Saturday, February 28, 2009

What a difference a day makes!


When Whitney & I visited Forester last night, he slept and only woke up enough to cry because of his pain. He looked like himself but was so, so sleepy. He didn't really communicate or answer Pete & Whitney when they spoke to him.

But today... WOW! He ate an entire hamburger and some applesauce (and of course, some chocolate donut holes), played in the playroom, and briefly answered questions. Tonight, Whitney is holding him and reading to him. The Lord has answered our prayers in amazing ways!!! How awesome is He!!!

I have yet to delete Whitney's text message from 8:54am on Tuesday February 24th that reads, "There is a tumor." I just can't bring myself to delete it. Now, a mere 4 days later, Forester has had surgery to remove that cancerous brain tumor, has left PICU and may soon leave the hospital. What a miracle! Truly.

As we all rejoice with the Bradburns, let us remember that Forester still has a long way to go. The surgery that rid his body of the tumor also shocked his little body. His neck hurts. He faces 8 months of radiation and chemotherapy and he has no idea. Everything has happened so quickly that Whitney & Pete haven't even had time to grieve. Micah has had a blast with friends and grandparents over the last few days, but he has to come home sometime too. Sweet little Slade has been such a trooper. When Forester leaves the hosptial and life slows down, the reality of Forester's diagnosis and his new life will hit their family all over again.

The Bradburns will need our prayers more than ever! Please continue to rally around them and love and support them as you have so graciously done these last 4 days. Most importantly, please pray! As we have all seen so clearly, God is good and powerful and unbelievably loving! His people are pretty unbelievable too! I've been blown away by all of you, and I know Pete & Whitney have been too.

Thanks to some very special friends of the Bradburns here in Charleston I will soon post detailed information about how you can help in concrete and practical ways over the next 10 months or so. Please check back soon. Oh, I'm working on a CaringBridge website too. Thanks to all of you who suggested it.

May God bless you all!
Much love,
April

1 comment:

Tammy Ma said...

so thankful to hear that he is on the way home soon! We are praying here! We will continue! Love you guys!