A Little TV Time

This past Thursday, fellow Mizzou J-School grad Jonathan Deutsch of NBC25/Fox66 came out to the Michigan Mudcats' final game to do some interviews for a story on Jack. That story aired tonight.

This Week's News

This past week, Jack's oncologist referred him to a surgeon to take a look at the pneumonia in his lung and consider treatment options. Friday, the surgeon determined that because the fluid was loculated (in a pocket) Jack would need a tube inserted in his chest to drain the fluid from around his lung over several days. So Monday, in addition to his weekly spinal tap for chemo, Jack will have a chest tube put in.

There are a couple items on the more positive end of the spectrum:

• Jack actually seems to be feeling as good as he has in quite a while, and for that we are very thankful!
• Monday night NBC25/Fox66 will be running a story on the Postcards for Jack project. The story will be on Fox on their 10:00 newscast and air on NBC on their 11:00 newscast. The story will likely run during sports.

Prayer Requests: 

1. That the surgical procedure inserting the chest tube would go smoothly and without pain, and that the tube would be effective in quickly draining the fluid from around his lung, and that antibiotics would eliminate the pneumonia and protect Jack from any further infection.
2. That the spinal tap would go smoothly and that Jack would avoid any post-spinal tap headache.
3. That Jack wouldn't have any negative side effects from the chemo this week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday), and that he might continue to feel relatively good.

Taking the Field

These last six years, Jack's involvement with the Michigan Mudcats baseball team that I've helped coach has truly been a highlight. Most of his best friends have been on the team with him, and we've all spent a ton of time together on the diamond throughout their middle school and high school years. In addition to that, our families have spent a lot of time together, and these young men and their families have been among those who have been Jack's (and our) greatest encouragers over the last two months.

Tonight the Mudcats won the final game of their existence, and in the process clinched a league championship. It was definitely a bittersweet occasion. Without question, finishing business as champs is a great way to go out! But mixed with the joy of accomplishment were two realities: 

1. Jack hadn't been able to play this season.
2. The game marked the end of a wonderful chapter in all of our lives.

We couldn't do anything about point number two, but the best moment of the night came when we at least took a symbolic swing at point number one. At the start of the game's final inning, Jack took over at first base for one pitch (which our pitcher dutifully made sure was nowhere near the strike zone where it might be hit). We then removed Jack to the applause of the crowd, both teams, and even the umpires.

The videos below capture different aspects of the moment, showing it from two different angles.

 

Home Again (Again)

A case of pneumonia landed him in the hospital for his longest stay to date at eight days, but finally Jack (along with Erin, who had been staying at the hospital with him) is home. After being admitted to the hospital on four separate occasions for 26 of the last 51 days, you can hardly imagine how great it is to have all of us home under one roof.

He started the second ("consolidation") phase of his chemotherapy on Monday, a week later than originally planned. Part of the treatment was a spinal tap, and we are very thankful that Jack did not experience any post-spinal tap headaches. The phase will involve two four week regimens, with a pause in between to allow his levels to rebound.

There was a concern that they would need to drain the fluid from his lung for a second time, perhaps even needing to insert a chest tube for drainage, but thankfully Jack was able to avoid that before heading home. That said, they are still keeping an eye on things, and he will be visiting a surgeon on Friday to check on his lung and consider what procedures might be necessary. In the meantime, he is on oral antibiotics at home to fight the pneumonia.

Thank you once again for our continued prayers and for your words of support!

Prayer Requests for This Week

Monday Jack is scheduled to begin the second phase of his chemotherapy (called “consolidation”). Actually, he was scheduled to begin the phase last week, but has been in the hospital fighting pneumonia since Tuesday. They drained almost a liter of fluid from his lung Thursday, and may drain some more tomorrow.

If they do drain his lung again, our prayer is that it would be effective and as pain-free as possible. The first time Jack had this procedure, it was extremely painful.

We also are praying that Jack would get to come home from the hospital tomorrow after his chemotherapy Monday.

Part of consolidation will be a spinal tap each of the next four weeks (starting Monday). Please pray that he will be headache-free afterwards.

Perhaps most significantly, we are praying that the consolidation phase would be effective, reducing his percentage of leukemic cells from 1.0% to 0.01% over the next couple of months. This would enable Jack to stay in the “intermediate risk” category. If this doesn’t occur in this next phase, he would move into the "very high risk" group, which would mean more complicated treatment that is also potentially more difficult and dangerous. The encouraging news is that the doctor is very hopeful that Jack will meet this goal, but we'd appreciate all the prayer support we can get!

Hotel Hurley, Take Four

You know you’ve had too many stays at Hurley when you walk onto the pediatric floor and all the nurses exclaim in unison, “Hey, Jack’s back!”

Sigh. Hurley nurses are awesome but we really hadn’t planned on seeing them today. We came in to the oncology clinic this morning to begin the eight week consolidation phase of Jack’s chemotherapy. However, after an X-ray to try to determine the cause of Jack’s back pain, we discovered he has pneumonia. So chemo has been put on hold and Jack has been admitted to the hospital so he can have IV antibiotics. They’ll do another X-ray on Thursday and if the pneumonia is under control, he’ll have a spinal tap and start four days of chemo then.

It’s looking like we’ll probably be here until Sunday. Jack is super disappointed to miss cheering for his Mudcat teammates at their tournament in Grand Rapids this weekend, but his mantra from the beginning has been “Let’s get this done!” so we’re pushing through at Hurley for now.

