4-07-09: Looking Better

Things are looking better. Sarah is off the supplemental oxygen. Her doctor came in this morning and said we could take her off and watch how she does. She is doing great. Her o2 is staying around 95% during sleep. Sarah is still on a narcotics. Although we did have to switch her from morphine to hydro-morphone because she got a very itchy red rash all over her trunk.

Sarah's blast count in her blood is down to zero. We are pretty glad about that but we would be REALLY glad if the blasts didn't come back when her marrow recovers. One day at a time is the only way to handle this right now.

We seem to be having some communications problems with the doctors about Sarah going to that clinical trial. From our discussion with Sarah's oncologist this morning it sounded like they didn't know we absolutely wanted to take her. We are trying to sort that out today. Hopefully she hasn't lost her place in line.

Christopher and Asa have drippy noses. I am not too thrilled about passing around a cold. To avoid that happening Christopher is going home today. Asa and Sarah will just have to keep their distance.

For some reason unknown to us God has carried Sarah through many dangerous storms. And after everything that we have been through I don't have enough energy to get all worked up and scared about things. We'll just PRAY and wait to see how things go.

Love,
Susan and Ben

4-04-09: Hard Day

Sarah's PICC line was installed in her left arm and she started chemo Thursday.

Yesterday the oncologist told us Sarah's kidneys looked like they were getting ready to fail after the first dose of five of chemo. Sarah's fluid intake was increased in an effort to protect them and we moved forward with dose two. Sarah's heart was also in jeopardy since her potassium had dropped and the added fluids would potentially drop her potassium more. Potassium supplements were added to offset this. Thanks to many prayers and God's continued mercy, the second dose of chemo didn't shut any of her organs down and her electrolytes were within acceptable values today.

More goods news, her WBC (including blasts) dropped from 26k to 18k after the first dose of chemo and from 18k to 1k after the second dose. Were were hoping for a response like this and hope to see the her cancer burden drop further tomorrow. We did stop the chemo after day 2 due to her adverse reactions. We'll see what tomorrow holds for us tomorrow.

We are so glad to see this day end. Today has been one of the worst days we have had since the beginning of our cancer journey. Ben says the stress has aged him at least five years. It all started at around 6 am. Sarah developed a 104.2F fever accompanied by nausea and extreme physical discomfort. She spent the entire morning thrashing about and crying "Mama" and yet she was so uncomfortable we couldn't touch her. Her fever broke through the early morning dose of Tylenol but the second dose did finally kick in after about 2 hours. Sarah's breathing was very labored and her heart rate was at 200BPM at one point. The oncologist told us Sarah would probably not be able to breathe on her own by the end of the day and that she thought Sarah was dying.

To make Sarah more comfortable we increased her Ativan and gave her a PCA with morphine. The Ativan was a good move and really helped get Sarah over her nausea and ease some of the fever induced discomfort. We did give her one mg. of morphine and that helped her pain but we are now second guessing the morphine. Sarah was already having difficulty breathing and morphine can suppress respiratory function. She did actually scare us by skipping a few breathes after getting the morphine. We are hoping to not use the morphine.

But at around noon Sarah started to turn around. Her respiratory rate and heart rate both slowed closer to normal. Her fever dropped and has not gone high again. She seemed to feel and act much better. She even played with a new doll for a little while. Since Sarah has improved so much we are going to try reducing her Ativan.

Please pray that Sarah's respiratory issues clear up and that her fevers clear. Also pray that her blast burden remains low, her organs continue to function properly and she doesn't get another infection allowing her to enter the clinical trial.

-Susan and Ben

4-01-09: Tubie Infection

Sarah is still in the hospital today. She came in for fever on Sunday night.

It turns out Sarah developed a serious line infection (in her tubies). She had surgery yesterday for the doctors to remove it. While she was still under anesthesia she had an IV put in each hand for antibiotics and other meds. We were glad Sarah was spared the discomfort of having those IV's placed. The afternoon and evening weren't too fun for her because of the IV's.

In the meantime, Sarah's leukemia count is climbing. The chemotherapy she needs can't be administered through an IV. The current plan is to continue the antibiotics through the IV's and give her a PICC line Thursday to begin chemotherapy.

Sarah has begun to feel better after a few days of antibiotics. She played in Asa's crib with Asa and Christopher this morning.

