will recieve the glory for this victory. We appreciate you for joining us in this journey.
With Love,
The Andrews Family
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