THE Great Physician...

...has spoken!!!!

Yes, He has!

Ben has been in devoted prayer over the last few days as to the course of action he is supposed to take with the rest of his treatments. When we first started this process, he felt the Lord lay the number 4 on his heart. The docs have continued to push that he needs to complete six rounds because statistics show that most people need six rounds. So, Ben, being the rule follower that he is, was going to do six. We have also found that the longer patients take chemo, the greater their chances are of secondary cancers. Those secondary cancers are usually much worse than the original. They are typically leukemias and bone marrow based cancers.

When we got to chemo today, his appointment had been cancelled. Weird? We think not...

Sitting in the chair in the waiting room, he kept saying that he felt like he was being told to walk out. They were finally able to get him rescheduled and called us back for the treatment. Each time we go we request the same nurse because she is so amazing. She told us her secret...she prays while she pushes! She hits it the first time every time. Mary is a Believer and we just love her dearly!

So, Mary called us back and we went to Ben's chemo room. I could tell by the look on Ben's face that something wasn't right. Mary stepped out to get some stuff together. So, Ben and I took that opportunity to sit before the Lord and ask Him what HIS will was...we asked the Holy Spirit to be made known despite the decision that we made. We asked the Lord to make it very clear what we were supposed to do.

Ben just didn't feel confident at all about having the chemo done. After we prayed, we asked Mary to come over and talk to us. She said 75% of the people here don't want to be here, but the truth is, it's your choice. So, with a very unsure look on his face, Ben said, "go ahead and do it."

As Mary started to insert the IV, she had a problem with it. She had to pull it out and start over and she was so apologetic. She tried a second time. This time, when she pulled the needle out, it was bent. Ouch!! She's only allowed to poke twice and so she was going to have to get someone else to come do his IV. She walked away and Ben looked at me and said, "I'm not supposed to do this. This is the Lord. Let's go."

So, we gave everyone a hug and said our good-byes. As we got to the parking lot, Ben said, "Well, *Jane & Jenny came to know the Lord through this and I think that's why the Lord had me walk this road. Jesus had to suffer a lot more than I did, but I think that's why I was supposed to endure this." Wow! Still selfless even after all the attention he's been getting through this.

*names changed for protection ; )

We got in the car and called my Mom to tell her. Once Ben gave her the news, I got back on the phone, a complete basketcase (tears of joy that this is basically over), and told her Ben's statement on the way to the car. That's when she told us that Jane & Jenny were both baptized on Sunday (Jenny has Cerebral Palsy and communicates through sign language. Her pastor learned enough sign language that he could communicate with her while baptizing her)!! What awesome icing for this cake. It was just perfect confirmation that Ben had made the right decision!!

As I told Ben, I can't make this decision for you, but I will support you in whatever decision you make because I know that you sit at the feet of our Father daily! Today, the Lord gave each of us a peace that this was the exact direction HE had chosen. We just had to follow HIM!! Praise the Lord that I'm married to a man of such great faith that he's willing to follow the Lord even when others may criticize his decision.

Please pray for us as we leave next week to go to MD Anderson for Ben's follow up visit. Obviously, our prayer is that there is still NO CANCER!! We are also beginning to pray for the heart of the oncologist that he will be open to this decision. Everything seems to be about standard of care and statistics, but it's easy to forget that each person that makes up a statistic is a person with a soul, not just a number!!!

Ben will continue the Cantron and is going to start doing some Vitamin C IVs. There is a doc out here that does Cancer Wellness treatments. One of the most impressive treatments is the Vitamin C. Dr. Mark Levine, MD, with the National Institute of Health (Harvard Med Grad & John Hopkins residency) has done some impressive studies with IV Vitamin C and cancer. They are finding that the bioavailability of IV Vitamin C is 25 times that of Oral. That means you get what you need!! They have found in these studies that the cancer cells are demolished (0.0% cancer cell survival) and the normal, healthy cells are left strengthened. This is quite unlike chemo which kills so many of the good cells while trying to kill the bad ones. If there are no bad cells left, then it just goes to town killing the good stuff. This is what we've seen with Ben over the last three treatments as he has come home and vomited blood, been sick for days on end, etc.

So, this is the direction that we feel the Lord is calling us and we're off.....

Please be in prayer through this that the Lord will continue to get the glory HE deserves and that Ben's healing will be eternal. That the cancer will never come back. Yes, Lord!!

The Real Work

We get e-mails daily from our pastor in The Woodlands. Today's reminded me of all of you...awesome prayer warriors! Thank you for sacrificially praying for us. Just had to share:

The Real Work

I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
Ephesians 1:16

Paul prayed for the Christians in Ephesus. Because he loved them, he prayed for them.

