Monday, April 27, 2009

We just got great news!!! Dr. Bowers called and said that he looked at the MRI and it looks great. He has a hard time saying completely gone or 100 percent, but he said the only thing that they can see is so small that it is not distinguishable, meaning it could be a few cells or just scar tissue. The same is true for both the brain and the spine. Maybe even more positive news is that the initial test on the lumbar puncture had six cells floating in it and all were noncancerous. Let us have no doubt that God has done this. Thank you all for the prayers. Just a few months ago, things looked pretty bad. God is good, please pass the news on to everyone you know, hopefully it will help others to know that God is good. Nate starts a new phase of chemo on Monday and will continue it for the next eight months. He also requires quite a bit of physical rehab. Please continue to pray for him to walk again on his own and become stronger in his speech and overall movement, he shakes quite a bit and needs to get a lot stronger. Also pray that he does not have any complications with any of the new chemo drugs he will be getting for the next eight months. God bless you all. Our God is certainly capable and willing to hear our prayers. Nate has done and will do many things in the name of the LORD.
Today, Monday April 27, Nate will have his four month MRI at 8 am. As you all may remember, his two month MRI showed the cancer to be 95 percent gone.

Today's MRI is the benchmark for what happens for the remainder of the year. If the cancer is all gone, then he moves on to more chemo to prevent it from relapsing in the future. If it has not shrunk further or grown back any, then radiation is the method of treatment that would be chosen by the doctors, essentially meaning chemo alone did not work.

Radiation causes many problems and possible retardation in young children, at a minimum there could be severe learning disabilities. Under the age of three, it is not even considered due to the issues it causes. As you know, Nate just turned three on February 15th.

Please specifically pray that the cancer is completely gone without any trace at all. This allows the chemo to move on without having to do any radiation. This would truly be a miracle in light of where Nate was just a couple of months ago. We know our God has shown Nate and our family His mercy and love so many times during this process and believe He will show it again with tommorow's results. Usually the results come out by early evening the day of the MRI, so no matter when you first read this, please pray for no cancer in Nate's body. Thank you all and may God bless you.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Jackie just provided this update on Nate, praise God for the sustaining help He provides. "The doctor released Nate to go home today. His blood counts are starting to go up, although his immune system is still very low. (He can't have visitors.) Thank you for the prayers. He is so happy to be back home!"

Friday, April 17, 2009

Nate is getting another blood transfusion today. He is still feeling weak, please pray that the transfusion will help bring all his numbers back to where they need to be and this his fever will go away. Thanks.

Please pray for Dakota

Hello this Wes Oxford, the father of Nate. As you all can imagine, in our time at Children's we have seen lives ended early. We have come to know many families and their stories.

Right now, I need all of you prayer warriors out there to rise up once more for a little boy named Dakota (8). Dakota was diagnosed with Leukemia at the age of five. He went through three years of chemo and other treatments and became cancer free at the end of last year. After three months of being clear, it came back stronger than ever.

Dakota's only chance now is to get a bone marrow transplant. He was matched with a donor last month and the culture has been cultivating so that it could be placed in Dakota.

As with all chemo drugs, the body can decide to reject them at any time even after taking them for years. We saw how Nate had problems with Methatrexate the first time and seemed to be okay with it after that. We also saw how Cisplatin seemed to affect him worse this time. The point being, all chemo looks to kill something and sometimes it turns on good cells.
Dakota's body needs at least one of two known chemo drugs to keep fighting his blood cancer so that he can be at the cancer free point necessary to get the bone marrow transplant. He had taken one of these chemo drugs for years before and it was effective in killing the cancer. For reasons unknown to the doctors, his body will not accept it anymore. He recently spent 9 days in ICU recovering from septic shock due to the drug, which left him in a psychotic state for days screaming, hitting, and not even recognizing his mother.