The clinical trial folks will not be ready for Sarah for several weeks. To enter the trial she must be free of infection and she has to be off chemotherapy for 2 weeks. I think removing her infected central line and the antibiotics she is on will correct the immediate infection. The chemo that starts Friday should bring her leukemia burden down too.

It's going to be a long 3 weeks.

The video below is Sarah and her little brother Christopher.

-Ben

We finally managed to make a decision on the clinical trial facility. St. Jude in Memphis was the winner. Our main reason for choosing this hospital was because it is closer to our families. The housing issues have also been resolved. Habitat For Hope is going to house us and for no cost. We didn't even know about Habitat For Hope but found them through a friend of a friend.

Tonight as we were preparing to sleep Ben and I realized that Sarah had a high fever. Thankfully she was responsive and alert. Ben and Sarah left for the hospital about ten minutes ago. It was hard for me to let him take her but one of us needed to be here with the rest of the children. We should have called our emergency contacts but I didn't even think of it until just now. So if you are on that list I may be calling you in the morning.

A very tired and worried,
Susan

Sarah continues to do great despite low counts. Her marrow appears to be recovering although very s-l-o-w-l-y. The last couple of days she has been full of energy and even a little naughty. Even as I type this up Sarah and Christopher are outside playing in the Pink Playhouse.

Ben and I are still trying to figure out which hospital we should to take Sarah to. It seems that both places have some positives. St. Jude in Memphis is much closer to our families, about 4 hours, while housing possibilities may be opening in Bethesda, Maryland. What to do? We don't know but we are definitely praying for wisdom and for the right doors to open.

Specific things to pray for:

Wisdom to choose the best hospital for Sarah

Housing for all of us near that hospital

and of course Sarah's blast count to stay low

If any of you have thoughts, ideas, or solutions to our housing dilemma please let us know.

Susan

3-24-09: Sarah Qualifies for the CAT-8015 Trial

Sarah went into the hospital today for red blood cells and platelets. It was a long day. We left the house at 8:30am and got home at 8:30pm. Her WBC’s were at 0.20 and her blast count is 6%. We think she is all set at least until Friday.

My mother, sister and nephew flew home today. They were visiting us this past week. Sarah enjoyed the time she spent with them reading and playing. Sarah has felt pretty good the last few days.

Susan and I on the other hand have been trying to keep our stress levels in check. We have been waiting to hear if Sarah qualifies for a clinical trial the oncologists are investigating for us. The oncology team told us her blood checked positive for a marker (CD22) needed for the study and was added to the list of participants. We hear that it will take about 1 month before Sarah will visit the facility conducting the clinical trial. We will learn more over the next couple of weeks. Sarah may need one more round of chemotherapy before beginning the study to keep her blast count low. We also need to firm up which facility to take Sarah to for the study. It’s either the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Maryland or St. Judes Hospital in Tennessee. Either facility will provide excellent care and are part of the same study, so it’s more of a logistics decision.

We are very grateful that Sarah feels OK and for God opening the door for additional treatment options for Sarah. Our objective for Sarah is still to cure her of leukemia. We see this as a possible avenue for her 2nd BMT and will be discussing this with Dana-Farber in more detail over the next few days.

Please continue to pray for Sarah’s recovery and gratitude for what he has done for her and in our lives.
-Ben

The last couple of days have gone well for Sarah and the rest of us. The VNA came on Friday morning and the lab work showed that all of Sarah's counts were down. Her WBC's were at 0.18 and the blasts were 10% of that. We are glad the blasts came down but still mindful that we need to be watchful for infection with such a low white count. The VNA will be back early Monday morning for more labs and most likely she will go to the hospital to get some red cells and platelets. I almost forgot to say that Sarah's fever is gone. yay. She is on some heavy lifting antibiotics.

I have worked out my clinical trial issues and come to a decision as to what I am willing to do. If Sarah does qualify I will definitely agree to take her. Which brings up a few other thoughts. The trial we are thinking of is taking place in Maryland and Tennessee. We are not sure which hospital we would go to yet, but be assured wherever it is, we will all go. Neither of us are willing to let the other parent take Sarah hours away or to another state to most likely die without her family. Sarah's need for her siblings became very apparent to us during her BMT and most recently the last few months that she has spent in the hospital. Without her siblings she became very depressed and has sometimes cried, "I need more people", and "I need my family". No, wherever she goes Sarah will have all of her "people" with her. At this point, I can not imagine us making any other choice. We don't know how we are going to make this happen logistically and financially but we have decided in our hearts that if it comes to a trial we will.

