Friday, February 20, 2009

do you pray?

I just received this update from Deana's husband, Jack.

If you believe in the power of prayer, please keep this beautiful family in your hearts. I know my heart is breaking for what they are going through. And yet, I've never felt so motivated.

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Dearest family and friends,

Deana and I met with her doctor today and received some disturbing news. Apparently Deana's cancer is not responding at all to the chemotherapy treatment she's been receiving these last several weeks. It has started to appear on the right side of her face causing a numbing sensation that Deana describes as 5 Novocaine shots after a dentist visit.

Deana has tried two different chemotherapy protocols and is now going to start a third (possibly final) no later than Monday. We will know in as little as two weeks if it is successful. To our shock and utter dismay, the doctor is not optimistic about this round of chemotherapy, but given the odds are greater than zero, we charge forward. We will not give in.

Tomorrow, Deana's oncologist and I will each be contacting medical oncologists at M. D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, TX. Apparently their lymphoma treatment is the most progressive and if there are applicable clinical trials with experimental drugs -- should it come to that -- that hospital will be leading those efforts.

Deana wanted me to let everyone know that while we are hopeful, and are trying to remain positive, that the doctor did tell us that given the aggressive nature of Deana's cancer, we are dealing with just a matter of weeks for Deana if not addressed. He has encouraged us to contact Hospice.

I apologize for the impersonal nature of this update, but wanted to make sure to keep you all informed. Please keep Deana and our boys Zane and Zachary in your prayers. It means so much to us. We need them now more than ever.

On a much happier note, when asked last week by his teacher how Zane's parents met (apparently a Valentine's Day exercise at school), he responded: "They ate chocolate donuts, brown donuts and chocolate donuts and just fell in love."

Priceless. This hangs on our refrigerator now.

Please, please take the extra moment to hug your spouse and kids today and often.

Either I or Deana will post an update just as soon as we know more.

God bless you all,

Jack

16 comments:

  1. Many, many prayers for your dear friend Deanna and her family.

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  2. Oh JEN!!!!!!! Praying.

    Let's get these donations rolling! Love, Marg.

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  3. It is just so incredibly sad...prayers that Deana will beat the odds...prayers, prayers, prayers.

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  4. I believe in the power of prayer, and I trust the will of God. Your friends' faith and trust in God are inspirational. I can't imagine how people with no or little faith make it through life. I was especially moved by the fact that even with the heartache that family is experiencing, Jack can still appreciate the little things his children do. God has this family in his palms.

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  5. My thoughts are with tem.

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  6. One of my dear friends lost her battle with cancer and I will be attending her funeral today.
    My heart goes out to Deana and her family and I will pray for them.
    It's so important to have hope and keep fighting because miracles do happen.

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  7. I will definitely pray for them. I will pray for healing, peace, and God' gentle guidance.

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  8. Hello Jen,

    I have been reading your blog for a few months now, I found you on a friend of mine's...Kim Grady. I haven't been able to stop reading it ever since. You are quite an inspiration and amazing writer. Thank you for all your thoughts each and every day. I am teary eyed over your last post and I hope the treatment is a SUCCESS!

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  9. I'm in tears for your your dear friend Deana and her family. They are in our thoughts and prayers.

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  10. I feel sorry for your friend Deana. Has she ever looked into healing her cancer by just eating raw food? I met people that healed their cancer on a 100% raw food diet. Not sure at what stage they were, though. There is also a clinic in Mexico where they have a very high success rate by just using alternative medicine. There is this book "Politics in Healing" from Daniel Haley, with a lot of valuable information. You can buy it used. You should do some online research, there is much information out there.

    Anais

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  11. I am Muslim. We have special prayers we can say for people who are sick or really "afflicted". Please let your friends know that I will be saying it for them, all the way across the ocean :)

    What a truly heartbreaking story. In times like this, I realise that all we really have is prayer.

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  12. My heart is heavy for your friend. My prayers are with her and her family and hope is with the chemo she starts on Monday.

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  13. We believe in prayer & non-traditional treatments!

    www.cancertutor.com

    Encourage them to look at centers in Germany. There are also many German-based treatment centers in Mexico.

    We will be prayer for her & family!

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  14. I will be sending lots of prayers ya'lls way!!

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  15. I am going to wear my yellow Livestrong bracelet wuth Deana's name on it tomorrow for my 10K... I've also got Julie's name on it as well... so miss Julie! :(

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  16. So sorry to hear about your friend. Our family will keep her in our prayers. On october 25th 2008 we lost our neice at the age of 20 to ovarian cancer. She was dx at 18 and thought had beat it. But was re dx at age 20 and hers was very aggressive and did not respond to chemo this time. She fought till the end and took theres nothing we can do for an answer.

    there is a place online called ....blog for a cure

    our neice had a blog Gemma

    People show up at her funeral. Great place for your friend to seek support & share with people who are going through the same things....

    again sorry to hear...
    Praying right now!

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