Walking in Honor of Kaelyn

Saturday was the 6th annual St. Jude Give Thanks Walk. Our Team Kaelyn didn't participate in the first walk. At that time, my little niece was sick, but the doctors hadn't diagnosed her cancer as yet. That didn't happen until December after the first walk in November. We had yet to find out in a very personal family way the great work St. Jude does. 

Of course, we knew about St. Jude's. We knew that Danny Thomas began the hospital to help kids get well. I knew a family whose child was treated there and fought the good fight but wasn't able to defeat the cancer enemy. 

And then Kaelyn's symptoms got worse so her parents took her to another doctor right before they planned to make the trip back to Kentucky for Christmas. That doctor ordered new tests that revealed the cancer and Kaelyn's parents were given the frightful warning that she possibly only had two days to live and they needed to get her to St. Jude as fast as possible. So they did. Christmas trips home were forgotten. A diagnosis like makes one focus on what matters most and to a mother or father, a child's health is something to fight for, tooth and nail. Thank God, that St. Jude's Hospital feels the same way and without delay, the war against Kaelyn's cancer was declared. For a while, Kaelyn, who was a bubbly five-year-old at the time, refused to talk. One minute she was going home for Christmas. The next moment she was in a hospital with needles and drugs that made her feel even worse and people saying she might die. That's a lot for a little girl to absorb. 

But her wonderful parents and the people at St. Jude's helped her though that with love and compassion and the assurance of hope. She joined the fight with great spirit. It was difficult for her to lose her long, curly hair so her father shaved off his hair to show that hair didn't really matter that much. After months of treatments, Kaelyn's cancer was declared in remission. After three long years of treatments, she heard the word that her family and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of friends across the country had been praying to hear. Cured. Some of you were in that number praying for Kaelyn. And those prayers were answered. I posted about St. Jude No More Chemo Party here on One Writer's Journal a couple of years ago. 

Now Kaelyn is a happy, healthy child again. Going to school. Making friends every day wherever she goes. Not having to wear that mask against germs. She can have a cold now without having to rush to the hospital. She's always ready to speak up for St. Jude's Hospital and help their fundraising any way she can even though she's still just a little girl. But she knows some of the kids she met at St. Jude's are still fighting the fight. She knows that new kids are hearing the dreadful diagnosis she got. She knows St. Jude's can help those kids win the war against cancer as she did. When St. Jude's Hospital was established, only twenty percent of the kids like Kaelyn who had leukemia survived. Now that number is up to eighty percent survivors. St. Jude fights for kids. They fought for our Kaelyn. They want to make the survival rate ninety percent or even better. And so our family, Team Kaelyn, walked in the St. Jude Give Thanks Walk in Kaelyn's honor. 

It was a blessing to see her being just a regular kid playing with the other kids as we walked back through the zoo to see the animals. She's the one in the middle of the crate at the gorilla exhibit. God is good. 

So, I just wanted to share about why we walked in honor of Kaelyn since so many of you prayed for her and her family. Thank you so much. Prayers make a difference.

If you would like to read how a prayer Danny Thomas prayed early in his career led to many children getting a second chance at life the way Kaelyn has, go to Danny's Promise on the St. Jude website. A great story.

Thank you for reading and for praying. You're the best.  

1 in 8 - The C Word

Turns out I'm the 1 in 8. A couple of weeks ago I heard the "c" word no one wants to hear. This week I'll have surgery to remove a cancerous lump from my breast. The lump is very small and the possibility of a complete cure is very good. But I'm still 1 in 8. 


My mother had breast cancer when she was a couple of years older than I am now. And yes, that's definitely a risk factor and the reason I've always been diligent about doing mammograms - at least until Mother needed someone to stay with her all the time. Then there was never enough time for all I needed to do with her care and my writing deadlines and .... well, you know, everything I wanted to do. 
 