Most people have no idea what it is like to have a serious illness like cancer take over your life(including us before). It is all consuming leaving little time for anything else. My good friend Lynn has been doing most of the Sam's club runs for us and thankfully all our children help with running the house. Even so it can be very difficult at times to get our brains to think anything not cancer related, especially now. So normal every day things seem more difficult to accomplish.

Thank you to all of you who sent us your love and messages. I knew you were out there. We were overwhelmed by your love and compassion and so blessed and encouraged to hear from you. Keep em coming.

Susan

PS Sarah has been having lots of fun playing with her siblings, her cousin Philip, and her Leapster.

Clinical Trial?

We brought Sarah home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. She was so adorable as we were leaving, hugging and kissing all of her nurses goodbye. Sarah is a precious little girl and has won many hearts with her sweet disposition. Bringing her home was bitterweet. We want so much for her to be at home but at home and well. Sarah came home with a fever and blasts in her blood. The fevers are worrisome in a big way because her white cell count is so low; for example, she is at 0.3. And the blasts are... just bad!

We called to someone at the NIH in Maryland about a clinical trial and had Sarah's blood sent to them to see if she would qualify. We should know by Monday. It is very hard to accept that modern medicine has nothing more to offer Sarah other than a Phase 1 clinical trial. Not a place you want to be with your precious baby. Ben definitely wants to take Sarah to a clinical trial if she qualifies. Although, it goes against everything inside of me to accept an end to Sarah's treatment, I am not sure I can agree to a clinical trial. On the flip side of that, I desperately want for her to be well and would travel to the ends of the earth if I knew we could cure her. We'll see how God works things out for her. Praying on this.

If Sarah does qualify for a clinical trial, and we do move forward with that, and if by some miracle she is able to go for another BMT we are going to set up a charitable fund of some sort to help these expenses. A number of people have asked if they can help us in this way and up until now we haven't needed it, but if Sarah is able to receive continued treatment we are definitely going to.

Sarah's VNA will be coming tomorrow morning to draw labs. If Sarah needs to be transfused we'll be at Dartmouth most of the afternoon.

I know that Sarah's Circle gets a lot of hits every day but we don't know who is reading the updates. It would really encourage us if you would leave us a note and let us know you are praying or thinking of us.

Susan

3-16-09: High Dose Methotrexate Fails

The chemotherapy administered Thursday evening through Friday evening did not reduce Sarah's blast percentage in her white blood cells.

She went in at 73% blast and is currently at 86% blast. The treatment did lower her total white blood cell count which reduces the urgency of follow on treatment. Susan and I are working with the oncology team to determine what to do next.

The options being investigated:
-Clinical trials Sarah might qualify for. These would be phase 1 clinical trials. Sarah would need to meet specific requirements to participate in a clinical trial and be off all chemotherapy for several weeks before beginning this option.
-One more targeted drug (Nilotinib). This option would essentially be close to a stab in the dark since safe and effective pediatric dosages have not been investigated. We'd be using it off-label for Sarah.
-Control of the leukemia for as long as possible with chemotherapy. To some extent that's what we've been doing since her diagnosis as none of the treatments have yielded a durable remission yet. Still something we would not like to consider as the primary objective.

We think Sarah will be released from the hospital Tuesday or Wednesday. I think we'll need to make a decision sometime this week regarding Sarah's next treatment. We do not like any of the doors in front of us and are praying God opens the right one for Sarah. It's very difficult but we are remaining hopeful. We also have faith that God is doing good in Sarah and our lives. Please keep Sarah in your prayers.

Sarah had a nice time at the park last Sunday playing with her family. I attached a slide show below (it's a little big).

-Ben

3-12-09: Dasatinib Treatment Fails

Sarah has returned to the hospital today. The visiting nurse came to our house Wednesday to draw Sarah's blood for CBC. Sarah had 45% blast count in her blood (45% of the white blood cells where leukemic). Sarah's blast count was 73% when she got to the hospital today for chemotherapy. The doctors don't think the Dasatinib was working for her. I guess we'd have to agree.

The plan as of last Saturday was to have Sarah return mid-week for additional chemotherapy. We just didn't plan on doing it with a high blast count. The chemotherapy she is getting is high dose methotrexate. It's administered over 24 hours. We are praying she tolerates the treatment as well as she has previous chemo treatments and that the blasts do not return when her blood counts begin to rise again.

