Molly Margaret's Miracle

Hey friends! We made it. Last week was a doozy as expected but we’re still standing. A long, exhausting week for a little girl. We wanted to share a few updates – CT results, side effects so far, what’s next and some specific prayer requests for this week. First and foremost – thank you for praying. Your prayers carry us in a way I’ll never be able to explain. Weeks like last week are tough and exhausting. Your prayers give us strength and breathe life into us. Praise God for the body of Christ!

We started the week with a CT scan but didn’t fully have results until the end of the week. The oncologists, radiologists and our surgeon all discussed her scan together so we would have a comprehensive view of what’s going on. The tumor has “slightly decreased in size”. For that we are grateful! Praise God we’re moving in the right direction. With this type of tumor, it may not necessarily just melt away as others do. Though it remains, the cancer cells may no longer be active. However, we will not know if they are or not until we do a MIBG scan. This will be done after her fourth (and hopefully final!) round of chemo. The doctors are pleased with what they saw but said we really won’t know anything conclusive to make decisions from until the MIBG scan. We were a little bummed because we were expecting to know more from this scan. But that is okay. Things are moving in the right direction (we’ll take any “slight shrinkage” we can get!) and we will press forward.

Side effects thus far have been nothing out of the ordinary, praise God! Steroids are such a dang doozy but thankfully we didn’t see anything too intense from stacking treatments last week. We’ve had some loss of appetite and (assumed) nausea but we’re taking it a day at a time.

Tomorrow (1/4/21) we start Rituximab. This will be given once a week for the next four weeks. We delayed starting this before Christmas and we are so glad we did. The Lord gave us such a peace about that decision. We are so thankful for Dr. Gorman (OMS specialist in Boston) and the additional insight and wisdom he has provided for us. Just a reminder that the Lord makes a way and brings the right people to the table. Infusion reactions are fairly common when receiving Rituximab so we are praying against that. Rituximab carries some additional risk to a few immunoglobulin levels that are already low in Molly Margaret. We can’t be sure of why she has low levels or what Rituximab could do to those levels so without being too detailed and long winded, please just pray against these side effects. We won’t know how it affects her for several months – worst case scenario is she could become dependent on IVIG for life… not ideal. Please pray the Lord would protect those levels and the Rituximab would only do its job of preventing an OMS relapse and leave everything else untouched.

Throughout this journey, we’ve met many people who have walked before us or are in the trenches of cancer now. Our hearts are heavy with news that one of these families have received over the weekend. Would you please stop and pray for Finny and his family? We’re begging God to perform a miracle in his body. To do what only He can do.

Specific Prayer Requests:

• Pray for Finny. Pray peace over his parents. Pray comfort for his body. Pray that God would perform a miracle. That the doctors would be shocked and unable to explain it. That his life would be a testament to God’s goodness. Pray specifically for his heart.
• Rituximab – pray for the infusion on Tuesday (starts at 9:30am and will be lengthy). Pray that Molly Margaret would have no adverse reaction during the infusion. Pray for a smooth port access. Pray she can rest during the infusion and that while she’s awake we can keep her entertained, comforted and not upset. Pray against any long term effects of this medicine.
• Pray that this tumor would melt away. That when we go for the next scan it wouldn’t even be there. That the cancer cells would no longer be active.

A moment of transparency – our faith has been the strongest its ever been during this season and we’ve also questioned God more than we ever have during this season. Last week we were exhausted, Molly Margaret was irritated (LOVE THOSE ROIDS) and getting her settled for bed was taking forever. We knew she’d probably be up a ton throughout the night (again, ROIDS) and we were beat. I (Mackenzie) was rocking MM and just said “God, I know you’re there but I need you to tangibly show me you’re here and you still care. I need to see you right now.” And you know what? He showed up. She slept almost the entire night. The next morning I could see more clearly and my faith was strengthened. I don’t say this to say He’s always going to give you the night’s sleep, lol, wouldn’t that be nice? I share this to say He delights in revealing Himself to us. And what I’m learning is that sometimes we are of little faith. Because we’re human. But instead of pretending like we know He’s at work, just ask Him. Because once you ask, you’re actively looking for Him to show up. And He always does. Even in the smallest of ways. He will absolutely reveal Himself to you if you ask and are looking. We are so thankful for you and how the Lord is using you in our lives. To rally around us, to hold us up when we’re weak, to give us the strength to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

• Neal, Mackenzie and Molly Margaret ❤