Joel's Journey: God can do the Impossible

Saturday, January 6, 2007

God can do the Impossible

Praise the Lord for letting us have our Joel for another night. Yesterday morning he was responding to some stimulus, but when the doctors came in my Dad did the same things that we did earlier and there was no response. He had a test done to determine the blood flow to the brain and there was none. Basically the doctors have pronouced him brain dead.

They wanted to remove the fluids, but once my Dad found out he opposed that. The doctor said that legally since he is brain dead they had to remove the fluids and that we would have to find someone else to take care of him. At that point we had a lawyer come and after a talk with him and the doctors they have decided to let him stay at least until Monday night. After that we will have to try to find another hospital to take care of him.

We believe that until his little heart stops beating he is still alive. The doctors can do nothing else but God can. We are praying that his will will be done.

Our hearts are devestated but we are trusting in God's plan. As I was holding him yesterday, looking at his sweet face I realize how precious he is to us. Please pray for my dad to have wisdom for the many decisions he has to make.

Posted by his sister Bethany

3 comments:

McDreamy said...: we are continuing to pray fervently for y'all. we love you so much. and know that God can do the impossible. know you are swaddled in prayers of so many believers right now.

love the parkers; January 6, 2007 at 8:14 PM
Teena said...: I came here tonight.... looking for an update and my heart sank as I read about Joel. We are lifting him up too~ as so many are.

Praying for ALL.... thank you Bethany for the update.

May God touch Joel....
Teena mom of 1/2 dozen; January 6, 2007 at 11:38 PM
K.T. is Mommatude said...: I will keep you and your family in my prayers....God is with you in every step.God Bless you and your family.; January 7, 2007 at 1:55 AM

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Joel's Story

Joel, our 11th of 13 and a twin of Josiah, at age 3 was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer, on December 6th, 2006. Joel had three perfect years of health and he and Josiah celebrated their 3rd birthday Sept. 13th, 2006. The first of Oct. Joel started having unexplained fevers for a few days and would return to active play. After the fourth round of fevers we took him to our family Dr. which they said his iron was low, so we treated that for a few weeks and took him back only to have his hemo. showing lower than before. We were referred to a hematologists and saw him a few weeks with blood checks twice a week. At a visit on Dec. 4th we showed the Dr. the bumps, (which were tumors but we did not know at the time) on Joel's head and he was very concerned and we were told we needed to admit him immediately and start extensive tests the following day. Joel went through rigorous testing and then the dreaded results were given. Joel was at a stage IV the most extensive stage, but we were hopeful that the Lord would use the means of Chemotherapy treatments to restore Joel's body. Joel endured 8 1/2 days in the hospital, came home for Christmas, and returned for his second round of chemo Jan. 3, 2007. Joel had a seizure that night after midnight and went into a coma due to a tumor bleeding in his head area and causing his brain to swell. After tests the following days, the Dr. declared Joel "brain dead" and took us to court to force us to take Joel off life support, as we did not agree with the medical field's definition of death. Our family sought to stand with the scripture, "life is in the blood,"and until Joel's heart quit beating naturally, he was living. We were making arrangements to bring him home and on January 23, 2007 his little heart stopped beating and he went to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven. Our lives are changed forever. God is faithful in the midst of this trial and we look with great hope to be with him someday.