"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Thessalonians 5:18

I’ve been reading a lot of stories lately about small children with cancer (specifically neuroblastoma). There is one blog that I read regularly that is written by an adoptive father whose adopted daughter has cancer (leukemia in her case). He often links to other peoples’ blogs whose children are also suffering, so it seems I’ve been reading a lot of it lately…and it’s sad, heartbreaking and so so scary. It causes me to confront two of my biggest fears in life—losing my daughter or seeing her suffer.

When Makenzie was just a few weeks old, my sister was holding her one day and found a lump under the skin on her back. We immediately scheduled an appointment with her pediatrician who then sent us to a surgeon in Temple. The very seasoned, graying surgeon took one look at it and said “It has to come out…now…I think it’s a neuroblastoma.”

I remember the sick feeling as my stomach dropped to my toes. I didn’t know much about neuroblastoma, but I knew it wasn’t good.

I spent the next two weeks before her surgery reading everything I could get my hands on regarding neuroblastoma and praying to God that Makenzie wouldn’t be one of those little kids in the pictures I saw.

The surgery went well and the doctor told us that once he got it out, he was pretty confident it was NOT neuroblastoma, but I remember how long the wait was for the biopsy results to come in. And PRAISE GOD, it was just a hemangioma and we have our little girl here today.

Since I’ve been reading all of these blogs, I’ve tried to be a little more patient with Makenzie and to remember to be thankful and joyful that I have this little bundle of energy to love and play with and cuddle on every night. When she’s bringing me a baby doll to dress for the umpteenth time or a book to read for the billionth time, I try to remember how empty the arms are that belong to all of those mommies and daddies whose children have lost their battles with cancer….how their hearts ache…how they would do anything to get those same moments back with their children.