This summer has flown by…

Our going away party was filled with love, joy, happiness, and periods of tears. Whether we had known each other for 14 years or four months, you came to support our family. Thank you isn’t enough, and we are honored to call you friends.

Now, to the hard stuff.

In June and July, Zach had delayed chemo infusions or reduced doses due to low platelet counts and increasing liver numbers. Due to those delays, his CT scan to check the efficacy of returning to FOLFOX (the first chemo drug he was on at the beginning) was also delayed. That scan and his follow-up with his local oncologist delivered the news that was unsurprising to us but sad nonetheless.

Unfortunately, FOLFOX isn’t working as the cancer has grown in both his liver and his lungs, and Zach’s liver numbers have continued to trend up, so we are stopping the chemotherapy treatment. His oncologist wants him to give his body a rest until we arrive in Texas, where we will connect with his new oncologist there.

Present Day

We met with his new oncologist, who is wonderful. He was genuine and kind and answered our questions, even the hard ones.

We also spoke with his oncologist at MD Anderson, who mentioned she would contact their clinical trials doctor to see if any promising trials are enrolling. She mentioned that being healthy for a trial was essential, as sometimes people wait too long and are unable to be accepted into a trial.

If there are not any clinical trials, then Zach will most likely start a chemo pill that will hopefully keep his cancer stable for a time.

We don’t know what tomorrow brings, but know that God will provide peace. We love that this summer also brought MORE baseball, as Silas made the All-Star team. They made it to the Championship Game and came in second place. His 9U team played in a division of 10U teams, and it was super cool to watch them climb to the Championship game. Watching him play has brought joy to our lives - even though we got bad news in the middle of July, we didn’t let it steal our joy.

Since the beginning, we have made it a point to choose joy. It’s a hard choice, but we want to model that idea for Silas. We have had to teach/tell/explain things to him that we never wanted to. Being honest is also something we promised him, and not hiding anything.

I was adding information to this blog post as he was getting ready for bed tonight and had put the computer away. He asked if he could help, and I hesitated because my first instinct was to protect him. I can’t protect him from this; all I can do is help him through it. He is sitting beside me in bed in an Air BNB in Oceanside (we are here to visit my family), reading this while I type it. This is me being honest, sharing our story so that it may positively impact those around us.

We continue to pray that Zach will be healed from cancer, and we continue to praise God for the peace he has given us.

Until next time,

Amber

P.S. Here are a few photos from the summer and a photo of the three of us after he was baptized. That deserves its own post written by Zach.