Ella

Please say a prayer for good weather this week and for Ella's two tests at Children's (the 17th and 18th).

Please continue to remember the people mentioned below.

I have talked with a lot of parents with babies far sicker than mine ever were this week. Please keep them in your prayers as they make the decisions on G-tube placement and fundo surgeries.

The Lord sure has a way of putting our own struggles in perspective.

If you have any to add please e-mail me at RackleyMay19@hotmail.com!

Greg McLean

Greg was admitted to the hospital in Oklahoma City on November 3rd after having breathing difficulties and fatigue. The doctors have schedule open heart surgery for Greg on November 12, to replace two valves. Please keep Greg and his family in your prayers.

This update is cut and paste from the FB group formed for Greg, you can visit the site here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=33094459667&ref=mf

Greg went to Harding with me.

Drew Morlen

Please pray for Drew Morlen and family as they leave November 9th for St Jude's to start treatment for Drew's cancer. Pray the surprise they are planning for him tomorrow night will be a sucess and encouragement to Drew and his family.

Updated Page and Prayer Request

Please check out the sidebar (on the right) for the links to Caringbridge and other sites for the children on the prayer request list.

Please pray for my friend Jenn who is facing a hysterectomy to deal with her endometriosis. She is the one mentioned below who just had a miscarriage. Please keep her in your prayers!

Also remember Daniel Powers who will be having surgery on Tuesday at Children's for his back.

More updates. THANKS!

Please remember my friend Melissa's mother in law who is dealing with the aftermath of a heart attack and had to be readmitted to drain fluid from her lungs. She also has some internal bleeding possibly due to a medication she was given.


Please also take some time to check out 5 year old Kenny's site and pray for his recovery. He and his mom Gigi were both in a car accidnet. Kenny has spinal cord injuries and is unable to move much and has to have a trach to breathe.

Gigi and my mom worked together for a long time when she was in CA. Please pray for his recovery.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kennyhudnall

Thank you all!!

Add these please.

Riley 1yr old nephew of Daniel and Joanna Keys (her sister Vicky's son) will be going for surgery at Children's tomorrow to determine if a tumor he has is cancerous or not. They are pretty sure it isn't cancerous but will not know for sure until the pathology comes back.

Please pray for Carrie's son Ian who is a cancer survivor. He has had some recent problems and they are waiting for testing. You can read his journey at:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ianblack

Hailey Trainer

Please pray for Hailey Trainer the 8 month old daughter of Mark and Shauna (HU alumni).

Our 8 month old daughter, Hailey Ann, was just diagnosed with brain cancer last week. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Both of Hailey’s ears are infected, and we had a rough night. For updates, go to www.caringbridge.org/visit/haileyanntrainer.

September 11th~ Remembering and praying

Please pray for those who lost loved ones and all those who continue to sacrifice to keep us safe.

Pray for Maddie

Please pray for Maddie who is one of Kristen and Mark Sullivan's twin daughters. She is having open heart surgery. Please check out their blog for updates and keep them in your prayers.

http://simplysullivan.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

Prayer Request List for August 30th

Thanks for the prayers for my surgery. Check out my blog or Facebook for updates but all went well.

Thank you for praying for Jenn. She ended up needing a D&C on Thursday so please keep her and the family in your prayers.

Pray for GB's dad, George Hicks, who has been in the hospital with complications due to uncontrolled diabetes.

Milt's uncle passed away last week so please remember the Baker family.

Emory Keys has more appointments next week at Children's so please pray for her as well.

Continue to remember my sister as she deals with her miscarriage.

Keep all our pregnant friends in your prayers too!

If you have any updates e-mail them to:
RackleyMay19@hotmail.com or
RackleyFive@cox.net

Love you all!

Jenn

Jenn let me know late last night that she ended up having a miscarriage yesterday afternoon. Please keep the family in your prayers.

Updates for August 11th

Updates:

Thank you for praying for my friend Jenn who I mentioned had a miscarriage on the July 23rd update. It turns out, when she went back for her d&c, that the baby is there with a strong heartbeat. The doctors were shocked. She is on bed rest with meds to help the pregnancy along. Please keep her little miracle in your prayers. Also pray for her two older kids as she tries to juggled bed rest and caring for them.

Thank you for praying for Emory. She is doing really well and recovering from her surgery. Click the link on the sidebar for more info on their blog. Pray for Daniel and Joanna as they continue to care for Emory. God could not have picked two better parents for this sweet girl. Phillip and I have been so blessed to have them as neighbors and friends.