It’s that simple. Prayer is an act of love. It is an act of sacrificial love. If you are a follower of Jesus and you care about a person, then you pray for that person.

Paul prayed.

Paul prayed because he knew that prayer was the real work of ministry. Prayer was not a preliminary activity or an optional activity to Paul. Prayer was the main thing he did.

Because prayer accesses the power of God. Prayer accesses the heart of God. Prayer accesses the mind of God.

Prayer is not you and your resources reaching out to help someone. Prayer is you and God’s resources reaching out to help someone.

What’s bigger than that? What’s grander than that? What’s higher than that?

Prayer is important. It is vitally important. But it is not easy. It is a sacrifice. It takes time. It takes energy. It takes heart. If you pour your heart out for someone, you bleed inside. “Prayer is a sacrifice, a bleeding sacrifice.” (John Henry Jowett)

Furthermore, prayer is quite often unseen, unnoticed, unapplauded and unappreciated. But that’s OK. God sees. God notices. God applauds. God appreciates.

Because prayer is the main work of ministry.

Do you intercede in prayer for the people in your life? Do you frequently and fervently call out to God for your friends, your loved ones, your church? I hope so. I hope so.

Lives are changed because of the intercessors. History is changed because of the intercessors. History belongs to the intercessors.

Prayer is the real work.

***************************************************************************
These daily e-mails are written by Jeff Wells, Sr. Pastor at WoodsEdge Community Church. To hear our weekly messages or to find out more about WoodsEdge please go to http://www.woodsedge.org/.

© 2007 WoodsEdge Community Church. All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced for any non-commercial use with proper attribution.

Precious Friends!

Wow! What wonderful friends we have....

Your patience amazes me. I know I have lagged miserably on getting the blog updated. It's been so crazy around here. However, not one of you has mentioned my slowness, just e-mailed or called to check in and make sure we are okay.

This last round of chemo was much better for Ben. They gave him every possible anti-nausea drug out there. So, we were able to avoid the vomiting he's experienced the last two treatments. He still felt pretty gross and was sick until about Wednesday. However, he is doing great now. We go back to MD Anderson at the end of this month for the 2/3 of the way through check-up (Thank you, Lord). So, Ben has five treatments remaining (2.5 rounds). He is so ready for them to be over. If you say the word "chemo" around him he starts to get nauseated. So, we try to avoid that conversation.

On a more exciting front, Ben has finished all of the classes required to apply for dental school and got like a 3.75 or something amazing last semester while taking 15 hours and kicking cancer in the toosh!! However, applications don't come out until the Fall for dental school and that would be to start classes in the Fall of '08. Obviously, there is no guarantee that he will even get in...So, he's looking for a full-time job. He's hoping to get into pharma/dental sales. I think he would be absolutely amazing in sales. He just cares so much about people and relationships. So, if any of you know of any sales openings anywhere, let us know. He's working to finish his resume today.

I am doing okay. My doc is still convinced that this is my thyroid. However, he wants to run a lot of tests and send me to see some different specialists, etc. So, he has requested that I go on Short Term Disability at work. Could have been the hardest decision I've ever made in my life. I love my job! However, they did an EKG on Monday (last one was in July) and found that whatever this is, it's starting to affect my heart. They've given me some meds to slow my heart down a little bit. They also gave me something to help me sleep (I haven't slept in two weeks).

I still have quite a bit of paperwork to knock out before I'm really "done" with work, but today is supposed to be my first day of Short Term Disability. My hope is that I can knock it all out today and Monday will be a real day to rest and start healing. I met with my manager yesterday in Tyler to discuss everything with him. He was very supportive. My doc said at least six weeks, but my goal is to get back as quickly as possible. My manager was very sweet and said he wants to know that I am better before he'll let me come back. He's not just going to let me jump back in if I'm not better. I am so far beyond ready to feel better. As I told someone the other day, when you've been nauseated for as long as I've been (since April '06), you want a baby in the end or something to show for it!!!

Well, I need to get to my work.

Thank you all for being such precious prayer warriors and praying knowing the Lord will answer!! Thank you also for your patience with me.

Love you all!

because of HIM!!!

Ben

I know that you are all ready to hear about Ben...sick of hearing about me!

Today was Chemo #4A. He did very well. He told the doc about how sick he's been after each treatment. The doc seemed to hear him this time and wrote all kinds of meds for him. He even wrote one for him that he said would help him forget things. He said that "associations" cause most of the sicknesses. Very true. If you say the word chemo, Ben gets nauseated. On the Friday morning of chemo, he starts to get the bad taste in his mouth that he usually gets from chemo. So, the doc said this would help to break that cycle.

