Party 2.0

We had our second party of 2012 a week ago yesterday. Last Friday, February 10 we headed over to 7 West, the Children's Cancer Care and Renal Center at Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, KY.  Like the Riley party preceding it, the Kosair party was great! We had lots of families come to eat food, paint pottery, do crafts, open gifts, hang out, and just play.

A huge THANK YOU to those who donated to make our party even more fun: to Chik-fil-A for the nugget tray; to Earth and Fire pottery for providing the ceramics, paint, brushes, time, and kiln; to Great Harvest Bread Company for the bread and spreads; to Adrienne's Bakery for the sweet treats; to the Christian Academy of Indiana students and families for collecting the items for our families; to all of the stores who gave us discounts; and to our awesome volunteers who came and served our families.

One of our long time Break the Grey families, the McSweeneys, was there. Patrick was first diagnosed with leukemia at age five in 2004. After undergoing over 3 years of front line chemotherapy, he relapsed in April 2010. He is now 12-years-old and should finish his intensive relapse treatment protocol this summer. Patrick and his family have the greatest attitude and made our party a lot of fun with their laughter and participation.  One of Patrick's older brothers, Alex, even joined us! As we were cleaning up, Patrick's mom approached me and began thanking me. She had already begun to read the book that came in her parent basket and Patrick was "in 7th heaven." He was already shooting his nurses with the Nerf gun he got from the party and asking, "Why can't they do this more often?" His dad had this to say about our team: "Your team brought rays of sunshine to many families tonight. I saw kids laugh and play, parents smile, and the loving hand of God touch all there tonight through your love and effort. Thank you and God Bless!"

It made my night knowing that we could "break the grey" of a boring hospital stay for kids like Patrick and his family.  Please continue to pray for Patrick and his family as they press on.

Please pray that the seeds planted at our parties - both at Riley and at Kosair - would be watered and would grow. Please pray for each of the families that we met - over 50 families between the two parties. They are all fighting such valiant battles, and most are weary. This is hard. Please pray for grace, strength, perseverance, peace, courage, joy, and hope.

While you're praying, please remember Susana's family. Last Saturday, February 11 marked exactly one year since she went to heaven. 

Alex could also use continued prayers. He has restarted immune system replacement therapy following the relapse of his immune deficiency. His first treatment was tough, but he is pressing on and handling himself with grace and courage. Please pray that his transition back to treatment would be smooth.

You can also give thanks for Adam and his family! His most recent scans showed no evidence of disease! Adam remains cancer-free only a few months after finishing treatment! Woo hoo!

And, as always, please continue to pray for us as a ministry and a team as we seek to continue to love Jesus, love families, and bring the Kingdom of God here and now.

Hoping, Believing, and Never Giving up,

Sarah

Party 1.0

We hosted our first party this week at the Riley Children's Cancer Center in Indianapolis, IN on Tuesday, February 7. It went great!

There were approximately 27 families there and each one of them was represented in some way at our party! The play room was packed and we had to have families come in shifts so that there was enough space. The staff - nurses, child life, etc. - kept commenting on the party and how much of a difference it was making for the families. This year, many of the families stayed and hung out and socialized with each other and found networking and support instead of just taking their food and gifts and going back to their rooms. This is one of the things that we try to facilitate, and were ecstatic that it was accomplished!

Additionally, we served tons of food, hugged lots of necks, cried, prayed, laughed, and played with the kids and their families. Moms, dads, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles were all touched by the love of Christ. We ventured into rooms of kids whose parents could not be at the hospital and loved on them. We held children and made crafts and talked about the hope we have in Christ. We really connected with a couple of families. It was a great night.

We have the awesome opportunity to do it again tomorrow night on 7 West at Kosair Children's Hospital. And we need tons of prayer.

Even though we had a great night on Tuesday, this week has been tough for our team. I know that I have had a hard week, as have many of our volunteers. As I tried to figure out why, it dawned on me that perhaps this is spiritual warfare. What we are doing is making a difference and it is creating waves.

We are doing more than throwing parties; we are engaging in a battle for hearts and lives for the Kingdom of God.

And so I'm asking you all to please, please, please continue praying for our ministry. Pray extra hard for our team as we prepare for tomorrow night.  Here are the specific requests that I posted last week:

• That God will provide enough toys, parent baskets, food, and Bibles for our party.
  