Thank you for your prayers and notes about Ella. I am so grateful for the PAGER mom’s who have “been there, done that” and offered their advice. Unfortunately we were unable to decrease her meds at this time. She (with in three days) was in a lot of pain and began to choke and throw up. Hopefully soon we will be able to get her off meds but we are glad that we at least know we are not giving her something she doesn’t need.

Sullivan Farrar (“Sully”) passed away soon after the last update. Please keep his family in your prayers.

New Prayer Requests:

Please continue to remember my sister who had a miscarriage on Thursday.

Please pray for Mila (one of the PAGER babies) who had her surgery for g-tube placement and is recovering well.

Please pray for the daughter of one of my Harding professors. She had surgery for endometriosis and had to have portions of her intestines removed as well. Pray for a full recovery with no return of this horrible disease.

I have my apt on Wed so please pray for that as well. I am starting to get nervous about surgery.

Thank you all for your prayers. If you have any to add or updates on previous ones please e-mail me at RackleyMay19@hotmail.com.

Sully...

If you have been praying for the kids (Ethan's Friends) on Ethan Powell's site you have no doubt heard of Sully. His parents poted this message at noon:

Sully has now been taken off all supportive care. Now he is just on his pain pump and oxygen. PRAY Sully will go home peacefully!!! I am so proud of him! He is our hero!! I am amazed at his strength!! I am so thankful for the time we have had with our "man"!! Thanks to God and his answering our prayers and for Him giving us great doctors to take care of our Sully "man"!! We will never be able to thank Dr. Tori, Martha May, Reagan, Dr. Scott, Dr. Leung, Jen, Dr. Ashock, Dr. Hale, etc... I know I am forgetting many people!! We thank all of his wonderful nurses and docs!! We can't thank you all enough!! Again, PRAY for Sully to go home in peace!!! We will let you know when the Lord takes him in His loving arms!!! PRAY!!

http://sullivanfarrar.com/updates.htm

Please pray for them now and in the months and years to come.

Ella

We are working to wean Ella from some of her GI meds so please pray the weaning will work and that we will be able to reduce or remove some of her meds. THANKYOU!

Praises...

If you haven't seen Daniel and Joanna's blog please click the link on the right and check out the update. Emory's surgery went well. I was starting to worry and (DUH) didn't think to check the blog b/c I forgot about Children's having internet in the room! ;) Thanks for praying with me everyone.

Quick updates.

Just wanted to remind you to pray for Emory Keys today as she has surgery for her spinal cord. Pray for an easy surgery and recovery. Keep Daniel and Joanna in your prayers too. :)

Please pray for my friend who had a miscarriage this week. Very sad and hard to explain to your kids.

Updated Requests~Praying With Faith!

Please pray for Emory Keys who will be having surgery for her teathered spinal cord on the 23rd of this month.

Thanks for your prayers for Serenity. (The little girl with all of the heart problems). Her mom Dana listed their journey on a new site that she created. You can check it out HERE.

Continue to remember the requests (listed below in more detail):
~Keisha's grandma
~Kenneth's brother, dealing with the loss of his wife.
~Ethan Powell and his friends
~Mandy Moore and her family
~Donna's brother and his medical problems
~All of our pregnant friends
~My sister Katie
~All my reflux babies, especially those doing tube feedings and fundo's right now.
~Ella's upcoming evaluation
~My surgery (in Sept hopefully).
~Connally Bell
~Our bible study on Psalms of the Assent

Updates

I honestly don't have a ton of changes. Keep the things mentioned below in your prayers. Joanna updates about Emory so you can click on their link at the sidebar or here. I could not even attempt to do all of the medical info justice. :) Pray for Emory and the entire Keys family.

Updated June 27th

Please remember Keisha's grandmother in your prayers. She has been put into the hospital with possible congestive heart failure and kidney problems. Please pray for her and the family at this time.

If you click on Ethan's link there is a very long list of Ethan's Friends that can also use your prayers. No child should ever have to have cancer and no family should have to face that kind of thing. Thankfully we have a strong and powerful God so please pray for these kids.

Continue to remember Mandy as she heals and her family member dealing with bone cancer.

Remember my friend Donna's brother who is having medical probelms and seizures.

Please pray for my sister as she is in the process of making huge life changes as well as a move. I am praying these things will bring her closer to our Lord.

Please pray for all of the kids on the sidebar who are dealing with reflux and GI issues. Right now researchers are working on new medicines for delayed emptying that do not have neuro side effects so keep this important work in your prayers as well. It could mean definite changes in the quality of life for a lot of these kids.

