I have been rejoicing all day in the little progress of her feeling better. It's much easier to think clearly when Ava feels better. We have received literally hundreds of emails from the research team. Thank you to all of you. We have enough info to fill two barns with paper if we print it all out. I am sure something will come out of it all. I am grateful and humbled by the response of all of you. We are on a mission to make her better.
We are awaiting the results from 2nd opinions we sent elsewhere for the pathology report. While we don't expect it to change, we figured there was no reason to not have someone else look at it since it could be nothing but better if it changes! Over the last 24 hours I have read many stories of success in beating this sucker. Ironically, none of them came from chemo and radiation (at least none that didn't return soon after). There are some other roads that we have to pursue and we are optimistic and hopeful no matter what the stats say. Our God is big and He can do whatever He needs to. Ava is His anyhow.
Noah asked me the other day if his sister was going to be ok. I said, "we believe she will." He said, "What do you mean, Dad? Why can't you promise me?" I told him..."I can't promise that you will be ok from here to Grandma's house when you leave the hospital, but I believe you will be." I was reminded by that conversation that God doesn't promise us tomorrow, but He promises that He is faithful. 1 Corinthians 1:9 tells us, "God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."
That, I can promise...because he promised me.
It's been a good day of baby steps forward. Ava is feeling pretty good and that means we are too.
Keep praying. We need your prayers more than anything else.
Thanking God for baby steps forward...will continue to pray for Ava and that God will lead you all to the right treatment to make your baby girl all better!
ReplyDeleteThank God for each blessing! So glad Ava has had a good day! She is & will continue to be in our family's prayers. Your family has blessed me for 15 years now at Northland which has changed my whole life. I pray for blessings for your sweet Ava & your whole family!
ReplyDeletethanks for the update josh. with you...
ReplyDeleteThanks for updating your blog for us. Praise God that she had a good day today! I have her in my pray journal and the rest of your family,too! Hang in there, Jesus is with you all! God bless and I will not stop praying!
ReplyDeleteJosh, this is just a piece of what we have learned so far. Cancer CANNOT live in an oxygenated alkaline environment. There are ways to introduce alkaline into our bodies in a most natural way. We are working on it. All the things we are learning that can be done are completely harmless to little Ava's body.
ReplyDeleteI am praying hard for your sweet family. God loves little Ava so much. God bless your family during this time and always.
ReplyDeleteWe have prayed without ceasing for a week. GOD IS BIGGER than any CANCER! We experienced it in our family, you can and will in little Ava.Keep standing on Gods promises. My favorite promise through our very heartbreaking times was Isaiah:43,2-4- He is with you because HE loves you! May God keep HIS strong arms of love around each one of your family!
ReplyDeletePraying for you all and sweet little Ava. God is an amazing God and I am praying for a miracle.
ReplyDeleteStill praying and expecting amazing results from unexpected places. The Johnson's
ReplyDeleteJosh & Lisa - we are praying for your little girl too!!
ReplyDeleteTim & Vicki Roberts & Katie
Thanks for updating your blog Josh. So glad it was a good day today. Still praying for you all.
ReplyDelete"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1
With love,
Kristen & Greg Mikesell
I ache (immensely) for you and Lisa. I'm constantly thinking about Ava...at work, at home, while I do my grocery shopping! I think a lot about Noah and how stressful this must be for him.
ReplyDeleteSo.... I smiled lovingly when I read your post today. Reading of how, even thru this difficult and highly stressful time, you and Lisa continue to model to Noah (and to all of us) your faithfulness and trust in God's promises. I pray for your continued guidance in your next steps to come... for you and Lisa.... for Ava....and tonight I will especially pray for Noah: to have peace in his heart and mind, trusting in God's faithfulness and love, reassuring him that God loves HIM and his baby sister.
Maribel A
Hello Josh & family,
ReplyDeleteThis is Susanne Darroch. Pastor Vernon told me to pass this on to you.
We dealt with glioblastoma with my Mom back in 1997. We spent a year doing everything in our power to heal her and we used some very good natural remedies. One is C-herb ... I called and left a message with a Dr. Dave Carpenter in Idaho who sells it. I'm not sure if a child can take it so I'm waiting to find out. I took C-herb years ago when I had a cyst on my ovary that my doctor was concerned about...the cyst was gone when I went back for a sonogram. My Mom also took it twice. A few months before she passed away, the doctors saw another mass on an MRI so they did another surgery only to find that the tumor had not grown back, they were just seeing scar tissue on her brain. We still believe today that she died from the drugs (steroids), not cancer. The steroids have horrible side effects that they never made us aware of. If we had known, we would have done something to counteract them. Her doctor was actually amazed at how great Mom looked and how healthy she was when we were "doing our own thing".
