~Valentines for Austyn~
Austyn is a precious girl born January 12, 2012 at 3:20 p.m. to Ryan and my friend, and Sister in Christ, Justine Marchion in Great Falls, Montana.
Soon after being born, the doctors noticed a mass in Austyn's
left leg. After performing an ultrasound on the mass, the doctors in
Great Falls were unable to determine exactly what the mass was and sent
the results to Children's Hospital in Seattle, Washington. Later that
night, Austyn and Justine were airlifted to Seattle, and Ryan joined them
the next morning. While in the hospital, the doctors ran a series of tests and found a
tumor in Austyn's leg. The tumor was diagnosed as Infantile
Fibrosarcoma. This form of cancer is very rare and is only reported in
1% of all cancer diagnoses. In fact, only 20% of all sarcoma cases are
reported in people under the age of 35. The treatment is going to consist of a number of chemotherapy sessions
over a 6 to 12 week time period. Once the tumor has shrunk enough, the
doctors will then perform a surgery to remove the tumor. With this form
of treatment, there is a 90% chance that the cancer will never return
and that Austyn will go on to live a happy and healthy life.
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| Fightin' Cancer in Style! |
What is needed MOST, is PRAYER. Especially as Austyn has now begun her Chemotherapy. Please ~ please, pray for this sweet family as you feel so led...
In praying for this family, I was given this idea from God, as I made hearts all day this past Saturday afternoon. It is definitely not something I desire to draw attention to, or for myself, only that our Lord is glorified. These hearts - the donations - are 'small things' in and of themselves. It is prayer that truly moves mountains, when we step out in faith. We can do no big things... only small things with great love. And it is with love, honor and Glory for God and Him alone, that any of this is shared, given and received... however God chooses to use it for this sweet, young family. SOLI DEO GLORIA!
Yesterday (January 28th, Justine wrote: "Many
people have asked how or why a newborn could have cancer straight out
of the womb, but all we have been told is that it’s a gene mutation that
is extremely uncommon. But from the start our baby girl has been so
brave. We get our strength from our faith and remind ourselves if she
can do this so can we! We know God is good and he loves Austyn Mae
even more then we do, and he will take care of her through anything.
When any child has such a horrible disease it may make people question
God. I find comfort in the words of the Lord, Jeremiah 29:11 “For I
know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to PROSPER you
and NOT TO HARM you, plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE.” I know that
Austyn will be our true testimony to our faith. I encourage you all to
read John 9:1-12, the story of Jesus healing that man that was born
blind. In this scripture Jesus said “Neither this man nor his parents
sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in
his life.” I know that Austyn Mae is going to be another one of Gods
miracles and she will be cured. We feel so blessed to
have the support of all of you! The way people have reached out to help
us is truly touching. Jennifer Herris has been our angel here is
Seattle. Her daughter Rylee is a cancer survivor. She is a beautiful 2
year old that has truly given me hope for my daughter. I would ask that
you all pray for a few children we met in the hospital; Isabella, a 9
year young girl who is fighting a pelvic bone infection and Japeth a 5
year old boy also battling cancer. Austyn starts chemo this Monday and
now that we are settled in the Ronald McDonald house I will be better
about keeping you all up to date. Again I would like to thank everyone
for their continued thoughts and prayers; we can feel your love all the
way out here in Seattle!
Love and miss you all,
Justine"
Thank you Father God, for the miracle of little Austyn Mae. Please give her Your Mighty Strength as she goes through Chemo, peace and strength for her Mom and Dad, all her family, and Your great love and wisdom for all her caregivers as they face this challenge together. Amen.
6 comments:
What a cutie pie! I hope everything goes well for her.
Such a big challenge for such a tiny baby. Humans are very resilient. I wish her all the best.
I promise to add Austyn to my daily prayer list. I will lift her up to the Lord who is our Healer. :^) patsy
I am so sorry to hear about your friend's baby. How sad that a newborn baby has to undergo chemo. Her mother sounds like an incredibly strong person. I just said a prayer for healing for this baby and the other children mentioned my her mother.
The hearts are a beautiful idea!
Best wishes to this little sweetie for a full and complete recovery.
My husband and I had a baby boy last April and he and I were airlifted the same day to Seattle Children's Hospital as well. He was born without an esophagus and various other issues. Maybe 10 seconds before my water broke and we headed to the birth center to have him God spoke in a very clear strong voice, "you are just going to have to trust Me." We spent our time in Seattle growing in that trust and awe at even in sickness, the unknown and pain He is good and trustable. As the docs say now, "he is doing better than 99% of all kids with this birth defect and they are amazed at his progress"! I understand not all situations work out this way, but in the hardest days of my life I look back and see all that God did in our marriage and in our faith and the lives of those around us as tehy watched all that God was doing in our hearts. May God prove Himself so trustable, because He always is in the good times and in the times that are unimagineably hard. Blessings and love and thank you for supporting this family!
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