On Friday night I got out of bed long enough to get up the hill to camp and meet the little girl who had been charming Nate and our staff all week with her cute little pixie hair and smile. Her name is Emily and she has been fighting brain cancer since the fourth grade (she's now a junior higher).Emily is all aglow because she's finally been given a clean bill of health and her cancer is gone. As I talked to her, I couldn't help but cry. I was feeling so sick (and hot in the cafeteria--notice I took off any head covering!), and it's so hard to imagine a child enduring chemo. Emily, I learned, had done two separate courses of it in the last few years, as well as several brain surgeries with--as she put it so very proudly--one of "the best brain surgeons in the country."
Notice her short hair growing out--about an inch long. She likes to wear it in a little faux-hawk, and Nick and Maddie can't wait for my hair to be that long so I can wear mine just like hers.
I'm really thankful I got to meet her. She is stronger than she will probably ever know. Maybe someday she'll have a little girl of her own, and she'll look back at her childhood illness and she'll be able to appreciate why she made the crazy breast cancer lady cry in the cafeteria.
Please say a prayer for Emily, that she will live to be as cute an old lady as she is a little girl.
Posts
3 comments:
Tam, I haven't left many comments, but I've been checking back just about daily. As I've been praying for you all, I've been praying that God would use you and Nate this summer in unique ways with kids at Creekside. This is a beautiful picture. Thank you for sharing this!
To Nate and Tam,
I was at Family Camp in 2006 and I had everyone lay hands on me at the fire pit in the round. I think Peter Reid was the main speaker. At the time, I was going through chemo for my stage IV brain cancer. Nate, I think you were there, anyways I just want to say, Emily Adkin's dad is in my Bible Study at First Christian Church of Huntington Beach. It is so apparent to me, that God weaves his children and connects us to support each other in love and Truth. I will make sure we pray for Tam and your family.
Grace and peace,
Mark Pace
714-842-6499
"The theory that thought is merely a movement in the brain is, in my opinion, nonsense; for if so, that theory itself would be merely a movement, an event among atoms, which may have speed and direction but of which it would be meaningless to use the words 'true' or 'false'."
C.S. Lewis
I love you, Tam.
Post a Comment