We talked with the bone marrow director at Dana Farber tonight to see what she'd require for Sarah to move into DLI treatment. The DLI might buy some time for Sarah to prep for a 2nd BMT. Basically, Sarah needs get to <10% class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">DLI at Dana Farber. The BMT director also mentioned 2 clinical trials Sarah might qualify for, one ongoing in Washington and another at Dana Farber in about 1 month. We'll be discussing the clinical trials with Sarah's oncology team tomorrow. One additional option we will be considering is another new targeted drug called Nilotinib. It's similar to Imatinib and Dasatinib, but each one can have a greater or lesser impact on specific mutations of Sarah's type of cancer.

Three of our children are staying with another family we are friends with. The rest of our children are with us at the hospital. We are staying at Davids House which provides housing, food, laundry, etc. for families of children in the hospital. Davids House is one parking lot away from the hospital.

We know Sarah's treatment options are dwindling. It's not a good feeling. It took a bit of searching to renew our hope, but God is continuing to provide that for us. We'll continue to pray and listen and hopefully hear what God is asking for us to do next.
-Ben

Sarah has been doing pretty well since she came home. Her nausea seems controlled and the diarrhea is becoming less frequent. The weekend was pleasant. Yesterday we took full advantage of the sun and warmer temps and went to the park. Sarah had a great time and played and laughed like a normal 4 year old until she had some diarrhea and we had to leave because we didn't think ahead enough to bring her extra clothes.

The visiting nurse came this morning and drew Sarah's blood. All counts looked pretty good but she did have an increase in her blasts. The blast count went from 1% to 2%. Not a big increase but it did double. We are currently doubling her Dasatinib from 40mg to 80mg per day.

Sarah's VNA will be back on Weds to draw more labs.

Please pray that those blasts will go back down to 0% and that Sarah will tolerate the increased Dasatinib well.

Please also pray for Sarah's friend Cameron who is also battling Leukemia. Cameron is in the hospital today because of a fever and neutropenia. He is also starting the radiation part of his treatment (which can be scary because of the need to be restrained in a mask that gets screwed down !) Please pray for him to have relief from anxiety and for his fever to turn out to be nothing.

Saturday, March 7

We brought Sarah home from the hospital today. She has been without a fever for several days and the nausea is nearly gone. Her labs this morning did show 1% blasts in her blood. Yesterday she was at 0% blasts. We have decided not to panic about this right now and just continue to pray.

Next week we will take Sarah back up to the hospital for more chemotherapy. This time we'll be giving her high dose methotrexate. The methotrexate was Ben's idea. After looking through Sarah's labs over the last few months and graphing her progress he began to wonder if it was the methotrexate that was causing the big drops in the blast count.

Our dear friend Mildred left for home today. We are very grateful for her help over the past two weeks. We have had a few ideas about who might come next but so far nothing has worked out. It really feels like our support has started to dry up. That may not be entirely real but it sure does feel like it. God has provided the support we need next week through our dear friends the Camuso family. I have faith he will continue to do the same the following weeks on his terms and not ours.
-Susan

3-05-09: Blood Counts Look Good

No blasts were found in Sarah's blood today. She dropped from 5% Tuesday to 2% Wednesday and is at 0% today. We're grateful to God and remain hopeful for Sarah's recovery.

She may be experiencing bone marrow recovery as her WBC count has been creeping upward as her blast count has been creeping downward. There is a small increase in her red blood cells too. No platelets yet though. No Neutrophils yet either.

Sarah has still been barfing but noticeably less over the last 2 days. No fevers over the last 2 days either. The mouth sores she has seem to be improving too.

Sarah has been taking full dose Dasatinib since Saturday, but Susan and I are anxious for her to begin additional chemotherapy. We do not want another short lived remission like December. We plan to discuss continued treatment with Dr. Van Hoff Friday.

Sarah's bone marrow likely still has blasts since her blood just cleared today. The doctors will need to do a bone marrow aspiration to know what's going on in her bone marrow.

Mildred Rembert (up from Alabama) has been staying with us for the past 2 weeks. Mildred was our neighbor when we lived in Alabama years ago. She will be returning home Saturday. Mildred has been a real blessing to our family watching most of the children while Susan and I stay tight with the doctors and of course Sarah. We will always appreciate what she has done for our family and will miss her support and kindness.

