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JOSHUA 
Three Monkeys! Josh, Gage & Leah!
Joshua was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma in his C-6 neck vertebra when he was 4 years old in October 2004. He endured 14 rounds of chemotherapy and 31 proton radiation treatments as per the national protocol for Ewings. The tumor was in-operable. With the tumor gone after 4 rounds of chemo, his vertebra was near collapse, but is "currently stable" "at this time" according to his doctors. The radiation damaged his throat, airway and thyroid. Therefore; parts of his nutritional needs are met through a g-tube. After numerous frequent esophageal dilations (33 total) for three years in order to keep his throat open, he now only has them on a "as needed" basis. He eats entirely by mouth! He has a temporary tracheostomy, which we tried to remove on 6-17-08, but were unsuccessful. After 3 tracheal dilations and scar tissue removal, he was able to have his trach tube removed on October 6th, 2008! However; we discovered his vocal chords are damaged as well, which has made his breathing at night questionable. His sleep study showed "24 obstructive apnea episodes" and "4 obstructive hypopnea episodes". We are praying about where to go from here. Sadly we had to put his tracheotomy tube back in on January 26th, 2009. He takes medication for hypothyroidism. We have had 3 post treatment cancer "scares", but all his post treatment scans have proven to be cANCER FREE!
We thank our Savior, Jesus Christ, for His faithfulness during this difficult journey
Joshua is loved by his parents, Don and April, and his 4 older sisters: Jasmine, Joy, Jubilee and Jordyn. Thank you for your love, support and unending prayers!
CHASING DAYLIGHT by Erwin Raphael McManus
"The certainty that God has called you and the confidence that he will work his victory out in your life are not guarantees of a safe and secure journey."
Journal
Friday, June 12, 2009 6:13 PM CDT Dear Ones,
Tomorrow we are celebrating Josh’s 9th Birthday!!! JUNE 13th! Yippee! What a miracle!
Well, actually we have already started the festivities as this was the last day of school! He received birthday wishes and gifts. Tonight Josh’s friends are coming over for a rousing airsoft gun fight, pizza, OR strawberries with whip cream, s’mores by the fire pit when it gets dark and a slumber party in the House in the Trees! A boy party run by a big boy, Don! When I think of the many girl parties I’ve put on, I’m excited to have Don run our boy’s party. After all, I’m not really into airsoft---too painful.
Yesterday Lauren Dole and I took Gage and Josh to the zoo for a few hours. A good time was had by all as you can tell by the 3 monkeys in the picture above! Gage had a lot of energy and the first thing he told Josh was, “I got my diploma, so now I’m in the third grade just like you!” It was so good to see Lauren and Gage. They continue to be in our prayers.
Starlight Children’s Foundation invited us to a last minute behind the scenes event at the filming of the “Untitled Crowley Project”. The film crew had taken over Big Al’s in Vancouver, WA. We were able to meet Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell and watch as they filmed a birthday scene over and over and over again. I was amazed at the number of people involved. I’m sure they spent over 12 hours working on one small scene as they did retake after retake, co-ordinated the extras, worked with the stand-ins and moved the camera angles and scene angles again and again. I was exhausted just watching. Brendan and Keri were very nice. They both signed the pictures Josh had printed off the internet and we got an autographed copy of “Journey to the Center of the Earth” DVD. UCP is based on the true story of John Crowley who gave up his career teaming up with a doctor and fighting the bureaucracy in order to create a life saving enzyme for his children who had a devastating generic disorder. Harrison Ford is playing the doctor and unfortunately he had already left Big Al’s, so we were not able to meet him. Bummer…Josh really wanted to meet “Indiana Jones!” but he still had a great time. The daughter of John Crowley was played by a cute little girl who sat in a wheel chair with a tracheotomy and ventilator machine! Of course, the trach wasn’t real, but we had to ask pointing out that Josh’s was real!
Jasmine and Cyrus are all moved into their little apartment with Cyrus’s daddy and Jasmine's husband. Joy’s working hard at her two jobs and enjoying time with her boyfriend, Colin. Jubilee and Jordyn have been so busy with graduations, open house, end of the year parties and many other festivities I’ve hardly seen them! Don just finished putting on a golf tournament for SOI and was pretty successful raising money for the kids in East Africa. I’ve been hiking a lot and just finished climbing Mt. Defiance a 5,000 ft elevation gain in 12 miles on the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. Don and I are planning a short get-away while Josh is at Camp Millennium this month. Josh is a little worried about camp, but we’ve told him to stick it out for 3 days and if he still wants to come home, call and we’ll bring him home. I’m sure he’ll LOVE his time at camp. It’s just the unknown and being away from us for a week that he’s unsure about.
Hope your SUMMER is warm, relaxing, memorable and full of LOVE.
Pray for Gage Dole, Lesly Foster and Spencer Hardy.
Read Journal History
Links: http://www.waveone.tv Josh'sTree House Story
http://www.pediatricprotonfoundation.org Helping Kids Get the Best Treatment possible
http://www.starlight.org/oregon/ Starlight Children's Foundation of OR
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