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“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every<br />
situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,<br />
present your requests to God.” – Philippians 4:6<br />
On <strong>March</strong> 3, after 5 days of treatment,<br />
Campbell was released to go home. “We<br />
were all very thankful to be going home to<br />
our familiar territory, routine, food, etc. “<br />
Like most children, Campbell was a creature<br />
of habit. He thrived in his own environment.<br />
“We will return to the clinic for our post op<br />
appointment at 8:40 Thursday morning and<br />
then our first outpatient treatment will be at<br />
12:30 on Thursday. We will continue to do<br />
outpatient for treatment weeks two through<br />
five, barring Campbell doesn’t get fever or<br />
sick, which would put us back in the hospital.<br />
David and I have decided that each day we<br />
would find at least one thing to give God<br />
praise for...we are thankful and blessed to get<br />
the opportunity to do that each day of<br />
treatment. Each morning, our prayer is that<br />
Campbell’s side effects from treatment<br />
would be minimum or NOT AT ALL.<br />
We boldly pray for not at all. I am constantly<br />
reminded to experience true joy in each and<br />
every moment of the day and cherish the<br />
time God gives me with my family.”<br />
“I will extol the Lord at all times; HIS praise will<br />
always be on my lips.” –Psalm 34:1<br />
“Our bold prayer is that at six weeks,<br />
when Campbell has his first evaluation, that<br />
they will find no cancer. We know this is a<br />
bold request, but our God is bigger than cancer<br />
and we know HE hears each and every request<br />
we offer up to HIM. Our other request is<br />
that the side effects from the chemo will be<br />
minimum or none at all. Thank you again for<br />
all of your prayers, love and support. We are<br />
praying without ceasing that Campbell will be<br />
completely healed…his story is not finished.”<br />
Throughout the treatment, Jill and David<br />
sought moments of normalcy for their children.<br />
About a month after he was diagnosed,<br />
Campbell was able to return to Trinity<br />
Preschool for a brief moment to enjoy Fairy<br />
Tale Day. He dressed as a pirate, and his<br />
twin sister, Avery, dressed as Rapunzel. A few<br />
days later, Jill arranged a photo session with<br />
photographer Allison Muirhead. “Our<br />
friendship/relationship with Allison goes<br />
back 7 years. She took our wedding pictures,<br />
newborn pictures, first year pictures and many<br />
other pictures since, of the twins and our family.<br />
I knew there was no one else I wanted to take<br />
these very special pictures and capture our<br />
family as only she can. Because we don’t know<br />
what the future holds for our family, we wanted<br />
to have memories of what we were before<br />
chemo/radiation.”<br />
Radiation…such a scary word. “It’s one I<br />
never thought I would speak of, especially<br />
pertaining to my child.” A meeting with<br />
doctors revealed that Campbell was<br />
unfortunately not a candidate for the proton<br />
therapy the family had hoped for. “Because<br />
of the rare location of his Rhabdo (in the<br />
abdomen) and the studs that were left from<br />
surgery, the proton therapy will not work.<br />
Without getting too detailed, proton therapy<br />
hits the tumor (or cancer cells) with radiation.<br />
Because Campbell’s cells are probably so<br />
small, there is no way to know what to hit<br />
and you can’t just hit thin air and hope you<br />
are hitting the possible cancer cells remaining.<br />
In his case, you can’t hope, you have to<br />
know for certain that the radiation is hitting<br />
what it is supposed to so that it won’t come<br />
back. So, the only way to do that is to radiate<br />
his entire abdomen.” The good news is the<br />
radiation could be done at UMC. The bad<br />
news would be the toll it would take on<br />
Campbell. The side effects from radiation<br />
will be worse since it is targeting his abdomen…<br />
nausea, vomiting, intestinal issues (because<br />
the intestines do not like radiation), etc. He<br />
will be put to sleep every day for five days a<br />
week for five weeks (because of his age and<br />
the need to be completely still he has to be<br />
put to sleep). He will also be receiving chemo<br />
throughout radiation. We are scared, we are<br />
nervous and we worry about the many side<br />
effects to come. Secondary cancer is a big<br />
one. We know that God provides the wisdom<br />
and tools to the doctors to do their jobs so<br />
we signed the papers once again and said do<br />
whatever you have to in order to save his life<br />
and give him a chance at living a long, full life.”<br />
The toll on the entire family was hard.<br />
“I’m tired, we are tired and my heart aches<br />
for my four-year-old who doesn’t understand<br />
why we keep doing all of this to him. I don’t<br />
know if there has ever really been a time in<br />
my life where I cried out to God that I was<br />
so scared and I wasn’t sure I could keep<br />
going. As much as I feel we are fighting an<br />
uphill battle, HE reminded me that HE is<br />
right there, fighting the battle with us. Oh<br />
gosh how HE loves Campbell more than<br />
I do…HE loves him so much I can’t even<br />
fathom the depths of HIS love for him. So<br />
I release it to HIM, I release Campbell to<br />
HIM, trusting HIM to continue to carry us<br />
through on this journey.”<br />
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD<br />
is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the<br />
earth. HE will not grow tired or weary, and HIS<br />
understanding no one can fathom. HE gives strength<br />
to the weary and increases the power of the weak.<br />
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men<br />
stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD<br />
will renew their strength. They will soar on wings<br />
like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they<br />
will walk and not be faint.” –Isaiah 40:28<br />
“From the fullness of HIS grace we have all received<br />
one blessing after another.” –John 1:16<br />
By January, Campbell’s little body was<br />
struggling from the effects of the radiation.<br />
“I’m going to be honest (and David and I<br />
have always said from day one of this journey,<br />
we would never sugarcoat it to make it more<br />
pleasant because honestly there aren’t a lot of<br />
days I count as pleasant). November and<br />
December were rough months for us.” It was<br />
<strong>Hometown</strong> madison • 79