Gut Infection

Dear Friends,

Thank you for keeping Liam in your prayers the past few days. In our last update, we shared that Liam was suffering from uncontrollable vomiting and fever, and had ended up back in the hospital. Today, he was diagnosed with neutropenic colitis, or inflammation of the colon caused by chemotherapy. This is a fairly common complication with leukemia patients. Essentially, chemo kills rapidly dividing cells, including, but not limited to cancer cells. Our bodies also have rapidly dividing cells in our digestive tract. When these cells are gone and the membranes break down, GI infections can easily occur.

Treatment for this infection includes gut rest (no food or water), antibiotics, and TPN (IV nutrition in his central line). It’s a waiting game until Liam’s blood counts return so that his gut can heal itself. Unfortunately, this means a few weeks in the hosptial.

Please continue to pray for our sweet suffering boy. He is still vomiting bile, and is experiencing severe stomach pain. He is completely bedridden and has lost a considerable amount of weight and mobility. He is on five different anti-nausea meds, and they started him on morphine today for the pain. TPN (the nutrition going into his IV) has some side effects that can negatively affect the organs, so please pray that he would be spared from that. Liam also frequently needs blood transfusions until his blood counts return. He’s already had one allergic reaction to blood, so please pray that it doesn’t happen again.

Right now, Liam is sleeping a lot, but when he is awake, he is the most miserable we’ve ever seen him. The suffering that he has experienced in these past few months is far worse than we ever imagined, and worse than the doctors could have predicted. He has had more complications than most; if anything could go wrong during his treatment, it has. We have seen Liam pass by death closely and come out on the other side. We pray that his body would continue to be resilient in the face of agonizing adversity. The pain of watching our child suffer so much feels unbearable at times. All we can do is cling to Jesus and trust Him to carry us through. 

As I write this, watching Liam’s sleeping body rise and fall with the breath of life, I am reminded of the many blessings that God has provided for us in the midst of our sorrow. I am thankful that Liam is still with us. I am thankful for deep sleep that lets him escape his pain. I am thankful for morphine and anti-nausea medications. I am thankful for our family and friends who help bear these burdens with us. I am thankful that we have a God who willingly entered into suffering on our behalf, who is Himself acquainted with sorrow and grief. I am thankful that we have hope in Him: the cleansing of sins, the promise of eternity with Him, and the future redemption of all things. There is more to our story. He will make all things new. (Revelation 21:5) I love how this passage is written in our children’s Jesus Storybook Bible:

“And the King says, ‘Look! God and his children are together again. No more running away. Or hiding. No more crying or being lonely or afraid. No more being sick or dying. Because all of those things are gone. Yes, they’re gone forever. Everything sad has come untrue!"

Would you continue to pray for us for strength, for Liam’s healing, and that we would see God’s goodness and purposes in our trials?