I put off the mammograms for three years. Not a wise decision. So I feel blessed that the lump is small and that my delay in getting a mammogram may not have mattered. It probably wouldn't have shown up last year anyway. But the mammogram did show up a lump when I went for what I thought would be a routine test after Mom died. Further tests confirmed the diagnosis. And now on to surgery and radiation treatments. Not something I'm looking forward to, but something I know some of you have already faced. You may have faced even more drastic treatments.

There's a young woman I know in our community now who is taking her second round of chemo. Another dear writer friend, Judy Sliger, just passed away after a heroic fight with cancer. Not breast cancer, but ovarian cancer. She did years of chemo and was ever a spiritual light to her friends. She wrote a book, Take Heart, Prayers for the Terminally Ill. (See it on Amazon.) I just got my copy in the mail and the next day hear that she's gone on to heaven.  

Since my diagnosis, I have been humbled by the many people who are praying for me. What a special gift to give me! Their time, their moments with the Lord. I know you will be praying for me too and I thank you in advance. 

Kaelyn and me

You may remember my blog posts a couple of years ago about my great-niece, Kaelyn when she got to have her no more chemo party at St Jude after three years of chemo treatments to fight the leukemia that was trying to steal this beautiful child from us. She was diagnosed when she was five and she was covered with many prayers. Some of you prayed for her too. She's ten now. A couple of weeks ago I saw her when we went to a revival service her father was preaching. The first thing she said to me was "Aunt Ann, did you hear the news? I'm cured." St. Jude had given her that news a couple of weeks before when she went for a check-up. Now that's the "c" word we all want to hear. And one I expect to hear in due time. 

Thank you for reading. I do so appreciate each and every one of you. Also, if you're on my newsletter list, watch for one to show up in your e-mail boxes this week with a new giveaway chance. If you're not on my newsletter list, you can be. Just sign up here, http://bit.ly/Annsnewsltr.  

A New Chapter in Life

No one finishes this race, but everyone gets to pass a baton, and a good hand off means that you will not slow anyone down during the hand off, especially any one of the billions who will live after you. Everyone today is an accumulation of the 106 billion batons that have been passed forward for thousands of years. So make your baton count. 
(http://www.basicknowledge101.com/subjects/inspiringquotes.html)

Passing the Baton

Today, my husband, who has been singing with the Patriot Quartet since 1997 sang his last concert with them as their first  and only bass. It was a sad day for me because I hated for him to quit the group. I think they have always had a great sound. (You can check out their music at the Patriot Quartet's website or see some short video clips of their concert today on my Facebook page.) But Darrell felt strongly that the Lord was leading him to step aside and pass the bass singing baton on to a younger man who has a great voice and will be a fine addition to the Patriot Quartet. They will continue their ministry and Darrell will step into new ways to minister, still singing, but no longer with the Patriots. And so the year begins a new chapter for him as he moves forward. 

Singing Families

When a singing group has been together as long as the Patriots, the members and their families become something like extended families. That has been especially true with this group since for several year we traveled to concerts in a big old bus that gave us hours and hours to share stories and songs. In fact, it's partly because of that big old bus and all the rides on it that I wrote Angels at the Crossroads. That book, the only nonfiction book I've written, is the life testimony story of the first tenor in the group after Darrell began singing bass with them. 

Angels at the Crossroads - Jerry's Story

Jerry Shepherd has an amazing testimony. As a young man

he become involved in drugs and alcohol and eventually, at age nineteen, was sentenced to prison for murder. While he thought his life was over, the Lord wasn't through with Jerry. He gave him a second chance by putting people in his pathways to help him start making right choices and following the right roads. Jerry couldn't change what he'd done, but he could accept the Lord's forgiveness and try to live for Him going forward. Jerry always wanted to write his story and so when we were thrown together on the bus and I had recently had my first inspirational novel published, it seemed to be meant for me to write his story. I wasn't sure I could since I'd never written anything except fiction, but the words flowed so easily that it had to be the Lord helping me write Jerry's story. The book didn't find a traditional publisher, but it is available on Amazon and other internet sites. Here's a bit of a review just posted yesterday on Amazon. "Hope, forgiveness, and God's love is what helps us all through difficult times just as Jerry finds out. If you face a crossroads in your life, Shepherd's inspirational journey may help lead you down a new pathway to a life filled with compassion and love."

