A Wish For Drew

A few months ago, life was good. We were finishing our fourth and final year of dental school, excited for a nice break, and looking forward to what would lie ahead. During this time, some friends of ours from school, that had graduated a year earlier, who were already on their dental way, were about to begin yet another journey. They had just found out that their 5 year old girl, Jaylie, had a brain tumor in which they later learned was cancer. Jaylie is just a year older then Brayden and I couldn't help but put myself in their shoes and imagine how devastating this was for them. Our hearts were broken for them.

We wish we could do more for them but they live near Austin now.

We kept them in our prayers as we moved forward toward graduation.

Both of our parents came out and we had a nice visit. During this time I told Jaylie's story to my mom. I could barely even speak of it without feeling heavy. I remember saying to her,

"Can you imagine?"

During this same visit my mom was receiving somewhat alarming messages from my sister, Dayna, about her little boy, Drew. His leg was doing funny things and he was walking with a limp. She videotaped it and tried to send it to us, but we were unable to open it. She sent it to our uncle who is an orthopedic surgeon and he was concerned.

With this news of our friends so freshly on my mind I was struck with the same horrifying thought...but quickly dismissed it.

Over the next few weeks they were referred to different doctors where they eventually saw a neurologist who suspected the worst. An MRI later confirmed it.

Drew had a brain tumor.

I couldn't believe that these emotions I was feeling for our friends during the previous weeks was about to be upped a few notches as this became a reality for my family, my sister. The good news: it was operable. We held on to the hope that they would get it all and it would be benign.

After four hours of surgery they removed the tumor, and another MRI later showed that they had successfully removed it all for which we are so grateful.

Five days later they received the humbling news that it was malignant and their lives were about to be changed forever.

Today they began the very long road they have ahead of them of chemotherapy treatments which will later be followed by radiation.

I've been doing a lot of reading lately learning all I can about this and one thing I read is that 1 to 2 children out of 10,000 each year are diagnosed with a brain tumor.

What are the chances that we know two of these children diagnosed within weeks of each other?

I am not near my family at this time, and my biggest prayer for them, besides the best possible outcome for Drew, is that they will not be alone through this. I hope and pray that friends, and family, near and far, and their community, and any who feel inclined will be able to help them any way they can.

You can visit this website they've created to stay connected and be able to reach out to them.

Be grateful for your little ones. Hold them a little closer and hug them a little tighter. Our blessings are truly gifts from God and our trials bring us closer to Him.

"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high..."

D&C 121:7-8