Molly Margaret's Miracle

Well friends, we have some GOOD news to share! 🥳 Pathology is back and the doctors have called to confirm it’s what they suspected and were hoping – maturing cells that are not in and of themselves cancerous. Thank you, Jesus. Wow. We honestly don’t really know what to say right now – it’s a lot to process, but we’re so so grateful. The journey ahead of us is still long but goodness it feels like a huge step forward to close this chapter of treatment. 🤍

So what does this mean? There is still a very small cluster of cells remaining that were unable to be removed in surgery. However, the pathology shows that these cells are maturing and therefore not havoc wreaking or concerning. Our oncologist said “we feel very comfortable saying we are done with treatment and moving into a monitoring phase”. No more chemo. No more surgery. Praise the Lord!!! We will have an appointment with our oncologist for blood work at the end of March and then will have scans every few months for the next year to year and a half to monitor those remaining cells and make sure they don’t grow or spread. Our first scan will be in May. This is essentially the first step in stepping out of our cancer journey! What a dang gift. Truly, words feel inadequate here.

Molly Margaret’s case is unique (1 in 10 million actually) in that her tumor triggered her immune system to attack her nervous system. A condition called opsoclonus myoclonus (OMS). We’ve been undergoing treatments for this since right after diagnosis in the hospital. The treatments have been very effective and we have not seen her original symptoms (eyes shaking & rapid loss of balance) resurface since beginning these treatments. It’s really been a complete miracle – doctors are continuously in awe of that. At diagnosis they couldn’t even tell us if she’d do anything normally – walk, talk, etc. & well, YOU SHOULD SEE HER NOW!! An incredible miracle – we are praying that continues. Treatments consist of three days of high dose steroids and one day of IVIG every four weeks. These treatments will continue on for awhile, probably the next couple of years, although at some point we will be able to begin tapering. Chance of a relapse with OMS is very very high so we are praying we will continue to see no signs of relapse! Specifically that the tumor cells remaining would not be enough to trigger an OMS response. Next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Molly Margaret will get her next OMS treatment. Side effects of steroids are a complete bear and we absolutely dread the days she receives steroids but going to the hospital three days every four weeks feels insanely more manageable than the amount we’ve been going the past four months!

We are thankful. We are relieved. We are tired. We’re not looking forward to treatment next week. We’re lots of things that feel a little conflicting. And that’s okay. We are praising the Lord for the miracle He has performed in Molly Margaret’s body. We are begging Him to continue the good work of bringing complete and total healing. The story isn’t over but this chapter is.. cannot even believe we get to write that! I struggle a little to find the words to write and whether or not to share this part but seeing as we’ve held no part back so far, we won’t start now. We are so happy, so insanely thankful and also a little numb. Something we didn’t really expect to feel when we pictured what it would be like to receive this news. It’s amazing how the devil immediately tries to rob you of the beautiful gifts the Lord gives. We’re still processing and praying fervently that the devil would get no part of this and that we would fully receive with open hands this blessing of a prayer answered in the specific way we prayed. I think sometimes our human hearts are subconsciously walled to protect ourselves, to be prepared to receive news we didn’t want. And we may even be scared that the good news will mean we lose prayer warriors who we desperately need as the journey is far from over. In general, people understand how scary the word cancer is but very few people understand how scary “OMS” is. For us, it’s just as scary. In the beginning it was actually more concerning to our team than the cancer was. Because it’s so rare and can be irreversible. The goal was for no piece of the tumor to be left since that is what triggered the OMS. We didn’t get that and it feels a little scary. But we rebuke the devil and his desire to rob us of this joy. We are praising God with every breath we breathe for this news. We know what still lies ahead of us but we are stopping to celebrate this huge milestone. An Ebenezer stone in this story and in Molly Margaret’s life. The Lord has brought us this far, we can surely trust Him with the next leg of this journey.

Specific requests:

• PRAISE GOD for this good news!!! For a successful surgery, for favorable pathology results.
• That we would be able to take a deep breath and fully enjoy the Lord’s goodness in this news.
• For continued healing over Molly Margaret’s body from surgery.
• For OMS treatment next week – minimal side effects from steroids & that the medications would continue to work effectively at treating the OMS.

It’s become part of our nightly rhythm to listen to worship music before Molly Margaret goes to bed. One of our favorites has become “Jireh”. Our favorite version is Elevation’s Jireh/Worthy mix on YouTube – highly recommend! Jireh is one of God’s names that means God will provide. He always provides. We’ve been begging for Jehovah Jireh. And now we praise Him. He keeps His promises. He provides on sleepless nights, He provides when we’re in the lowest valley and He provides as we proclaim His name from the mountaintop.

We truly cannot thank you enough for praying. Your prayers give us strength when we feel like we can’t continue walking forward. Please praise God with us now just as hard as you’ve prayed over us these last several months! And please don’t stop praying. We need you to continue standing in the gap for us. Thank you Father for the miraculous work you’re performing in your precious daughter’s body. 💗

• Neal, Mackenzie & Molly Margaret 🙌🏼