When I picked Ben up tonight from chemo, he said he felt like he should be going into surgery. The medicine has just made him feel loopy.

A precious family from our Sunday School class brought dinner to us tonight. Such a blessing. Ben ate it up. Thank you, Lord! So, now we are just going to relax tonight and try to stay in from the yucky weather.

Thank you all for your prayers.

Super Prayer Warriors!!

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

Matthew 21:22

Wow! You can't ever tell me that there isn't power in prayer. We have seen the power again this week (as if Ben's healing wasn't enough).

I went to the doctor first thing Monday morning. When I got there, he said he had spent the entire morning studying my chart trying to determine what in the world was going on...thank you, Lord, for a doctor that spends more time looking at the chart and trying to make a decision than the 10 minutes spent in the patient room. So, after all of the "alternative" solutions he had originally diagnosed me with, he said he felt that it was something other than that. He said he thinks my thyroid is overtreated. Wow! Could nine months of struggling for an answer be that easy. So, he wants me to back off my thyroid dose for two weeks, come back for labs, and see where we stand.

I got his permission to completely skip my thyroid meds today! Guess what? I didn't have an episode until after noon. This last week I've had up to fifteen each day. Today, I've only had three! Thank you, Jesus! He wants me to start back on my meds tomorrow, but I think I'm going to start at a really low dose and titrate up rather than starting high and titrating down. Lord, please let this be getting closer to a final answer. He said he doesn't think the thyroid explains everything, but that it is a root cause for many of the symptoms I am having and should address most of this.

So, please continue to be in prayer with us that we are moving in the right direction and that the episodes will continue to decrease. Please, Lord! Again, y'all are awesome prayer warriors! Thank you!!

Improvements!

Well, things have been a bit better. Praise the Lord!

Ben is feeling great though his white count was a bit low when he had his blood work done yesterday. So, we just have to be careful in public. He made breakfast this morning for us. He has been making breakfast for me all week. Such a sweet guy!

Ben also did some research yesterday about Rouleaux and how to treat it. He found a study that discussed pressure points in the body. It talked about how you can halt these episodes by applying pressure to certain spots on the body. So, each time I had an episode last night, Ben applied pressure to those spots and it seemed to shorten the episodes. My theory is that it is increasing blood flow to the extremities, therefore, helping to stop the process.

Also, I've had a friend that has been telling me about a product called Cell Food. It helps increase the oxygenation in your body. Since that is apparently the main issue, she recommended that we get some. I finally picked some up last night. I took the first dose last night and I haven't had any real episodes yet today. I've had a few moments that feel like I'm about to have one and then it goes away. Thank you, Jesus!

The one thing that is really annoying that is still going on is that my body shivers uncontrollably. I don't really feel cold, I just shiver. My hands and feet are cold since I'm not getting great blood flow there, but overall my body doesn't feel cold. Crazy, I know.

I have another appointment with my doctor first thing Monday morning. We'll see how things go.

Thank you all so much for being such precious prayer warriors through this. I am humbled by those of you that take time out of your day to lift us up in prayer!! Thank you!! May we be on the road to recovery!!

No More!!!

Well, today is a day I hope to never repeat again....

I have had 12 episodes so far. A bad day in the past has been five. Not today.

Ben is feeling great today. He hit his "good" day yesterday!! Praise the Lord because I don't know what I would do otherwise.

I started my treatment for these episodes on Tuesday. I received I.V. Vitamins. They told me possible side effects were increased energy. By the time I got home, I was absolutely exhausted and felt terrible. As I mentioned, yesterday was hard. Today was even worse. I was worked in to the doctor (his Nurse Practitioner) at lunch and they said I might be allergic to Vitamin C. So, they've had me cut all Vitamin C & Vitamin C containing products. Dear Lord, please bring relief with these changes. I had an episode while in the doctor's office today and tried to get the NP to come in time, but she made it for the very end and so she missed most of it. She got to see how hot I get and she was able to check my pulse and see how elevated it was, as well.

The bum deal is that the meeting I'm supposed to go to in Baltimore next week, I've had to cancel. The doctor doesn't want me to fly since they believe I am not getting oxygen to all of my extremities and the increases in altitude would create a hazard. So, that has been rescheduled. Praise the Lord I have a gracious boss that showed exceptional concern for me today. It's scary when you are sick. I want him to know how hard I work despite how yucky I feel. So, his graciousness & genuine concern was so appreciated!! He's an Ag!! Should have known he'd be amazing!