After recovering from the septic shock. Yesterday they tried the alternate chemo drug. Again, his body rejected it and he is now back in ICU. His mother and Jackie were talking this morning and Dakota's mother said that Children's has asked her if she just wants to take him home and let him die peacefully, there is nothing more that they can do.
Children's has been a wonderful place for Nate and for Dakota also, but man's wisdom has a place that it can not go any further. Brothers and sisters, Dakota and his family needs your prayers. This is the end in the world's eyes. I am not saying that every child at Children's will be saved from death, but I do know that this child and his family have come to know us and I know that God wants me to send Dakota's story out to you all. Pray for his family's hearts, souls, and the peace that God can give them. Pray that God will use Dakota and his family to bring glory to our LORD in the Gainsville, Texas area that they are from.

So many people have been behind Nate, Jackie, Jake, Luke, and me. We get emails constantly from people who you all are making a difference in their lives just by telling others about your faith in God to heal Nate and how good God is. Dakota can make this same impact. Pray that Dakota and his mother become vessels for Christ and that they turn into instruments that our LORD uses to impact their hometown. Remember that with God all things are possible and we pray that it is HIS will to heal Dakota and for his and his mother's faith to become a testimony for others.

May God be with you all and bless you all today. Do not forget Dakota, please pray for him this very moment, spread the word to pray to everyone you know - it could change their spiritual life, and do not forget to sign up for the National Bone Marrow Donor's List at www.bethematch.com promo word childrens, completely free and can save a kid's life. Nate, Jackie, Dakota, his family, and I thank you all.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Nate will most likely be up at Children's the rest of the month. His immune system is down to nothing and he caught some sort of infection with a fever. What we can get over in a day or two takes him weeks while on chemo. They will monitor him closely and procede forward with the necessary measures to get his weight back up and help him fight off infections which will take awhile. He will continue on the same path as far as the chemo is concerned because they want to keep fighting the cancer. It is a double edged sword chemo makes it to where you have no immune system and sick but cancer kills you so you need the chemo. Please continue to pray for his MRI on April 27th that the results show no trace of any cancer. He will still continue chemo through the rest of the year, but the four month MRI being cancer free prevents any medical need for radiation which is terrible for his age and causes lots of learning problems. May God bless you all.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Please be in prayer for Nate. He is not doing well. The Dr's did not release him to go back home because of his condition. Wes just called and said that Nate's fever is high and he has not eaten at all and they will likely need to put him back on the feeding tube. Wes, Jackie,Jake and Luke have gone down to Children's to be with him. Because of Nate's condition, he is susceptible to sickness now. Psalm 34:4 "I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Giving Back - Blood Drive

I wanted to let everyone know that there will be a Carter Blood Drive at Pullen on May 2nd at the Giving Back event for Nate. We desperately need donors! Anyone who would be willing to give should contact Rhonda Mishler at emenbee@aol.com or 214-500-3093 to schedule a time. The drive will be from 11 till 4. This is a special drive just for Nate. The donations will go towards credit for the blood Nate has received/will receive in the futue.
Wes asked for us to continue our prayers for Nate. These past days, following his most recent treatment, he has been really sick and had many complaints of pain and discomfort. He is throwing up more and complianing of pain about the back of his head where the surgery took place. Lately, Nate is showing signs of the same things he had before he was originally diagnosed. He is back at Children's today for another round and should be home later this evening. He will have a hearing exam today to determine if any hearing has been lost from some of the tratements. On the 27th he will return for another MRI. The last MRI revealed that the cancer was 95% gone. Pleaes Pray about the next MRI and that between now and then, Nate continues to progress and does not regress. Please pray for God to be close to Wes, Jackie and Nate and strengthen them emotionally during these days. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" 2 Cor 1:3-4.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Hello everyone, this is Wes Oxford the father of Nate. Words cannot describe the gratitude I have toward you all for taking the time to pray and give so selflessly for Nate. Nate still has a long road ahead of him, but your prayers are working and God is definitely listening. As you can imagine, we have met many other families who have children suffering from various forms of cancers along the way. Trust me, none of us want to experience any form of cancer in our lives, much less, watch it happen to our children.