Please pray that the pneumonia would be under control by Thursday so Jack’s chemotherapy won’t be delayed any longer. Thank you!

Making Progress

We are so thankful to report that Jack’s platelets and ANC jumped up to 91 and 1095 respectively so he is good to go for the next 8 weeks of chemo! Never thought we’d be celebrating that but Jack is determined to push through and #JackUpCancer, and so are we.

We are also really encouraged that the doctor has a game-plan hopefully to relieve Jack’s back pain. He saw a DO today at the clinic who worked on Jack’s back a little bit. He wasn’t able to do all that he wanted today because Jack’s platelets are still too low but Jack will see him on Tuesday morning before he has a spinal tap and chemo when his platelets are higher.

We so appreciate all of your continued prayers, meals and kind words (and the body pillow). Thank you Eatons! We wanted to especially thank Jack’s friends who have been a consistent support and encouragement to him even during their busy teenage lives. I can’t tell you how it blesses my heart to see Jack grinning and laughing during a game of Catan with the guys or a movie with Grace. Those smiles have been few and far between these days.

Prayer Requests

Jack has been struggling with pretty bad back pain that is really slowing him down. We're not really sure what is causing it, which concerns us. Please pray that the doctors would have wisdom in terms of diagnosing and treating it, and ultimately that the pain would go away.

Jack's platelets and absolute neutrophil count (ANC) are lower than they need to be in order to proceed with the second ("consolidation") phase of chemo. Jack's attitude from the beginning has been, "Let's get this thing done," so while we appreciate the break from chemo on the one hand, it really is our desire to get back at it. Please pray that his levels would be up in time to restart chemo again on Tuesday.

Jack has lost a lot of weight, most of which is muscle. His strength, energy and endurance have all been way down. Please pray that he would rebound in these areas. And throughout this process, please pray for protection from infection as his weakened immune system leaves him very vulnerable.

Thanks so much for your love and support, and especially for your prayers.

Jack is in Remission!

"Not a good way to start the day." Those were Jack's words as we prepared to head out the door. He had been awakened in the middle of the night with severe back pain. It had kept him up for much of the night and it wasn't getting any better. We headed to the hospital, Jack wincing with every bump the car hit.

But Jack's aching back wasn't the reason we were returning to Hurley. Today was the day Jack finished the "induction" (first) phase of chemotherapy, and hopefully the day we received word that he was in remission (signifying that less than 5% of his blood cells were cancerous).

We had been very tentative about getting our hopes up. At an appointment on Monday, Jack's levels were lower than the doctors wanted, and his chemo nurse was clearly concerned and tempering our expectations. And now, Jack was having serious and mysterious back pains. On top of that, this morning he was getting a spinal tap (which caused a week-long debilitating headache the last time he got one) along with the bone marrow test that would be used to determine if he was in remission. Though praying for the best, we were far from optimistic.

Suffice to say, we were thrilled when Dr. Onwuzurike walked into the room this afternoon—exactly one month to the day after informing us that Jack had cancer—and told us, "I only have good news for you." She went on to explain that we were going to have to wait a day for the official lab results to come back, but from looking at the slides under a microscope, she said she was very confident that Jack is in remission! Beyond that, she was very pleased with a number of indicators that suggest that he is progressing well.

He still has a long road ahead with a lot more chemotherapy, and we won't know the exact course of treatment going forward for another ten days, but the news today was as good as it could have been! Thank you once again to all who have been praying for Jack, and thank you to the doctors and nurses who have done such a wonderful job of taking care of him!

Postcard Project Progress

The Postcards for Jack project is going great so far. If you'd like to see the wonderful collection of postcards Jack has received, simply click here.

Praying for Jack

We are truly thankful that Jack is feeling a little better this week. This is Jack's last week of the induction phase of his chemotherapy. The goal has been that he would be in remission (less than 5% of the cancer cells remaining) at the end of this phase.

He has a spinal tap and a bone marrow test on Thursday to see if he is in remission and to determine what his risk level is for the next phase of chemo. His blood counts aren't where the doctors want them to be, but we are asking the Lord for his mercy.

Would you please join us in praying for these two things:

1. Jack would be in remission
2. He would not have a post-spinal tap headache

Postcards for Jack

Brian, one of Jack's best friends, came up with an idea to help keep Jack's spirits up. He is spearheading this project, and has shared about it via social media in hopes of spreading the word. Here's what he wrote:

This past month, a very close friend of mine named Jack was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Jack and I walked together at our high school graduation less than a month ago and now he is fighting for his life against this dreaded disease. To help him with his fight against cancer, some friends and I are hoping to start a special project to encourage him during his battle. This project is called Postcards for Jack, in which we hope to have a postcard sent to him from all 50 states (or anywhere in the world!) with an encouraging message written for him.

If you have a chance, I ask that you please share this with family, friends and anyone else you may know. If you are willing to send a postcard to Jack, please send it to the following address:

6100 Richfield Road Flint, MI 48506

Thank you for sharing your words of encouragement and lifting up our spirits. Your support in this way will help give Jack even more strength to keep up the fight! #JackUpCancer

If you'd like to follow Jack's postcard progress, the map below shows from what states Jack has already received postcards. And click here if you'd like to see the postcards themselves. Whether your state has reached out to him or not, we're sure he'd love to hear a word of encouragement from you!