"I want to keep you all forever"

ETHEN'S HEALTH UPDATE

We are so happy and thankful to share with you all that Ethen's scans this past week were CLEAR - NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE! This past Thursday, Ethen was sedated for about 4 hours to have routine follow-up CT and MIBG scans along with another hearing screening. We were also thankful to learn that his hearing loss has not gotten any worse in the past months. Thank you all for your faithful prayers!

This past week was exhausting for all of us. We were separated as a family for the week (Brian and Hudson in Raleigh, Christie and the younger two in Charlotte) and the stress of making it through three days of hospital/clinic visits with the anxiety of unknown results takes its toll. I don't know if there is any clear way to describe what it takes out of us all, but we ask for your prayers as we all recover emotionally and physically and move forward savoring each extra moment of time we get together. We truly do not take it for granted because we have known and felt the alternative.

Ethen has now been on the DFMO clinical trial for almost a year, and according to his oncologist this is a huge milestone for him to hit (as far as relapse rates and survival statistics). We know that Ethen has and will always be more than a statistic, and that cancer never seems to fit into perfect boxes, so we continue to give his medicine twice a day, trusting ultimately that God determines the steps for our child and will care for us no matter where that leads.

TODAY—Time Together

This morning while on a family walk, Ethen leaned over from my (Christie's) arms to wrap his little arms around his big brother. We had been talking about how glad we were to be back together, and in that moment Ethen spoke the truth we all feel in our hearts everyday as he sweetly said, "I want to keep you all forever." Us too buddy, more than we can say.

(How we all feel after this week - sweet buddy was out for his nap in about thirty seconds)