Skip to main content

A Little Overwhelmed

By
To our Family in Christ,

Thank you so much for striving with us in prayer. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, seeing how serious a health problem my son Samuel had, seeing God working in wonderful ways. It's hard to fathom it all: one week we are trying to cure his diarrhea, the next major intestinal surgery is being performed to remove an 11.2 cm adenocarcinoma. One day the doctors are grim about the swollen lymph nodes that were removed, the next they are amazed that they are clean. Last night the oncologist told us that this tumor is rare in young people. In fact, though he works at one of Brazil`s leading cancer centers, Samuel now holds the record for being the youngest he's seen, 13 years old - Samuel loves breaking records.
Today at a medical conference, Samuel's case will be discussed with Brazil's leading cancer specialists. The suspicion is that he has a mutated PT53 gene - Samuel was excited about the possibility of being a mutant. So Samuel will have his DNA mapped out, and he could play a part in some groundbreaking research being done on the mutated PT53, that could possibly discover the cure for cancer. And to think, a few days ago we thought he just had worms.

How is Samuel taking all this? Pretty well, for sure! Edda tried to not worry him about the possibility of having cancer, but when a doctor let it slip, he rushed to Facebook to celebrate with the world the fact he is a cancer survivor (check out Samuel Joseph McKinney on Facebook). His mother nearly freaked when she read his comments.
What's next? Who knows, we may be auctioning off the movie rights to his story. But for now, we are thankful Samuel is cancer free, we are out of the hospital, he is recuperating nicely, and tomorrow we return to Joao Pessoa to our other two kids, and home and hopefully normal life.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers,

Joseph, Edda, and Samuel

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Planting, the Watering, and the Increase

By
Emesson started coming to Bible Club over a year ago, when Neil Schultz and Cait Beckloff, our AIM team, were teaching it. For several months, they planted the seed in his and his sister's hearts. Unfortunately Neil and Cait's time in João Pessoa ended. In 2014 Bible Club received a boon when Erick and Jenny Paddy, former AIMers, returned to the field and picked up teaching the Bible Study for English speakers. They watered the sprouting seed in Emesson's life until God's Word became more important for him than just practicing his English. Last Wednesday night, God gave the increase, adding Emesson to the Family of Christ. Sometimes things don't happen when we think they should, but God is in control; His time is best, and we must thank Him for playing a small part in His plan. 
Post a Comment
Read more

"What About Baptism?"

By
Edda and I went to a nearby city to study the Bible with a family, Genilda (who is already a Christian), Ana, Mariana, Luiza, and Jefferson. While we were reading God's Word, Ana's husband, Silva, came in and sat down, and then blurted out: "What about baptism?" It took me by surprise because he has barely studied with us, but, most certainly, is already thinking about spiritual matters. Our Bible study then took a lot of detours, answering this question or that. Silva said he still has a lot of questions, and we pray that the Lord will use us to answer them, bringing him to understand the Good News!
Post a Comment
Read more

Samuel McKinney's New Life in Christ

By
It has been only three days since Samuel gave his life to Christ, but it is so exciting to see my young son exercising his faith, like getting upset when his history teacher at school taught that miracles in the book of Exodus can be explained by natural phenomena: low and high tides in the crossing of the sea, natural disasters for the plagues, etc. The day after his baptism, Samuel went on a trip with his school and received a new nickname: the boy who reads the Bible. He read 1 Samuel, chapters 1 through 6, out loud for the whole bus to hear. His eagerness to take the Lord's Supper for the first time was refreshing. May our Father bless all our families with life changing faith.
Post a Comment
Read more