I go back to the doctor first thing Monday morning to follow up with him again and see if these changes we're making have any impact. Thank you all for your prayers!

Whew!

Well, today wasn't all I had hoped. I woke up feeling even worse than I did yesterday. I had a migraine on top of these episodes. I had to drive to Tyler for my meeting. The trip was tough because I just felt so yucky. Ben was precious and offered to ride with me since he was scared for me to drive out there by myself with the way I was feeling. However, we had some guys coming out this morning to fix some spots behind the fridge where there was a leak. So, he needed to stay.

Once I got there, it was one episode after the other. I kept having to step into the hallway. My legs, arms, etc., give out when I'm having these episodes and so I try to step away from everyone so as not to collapse on people or make a fool of myself. Each time I made it out the door and fell on the floor in the hallway...couldn't even make it to the ladies room. So, they were pretty bad today. I called the doctor's office. The call nurse said it was a negative reaction to the vitamin I.V. that I had yesterday. I just don't buy that since I've been having these episodes since April. So, I made an appt. to go in tomorrow to talk to the doctor to try to figure out why they were so bad today. Hopefully, they will have some answers because this is beyond frustrating.

Ben, on the other hand, is doing well today, it's Wednesday! This is the day he usually starts to get better from chemo. He worked his tail off today on the house. He cleaned the house, made dinner, etc. He's so awesome!! I don't know what I would do without him!

He and Mom even tried to devise a way to get to Tyler to pick me up so that I didn't have to drive back on my own. So sweet & wonderful! It was a rough trip back, but wonderful to come home to his arms and dinner that was ready and great!

I beg for your prayers that the doc can figure out what in the world is making these episodes worse and find a way to stop them. Thank you for lifting us up in prayer!!

May the Lord bless you!

Healing...

Well, I'm not sure as to where to begin. The day started out quite crazily. I went to my car about 7:30 am and it wouldn't start. We couldn't get it to turn over at all. Ben was too sick to get out and jump it. So, I had it towed. Turned out I needed a new battery. Good to discover today rather than tomorrow on my trip to Tyler. I finally got a rental so that I could get a little work in for the day. The rental was a 4Runner and it was such a rough ride that I was nauseated all day. Yuck! Anyway, the weekend was definitely a tease having so few episodes. They have been in full force today and making me quite sick. I spoke with the doctor's office this afternoon and they think it is definitely the Rouleau that I mentioned previously that is causing this because it keeps my extremities from getting the oxygen they need. That is why my hands, feet, head, etc., start to tingle, why I get so nauseated, and why my memory has been so drastically erased. It's pretty scary, but I'm trying to keep pushing.

I finally got my car back this evening. Ben is feeling better though he wore himself out by putting away every single Christmas decoration today. Anyway, we are a gimp bunch. Please pray for our healing. Also, if you would, I have a meeting Wednesday in Tyler with my company. I need to be very healthy and have excellent memory. Both of these are rare for me right now. Will you please pray that I will feel much better tomorrow and not experience any episodes or memory issues?

Thank you all so much!!!

Happy New Year!

We are sitting here on the couch, watching the ball drop...

We are celebrating on the couch because Ben is still pretty sick from his chemo on Friday. We thought he was better today, but as I was in the shower getting ready for church, he came in and told me he was sick again. Poor guy. So, we've just hung out, paid bills, did nine loads of laundry, etc., today.

Hopefully, he will wake up in 2007 and feel much better.

We think we may have diagnosed all that I've been dealing with since April. I didn't have an episode yesterday or today. Then, this afternoon I was hurrying to get some laundry switched and started to have one. I went to the store and came home and started making dinner and started to have another one. So, we decided that it must have something to do with my activity level since we've been able to just relax for the last two days. Then, Ben reminded me that when I went back to the doctor this last week (doctor #10), he said that I have RBC (red blood cell) Rouleau which means that my red blood cells stack on each other. So, my body isn't getting adequate oxygen, etc. Thus, many explanations began to pour forth. I start my treatments next week and so I'm hoping we'll see some changes soon.

Praise the Lord!! Granny is home now! The doc released her today and so she gets to sleep in her own bed tonight. She was worried that her bird, Danny, was going to be mad at her for being gone for so long.

Thank you all for your prayers...Happy 2007!!!!! May it bring you health, joy, & a realization of how awesome our Savior is!!!

