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Today is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it! |
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Our youngest daughter, Valerie
Grace was diagnosed with a brain tumor on
January 31st 2005 at the age of 10 months. She was perfectly healthy
prior, with no symptoms until 2 days before her MRI. She had surgery at Shands Hospital on
February 7th, 2005. The surgery was done by two
great neurosurgeons,
Dr. David Pincus and
Dr. Arthur "Jay" Ulm III.
We were told that Valerie's left optic nerve was removed during surgery and that she was blind in that eye. However, she could track light with the bad eye for several years following the first surgery and the MRI showed an optic nerve. Her other eye was 20/20 as of Fall 2009. Other than the 3 weeks she has been in the hospital since 2005 - she has had days filled with laughter and joy. In 2007, we moved to Ecuador, South America on the edge of the Amazon rainforest. Please visit our new website for current updates and pictures. www.thewelchfamily.org . A MRI in October 2008 showed that the tumor had grown some. We flew back to the US and Valerie received 4 days of chemotherapy over 2 months and then we drove to St Judes Hopspital in Memphis Tennessee where she received 6 weeks of IMRT radiotherapy. The type of tumor she had partially removed was a Pilomyxoid variant of a low grade Pilocytic Astrocytoma (JPA) in the optic chiasm/ hypothalamic area; a rare tumor that is only seen in very young children. There is no known curative treatment. There is research being done at Johns Hopkins and at Shands Hospital (where they are growing Valerie's tumor that was removed). God has taught us so much through this that we wanted to share with others our experience. We truly rejoice in all that He has done and are thankful that He has shown us His mercy and His peace! Feel free to read about our journey.
These all had faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them a far off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had the opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country. God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11:13-16 (This is the verse that the Lord used to prepare me for this journey. He laid on my heart to have the girls memorize this in their homeschool 3 weeks before Valerie was diagnosed. He also laid on my heart that something 'bad' was getting ready to happen. I spent those 3 weeks paying up the mortgage and other bills for the next 3 months, so that if something did happen to me, my husband Craig would not have to worry about these little details. What the world views as a bad situation can be made glorious by the Lord - seek Him and you will find Him!)
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