Madison123

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.” – Philippians 4:6
On March 3, after 5 days of treatment,
Campbell was released to go home. “We
were all very thankful to be going home to
our familiar territory, routine, food, etc. “
Like most children, Campbell was a creature
of habit. He thrived in his own environment.
“We will return to the clinic for our post op
appointment at 8:40 Thursday morning and
then our first outpatient treatment will be at
12:30 on Thursday. We will continue to do
outpatient for treatment weeks two through
five, barring Campbell doesn’t get fever or
sick, which would put us back in the hospital.
David and I have decided that each day we
would find at least one thing to give God
praise for...we are thankful and blessed to get
the opportunity to do that each day of
treatment. Each morning, our prayer is that
Campbell’s side effects from treatment
would be minimum or NOT AT ALL.
We boldly pray for not at all. I am constantly
reminded to experience true joy in each and
every moment of the day and cherish the
time God gives me with my family.”
“I will extol the Lord at all times; HIS praise will
always be on my lips.” –Psalm 34:1
“Our bold prayer is that at six weeks,
when Campbell has his first evaluation, that
they will find no cancer. We know this is a
bold request, but our God is bigger than cancer
and we know HE hears each and every request
we offer up to HIM. Our other request is
that the side effects from the chemo will be
minimum or none at all. Thank you again for
all of your prayers, love and support. We are
praying without ceasing that Campbell will be
completely healed…his story is not finished.”
Throughout the treatment, Jill and David
sought moments of normalcy for their children.
About a month after he was diagnosed,
Campbell was able to return to Trinity
Preschool for a brief moment to enjoy Fairy
Tale Day. He dressed as a pirate, and his
twin sister, Avery, dressed as Rapunzel. A few
days later, Jill arranged a photo session with
photographer Allison Muirhead. “Our
friendship/relationship with Allison goes
back 7 years. She took our wedding pictures,
newborn pictures, first year pictures and many
other pictures since, of the twins and our family.
I knew there was no one else I wanted to take
these very special pictures and capture our
family as only she can. Because we don’t know
what the future holds for our family, we wanted
to have memories of what we were before
chemo/radiation.”
Radiation…such a scary word. “It’s one I
never thought I would speak of, especially
pertaining to my child.” A meeting with
doctors revealed that Campbell was
unfortunately not a candidate for the proton
therapy the family had hoped for. “Because
of the rare location of his Rhabdo (in the
abdomen) and the studs that were left from
surgery, the proton therapy will not work.
Without getting too detailed, proton therapy
hits the tumor (or cancer cells) with radiation.
Because Campbell’s cells are probably so
small, there is no way to know what to hit
and you can’t just hit thin air and hope you
are hitting the possible cancer cells remaining.
In his case, you can’t hope, you have to
know for certain that the radiation is hitting
what it is supposed to so that it won’t come
back. So, the only way to do that is to radiate
his entire abdomen.” The good news is the
radiation could be done at UMC. The bad
news would be the toll it would take on
Campbell. The side effects from radiation
will be worse since it is targeting his abdomen…
nausea, vomiting, intestinal issues (because
the intestines do not like radiation), etc. He
will be put to sleep every day for five days a
week for five weeks (because of his age and
the need to be completely still he has to be
put to sleep). He will also be receiving chemo
throughout radiation. We are scared, we are
nervous and we worry about the many side
effects to come. Secondary cancer is a big
one. We know that God provides the wisdom
and tools to the doctors to do their jobs so
we signed the papers once again and said do
whatever you have to in order to save his life
and give him a chance at living a long, full life.”
The toll on the entire family was hard.
“I’m tired, we are tired and my heart aches
for my four-year-old who doesn’t understand
why we keep doing all of this to him. I don’t
know if there has ever really been a time in
my life where I cried out to God that I was
so scared and I wasn’t sure I could keep
going. As much as I feel we are fighting an
uphill battle, HE reminded me that HE is
right there, fighting the battle with us. Oh
gosh how HE loves Campbell more than
I do…HE loves him so much I can’t even
fathom the depths of HIS love for him. So
I release it to HIM, I release Campbell to
HIM, trusting HIM to continue to carry us
through on this journey.”
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD
is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the
earth. HE will not grow tired or weary, and HIS
understanding no one can fathom. HE gives strength
to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men
stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength. They will soar on wings
like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they
will walk and not be faint.” –Isaiah 40:28
“From the fullness of HIS grace we have all received
one blessing after another.” –John 1:16
By January, Campbell’s little body was
struggling from the effects of the radiation.
“I’m going to be honest (and David and I
have always said from day one of this journey,
we would never sugarcoat it to make it more
pleasant because honestly there aren’t a lot of
days I count as pleasant). November and
December were rough months for us.” It was
Hometown MADISON • 33