Craziness

Well, yesterday didn't go as I would have planned it. ; )

They decided to keep Granny longer in the hospital which is good. They were just going to keep her in ICU overnight Thursday and send her home Friday. However, they decided to move her to a regular room on Friday so that she could get more PT, etc. After Ben's chemo, we all (Ben's parents, brother, & the two of us) went to the hospital to see Granny. She really enjoyed the company. She told us that she really didn't think she was going to survive the surgery and that she thought God smiling at her was Him saying, "come home!" Glad I didn't know that prior to her surgery. Oh, the wreck I would have been...She did ask the surgeon during the procedure if she was in Heaven. He said that's the last thing a surgeon wants to hear. She also asked us while she was in recovery if she was in Heaven. I told her the nurse was pretty, but I had a feeling the surroundings of Heaven was much more beautiful than the gurney she was on...!!

After we went to see Granny yesterday, we went to dinner at PF Changs with Ben's family. Ben was feeling a bit yucky at this point. However, we had an enjoyable dinner and then came home. When we were almost home, Ben was feeling super terrible. Within a few minutes of being in the door, we had a repeat of last time. He got so sick. Again, vomiting blood (and dinner). I know, Too Much Information. So, instead of calling EMS, we called the doc. The doc told us that if it happened again we needed to go to the ER. The doc wrote a script for Ben that he was supposed to get prior to chemo, but he wrote orders wrong and so Ben didn't get it...thanks! So, I had to race out last night and get his script filled before he got sick again and we had to go to the ER. Amazingly, CVS said that every other patient there was on their way to the ER if their script wasn't filled. Anyway, he's taking the meds now.

Ben's parents and brother left this morning. We heard from Granny this morning and she's not feeling very well & her face has started to swell a little bit. The doc should be in later today and we'll get an update...

Thank you all so much for your prayers!

God smiled at her...

Well, today was an absolutely crazy day.

I had my follow up appt. with my doc to figure out these episodes that I've been having since April (they have been getting worse and more frequent). My grandmother had surgery today to clean out her Left Carotid that was 90-95% occluded.

The Nurse Practitioner didn't give me a real answer, but apparently my red blood cells are stacked which is a sign of an immune deficiency, etc. There are also some signs of liver stress. They have prescribed weekly IV therapy and some other stuff in hopes that we will see some good results. However, there is not an actual diagnosis. So, we'll see...

Granny's surgery was crazy to say the least. She was going in for a quick clean out of the carotid. She was only going to have IV sedation. The doc said he wouldn't do the surgery if she had to do general anesthesia because he didn't believe she would survive. Anyway, he went in to start the clean up and her artery was really hard. So, once he found a soft spot to cut into he tried to fold the artery back. The inside of the artery wall should be smooth. He said hers looked like shag carpet. If he left it like that, she would have a dramatically increased risk of clots, etc. So, he took a piece of Teflon tubing to create a bypass. In his words, one surgery turned into three. The suspected two hour surgery took four hours and 45 minutes. All of this was under IV sedation! Wow! The doc and anesthesiologist are amazing!!!

Granny has a direct line to the Lord...it's unbelivable. When she prays, she knows he is going to answer her prayer if she sees the Lord smile. When Ben was first diagnosed, she said she saw the Lord's back. Then, one day as she was praying for his healing, she saw Him smile. Well, I was a wreck this morning worried sick about her surgery. I kept trying to pray and just kept bawling. I finally reached my Mom and she told me that Granny saw God smile when she prayed about her surgery. Thank you, Lord! So, she's healing well in the ICU.

Thank you all for your prayers!

Please be in prayer for Ben's chemo Friday! Remember he got super sick last time and we had to call EMS. So, we are praying that he does better this time!

Thank you for all of your prayers! We love you and your prayers!

because of HIM,

Meredith

Long Overdue...

Well, Merry Christmas and forgive me for this being so long overdue...

All is well in the Fox household now. Ben is much better. You would never know that he had been ill. He looks healthy and wonderful. I feel so privileged to have been given the opportunity by the Lord to see the power of prayer! Each of your prayers for Ben's health have been heard...he is so much better.

We had my entire family over today and Ben's parents were here, as well. We had over 20 people here and it was a blast! Hank had so much fun with the little ones. He gave out lots of kisses today. He is already fast asleep. He's usually awake and wanting to play at this time of the night, but he has been fast asleep. Such a cutie...

Sleeping the night away...



Ben's parents made the trip from Philly this morning and will be here all week. We're looking forward to spending some good time with them.

A few prayer requests & praises:

Praises...
Our friends David & Kim that are adopting from Russia got the 10 days waived and are home with baby Abbey! Praise Jesus as there was no earthly way for this to occur...she said it was so obvious that it was supernatural. Thank you, Lord.