Specifically remember Quinn who was admitted to the hospital today due to her GI issues and possible infection...

Praise God that no one was injured in our horrible storm this week. We have a lot of huge limbs down and had a small fire but eveyone is safe. It is a complete miracle! Pray for Melina as she continues to have nightmares due to the storm and fire. The little girls really didn't understand enough to be scared (a huge blessing, in my opinion).

I am not big on politics but I think it is important to pray that whoever becomes president will be a guiding light for His way and will help get this country where it should be.

We are staring a bible study on the Psalms of Assent so please keep that in your prayers as well.

Love you all.

Updated June 19th

Please pray for the Sewell Family~
Kenneth's older brother is stationed in Iraq. His brother recieved a call early this morning that his wife had been killed in a car accident and will be traveling home as soon as possible. I can't imagine how hard a trip this will be for his brother. Please keep the Sewell family in your prayers.

My friend Jenn's dad is having a colonoscopy Tuesday. Please pray for good results.

For us~
Please pray for Ella's upcoming evaluation in August and for the decision between surgury or medication that I need to make soon.

Continue to remember the missionaries, PAGER babies and others needing prayers on the sidebar!

Prayer Requests UPDATED (finally).

Kristie sent this update on the Bell baby:
I just wanted to give you all an update on little Connlay Bell (the baby born with the brain tumor). I heard yesterday that he recently had a full body scan and there were no signs of any clustering cancer cells. That is wonderful news since the cancer he had was so fast growing that they would have been able to see by now if it was coming back. He is able to take a bottle now and no longer needs the feeding tube. I did not hear anything about whether they have changed his prognosis, but I would think they would have to after such a good report. He does not make sounds yet, but the part of the brain that was affected by the tumor is the part of the brain that controls speech...so hopefully it will adapt and he will eventually be able to make some sounds. He still doesn't cry either so I'm not sure why that is.....but, when I get another update I'll keep you posted. Thanks to all for the many prayers....they have helped!

Please look at the reflux kidos on the right sidebar. There are several that are doing well right now. Kennedy, Maggie and Nate are doing wonderfully. Mila is also doing well after her heart surgery and had gained weight and improved cardiac function. Several are dealing with feeding aversions and sensory integration disorders due to their child's constant pain. Quinn has also been dealing with ALTE (Apparent Life Threatening Episodes) related to sleep apnea. The insurance is not being too helpful in covering her medical needs (oxygen mask etc). Please keep all of these things in your prayers.

As you know, we have had our own battles with reflux, aspiration, FTT, delayed gasteric emptying and sensory issues due to pain management. These kids are going through what our two GERDlings have dealt with and more. They have such a special place in my heart and I love them all like my own. Please please pray for them to be healed and be able to have a "normal" life. Pray for these parents as they care for these children and as they mourn the ideas of what should have, or could have been. That can be almost as hard as dealing with the illness. I personally would ask that you pray that God will give me the right words to comfort and that He will use me to guide these families closer to Him during these trying times. I can not imagine dealing with what we have with out Him leading the way.

Thank you all for reading this and for praying for these families. Sorry about the big drop off in posts. The glitch is "fixed". If you have any prayer requests send them along.

Love you all!

Not forgotten....

This blog has not been forgotten... I have had some technical difficulties. If you have any requests to add send them to my hotmail address or post them to my Facebook page. Hopefully this will be up and running (and updated) soon.

As always remember all of the families listed below and on the sidebar.

Love you all-
Jen

April 10th

This is the update we were given on baby Connaly:
Connlay Bell (the baby mentioned below) is home with Hospice assistance. They are doing good. Church is fixing meals for them. He is still sleeping a lot due to the seizure meds but when he is awake he is very alert. They are still not sure if all the seizures are real seizures. They go back to the Dr next week, brain surgeon. They really don’t know any more now than a week ago.

Thank you all for your previous prayer for my bestest friend (of nearly 20 years), Colleen. I mentioned a while back that she and her husband were dealing with problems concieving. Your prayers were answered and they welcomed their sweet little one, Caitlin, into the world last week. God is good.

Prayer Requests for April 9th!

Please pray for Melissa D. who has an appointment for her eyes/glaucoma today.

Continue to pray for the Powell family as they plan Ethan's homecoming.

Please pray for the Keys family and Emory's appointments at Children's this week.

Pray for a friend whose son is undergoing testing for Aspergers Syndrome.

