Hey, thanks for sharing this journey with us and for your constant messages of love and support!
It has been a delightful two weeks since I’ve written last, and we’ve loved soaking in the hot Aussie summer and enjoying all that this ‘break’ from treatment has afforded us. There is much to update you on, as well as ask your help in prayer for the upcoming procedure.
Firstly, we were a little surprised (in a good way) by the news that Murphy’s 5th round of Chemotherapy was postponed in order to make way for surgery. The shock of this news left us a little disconcerted, because as two high school teachers, Nat and I like things going to plan, haha! However, after having some initial concerns answered, we were very comfortable at the news that surgery is now booked for January 19th a decision that was made because Murphy’s December scans were very pleasing to the oncologist, and the treating team. Therefore, in this window of time, we have had an absolute blast! We’ve been out to cafes, riding bikes, walks at the beach, being blessed with a trampoline, many great visits to Nanna and Poppa’s house, as well as Uncles and Aunty’s homes for coffee catch ups and dinners! There was one huge highlight for me, and that was seeing Murphy back IN CHURCH taking communion and worshiping! Murphy hasn’t had the opportunity to go to church since his diagnosis in September of last year. Needless to say, there were not many dry eyes in the rows around us – thank you to the helpful pastoral team at Influencers Church for helping make this happen. Check out these pics…
FAITH has been a word that continues to be prevalent as we delve deeper into reading and learning the Bible’s scriptures on Healing. The verses I shared in another post speak of healing as the product of faith! I was woken up a few days ago in the middle of the night with the picture of the disciples of Jesus in the boat lacking faith! (Mark chapter 4) These guys had seen Jesus perform miracle upon miracle, and then they woke Him in the middle of the night to inform Him that there was a storm going on. Jesus, in the most humble and patient manner, calms the storm with His spoken word, then He informs His followers that they lacked faith, by waking Him instead of trusting that He was in control. Murphy is in the great care of our saviour, Jesus Christ, therefore, join us in faith for Murphy’s healing. There’s a reason this blog has the title it has – in faith we declare a miracle for Murphy.
Truthfully though, I traverse the two sides of faith and the practicalities of treatment. Today we sat in a meeting with the senior surgeon who will be performing Murphy’s procedure this Thursday. There’s no denying I was saddened at the reality of our boy, Murphy, lying on that operating table surrounded by strangers who will cut him open, move vital organs, and cut out the primary tumour. This 5-10 hour operation will require a room of professionals working on our helpless boy – this image breaks my heart. But; we know this procedure is vital for the progress in Murphy’s treatment. We are full of faith that the operation will go to plan and the primary tumour will be removed in Jesus name. I can’t wait for the surgeon to find out that the primary tumour has in fact shrunk even further, and that he is able to remove what little is left! It is this faith that Murphy has too, when we talk about it with him, here is Murphy’s approach to the idea of being cut open and have it removed:
“Let’s go to hospital right now and get the biggest sick lump out of me as the big sick lump (primary tumor) powers-up the little lumps, so we take away its power. Then the little lumps will blasted by the chemo after and I’ll have no more sick lumps.” Oh to have childlike faith!
Can you be childlike for a moment and have the faith of Murphy to see his lumps be gone!
Lastly, if you would like to know the ‘plan’ for the year, here is what was explained to us the other week, according to the national protocol to treat stage 4 Neuroblastoma.
1. Recovery from surgery
2. Round 5 of Chemo
3. 2 rounds of high dose Chemo, with duel stem cell transplants
4. Radiation
5. Immunotherapy
All of this treatment will take around 12 months, lots of toy rewards, many chicken nugget Happy Meals, but also countless nights in hospital, tears of joy and tears of pain, and a lot of discomfort for our boy. Please pray that this miracle happens so much sooner than what we can see in our human eyes.
Murphy’s showing off his Mr Potato Head that he made with his grandpa, whom he calls Grannar
What an inspiration he is!
Let me finish with some of the most exciting news to-date. This news came from our oncologist last week, who read us the results of a urine test. His facial expression and his whole body bounced out of his chair delivering the news that the ‘marker’ they look for in Murphy’s urine was so dramatically reduced it was virtually the same level as a ‘normal’ kid walking off of the street. He then emphasised this again by using some great Aussie language, “It’s bloody fantastic news”…
Let this ‘bloody fantastic’ update fuel your faith as we look ahead to a significant part of Murphy’s treatment.
Dan