Prayers...
*Ben's continued health. He has chemo again this Friday and we want him to be healthy like he has been with every other treatment except this last one.
*Ben's hand is in a considerable amount of pain. We don't know if he has an infection or if it is a result of the chemo from last time. Please pray with us that it heals quickly.
*My Granny is going in for surgery on Thursday. Her carotid artery is over 85% occluded and so they need to go in and clean it...She is a bit nervous about the surgery. It's important for her to be calm through the surgery as she will be aware through the entire procedure (apparently a new type of surgery).
*I go back to the doctor (doc #10) on Thursday to see if they can find an explanation for these episodes I've been having since April.
*Decisions on the part of the oncologist about how many more treatments Ben should have...his prayer and hope are that he only has four total vs. six total. We have yet to get a straight answer from anyone. Obviously, if he can have less chemo with great results, that is what we would prefer.

Thank you all for your faithful prayers! None of us can doubt the power of prayer after the miraculous healing we've seen in Ben. Thank you, Jesus, and thank you prayer warriors!

Send up the Prayers!

Hey guys!

We need to ask for your prayers tonight. Ben started Round #3 of his chemo today. He wasn't feeling very well during chemo. On the way home, he felt awful. We were commenting on how he wasn't behaving at all the way he usually does after chemo and he was quite pale! We had reservations for dinner at about 7p. So, about 6:30p he was brushing his teeth and I heard a terrible noise. When I got to him, he was vomiting excessively and there was blood in it. He continued to vomit for about 10 min. and the blood continued. So, we called 911. The Rockwall EMS guys are awesome! They came over, made sure he was okay, and offered to transport Ben to the hospital if he needed it. We chose not to since he was feeling better. They also loved on Hank, our Sheltie. One of the guys asked Hank if he was "kissing cousins with Reveile!" Here's a pic of my boys!!



I called my Mom first and she immediately jumped in the car and ran to get Chicken Noodle Soup, knowing that's what he would need when it was all said and done. The main concern is a GI bleed. So, we will monitor him tonight. The hope is that it was just a blood vessel that burst while he was vomiting. The good thing is that his Platelet count and Hemoglobin were high or normal meaning that anemia and blood clotting ability are not concerns.

So, he has eaten his chicken noodle soup and had about a quart of Gatorade. Now he is laying on the couch resting and watching a little TV.

Please be in prayer for his quick healing as he does not like being sick (duh!!)!! He's just not used to it and so it's a little harder to handle.

Thank you all for your prayers! We know they are powerful as he is Cancer FREE!!!!

White Rock Marathon!

This is so cool! Haley Birkelbach, one of Ben's friends from T Bar M, did the White Rock 1/2 Marathon. She walked it in his honor (super pregnant, too)!! Isn't this the coolest thing ever...she walked this two days after we found out that Ben is Cancer FREE!!!

Here is a copy of the letter that she sent to everyone:

I want to thank each of you, so much, for contributing to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on my behalf for yesterday’s ½ Marathon . My team raised over $25,000 to find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma, and thanks to all of you, I contributed to $1,600 of that! THANK YOU!!!

Most of you know that I was walking on behalf of Ben Fox, who was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma not long after I signed up for the ½ Marathon to train with Team in Training. While we trained each week for the race, Ben was undergoing
chemotherapy and treating his cancer. His faith and commitment to our Lord during this time was unbelievable and as God would have it, Ben found out this past Friday that he is CANCER FREE!!! What an amazing God we serve!

Thanks to all of you who committed to praying for him and his wife and I ask that you continue to do so. Please check out their blog at http://psalm112-survivor.blogspot.com/ to stay posted and to be challenged by Ben and Meredith’s faith and commitment to our amazing Savior.

This has been quite an amazing experience and one I will never forget. It felt amazing to cross the finish line and I could not have done it without your support and contribution, so THANK YOU so much for your generosity. You are helping find a cure for all who are affected by these diseases, and for that I am grateful.

Thanks again!

Haley

What a stud she is!!

We are so honored and humbled by this!

Everytime I look at this picture of her shirt, I bawl my eyes out! Such a precious friend!!

More pics...

With her hubby, Zack!

Look at that awesome pregnant belly and she did a half marathon! Holy Wow!!

That's her in the purple, this is like Mile 8 or 9 (I would have called for a taxi by now)!

Wow, Haley!!

Haley with her friend Marcy who ran the thing...Wow, again!