Thanks for your prayers (past and continued).
-Ben

3-03-09: Roller Coaster Week

Sarah has been having a roller coaster of a week. She went home Friday (w/Neutropenia) and managed to stay fever free until this morning @ 4:30AM. Dr. Van Hoff told us to bring her in with a measured fever of 102.7F. She'll be in the hospital until Thursday, maybe longer.

The VNA (home visit nurse) came to our house Sunday to draw blood and check Sarah's blood counts. She needed platelet and red blood cell transfusions so we went up to Dartmouth. More blood work at Dartmouth showed a cancer blast reduction in her blood from 45% (Friday) to 8% (Sunday). Todays labs showed another decrease from 8% to 5%. We were really thankful to God for that answer to our prayers.

Sarah's doctors at Dana-Farber are discussing Donor Leukocyte Infusion (DLI) for Sarah if her overall blast count (blood and bone marrow) can be reduced low enough. I believe the DLI would be used as part of a preparative treatment for a second Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT).

Sarah has been feeling lower than her normal self over the last several days. She has been "barfing" (Sarah's terminology) many times during the day for the last several days and her energy level is fairly low too. She does play and interact with her family and the doctors/nurses in between low points.

Pray that she'll start feeling better, have her energy return and reach remission again.

-Ben

3-01-09: Waiting for Bloodwork

Sarah was released from the hospital Friday. Her blast count in her had stopped declining Thursday and actually rose slightly Friday.

She received L-Aspariginase, Methotrexate and Dasatinib Thursday night. Sarah is going to have her blood checked again today (Sunday).

We are hopeful her blood will be free of blasts from the blood work today. Please pray with us for this.

Thanks,
Ben

2-25-09: Blast Count is Dropping

Sarah hugs Asa at the hospital

Sarah began the alternate chemo therapy approach on Saturday. After 4 days of treatment the blast percentage in her blood has gone down. The doctors are pleased she is responding to the treatment.

Sarah recieved one dose of Vincristine earlier this week. She is going to receive her last steroid (Dexamethasone) dose tomorrow. She will also be receiving oral Methotrexate and L-Asparaginase tomorrow. The current plan is to add on Dasatinib a couple of days after the Dexamethasone ends. The doctors are targeting releasing Sarah Saturday.

The treatment she is on is a slightly modified version of the treatment that got Sarah into remission in December. The biggest change is delaying the Dasatinib until the Dexamethasone ends. The doctors are watching her blood pressure closely and medicating her for hypertension from the beginning of treatment this time. Sarah's encephalopathy in December immediately followed a hypertension event during a blood transfusion. Most of the drugs Sarah took in December and now can cause encephalopathy too.

Sarah's doctors feel they have a handle on keeping her stable during her current drug combination. We feel they do too, but are still quite uneasy about the encephalopathy. Frankly, I don't want to learn what different chemotherapy drugs do, how they work or the likely and unlikely side effects. Learning these things is not an encouraging process. But, I'm her father and I'll do whatever is required to protect and provide for her. The biggest single thing Susan and I can do for her is to pray for her, but learning about treatment options and advocating for her is essential.

-Ben

Jacob recieves Sarah's curious George for his 16th birthday Feb. 14.

2-20-09: Flag Fails

Dr. Chaffee told Susan and me that the FLAG chemo treatment failed today.

Sarah's white blood cell count had been rising slightly over the last few days, still well below normal values. Not unexpected or alarming until blasts were detected today. Dr. Chaffee said about half of the blasts were leukemic after detailed review of the blasts. Sarah's blood counts (WBC, RBC and Platelets) have not recovered as of today.

As you know, Susan and I had hoped the FLAG would get Sarah to a stable remission and into her 2nd BMT some months later. Another treatment behind us, but not the right one...

So what are we going to do next? We are going to continue to have hope for our daughters recovery. We are going to continue fighting for our daughters life. We are going to continue to have faith in Gods goodness and mercy. We are going to continue praying.

Dr. Chaffee discussed revisiting the treatment that got Sarah to remission in December albeit not a lasting remission. I have a tendency to agree. Susan and I will pray and then make some decision tomorrow and move forward.