There are several friends who have new babies this month so please remember them as they settle into those sleepless nights. ;)

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Ethan Powell passed away today.

Ethan Powell passed away this morning. Please keep Ben and Becky in your prayers. They are having problems with the site due to the increased hits from this morning's news. Here is a "cut and pasted" copy of what Ben wrote:

April 5th- Day 424 DAY +96
5th update 1:36pm [Ben] - Even though Ethan has passed I will never let go. Although this life is miserable without him, we refuse to give up on these other kids. Please direct your prayers to Sully and the other children on Ethan's friends list. Pray for their parents strength. Pray for his recovery. We are going to take this fight one day at a time with your help. For today, please visit http://sullivanfarrar.com and pray with all of your might. Don't lose faith! BeLIeVe... PRAYER WORKS!!!We will update with more information about what happens next. As always we love you and thank you for your prayers.

4th Update 12:11 pm [Ben] - This is the update that I hoped never to type. At 11:37am, Ethan left this earth peacefully in our arms. I apologize for my lack of faith and letting you down. I ask that you stand strong in your faith and please continue to pray for "Ethan's friends". I thought alot about this over the last hour orso, and I have decided to keep updating for a short time. I am so angry at cancer and I plan to dedicate my life to fighting it. We need your help to do it. Please continue to check the site to find out the next step. I am speaking for myself when I say this... no child should have to die because of a lack of cure. And I plan to find that cure with your help! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me in this fight. I truly feel so lonely without him here, and I really need this to move forward. Please help me to beat this terrible illness.Although the devils wants to convince me and you otherwise, I still BeLIeVe... PRAYER WORKS!!! And I hope that you do to.

Please keep Ben and Becky in your prayer!

March 28th prayer requests...

Please pray for Kari Austin's grandfather Robert Snell. He is in the hospital in DesMoines due to blockage in a previous bypass sight. He was having a lot of pain and the cardiologists are supposed to be running more tests today. Kari's grandmother is not fully able to care for herself or her husband (due to a stroke she had previously) and does not drive so please keep that in your prayers as well.

Please pray for my Dad who is sick with a stomach thing. He needs to be able to keep his medications for heart disease and diabetes down or he could wind up in an more serious state.

Connaly Bell

Pray for little Connaly Bell. He was born last week with a malignant brain tumor that has been causing seizures. They put him into a coma to prevent any more seizures and removed the brain tumor during sugery on Saturday. Dr's believe they have gotten all of the tumor and have removed Connaly from the meds to put him into the coma and he was able to open his eyes a bit on Sunday. Keep the Bell family in your prayers as Connaly continues to heal.

Updated March 20, 2008

First, I just want to wish you all a Happy Easter. We are praying for all of you who may be traveling to have a safe and fun trip!

Please continue to remember Mandy. She had a set back due to another blood clot and was in the hosiptal for a week but has returned home. Please keep Mandy and her family in your prayers as she heals and as they determine what long term treatments she may need for the colitis.

Mila is continuing to require tube feeding and is not meeting the calories she needs each day. I believe Sarah said Mila's heart is still functioning at about 50% and it may be a year of healing before she improves dramatically. Please pray Mila will gain weight and that her heart will heal completely.

Please check out the list on the sidebar and remember these families as you pray. I am specifically asking that you remember my babies on the PAGER list. Been there, done that. I know how hard these feeding therapies, food refusal, FTT and PT can be for the kidos and the parents. Pray for healing and peace for these families. Pray they will be surrounded by people who will be understanding, helpful and compassionate.

Check out Suz's blog too (Steece Quads) her little girl Savannah is having a rough time right now with kidney issues. Here is a clip of what Suz wrote about Sav's testing on her kidneys:
...she pretty much failed all parts of it. The reflux is worse on her left....but there is definitely an obstruction on the right. almost a complete obstruction. her kidneys are HUGE/ backed up with fluid. dr. pinto is out of town this week until monday. my pedi told me that he will more than likely want to get savannah in to proceed more quickly than we had anticipated. oh, and all three boys will definitely undergo renal sonograms as well. sav is doing well. you would have no idea she is in pain. she doesn't have much of an appetite, but other than that..she is all smiles and giggles.
I know how hard it can be to have a sick kid and how difficult it is to watch some of the testing being done on these sweet little ones. Please keep the Steece Family in your prayers.

Quick update

Keep praying for the people mentioned below....

Praises:

Mandy is home and recovering. It will be a long road with physical therapy to get her back to where she was so please keep her in your prayers.

