Prayers Please

I am sending out a prayer request to anyone who might even think about saying a prayer today.  Years ago, when I met my husband, I also met two people who have become incredibly special to me.  So special, they stopped being "friends" and became my family somewhere in the first couple of years.  My kids call them "Uncle Todd" and "Mom".  They are, without a doubt, a second set of parents to my children...discipline and all.  My daughter's first friend was their oldest son.  When they were 3 and 4, they "got married"....and then spent years trying to get us to "grant a divorce".  We finally gave in when she got engaged a few months ago.  Now we refer to him as her ex-husband...when he's home on leave from the Air Force Academy.  The first time I ever saw their youngest son Kacey, who is now a junior in high school, was in the hospital the day he was born.

Kortney feeding Kacey

Summer 2000  

Thanksgiving of last year (like always) we hosted dinner for all of our family that lives here, which of course included Uncle Todd, Mom, the ex-husband and Kacey.  The term "blissful ingnorance" comes to mind when I think of that day now.  We were completely unaware of the fact that in one week, we would all be sitting in a waiting room at Children's Mercy Hospital.  Waiting for a doctor to come out and tell us how the surgery went.  The surgery to put in a stint, that would relieve pressure....that was being caused by the brain tumor they had just found in Kacey, hours before.  It was also to do a biopsy.  "Surreal" doesn't even begin to describe that day and the days that followed.  Even as we sat in the waiting room, we couldn't quite comprehend what all was happening.  The word "cancer" couldn't possibly become part of our daily conversation.  But it has.

Kacey, Kortney and Austin
 Summer 2008

The official diagnosis is a very long word that really boils down to a very rare form of brain cancer that usually only afflicts very young children.  The treatment will be many months that involve chemo, surgery to remove the tumor, radiation, and then lots more chemo.  (All things, including MANY other issues, that no person should ever have to endure.  Much less a 16 year old child. )

Kacey and Kortney
Summer 2009

There is a WHOLE lot more to this story that I will probably get to at some point but today I'm going to keep it short.  As we speak, Kacey is in surgery to remove the tumor.  He will be in surgery for several more hours.  Please keep him, his family and the doctors who are working on him in your prayers.  Today and for the many months to come.

Austin, Kortney and Kacey
May 2012