Sarah is a wonderful child. She is full of energy and life (even now) sharing it with everyone, not just her immediate family. We are all heartened by the gift of her presence and love. She tells Susan, me and the other children "I love you" out of the blue for no apparent reason and without reservation. In fact, I think she has told me "I love you" more than any single other person on earth (except for my amazing wife). I guess when you demonstrate love for someone with your whole heart, it comes back to you.

Thank you for your prayers over the past year and thank you for those in your heart that are continuing for Sarah.

-Ben

2-17-09: Fever and Back to the Hospital

Sarah developed a fever of ~101.7F tonight. She was nursing a low level fever during the day and made it to the >100.4F value required for another hospital stay. The chemo she's been on (FLAG) really knocked her blood counts down including her bodies immune system. The doctors told us to expect her to return to the hospital with a fever sometime this week. They were spot-on.

Sarah has had chemo-induced fevers before resulting in 3-4 days in the hospital. Generally, the cause of the fevers isn't determined and she heads home. We are hopeful that's the case this time too. Susan, Katie, Asa and Sarah headed up to Dartmouth tonight around 9:30pm. I will replace Susan Thursday and stay at the hospital until Sunday unless Sarah is released before Sunday.

I know a lot of folks have challenges greater than ours, but I sure am tired. Maybe I should start weight training again. It does wonders for fatigue and mental exhaustion. Something to think about while I'm eating all that delicious hospital food this weekend.

Continue to keep Sarah in your prayers.
-Ben

Blood Counts Bottom Out

So we arrived at the clinic about 25 minutes late.

The first thing Sarah had done at the clinic was have her vitals checked: blood pressure, temp, weight, and height. All of those were good. Then the nurse came in to draw blood from the "tubies". After that one of the oncologist came in the check Sarah out and discuss how she has been at home. (Although Sarah was playing happily she did not seem to feel as good today. She was very tired and her skin looked a little pale.) Then we waited for the blood work to come back from the lab. And we waited. And we waited while Sarah had Pentamidine, an IV PCP prophylaxis. (It's supposed to prevent some kind of lung infection.) We waited for Sarah's platelets to come up, from wherever they come up from in the hospital. Once the platelets came the transfusion took about 2 hours.

While all this waiting was going on the boys and I did some mathematics, watched a video, and ate some snacks. And Asa decided to get a fever. No other symptoms just a fever.....so far. Bad news especially with Sarah's counts being so low.

Speaking of counts here are Sarah's counts as of today.

WBC 0.2
HGB 9.5
PLATELET 19
ANC .05

Dr. Chaffee gave me a copy and a graph of all the BCR-ABL tests that Sarah has had done since she was first diagnosed in May. It's weird how we can get her into remission, twice so far, but that CANCER keeps coming back. Just another reminder that the odds are definitely not in Sarah's favor.

One last note. We restarted Sarah on the Marinol tonight and were so happy to see her eat two small slices of pizza. That pizza was the most food she's eaten in a week. Thank's Marinol!

Done with FLAG

Home again.....but for how long? Sarah finished with the FLAG last night, so today, she was discharged from the hospital. The chemo is definitely dropping her blood counts quickly. On 2/08 her WBC's (white blood cells) were 46.1 and today they were 3.9, PLATELETS 119 down to 50, and her HEMOGLOBIN is 10.1. The hemoglobin is good because a couple of days ago she had a transfusion of red blood cells. Counts are dropping and that means that soon Sarah will be neutropenic, fever and neutropenia = back to the hospital. With the way her blood counts look today we are expecting that to happen sometime early next week. The worrisome thing about this is that many people die from infection after getting FLAG.


Little Sarah was so happy to leave the hospital today, she was adorable as we left, saying goodbye to everyone and dancing down the hallway. She was even happier to come home to her family. The afternoon was filled with play, sometimes noisy, rowdy, running, screaming play. It was great! Sarah and Christopher had fun competing for the best spot on Grandmas lap.

Have you ever given blood? Friday we will be heading to the clinic for a scheduled platelet transfusion. Sarah will be surviving on transfusions for a while; so if Sarah inspires anyone to become a blood donor GO FOR IT. Same goes for signing up to be a bone marrow donor. It is so easy. Click here to see how.

The numbers are not in Sarah’s favor. I think they are actually way below the ten- percent mark, probably closer to one- percent. But our hope for Sarah is not based on numbers. No, we are not in denial and we do realize that our doctors got these numbers from research combined with their many years of experience. We know that God CAN make her well again. So we are going to continue asking. That is where our hope is and we are not giving up.