Jerry is now pastoring a church and doing solo appearances to share his story in song and words, but he will always be part of our singing family just as the members we said goodbye to today will be. Batons are passed and new chapters of life are begun. But that doesn't mean we forget the good times we've shared. Sometimes it's good to look back through some of those old chapters of our lives.

Authors - the Old and the Young 

One of those life chapters I've shared with all of you here on One Writer's Journal is that of my great-niece, Kaelyn, who was diagnosed with leukemia when she was five years old. The church where the Patriots sang today is pastored by Kaelyn's father, our nephew-in-law. After three long years of treatments, Kaelyn was released by St. Jude. She has to go back periodically to be sure all is still well, but she now has hair. She doesn't have to wear a mask when she comes to church the way she did the last time the Patriots sang at her church. She can go to public school without the fear that every cold germ will land her in the hospital with little way to fight off infection. On that hard journey of chemo treatments, she never let go of the Lord's hand. She is a special child with a big heart and a sweet spirit. I know many of you prayed for her and rejoiced when I posted about her "no more chemo" party last year. (Here's the link to that post if you missed it last year.) Anyway, I thought you might like to see her picture with her great smile and nice long hair. She told me today she'd just written a book with ten whole chapters for her little brother. He loves Ninjas, so she came up with that type characters and made it funny. Here's a photo of the new author with the old author. 

On to the Next Chapter

Chapters of life start fresh all the time. May your next chapter be a good one. 

Team Kaelyn

Some of you who follow my posts on Facebook and have been following this blog for a while know I have a great niece named Kaelyn who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia the week before Christmas last year. She's undergoing treatment at St. Jude's and has 91 more weeks of chemo. She's a beautiful little girl and when she was diagnosed she had beautiful long wavy hair. Now of course she has no hair and every time it begins to grow back in, she has to take more chemo. That's her with her little brother and new baby sister.

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A little girl who knows the family donated her hair to make Kaelyn a wig, but Kaelyn is too young to worry about hair once it started falling out and they shaved it off. Her dad shaved his head too. In fact she doesn't think a lot about her lack of hair at all if the story her grandmother told me is any indication. Her grandmother said Kaelyn was out with her family at a restaurant when a woman started talking to them. Kaelyn being an outgoing child volunteered the information that they were in Memphis because she was a patient at St. Jude's Hospital. The woman smiled and told Kaelyn, "I know." Kaelyn's mom said that after the woman left the table, Kaelyn looked up at her and asked, "How did she know I was a St. Jude's patient?" Her mom didn't point out Kaelyn's bald head. She just told her it must have been a lucky guess.

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Kaelyn has people all over the country praying for her. Her dad's a preacher and her mom's a beautiful Christian wife and mother. The whole family has been an example of faithfulness and love. Kaelyn tells doctors and visitors that she has Jesus in her heart. By the way, she's six now, but was five when she was diagnosed. Since then Kaelyn's mom says they've seen the good in people. Strangers pay for their meals in restaurants. People who have never met Kaelyn or any of the family pray for her every day. And because she is a delightful child, St Jude's has asked her to do some ads and personal appearances to help raise money to keep the hospital going and for more research for cures. No child with cancer is turned away because of inability to pay. You can imagine what a blessing that would be if you had a sick child who needed such intensive and expensive treatments to give her or him a future. A lot of Kaelyn's family will be walking in the Give Thanks Walk this weekend to help raise money for St. Jude's. It's a cause we can believe in because we've seen the hope it gives families. We've seen the miracle of a fifteen percent survival rate when Danny Thomas got the vision to establish the hospital going up to eighty-five percent. Now their goal is to to make that even higher. They don't want to surrender any child to cancer. You can go to my page where I'm supporting the Give Thanks Walk if you're interested in helping out. https://waystohelp.stjude.org/sjVPortal/public/displayUserPage.do?programId=601&userId=565096&eventId=110410

