Praise God, today was a good day for Jeremy.  I know these updates are repetitive, but a good indicator of how Jeremy is doing really is his temperature and his appetite.  Thankfully, he has been fever free today and eating well.  He’s also been very energetic and playful.  Thank you all so much for your prayers.  Here’s a video of him dancing shortly after breakfast.

Jeremy’s counts are pretty much down to zero.  So now it’s waiting for his counts to come back up, which may be another 3-4 weeks.  During this time it’s likely that he’ll be supported with red blood cell and platelet transfusions.

It’s still important that Jeremy responds to this round of chemo.  In addition to finding a suitable match, he will not be able to go to bone marrow transplant later until he is in remission. Remission criteria being two things: 1) < 5% blasts in his bone marrow and 2) negative MRD (minimum residual disease at <= 0.1%).  The bone marrow aspirate at the end of this block of treatment will determine remission status.

I know this is repetitive too, but we really can’t thank you all enough for your continued prayers.  We have no doubt that Jeremy is doing well so far because of your faithful prayers.

Thank you also to everyone who’s been contacting the media on our behalf.  It’s a great way to get word out about the bone marrow registration drives, but please refrain from disclosing any of our personal information – where Jeremy is being treated, our phone numbers, etc.  The AADP’s been helping us get the word out, so if you’d like to reach out to additional media, please first contact Ruby Law at ruby@aadp.org.

We’ve been getting more media attention than we like lately.  Actually, to be truthful, we hate the media attention.  Alice and I are private people, usually sharing our struggles only with close family and friends.  But circumstances being what they are, we are thankful that word is getting out about finding a match for Jeremy and that these drives will help others as well.

We are still praying that the match for Jeremy would be his soon-to-be-born little brother.  We know that God’s timing is perfect and we are waiting on Him.

Praise God:

• For Jeremy, what a great kid
• Jeremy remains fever free
• Jeremy is eating and is maintaining his weight
• the dressing change hasn’t caused any rash or irritation
• Alice and I continue to be in good health
• Little brother is doing well

Please pray (new/updated items in bold):

• that God would continue to use this situation for His glory
• that we would be obedient to God’s plans for this situation
• that we would continue to cast our worries and fears on the Lord
• that God would provide full and complete healing and total health for Jeremy
• that God would sustain Jeremy through this block of treatment
• that Jeremy’s bone marrow aspirate at the end of this block of treatment would show < 5% blasts (leukemia cells) in his bone marrow and negative MRD (minimum residual disease)
• that God would give Jeremy an extra portion of His strength for this block of treatment
• that we would not encounter any side effects that would affect his appetite – nausea, vomiting, mouth sores and that Jeremy would have a good appetite throughout the entire block of treatment
• that Jeremy would not experience any more stomach pains
• that Jeremy would not encounter any life threatening side effects
• that Jeremy would not have any brain, liver, lung, kidney, pancreatic, heart, or any other type of organ damage as a result of the chemo
• that God would protect Jeremy’s heart with the new medication (mitoxantrone)
• that Jeremy would not encounter any fevers due to bacterial, fungal, or yeast infections, especially now that Jeremy is neutropenic
• that God would provide with the whole process of finding a bone marrow match, the risks of transplant, and the anxiety of it achieving long-term remission for Jeremy
• that word would continue to get out about the need for a perfect bone marrow match and that one would be found for Jeremy
• that Jeremy’s little brother would be a match and that there would be a sufficient volume of cells in the cord blood to qualify for a good transplant
• that God would continue protect Jeremy’s central line and there would be no infections as a result of it
• that Alice and I would not get sick in order to care for Jeremy
• that baby brother would be full term before deciding that he wants out
• for our neighbors who are also enduring trials of their own