A Beautiful Family & a Beautiful Little Girl - Please, Pray.

The following is a post by Jake Hunt. He and is wife are friends from college. I have several good memories of Jake and Melissa. The best by far include me giving Jake a TERRIBLE haircut and neither of them killing me, but showing incredible grace; several of us getting together and throwing a busted TV off the roof....just to see; their wedding. These two changed the way that I viewed god and ministry - for the good. They now have 3 beautiful children and are still inspiring me as they serve in Prague. I ask you to read their story and pray.

 

We learned yesterday that our daughter Eliza (almost 11 months) has what appears to be a cancerous tumor in her liver. Melissa took her to the doctor for an ear infection, and while doing a general checkup the doctor was concerned about possible swelling in her abdomen. They sent us to the hospital, where an ultrasound found the tumor.
We were able to meet immediately with a pediatric oncologist, who laid out a plan for getting started with treatment: blood tests right away, and a battery of other scans and tests Monday to confirm that it’s the type of tumor they think. Then there will probably be chemo and surgery, though we’re not sure of the order.
There are some encouraging signs. The tumor is large, but it’s isolated to one side of the liver. From the ultrasound it did not appear to have spread to any other organs. If it’s the kind of tumor the doctor suspects, and if that type of tumor doesn’t metastasize, and when they’re able to remove it completely, the survival rate is as high as 90%. But it is unbelievably scary.
We need you to pray. You can imagine how our heads are spinning, and how the questions and needs are wherever you look. So pray whatever you think to pray. But here are some specifics.
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Pray for complete healing. That the tumor will be gone entirely on Monday. God can do that. And that if it’s still there, it won’t have metastasized, and they’ll be able to remove all of it with a good margin. That the drug treatment will do its job, and that God will sustain E through all the misery of chemotherapy. Pray that this is completely healed and that it never returns.
Pray for clear communication with all the doctors, and for lots of translators to be available when needed.
Pray for our decision about whether to do treatment in CZ or US. So far we feel like the doctors here are doing the same things here they’d do in the States. And we are happy here and have no need to escape. But there are a thousand other factors to consider as well. Please pray for clear heads, and for Melissa and Jake to have the same strong leaning.
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We will use this website to keep people updated. There’s a signup on the right side to get new posts by email, or you can subscribe with a reader if you’re into that sort of thing.
We are terrified. And we are hopeful, sometimes. At times it feels like the waters are closing over our heads. We break down, we pray, and they recede for a while. Many of you have already been sending us Scripture and reminding us that you’re praying. Thank you. Please keep it up. We love Eliza so much, and so do many others. But God loves her more than we do, and he knows her body because he created it. We trust him to care for her (and us), because he is good.
Thank you for praying.

If you are interested in keeping updated with Eliza and the Hunts, the website he is referring to is
their blog, Hunts In Prague. Thank you for praying.