The journey to this point

On February 10th, our family took a trip to Australia to pick-up Joel after his time in YWAM (he had an amazing time by the way:). We had a wonderful trip. While we were there, however, Pop started experiencing difficulty swallowing food. Once we returned from the trip, an endoscopy was scheduled, and on March 8th a cancerous tumor was found in Pop's esophagus. A barrage of test were ordered, with a follow-up ultrasound the following week. The ultrasound revealed that the tumor was outside of the esophagus, and was lying on the liver and pancreas. This categorized the cancer in advanced stages. Another round of testing was performed, and Pop started meeting with an oncologist (cancer doctor). Here they devised ways of treatment, and explored what options were available. Due to the rarity in the type of cancerous cells, treatment was put on hold until the family could speak to a surgical group at Hershey Medical Center who specialize in cancerous tumors of the digestive system. Shortly after the consultation with this specialist group, Pop began spiking high temperatures. This landed him in the hospital on March 27th, and he has been there since. On Tuesday, March 30th his temperature finally broke. He is feeling much better, and has been able to get out of bed and walk. They are hoping to have him home for Easter!

The specialist group met with the family yesterday to inform us that surgery is not an option at this point. The tumor has grown to a point where it is involving an important artery called the hepatic artery. So, they will try to get Pop to the point where he is healthy enough to undergo chemotherapy to see how the tumor responds. Between 10-20% of these tumors respond by shrinking in size, so we will see once chemo starts.

We continue to place the situation in God's hands. We know that He is in control and we rest in His peace. We could not walk this journey alone, so we thank all of you for being by our sides, and above all we thank Christ for being with us each step of the way.