Stable MRI

GREAT NEWS, all the reports were good! The MRI is unchanged from the last four MRIs over the past 2 years. His bloodwork and exams were good too. Hearing and vision tests continue to be stable, no change at all. He will go back for his next MRI in October, which will be 5 years since treatment! Thank you so much for your prayers for Colin and for our family getting through these trials of checkups. It never gets any easier but I knew prayers were going up around us. We had peace about this while we were there.

My cousin shared something with me that really helped me get through this visit, I thought I'd share this and maybe it will help someone else as well...we were discussing in our emails about having faith in times of fear. Going back to these visits always feels like walking into battle. She shared with me a quote from Beth Moore's book Breaking Free:

“Trusting an invisible God is not something that comes naturally to any believer. A trust relationship grows only one way: by stepping out in faith and making the choice to trust. The "step" can sometimes seem more than we can take, but God is anxious to help us overcome our unbelief. The ability to believe God develops most often through pure experience. I found Him faithful yesterday. He will not be unfaithful today."

Thank you so much for praying and for your emails with words of encouragement that mean so much to us.

with a grateful heart,
Amy

MRI on April 21

Hi Everyone,

Colin and I are flying to St. Jude's on Sunday and staying through Wednesday for his MRI and appointments. Once again, we would be so grateful for your prayers for his MRI and lab results especially on Monday. His MRI is scheduled to begin around 11:45. We are again checking both brain and spine, and he will be under general anesthesia sedation because of the length of time required to complete the exam.

I also wanted to mention the ongoing progress with the Pilocytic & Pilomyxoid Astrocytoma research at Johns Hopkins. We haven't given an update on this in awhile. Drs. Peter Burger and Charles Eberhart have made several advances in the research you may want to read about. Dr. Burger is an internationally known neuropathologist, renowned for his diagnostic skills in identifying types of brain tumors. He was the first neuropathologist to identify pilomyxoid astrocytomas and recognize that they behave differently than the similar looking typical juvenile pilocytic astrocytomas. Dr. Eberhart directs the research laboratory focused on understanding the molecular genetics and pathobiology of pediatric brain tumors. They send quarterly updates to us and the other four mothers that have raised funds for the research. I will send it out to you in Colin's email list. It is somewhat lengthy, but read on if you are interested. It is very encouraging to us.

We thought we'd also mention that we received a special gift this past Christmas...we found out we are expecting a baby! We found out just a couple weeks ago at our ultrasound that it is almost certainly a girl! We are due Sept. 3. We're all really excited about her.

We'll send out a quick update after we get the MRI results. Thank you for continuing to pray for Colin--

Love
Amy & Ted