Thank you all for sharing in our joy of Ben's healing! He still needs prayers as he has a lot more chemo to go...next one is this Friday.

I haven't really stopped crying as the joy is just welling up inside of me and it's got to go somewhere! Praise the Lord, great things He has done!!

HE'S CANCER FREE!!

Praise Jesus!

Well, we have just left the doctor's office and Ben is CANCER FREE! All praise be to Jesus. There is no detectable cancer anywhere on any of the scans. Yippee!! God is so good! If you don't believe in God and His healing...rethink that because He is so powerful and HE ALONE has healed my husband!!

Here is a picture of my cancer FREE husband right after we got the news. Tears still flowing down my face!

Thank you all for your prayers through this crazy time.

This is the doc that gave us the great news, Dr. Neelapu.

We will continue chemo...four more rounds (which is eight treatments, every other week). The doctor here said that studies continue to show the importance of finishing the treatment to see lasting results. He did tell us that this is quite rare for it to disappear so quickly!! We know that rare means GOD can heal!!! Praise Him!

Now, for some celebration lunch & back home!!!

M.D. Anderson

Wow! What an amazing time we've had. Yesterday we arrived around 1pm and started with blood work. Then, Ben went to have his PET Scan. Basically, they inject radioactive glucose. Tumors like glucose (it's their #1 fuel) and so they soak it up and become visible on the scan. Then, we went to have the CAT Scan. He had to drink 3 cups of Barium for that...Yummy!! So, we finally left last night around 8pm and went straight to Ninfa's where we ate more than we should have. So good, though. A lot better than the barium.

Our sweet friends, Sarah & Nick, who are staying at our house right now, allowed us to stay at their house out here. So, we went to their house & fell asleep almost immediately.

Our morning started fairly early as Ben was supposed to come have accupuncture! Pretty cool that MD Anderson recommends accupuncture & does it on site. However, they called us on our way here to tell us that his white count was too low to do the accupuncture. It was 2.5 & needed to be 3+. So, we came back to do labs again, praying that it increased. It did, but only to 2.6. So, we've missed the opportunity to do accupuncture here, but hope to find a way to get it done once we get home.

Tomorrow at 9:30a is Ben's appt. to find out if the cancer is, in fact, GONE!! So, please be in prayer that there is nothing left! We will give you all an update as soon as we know something! Please continue to pray for him!!

The lessons we can learn....

...in the silence!!

Wow! There are times that a talkative girl like me goes crazy sitting in a quiet car during the day (I have a lot of drive time to parts of my territory). However, the Lord used that time today to speak to me in a truly special way.

As most of you know, Ben has felt that he has been healed for a while now. So, it keeps getting harder and harder for him to go to chemo. It's kind of like, why do I have to take this medicine for a condition I don't have? Every time we mention chemo around him, his stomach starts to hurt.

So, today the Lord shared with me that Ben isn't going through chemo to cure the cancer, he's going through chemo for GOD'S GLORY! Then, the Lord began revealing truths to me about so many other parts of our lives. For instance, our friends, Nick & Sarah (& their 7 wk old baby girl, Claire), that are staying with us. The Lord laid it on my heart that they didn't have a child because they wanted to, but for HIS GLORY!! Same with our baby in S. Korea. We are not adopting that baby because we want to, but for His glory! I don't go to work each day because my boss requires me to, but I go for His glory. So, I shared this with Ben today & he said he definitely needed to hear that!

I just realized today that this is what each step we take is all about (maybe I'm slower than the rest of you intellectuals)...So many things in our lives seem to have a reason that makes sense & so we go with it. However, it's when you're in a situation like this, with chemo despite the belief that there is no cancer, that you have to truly consider WHY you are doing something? In the end, if you are a believer in Christ, you are doing it for Him!!

We leave in a few hours for M.D. Anderson....say LOTS of prayers!!

Round 2 complete...ding ding ding!!

Yippee!! Praise the Lord! We have completed Round #2 of chemo! Thank you, Jesus!

Only four rounds to go, which is eight more treatments. He's already had four. So, we're a third of the way complete! Yeah!! His left hand is doing a little better. Last time (Treatment #3), the nurse ran the DTIC (one of his chemo drugs) too quickly. That caused the vein to be burnt which is apparently a permanent thing. So, his hand was swollen for about two weeks with a reddish/purple streak running up his arm. His hand was so sensitive to any type of contact. It's a little bit better and he can put his hands in his pockets without wincing! So, thank you, Lord, for healing.