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So watch for Kaelyn in an interview with Matt Lauer on the Today Show this coming Monday, Nov. 22. I think she's going to be talking about losing her hair. Whatever it is, you'll have to love her, bald head and all. She's also in a commercial with Dwaine Wade. (I don't think I spelled his name right, but the basketball player.) So even though we would have passed by this ordeal for Kaelyn if we could have, we can see how the Lord is letting Kaelyn shine her light - his light in her - for the world to see even in the midst of this desperate trial. And we're all blessed as a result. So keep her and her family in her prayers and if you see a little bald-headed girl with a million dollar smile, you just may be seeing Kaelyn.

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The Next Thirty Years

~~Today is my great niece, Kaelyn's birthday. She's six. Some of you may have been following her or my reports on her on Facebook. But in case you haven't, here's a bit of her story. Last year before Christmas she got sick several times and couldn't seem to get completely better. They thought it was the flu and/or other common maladies that all kids have. But then the week before Christmas on the day the family was planning to start home for a Christmas celebration with the extended family, a lump came up under her neck. A visit to the doctor just to make sure it wasn't anything serious turned into three months at St. Jude's Hospital after a diagnosis of acute leukemia. They didn't get to go home. They didn't get to do anything except go straight to St. Jude's. Suddenly nothing was as important as getting this little girl the best treatment possible. And thank God for Danny Thomas and his vision of curing all young people of cancer with the best possible treatment center in the world. The treatments are horrendous but the care has been superior. She has now entered her second phase of treatment. The cancer is in remission and the battle is now on to eradicate it from her body forever. For two years she will have to undergo treatments every few weeks. For two years any time she so much as runs a fever, she'll have to go to the hospital. For forever she will float along on the thousands of prayers that have been offered up for her because of many churches taking her and her family into their hearts and onto their prayer lists and for all the friends and strangers who have read about her on Facebook and have prayed for healing for her. And today she's six and getting to eat pizza and birthday cake because her blood tests show her counts are up.

~~Some of you may have fought similar battles in your families for those you loved as you prayed for their healing. Sometimes that healing comes and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes accidents steal our loved ones before their time. We're tough and fragile at the same time. And we're not guaranteed tomorrow.

~~Not long ago on a long ride home from somewhere I tuned into a country station on the radio. A song came on where the singer was saying in his next thirty years he'd do things different. He'd live better, kick all his bad habits, love his family and more or less be a model citizen. I don't remember exactly what he planned, but the lyric "my next thirty years" caught my attention because none of us knows if we'll have a next thirty years. We hope so. We want to look that far in the future and still imagine breathing. But we don't know. We expect to. That's why I'm working hard to finish my current book - because I fully expect to be here on July 1 when I have promised to have the book finished. If we didn't expect tomorrow we wouldn't have much motivation for a lot of the chores or work we are doing today.

~~But I got to thinking about my next thirty years and you know what? If I make it that long I hope I'll be able to keep putting words together. Keep making reading friends. At least for part of those thirty years. I look back at the last thirty years and wonder how they could have passed so quickly. Some of the things I did during those years I might like to have a do-over, but there are no do-overs in life. There are only the next thirty years or the next thirty days or the next thirty minutes.

~~I'm glad today we can say Happy Birthday to Kaelyn. She should have many more than thirty years ahead of her now, thanks to the advances in cancer treatment and her wonderful dedicated doctors and nurses. But today she's six and getting to blow out those six candles and make a wish. I'm so thankful for that.

~~How do you feel about your next thirty years? What would you like to write in your journal thirty years from now? Whatever it is, I hope it will be joyful. Maybe I'll look back in my journal to thirty years ago and see what I was expecting in the next thirty years. I published my first book 32 years ago.