Check out Ethan's page for some more good news.

Thanks for your prayers for me and the girls. The girls are much better on their new asthma meds and I am not anywhere near as sore this week as I was last week. YAY!!

Mila.... Sarah's Update.

Sarah sent this update about Mila:

Mila's having a rough go of it!!! She vomits at least 1 feeding a day, especially if she is upset. She gets 6 feeds a day of 140 mls ( but we put waaaaay more than that in the bag because we have to prime the line with formula, kwim? ). She's getting 840 calories a day, because her weight for height ratio was somewhere around -50 %. That was very scary to hear, and I've been working super hard to get every single calorie possible into her. She's gained an entire KILO ( 2.2 lbs! ) since getting the ng tube! Can you believe it? I run her feeds over an hour, at 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm and 11pm. Six hours of being strapped down. She hates it. I don't blame her!
Mila takes Captopril for her heart, Lasix to make her pee, and Priolosec ( Losec ) and Zantac for the reflux caused by the NG tube holding the LES open. She gets 3 meds in the morning, one in the afternoon, and four at night. Her blood pressure is often 115 / 55 instead of 85 / 45 which is what they'd REALLY like to see. Unfortunetly, the Captopril for her heart is soooo thick and nasty she won't drink it ( 8mls ) and it won't go easily through the tube! I can't tell you how many times I've pushed a little too hard and SQUIRT! The NG and the syringe pop off and captopril stickiness is everywhere!!!! UGH!
Thank GOD, Canadian Health Coverage pays for her formula, cause there is NO WAY we could afford it at $289 a case for five cases a month! NO WAY at ALL. They also pay for the duoderm, tegaderm, tendergrips, the ng tubes, and the syringes! And a loaner pump, and an IV pole... and all the bags!

My house is a wreck, I have quite literally Mount Washmore waiting for me, my parents are here everyday, my inlaws are here everyday, and Mila can't leave the house for fear of germs! Bacteria and viruses can lodge in the scar tissue in her heart and cause her heart to fail again. Aghhh its so hard to believe that all of these problems were heart failure. HEART FAILURE. In a ONE YEAR OLD. And she was HAVING HEART ATTACKS!!

Obviously Mila and her family need our prayers daily! Thanks.

Mila

Mila has been readmitted to the hospital. Obviously fever after heart surgery is never good so they are keeping her there so that they can keep a close eye on her. Please keep the family in your prayers!

Pray for Kristen!

Please pray for Kristen Hicks. She is very sick with a flu virus that has attacked her lungs. Her DR has her on antibiotics, steriods and medicines to open her airway. This is the last ditch effort to keep her out of the hospital. Please pray that she does not have to be put in the hospital and that the medicines will help her to feel better quickly!!

Mila...

Sarah gave this update on Mila last night:

Mila is home and doing fantastic. She's on an NG feeding tube for a bit, as her weight dropped from 8.3 kilos on the hospital scale to just 7.5 kilos! I'm so proud of her for coming through this like a champ. I'm just amazed.. What a miracle she is!!Of course, everything is not peaches n cream. She's still not sleeping, though we aren't feeding her from 11pm to 7am at all any more. She gets 6 feedings each of 140 mls - close to 30 ounces per day. What she doesn't bottle, I measure out of unthickened formula and put down the tube. If she drinks 4 out of the 5 oz, I just syringe in the last oz. If she leaves more, I put it in the feeding pump. I can't tell you how grateful I am to have that feeding tube & pump now.Mila has been switched to 30 calorie formula called Peptamen Jr. Its $289 bucks a case, and we will go through 5 cases a month!!!! Thankfully, since she is now at least partially tube fed, the government of Alberta / Canada will pay for all but $75 of it! They also provide us with syringes, tape, duoderm, the feeding pump, pump bags, the whole 9 yards for nothing! We also have four prescriptions going. She gets Captopril three times a day - it lowers her blood pressure and helps her heart heal. She gets Lasix twice a day to make her pee more, which takes the strain off her lungs and heart. She also gets Zantac twice a day, and Losec at night. The NG tube holds the LES open, which means that she does now, in fact, have reflux!

This morning Sarah very quickly let us know that they had to take Mila to the ER for a high fever. Obviously infection after this kind of surgery is a big deal. Please pray for Mila and her family right now!

Riley

Please remember Rhonda's daughter Riley:

Riley is having her second set of tubes put in and her adenoids taken out on Friday, March 7 at Cook Children's.

Thanks

Updates and PAGER babies!!

