Pray, Pray, PRAY!!!!!

Most everyone who reads this blog with any regularity already knows about my little friend Bella.  If you are stopping by and you don’t know who I’m talking about, please take a few minutes to check out the links on the right side of my blog.  Read her mom’s blog about their journey through the valley of Hurler’s Disease.  Her picture is over there too.  She is the most beautiful little girl, inside and out!

 

Now, once you are familiar with her and with her situation, I want you to join me in praying for her.  Bella needs our concentrated prayers for healing and strength, and for her donor cells (boy cells her mom calls them, as the donor was a boy) to grow, grow, GROW!  Bella has been given a chance at a nearly normal life, as her body has sustained relatively little damage from this disease prior to her transplant.  Now, we just need for her transplant to be successful and for her donor cells to grow and to stay put and produce that life-saving enzyme she needs!  Please pray that God will use the skills of the doctors and the procedures and the medicines to heal his precious child Isabella!  Pray that in doing so, he will bring Glory and Praise and Honor to himself.

 

I also ask you to help me to pray for Charles and Elizabeth.  I cannot begin to imagine all that they must be going through in their hearts and minds.  Elizabeth is there in the hospital trying to care for Bella, mostly on her own, and trying to keep all the medical information straight in her head and translate it to the rest of us, and keep us informed as best she can.  This is a huge emotional strain on her, and she is holding up remarkably.  Please pray for her continued strength, as she does have her bad days just like we all do, and always the fears and doubts are lurking at the edges seeking a way in to her conscious thoughts and feelings.  Charles, as you know, has had to stay at home in Florida working and taking care of their home while his wife and child are hundreds of miles away.  I’m not a man, so I don’t pretend to have insight as to how this is affecting him, but I know that we cannot overlook the burden of his part in all this. Charles is a good man, a good husband and a good father.  And I know that he would give anything in his power to protect his girls from any pain or harm or unpleasantness.  I cannot imagine what it must be like to be so far away from his family right now.

 

We need to be especially storming the gates at this time because Bella’s engraftment numbers have declined. (the percentage of her blood cells that are donor cells)  This is of especial concern to her doctors, since her first result wasn’t as good as they’d hoped.  Now that they’ve seen decline, they have removed some of the meds that help fight against GVHD (Graft vs. Host Disease).  So, Bella is dealing with a  bit of GVHD now, including fevers, and a rash.  Please pray for Bella’s body to accept and multiply those precious donor cells, and for her doctors and nurses to have the knowledge and wisdom to do what needs done for her best care.  We need to get this little princess healthy so that she can go home and work on preparing to be a big sister!