Also, his white counts and Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) were actually higher this last time than they've ever been. Praise the Lord! Ben has been taking a bunch of supplements which we know are helping him. He is also taking a product called Cantron that a physician in Rockwall and a friend of ours both took and were cured of their cancer, one never did chemo or radiation, only Cantron. Ben hasn't been very consistent with the Cantron throughout his treatment. However, over the last two weeks he has been very consistent. He firmly believes that is what made the dramatic impact on his lab values!! We are so grateful to our friend, Sheri, that gave us the rest of her bottle of Cantron (it's very expensive) to get Ben started! She's blessed us by saving us money and offering healing for my husband!!

The exciting news for us is that we leave on Wednesday to go to MD Anderson! This is big because this is when they will do the CAT Scan & the PET Scan to determine if there are any more detectable cancer cells. We firmly believe that Ben is healed. However, the medical field still has to do their stuff to comfort themselves. Our sweet friends Sarah, Nick, & Claire are moving to Dallas, but their house is on the market in Houston. So, we will be staying at their house while we are there. It is such a blessing to not have to worry about expenses at hotels.

Ben is feeling a little yucky right now. I think he tries to be tough, but feels like crud. His stomach is driving him crazy. It feels incredibly full even when he's many hours post meal. His stomach is sensitive to the touch. So, I have to be careful with cuddles!! ; )

Praise: Over the last two months I have felt the Lord give me a new passion and determination at work. Despite all the craziness going on, I have had more focus while working and feel like I'm working smarter. We got our numbers in and it's paid off...in October, we had the greatest growth we've had since I joined the team! Thank you, Jesus! So, that was very exciting to see!! That will also be a blessing when bonuses are paid out.

Also, please pray for our friends, The Johnson's. They are adopting baby Abbey Elena from Russia. They leave on the 15th to go get her. They are praying that the judge will waive the 10-day waiting period that Russia has. Most judges waive this as it's not required & there is no real reason for it. However, they got the tough judge that rarely waives it. God has been so faithful to reveal scripture to Kim about how to approach the judge & how to pray. So, we are all praying in Faith that the 10-days are waived. If it wasn't waived, they would have to leave Abbey there for another month as Russia has a lot of holidays that cause the government to shut down until early January. So, the prayer is that the 10-days will be waived and they will bring Abbey home on Christmas Eve!! Please pray with us that the judges heart will be softened and the 10-days will be waived.

We are so overwhelmed by your precious support and prayers. Thank you for loving us!!

Urgent, Urgent Prayer Request

Well, I get sad that my husband is undergoing chemo & then I receive this e-mail from my best friend in the whole world (other than Ben), Mikele. Please pray for this family & let me know if you can help with beds/mattresses & I'll get the info over to her.

Hello friends,
I wanted to write and ask you to pray for a dear family, the Taylors, that I have grown up with. Their youngest son, Nathan (24 years old), was in Oregon visiting family when he and a friend decided to go out fishing for a few hours. They were in a small boat that was capsized by 2 waves that hit them unexpectedly. The boat was too far from shore for the two guys to swim, and due to the frigid temperature of the water, Nathan lost consciousness before help could reach them. His friend tried desperately to keep him above water, but the weight of their bulky clothes and the hypothermia that had already set in prevented his friend from keeping Nathan afloat. The Search and Rescue team tried desperately to find Nathan, but they knew that unless they could find him immediately, there was no chance that he would be alive. The team searched for hours, but were not able to find his body. They called off the search once the sun set, but the Taylor family and friends continued their own search. Nathan’s body was found by his father, brother and sister that night, more than 8 hours after he went missing. Nathan leaves behind a wife and a 3-month old son. Please pray for Nathan’s family, that they will find supernatural comfort in the Father’s arms. This tragedy has hit everyone hard, and I can’t imagine the shock of this loss for his family. By God’s grace, they can rest in the knowledge that Nathan is in the Lord’s presence, and that they will be united with him again one day.

The funeral will be held in Oregon on Friday, but Nathan and his wife lived in Denton . We will be holding a memorial service for Nathan here in Dallas on Saturday, December 9th.

There are many people who will be coming in for the service, and I wanted to see if any of you know of extra beds that might be available for me to borrow for the weekend. I have 3 bedrooms in my new house that are not being used yet, and I would really like to open up my house for people to use for the weekend, but I don’t have any beds in the rooms. If any of you have extra beds that I could borrow, would you please let me know? My dad has a truck that we could use to transport the beds, and I could have it back to you as soon as the guests leave. Any help you could provide would be so appreciated.

Thank you for being a part of the amazing Body of Christ! It is times like these when we realize how important it is to have this incredible support system around us. Thanks for your prayers for this family.