Update on Mila's heart surgery:
Mila's surgery went well and she is in the PICU. There was more damage / scar tissue then was anticipated but she seems to be OK. Her recovery may take several years in terms of recovering all of her heart function. Thank you all for the prayers. Sarah

Update on Mandy:
Mandy still has the trach for oxygen only, she has not had any new bleeding, not swollen from malnutrition anymore, she still has a feeding tube but is doing a "liquid diet" and so far so good. Yesterday she sat up in the recliner for the first time in a long time though she is not able to walk around yet. She was even able to visit with her oldest son whom she hadn't seen since Christmas.
Colton's is having a fundraiser on Monday in Harrison. The proceeds from the food purchased go to the local PTA but the money collected in the tip jars will be donated to Mandy's family. Please attend if at all possible. There is also going to be a fundraiser for the family at Grubs Springs Baptist on March 1st. I am not 100% on the times so I will get back to you on that. If any of you have more info then that let me know.

The PAGER babies:
This is a list of some of the babies whose parents I have met working through PAGER. These kids are dealing with various issues related to GERD, food allergies, enzyme deficiencies and other GI issues. Some are having problems eating or gaining weight while others are frequently sick and in lots of pain. Needless to say, all of these kids needs our prayers as do their parents. Especially remember these mommies, who take on the brunt of the load, when dealing with a chronically ill child. The names of the moms who specifically asked for prayers are also in parenthesis. Here are the sweetie pies:

Aubrey

Cole

Connor

Ella

Emily

Halley

Isabella

Jessica

Kennedy (Christy)

Maggie

Mila (mentioned above)

Nate

Sebi (Deanne)

Nolan

Quinn

Check out my blog if you want to see a digital scrapbook page I did about Ella. The background has a list of all of the different symptoms that these kids can have to deal with. It is very humbling. http://www.rackleyfive.blogspot.com/

Thank you all for being such praying people. I love you!

Updates....

Please pray for Ethan, he is scheduled for a bone marrow asperate today. He is needing to take steriods to help with his breathing but it can interfere with the tranplant if there are any leukemia cells remaining. Please pray for no leukemia and for complete healing for this sweetie pie! Becky mentioned that they have been at St Judes for a year now! Pray God will give this family the strength they need to deal with all of these challenges.

Daniel Powers had surgery on Tuesday for injuries to his back sustained during the car accident. Please pray for him as he heals.

Mila was unable to have her heart surgery as scheduled because the surgon was summonded to a urgent case (which he then spent 10 hours working on) and did not want to attempt Mila's complicated surgery while he was tired. I know they were diappointed because waiting has been hard... Please continue to remember Mila and her family in your prayers.

I will check for any updates on Mandy tonight but from what I understand she is doing much better.

Keep remembering all the kids I am working with right now who are suffering from GI problems. We have some very sick babies and some very frazzled parents in need of prayer. I am going to ask if they mind listing first names of their babies before posting them. :)

Mila's surgery

This is what Sarah (mila's mom) just let us know:

Mila's open heart surgery is scheduled for tomorrow ( Wednesday, Feb 06 ) at 11:30am ( around there, at least ). Please send us your fondest wishes for a speedy recovery. If you send wishes by email, we will read them out loud to Mila while she is recovering in the ICU, and then post them on her wall to brighten up her room.

If you are a local and you'd like to come and visit, Mila is at the Stollery. You can call me directly at 780-504-7969 for her room number. We'd love visitors, but please, no flowers or balloons. ( hospital rules )" Stollery's offers a free service for friends & family wanting to send email well wishes to patients. The website is at:

http://www.capitalhealth.ca/HospitalsandHealthFacilities/Hospitals/StolleryChildrensHospital/SendingPatientsGreetings/HospitalMessenger.htm.

Staff receive the messages and print them off, seal them in an envelope and deliver the messages to the patient (the same as a card). Sarah would not need to check messages herself.

Add a few....

Matthew Butterfield is doing well in his fight against bladder cancer... This was posted by the family on Matthew's CarePage:

We saw Dr. Brock on Wednesday and he was very pleased with Matthew's ability to empty his bladder. We won't see him again until after the next images(CT & MRI). These images will create our new baseline due to surgeries to watch for shrinkage, stability and NO growth. Those are scheduled for Feb. 21. I also learned that we have an apt. with a GI doc on March 10. Dr. Brock described the GI doc's manner and it sounded like he was describing himself. I even told him so. He said we were seeing the one he would want us to see. I asked what I should tell the GI doc. He replied, "Just tell him radiation." The spells continue but they are less frequent most days. Some are more severe than others. Praying he will eventually be able to take care of business without so much pain. We saw Dr. Collier Thursday morning for counts and a check-up. As long as Matthew has a port we will visit the clinic monthly to have it flushed. Dr. Collier said that we could schedule the removal of the port after these next GOOD scans.

