February 9, 2008 - Saturday

I ask that you and yours pray for John at this time. He has had stomache issues for a little while and we thought it was just him getting older & having trouble with digestion of spicy foods, etc.
But after several major tests being ran, John was diagnosed this week with Pancreatic Cancer stage IV. He has a tumor on his pancreas which has spread to his liver and surrounding lymph nodes. The oncologist has said he has maybe a year with the help of chemo which he starts on Friday. We are also going to go for a second opinion just to make sure.
Your prayers are what is needed most of all right now.
This is a strange cancer in that he has hours of no symptoms what so ever but then no matter what he eats he gets excruciating pain. He has lost a lot of weight because now he's afraid to eat even with all the pain meds he's being given. He starts chemo on Friday and with God's grace it will at least slow the progression and maybe downsize the tumor that he can eat a little more normally. With all the love and prayers from our myriad of family and friends everything will work out as God wills it to be. Some people lose loved ones unexpectedly & without warning. So in a sense God has blessed us so we can make the most of what ever time is left. And I hope it serves a purpose to make all our friends and family love each other like it's their last day.
You are all dear to us.