Another thing to research is "alkaline water". A msn developed this in the 1920's and I hear he earned the Nobel Prize for it. He believes (and so do I) that cancer cannot survive in alkaline, only in acid. He has a machine you can purchase that takes the acid out of the water you drink...I know it sounds crazy but hospitals are using it in Japan (I think) with remarkable results. Dr. Carpenter sells the machine also. A friend of my Dad has been using one for the past 3 weeks.
We fed my Mom only fresh fruits and vegetables with no addictives, sauces, etc. as we know cancer feeds on protein. Like I said, her doctor was amazed at how healthy she looked and told us to keep doing what we were doing. If you'd like to call me, my cell is 407 756-9447 and my home is 407 788-6872.
I pray that you find the answers for Ava, she is so precious! God Bless you all.
Susanne Darroch
Josh,
ReplyDeleteNothing to add to the cache of research, but I have asked friends all over the country to contribute to Ava's prayer chain. The Lord puts it upon my heart to pray for your entire family several times a day every day. Trusting again today for Ava's miracle!
Josh, Jesus loves you and that's a promise.
ReplyDeleteJosh, we are Pastor Adrian De Visser's (Sri Lanka) Friends. Suasha's dad and mum (if you remember). I gave Adrian some infor to pass onto you about a therapy process called Anti-Angiogenesis Therapy. It is recommended as a better alternative to chemo. BUT, the Great Physician who healed the daughter of Jairus with just two words is more aware than us if what's needed now. We will keep upholding little Ava and your family before the Throne of Marvelous Grace.He is able to heal so wonderfully and so completely. As our precious Lord said "what is impossible with man is possible with God". May the peace of His embracing presence engulf you all. Pr. Ajit Perera
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for reminding us that all our children are His anyway. He is Faithful!
ReplyDeleteWe are glad that Ava is feeling better today.
Love,
John and Brandy
Hi Josh and Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI'm Allison Weiss Entrekin, an OCS graduate, former Northland attender and old friend of Isaac's (I now live in Atlanta). I posted your request for alternative treatment ideas on my Facebook profile, and it turns out a friend of mine is pretty good friends with the head of brain tumor surgery and treatment at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. His name is Dr. Jim Robinson and he has said he'd be happy to talk with you all if you'd like to contact him. If you do, please email my friend Aundrea Cameron (aundreacameronpr@gmail.com) and she will put you in touch with him. (I don't have his direct contact info.)
I've also emailed the head of the Rally Foundation to End Childhood Cancer (rallyfoundation.org, based in Atlanta) to see if she knows of any children who have effectively fought GBM with alternative treatments. If she has any good leads, I will let you know.
My heart and prayers are with you all.
Allison
Josh,
ReplyDeleteAsked some of my network and got an alternative treatment to look into - the Proton Therapy Treatment Center with Jacksonville Shands Hospital. They specialize in inoperable brain tumors especially pediatric. A friend had the therapy for a different cancer,is doing great and said many doctors are not aware of the Proton Therapy Ctrs around the country and that the oncologists there are wonderful. We are praying for Ava.
Josh and Lisa,
ReplyDeleteYou are in our families thoughts and prayers, constantly. I don't want to say to much here in this public setting, but want to encourage you 1st by saying that the Oncologist I believe you are still seeing was very difficult for me to deal with initially, but as treatment went on I began to see that he is great, he just doesn't have good people skills. You are right, they can't say good news or be overly optimistic and that was SO tough. I hated the statistics and the negative, frank unemotional discussions concerning my daughter. Dr. (unnamed) is smart though and well experienced so I just want to encourage you during these difficult conversations. I decided that I would prefer brilliance to a comforting Dr who didn't know what they were doing. I felt at the end of treatment we received excellent care from a team of Dr's who truly adore my child. God will help you discern the best treatment for Ava. One last thing, we chose this verse as Evie's theme "With God all thing's are possible " Matt 19:26. So simple but it just spoke to my soul. So when I heard all the things that I didn't want to hear I just repeated that verse over and over in my head. God has exceeded our expectations with recovery and healing. He will do the same with Ava. Feel free to email jwtanner1@aol.com if you would like to talk to my husband or I about what you are experiencing. We ache that you are dealing with this.