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Prayer Requests for Amy & Beth
Tue., Jan. 31. 2006 2:50am EST
This week we have two prayer requests for people we've told you about before who are fighting life-and-death struggles:
Over the years, we've asked you a number of times to pray for Beth Behanna, the middle daughter of our former drummer Fred Behanna. Now in her twenties, Beth has been fighting an up-and-down battle with Hodgkins Disease for quite some time. Here's the latest from Fred:
Hi, everyone. Here is a "Beth update" that was sent out by our church just a couple days ago:
"We want to update all of you who so generously supported Beth Behanna during this time of trial in her life. If you recall, November of 2004, Beth was told by her doctors she had only six months left to live. You responded graciously with your prayers, letters, cards, money and heart-felt sympathy. Actually, the response was so overwhelming Beth could not possibly get thank you notes out to everyone as she had intended. Beth did make two trips to Mexico. We cannot know how the Lord has sustaned her, but He has. Her scans have been progressively worse, yet here she is! However, her doctors didn't feel that the treatments out-of-country were any better than what she could do here.
Currently, her platelets are down and the cancer has spread rather rapidly. She is not in good shape, but the fight goes on. She intends to start a low-dose chemo this week. In fact, she goes tomorrow to have a port put in. Her hope now is to do a two-month treatment to halt the growth. She then intends to go to either North Carolina or Kansas for a clinical trial "SAHA" treatment, whichever accepts her. Thanks to you these options are available and affordable.
We are grateful for your support and we covet your prayers. Your letters and cards truly were touching. Beth read every one.
Sincerely,
Dawn Wilson, Treasurer"
Since that update was sent out Beth did have the port put in (a port simply means a tube inserted into the chest where IV's can be administered) and she had her low-dose chemo treatment on Thursday.
We've also asked you on several occasions to pray for a friend of ours named Amy, a 32-year-old who has been battling leukemia since 1998. Here's an update from Amy herself:
Hello. Well, what can I say, God's plans are truly a mystery to me. I found out yesterday (1/24/06) the latest lab reports. I have relapsed in my spinal fluid. I go tomorrow (1/26/06) to Philly to find out all the details and to get a dose of intrathecal chemotherapy through my ommaya (the catheter in my brain) which goes directly into my spinal fluid. This is the ninth time I'm facing cancer. I had my initial diagnosis 9/28/1998. I have now relapsed eight times! I am determined to fight this to the end.
I need everyone to pray for me. I cannot do this alone. Life is precious and my healthy days seem so limited, my life so finite. As a watch the sunset through the woods behind my house, I thank God for all my blessings and pray to him to give me strength, courage, and healing so that I can continue to celebrate life with my family and friends and with those who I've yet to meet. Love and Happiness,
Amy :)
A mutual friend sent us the following update several days after Amy's email:
My sis heard from Amy after her appointment on Thursday. The leukemia's not just back in her spinal fluid--it's back full force. Full treatment would mean or more weeks of chemo in the hospital--which she hates, and which in the past has given her 5-6 months of feeling awful before 2-3 months of relative health, so
she's still debating whether it's worth it to her to do it or not.
She is getting the outpatient chemo into the port in her brain/spine, which they said may give her up to a year. She's also asked her doctors to see if there are any clinical trials of experimental treatments she could join in the Philadelphia area. But right now she still feels pretty good -- she & Russ intended to go snow tubing for her birthday activity on Saturday. Thanks for your continued prayers.
If you wish to send an encouraging email to Amy, you can do so by sending email to suprchick@webtv.net with the subject line "for Amy" and we'll forward them.
Thank you!
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