Prayers for Michaela

I was trying to finish a post this morning about Groundhog Day, but I ran out of time. Thankfully, Gene Kinsey took care of what I wanted to say anyway. This is a good thing because life has taken my focus in another direction that is a good deal more urgent and potentially serious than some party in Punxsutawney.

I was out with Evan at the mall today when Leslie called me from Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. She had taken her 6 year old daughter Michaela there this morning. Michaela is a cancer survivor; she had a neuroblastoma removed from the area of her stomach and liver, and since the beginning of 2006 has endured chemotherapy, radiation, and a stem cell transplant, along with the usual blood work, scans, and trips to the hospital. Along with Leslie and her older sister Gianna, Michaela got to visit here last August, and in November she got to go to Las Vegas to see the PBR World Finals, which was her wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

This morning Leslie called me and said that Michaela had been having increasing pain in her chest, so she took her to Children's. X-Rays and CT Scans showed a new mass in the area of her mediastinum, and enlarged lymph nodes in her abdomen, near her liver. Leslie brought her home tonight, with a planned return to the hospital on Monday for a likely biopsy and additional evaluation.

I'm not sure what else to say right now, except that I feel very much like I did when Jan's cancer started to progress again after nine months of holding it at bay, and when she had her stroke last March. I'm quietly hopeful for strength and healing, but also respectful of God's plan for this lovely little girl and her family.

I'll go to church tomorrow morning and ask for these these things, while reminding myself that acceptance of God's will is part of the path. Right now I'm going to bed. I'm very tired. Below I have included a somewhat familiar verse that feels appropriate.

Please keep Michaela in your prayers as well. Thanks.

Isaiah 40:28-31 (New International Version)

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.