Please continue to pray for Matthew to be healed and get back to the business of being a little boy again!

Mila tested negative for the flu this morning so they are moving her surgury up to sometime this week (It would have been postponed if she was positive for the flu again). She is on a portable heart monitor and Sarah says they are bored with the hospital but at least now they are able to take Mila to the play room. Pray the surgery will be quick and smooth and that Mila will recover well. She is such a fighter!!

Our girls are all sick (just an upper respiratory virus) but Ella's tummy is better so PRAISE GOD because she has been miserable!!

Continue to pray for everyone mentioned below. LOVE and HUGS!

One more really quick update....

Wouldn't you know I got an update on Mandy just after posting this last one tonight. :)

YAY! Mandy is doing much better. She is now completely off the vent and is only getting oxygen through the trach. She is also still being tube fed but they have been able to increase the feedings to the full ammount and, so far, she is tolerating them well. They also moved her out of ICU to a room that is the "in between" stage between ICU and a regular room so hopefully she will get to be back in a regular room soon.

The doctors believe part of what was causing the problems with her colon was a virus and the other part is the colitis. The virus portion of the problem seems to have passed so now they are working on healing the ulcers on her colon caused by the colitis.

Please continue to remember Mandy and her family. Thank you so much for your prayers for her.... God has been working a miracle for her!!

Updates...Jan 31st

Friends and Family-

Please pray for one year old Mila as she undergoes open heart surgery for ACA and for the family during this stressful time. Please pray the surgery will also help to resolve some of the long standing problems Mila has had with feeding and weight gain.

Continue to remember Mandy. We saw her Saturday. It was such a blessing to see her awake and alert. She even rolled her eyes at me a couple of times, so I guess that much is back to normal. They began weaning her from the vent while we were there on Saturday and she did really well with that. I have been trying to refrain from bugging Dave (her husband) all the time so I will let you know if anything major changes. Obviously she still needs prayers for complete healing from colitis. Please pray she will be moved out of ICU soon so she can see her boys again.

Continue to remember Ethan Powell.

Remember Kristen Hicks. Today is her father's birthday, the first since he passed away two months ago. She is having a very hard time.

Eric French lost his father, please remember their family at this time.

Thank you all for praying for Ella. We are having some huge steps forward and then more back. We just ask that you pray she will not have to have any crazy testing or surgeries to correct her GI issues and that she will be one of the kids that outgrows all of these painful problems.

Pray for all the kids I am working with right now suffering with GI troubles. We have several who have had to have feeding tubes and that is never a "fun" choice for the parents.

If you have any requests or updates (or want me to remove anything) please e-mail me at RackleyMay19@hotmail.com or RackleyFive@cox.net.

God Bless you all. You insipre me daily.

Mandy and updates....

Please continue to pray for Mandy. The doctors have now placed her on life support to give her body a chance to heal. They are still giving her medicine to help her GI tract accept food in the future so please pray that these things will work and she will recover from this illness quickly. I am going to try to see her Saturday so pray for good weather and a safe trip. One of the banks in town has set up a fund for her family since they have no medical insurance and no income right now. Please remember that she also has a newborn baby and older son at home. I am sure this is very hard for them as well. If you need info on the account for them please e-mail me.

Thanks for praying for Daniel Powers. He is doing better and was up walking with a walker at church Sunday. I am shocked and amazed at how resiliant children can be, all through the grace of God of course!!

More updates...

Nicole sent me this update on Reese:
Reese is not doing well at all. She is in need of urgent prayers. She is now facing several battles: an E-coli infection, a MERSA infection, a brain scan shows a spot on her brain, and she will be having surgery on her intestines later on, possibly to remove them. She stopped breathing last night, thankfully the medical staff was able to resuscitate her.
Obviously this sweet, tiny baby girl needs our constant prayers.

Please continue to remember the Powers Family as they recover from their car accident. Daniel is home and in a body cast. He will need to be in the cast for 3-6 months. I imagine it will be hard to keep a young boy sitting still for that long! Please keep them in your prayers!