We (Nate's family and friends) have an opportunity to make even more of an impact in the lives of children with cancer. Many children have blood cancers (Nate’s is tumor based and not blood) and among these children the only treatment out there is a Bone Marrow Transplant. This procedure is very easy on the donor (a matter of taking DNA out of your hip with a syringe while you are put to sleep for a short time) , but life saving for the recipient. The first step to making this happen is for a donor to get registered on the National Bone Marrow Donor’s List. Thus is done by having the inside of your mouth swabbed and filling out some paperwork. If you should ever become a match, then they call you in, run a few more tests and you have the procedure done. You get to track the child that you helped and can know that you have done something that may help save the life of a child.



This Friday, April 17th is the day I need you to make this happen. Children’s is going to have three locations in the metroplex waiting for you or you can go to www.bethematch.org and order your registration kit by mail using the promotion code childrens with no apostrophe. Normally the National Donor List has a $52 registration fee, but if you go on Friday or go to the website, then Children’s will pay the administration fee. You do not have to be from the Dallas area. This is something you can do from anywhere in the nation and you can help children nationwide. Please do this. If you are in the metroplex and can stop by that day, it would be better simply because they can go ahead and get you on the list for the children who are waiting on a match right now and we can start saving lives.



I know lots of people have said I wish I could do more, well, here is your chance. It is free, and you could be the match that could save some child’s life.



Below is a story about how this has made a difference in one little boy’s life and details about the event.



Register your bone marrow type April 17

Two-year-old Adam Danhoff's hope for a normal life might not have happened had it not been for someone who donated their healthy bone marrow. As you read Adam's story below, consider participating in the "Be The Match" bone marrow donor drive hosted by Children's Medical Center. This year, it is from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, April 17, at three locations, including Children's Legacy. Read more about the drive.

Adam, 2, contracted a severe type of pneumonia when he was little more than 5 months old. His pneumonia, not usually seen in infants, was cured but it eventually led to a diagnosis of Hyper IgM, a rare congenital immunodeficiency disease that causes infections, liver disease and, in some instances, the development of cancers. Because the defect lies in the cells of the immune system, the only curative therapy is bone marrow transplantation.

Adam's illness was diagnosed at Children's Medical Center by Dr. Maite de la Morena, an immunology specialist. It was also at Children's that he was lucky enough to receive a bone marrow transplant from someone who had registered their bone marrow tissue type with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), a voluntary computerized registry of people willing to donate their bone marrow to an unrelated patient.

Because tissue type is inherited, patients are most likely to match someone with their own race and ethnicity, and there is a 25 percent chance that a sibling will match. Still, like Adam, most patients do not have a suitable family member to donate, so Children's turns to the NMDP to find a match from an unrelated donor.

The bone marrow transplant procedure rid Adam of his own unhealthy blood stem cells and replaced them with healthy blood-forming cells from the volunteer donor, essentially swapping Adam's dysfunctional immune system for one that functions properly.

Adam, who will turn 3 in July, will not have Hyper IgM once his new immune system fully develops, and he will have a second chance at a normal life — thanks to a stranger who took a few moments to register with the NMDP.
Bone marrow donor registry drive

Join Children’s Medical Center Friday, April 17, for the 18th annual “Be The Match” bone marrow registry drive from 9 a.m. to 7 pm.

Locations

The drive will take place on the first floor of the Dallas Ambulatory Care Pavilion (2350 Stemmons Freeway), on the first floor of the main hospital (1935 Medical District Drive) near the C1 elevators and at the Children’s Legacy campus in Plano (7601 Preston Road). Free and convenient flat-lot parking is available in front of the Dallas Pavilion and at the Legacy campus.

Or, during April, go to www.bethematch.org and order your registration kit by mail using the promotion code ‘childrens.’

The drive types donors for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), which is open to healthy people between the ages of 18 and 60. The event recruits potential blood stem cell donors for thousands of children, including patients at Children’s, as well as for adults currently seeking a life-saving match.

Bone marrow donors from the African-American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic and American Indian communities are under-represented in the NMDP registry and are therefore critically important.

Volunteer donors can join the registry for free. Children’s is paying for each participant’s $52 registration costs.

The process is simple

The process to register is simple and painless. All it takes is a cotton swab of cells from inside the cheek to determine the donor’s tissue type. There are no blood draws. The sample will be entered into a computerized registry linked to the NMDP.

