March 29, 2007 - the battle begins

Today at 1:00 pm, Keira Grace goes goes in for her first round of chemo. We feel like this is a turning point. The tests are over; the war begins. We have seen in our little girl a strength that defies her age, that defies her little body, that is going, with God's help, to defy this cancer. She has been poked and prodded, put to sleep, had a foreign object put into her chest, has gone without eating mutiple times for way too many hours, been in a hospital waiting room as much as her own home, but she still has a smile on her face, she still yells at the top of her lungs, "Duck!" -- she is not giving in and neither are we.

Less than an hour ago, my students and so many other high school students at Trinity Christian Academy presented Keira with a gift - 130 stuffed ducks! It was beautiful. For the last week, students have been bringing in ducks and hiding them in the dean's office. The dean has kept her door shut for the last week, cracking it open to allow the students to drop off the ducks and quickly closing it again to make sure I did not see. Now, her office is not that large, and some of those ducks are . . . that office got a little crowded (I would not be surprised if she began having nightmares about large, yellow stuffed ducks).

Please continue to lift our daughter up in your prayers, especially today as she begins chemo. Pray that the tumor will respond and be completely eradicated. Pray that Keira's strength will remain and she will continue to love life as she does now. We love you. We thank you. We still desperately need you. Jason, Erin & Keira