Ethan Powell is also struggling right now. He has been placed on positive air and is now in the icu fighting a lung infection. Please pray he will fight off the infection and that the transplant will cure Ethan's leukemia!! Also remember Ben and Becky as they care for Ethan!

Continue to remember Mandy Hickman Moore as she is still recovering from her illness. Pray that the medicines will help, she will be able to eat, and will regain the strength she needs to come home and be with her new baby and older son.

Please bathe Elizabeth and Steve Rose and their family in your prayers as they plan and attend the funeral for both of their children, Tanner and Brooklyn, who were killed in the car accident that happened a couple of weeks ago.

Prayer Requests to add...

Update on baby Reese from Nicole.

Josh said Reese was in stable recovery and seemed to be doing good. They are going to have to do another surgery in 6-8 weeks on her intestines as a follow up surgery to this previous one. As it stands right now, Reese won't be able to come home until Mid March or early April.

Please continue to pray for this family and this sweet baby girl.

Please also pray for our minister Steve Powers and his family. They were rear-ended, after pulling onto the shoulder of the road, this past week. One of their boys broke his colar bone and the other (Daniel) broke a vertebrae that will require surgery to fix. Daniel is in Chhildren's in LR. Keep the Powers family in your prayers.

Update from Elizabeth Rose via HU Alumni News

Words can not express how grateful my family is to each of you. Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers, cards, visits, and gifts. We are recovering physically—I will be released from rehab on Friday (1-4) and will be going to St. Vincent's to stay with Steve until he is well enough to be moved to Searcy. He is doing much better but still has a lot of recovering to do. Services for the children are still pending based on Steve's progress. Please continue to remember our family in your prayers. Again, thank you all for everything---your kindness has been overwhelming.
Elizabeth Rose
E-mails to the family may be sent to CFeltrop@wcmc.org.

Updates, January 4th!

Update on the Gebhardts from Nicole (The family with the premie baby...see the Dec 10th list): Tuesday they found out that Reese had a bad intestinal infection (NEC) They transferred her to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and were doing X-rays on her every six hrs. Today they ended up doing surgery and taking out two parts of her bowels and she will be on a ventilator for a few days and they also put in a colostomy bag for the next few months, but all in all everything went really well,she will have an ultrasound of her brain soon as a precaution, please continue to keep Reese, Jenni and Josh in your prayers.

I also talked with Mandy's SIL yesterday and she said Mandy has had a few good days where she is able to keep food down but then yesterday she was back to throwing up again. It has been months since Mandy has been able to keep any food down consistantly so her stomach must be in protest. Please pray the medicines they are giving her will work and she will be feeling much better soon!

Please also continue to remember Ethan Powell. He has undergone a second transplant and they are currently waiting for the cells to engraft. They are giving him medicine to prevent graft vs. host disease and are continuing to pray for no infection or seizures. This little guy has been through a lot, please pray that God will heal him!

Update on the Rose Family

This is an update on Steve and Elizabeth Rose from their cousin.

Things change daily, but only by a little bit. So I thought I would wait a bit before giving an update. I believe that I have everything correct below. This is the update that I received today, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008. If anything is incorrect that anyone knows of, please let me know. Thanks.Steve and Elizabeth are doing fairly well. I think as of the beginning of this week, Elizabeth was moved to the Rehad center and is going through physical therapy. We haven't been up to the hospital to see her again. We went the Wednesday before Christmas, but she was sleeping. Mom and Dad went the Saturday before Christmas and said that she looked good and was in good spirits--but I know the good spirits come and go.As for Steve, he had surgery the last week of school on his eyes and nose areas. They are slowly taking him off of the medicine that has been sedating him--very slowly. He is able to open his eyes and squeeze hands to communicate. As of today, the hospital provided a device that helps him talk some (I don't know all of the details). He told the doctor that he wanted to look perfect! He does remember the accident, but they still have not mentioned the kids to him. I know that it did a world of good for my aunt to hear him talk. He can't use the device very much because it is difficult for him to breath on his own. But they are seeing improvement. They are hoping that Elizabeth will be able to leave the rehab center to visit Steve sometime soon. I know that she isn't believing anyone when they tell her that Steve is doing well--and I don't blame her. As for funeral arrangements for Tanner and Brooklyn, the funeral home is going to hold them for as long as needed. The family wants Steve and Elizabeth to be able to be part of the planning of the funeral--which is only the right thing to do in my book at least. Anyway, we greatly appreciate all the prayers that everone is sending up. Please continue to remember them in your daily prayers as they begin to heal and deal with all the emotional pain. It looks like a long road to full recovery for them both.