Nearly 3,000 people have been typed at the matchmaker drive, but on any given day, more than 6,000 people are seeking their bone marrow match through the registry, so new registrants are crucial.

For information about the Children’s “Be The Match” marrow drive, contact Cristy Ecton, outreach manager for the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s Medical Center Dallas 214-456-2805 or 214-535-1602.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Nate was released from the Hospital yesterday and home now but he continues to be very sick from this round of treatment. He hasn't eaten much if anything over the last few days. Please pray for Nate now as he recovers from the impact of this round of treatment

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Wes just called and asked us to be in prayer for Nate. He has had difficulties this round with nausea and not keeping food down. The Dr's are concerned that he will get dehydrated and they do not want to release him to go home at this time. If this continues then they may need to put him back on the feeding tube. Please continue your prayers for Nate asking that God help him with the nausea he is having and that he does not become dehydrated.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Wes and Jackie provided this update for Nate and requested these specific prayer requests. He went back to Children's today to start another round of Chemo. This is a treatment of Cisplatin which has caused him to throw up more and become dehydrated. Nate no longer has the feeding tube and is chewing food more now. Please pray that Nate continues to eat so that he does not have to go back to the tube. The Dr's will let him go home on Thursday this week but it will depend on if he continues to be sick and if he is dehydrated. This treatment is also known for hearing loss and the Dr's will test for any hearing loss as well. He has already lost the ability to hear very high pitched sounds, so please pray that he does not lose any more hearing. Following this, he will return to the every other day of outpatient chemo. He is also trying very hard every day with his physical therapy that he goes to at Our Children's House. Please continue to pray for Nate, Wes & Jackie during these days ahead. "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Pet 5:7.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Song for Nate - "Crying Out"

Morgan & Shea Mathis wrote an encouraging song for Nate. The song is about crying out to the Lord when His promises seem so far away. This song has been a tremendous encouragement to Wes, Jackie and Nate and they wanted to share this blessing with you all.

Here is a link to a video with the song and recent pictures of Nate!
http://www.facebook.com/v/1075575421581

The lyrics are below.

Crying Out
You say to those who cry to you
I hear your plea, encircle you
but today my hopes and dreams have faded away

You've written on the scrolls of life
come run to me, I'll give you light
but today the sun has yet to shine, over me

chorus
I'm crying out to you
I'm crying out for your Truth
I'm crying out to you to come today
come and save, while we wait.

He watched his son thrash about
from fire to water, prayed he would not drown
In desperation, he turned to you

You heard the cry, a fathers plea
you came in power and brought him peace
so I beg to you, please do the same for me...

Chorus

While we wait today for you to come
and rescue this beloved one
with all our cries and all our tears
we pray Yahweh that you might \
the cries from you chosen ones
the pleas we bring to Zion's Throne
we will not fault in these days
to hold to truth and call Your name
Oh, Jesus Christ the chosen
hear our cries that you might come
to heal this boy and bring him peace
we left him up, while on our knees

Chorus...come save our Nate.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Nate cleared at 1:00am and we got home this morning in time for him to be named mascot/bat boy of Jake's baseball team. Nate was given the award for best defense. Jake's coach said he had been fighting a big battle. We were so touched. Nate rolled up in the huddled and yelled "Astros". I tell you...that is the good stuff!
Luke had his first t-ball game and Jake got three hits. Jake and Luke both had good first games.

Anyway..Nate is home for the weekend and we will return on Tuesday to continue chemo. Please pray that he can keep taking in enough calories so he doesn't have to get his feeding tube put back in. Thank you for your continued prayers for our Nate and our family.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Please pray that Nate clears his Methatrexate today. He has been in
Children's since Tuesday and if he is below the .10 mark today then he can
be released. He will go back on Tuesday as inpatient for 2 more chemo drugs
for three days. After that back to the every other day of outpatient chemo.
Thanks. Also the one next week causes hearing loss and he has already lost
the ability to hear very high pitched sounds, so please pray that he does
not lose any more hearing. God bless you all. He is also trying very hard
every day with his physical recovery, prayers for a complete recovery are
very appreciated.