• For our volunteers - for wisdom and discernment as they interact with the families; that the Holy Spirit would guide their words and their actions so that they are able to share the love of Christ and serve in a way that reflects Him
• For the parents - for peace, comfort, hope, encouragement, and strength.
• For the siblings - for peace, comfort, hope, encouragement, and strength.
• For the patients - for peace, comfort, hope, encouragement, courage, and complete earthly healing.
• For all involved in the medical care of these children - for wisdom, guidance, discernment, compassion, and peace.
• That all who encounter Break the Grey in some way will be blessed by the love and hope of Jesus Christ.
• That God would continue to open doors and bless us with opportunities to share the hope, comfort, healing, peace, and encouragement of Jesus Christ with these families
• That any and all glory, honor, and praise attributed to Break the Grey would be God's and God's alone.

As I was praying last night the following Scripture passage stuck out to me:


"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual force of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand, therefore, having fastened the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak." - Ephesians 6:10-20


This passage reminds me that it is in His strength - God's strength - that we are able to do anything at all. Thanks be to God. The bold part reminds me to keep on praying and fighting for the hearts and lives of the families with whom we will encounter. Please pray that our team will utilize wisdom and discernment, but will be bold and courageous as we seek to proclaim the gospel with our words and our actions.


May we love hard and love well as we advance the Kingdom.


Hoping, Believing, and Never Giving up,


Sarah

Parties, New Resources, and Prayer Requests

It's been over a month since we've updated, and lots has happened since then! We have hit 2012 running!

The biggest thing is we have scheduled our annual parties! They are next week! The first one is this Tuesday, February 7 at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis, IN and the second is next Friday, February 10 at Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, KY.

Everything is coming together nicely for the parties. We have had a great response in terms of giving gifts for the families, financial donations, business donations, and volunteering. We had so many volunteers ask to come that we had to turn some away for infection control and policy reasons. I always hate having to make that call, but love that we have so many people who are willing to serve!

One thing that everyone can do, however, is pray like crazy! We have some specific requests:

• That God will provide enough Bibles for the parent baskets (Normally we put a special devotional Bible designed specifically for families facing chronic or life-threatening illnesses into the parent baskets, but there may be a shortage this year. Please pray that we will be able to get the Word of God into the hands of these families.) 
• For our volunteers - for wisdom and discernment as they interact with the families; that the Holy Spirit would guide their words and their actions so that they are able to share the love of Christ and serve in a way that reflects Him
• For the parents - for peace, comfort, hope, encouragement, and strength.
• For the siblings - for peace, comfort, hope, encouragement, and strength.
• For the patients - for peace, comfort, hope, encouragement, courage, and complete earthly healing.
• For all involved in the medical care of these children - for wisdom, guidance, discernment, compassion, and peace.
• That all who encounter Break the Grey in some way will be blessed by the love and hope of Jesus Christ.
• That God would continue to open doors and bless us with opportunities to share the hope, comfort, healing, peace, and encouragment of Jesus Christ with these families
• That any and all glory, honor, and praise attributed to Break the Grey would be God's and God's alone.

I think those are our specific and immediate prayer requests for our parties. Please join us in covering this event in prayer!

In other ministry news, one of our volunteers came across a great website with resources for siblings! We've had a request recently for resources for siblings of kids with cancer or other life-altering illnesses and we went on a hunt. We found a great website with book reviews and websites for siblings and their families. Check it out here. We hope that this provides some added coping for our families. If you end up using any of these resources, please let us know! We'd love to know what you think!

Lastly, we received some sad news today. I met Alex Smith and his family several years ago when I was going through treatment for immune deficiency.  Alex was diagnosed with a primary immune deficiency disease (PIDD) in January 2007 at age 11 - only a couple months after I was diagnosed in November 2006 at age 17. Alex went through IVIG and then switched to subcutaneous IgG. He finished his treatment and began trialing off May/June 2011. Unfortunately, his most recent blood work came back yesterday and his family received some tough news: Alex, now 16-years-old, has relapsed and he must once again begin replacement therapy. He and his family are just waiting on insurance to approve it. To add insult to injury, they were told that his disease has progressed into common variable immune deficiency, which is typically an incurable, chronic immune system defect. Please pray for him and his family as they absorb the news. His mom, Laura, had this to say:

"We received some pretty crappy news yesterday. Alex's PIDD has not been cured. He officially has CVID now. He needs to restart Gammaglobulin infusions as soon as Insurance approves them. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of the brand we want to use. While donating won't help his short term, it will help save the lives of many people, and could help him remain healthy in the future.

1) If you are able, can you please donate plasma?
2) Will you pray for the paperwork to go through quickly?
3) Will you say a prayer that he feels better quickly?
4) Will you also pray that he does not get behind in school?

Thanks friends! We just want him to feel like his old self again."

Their whole family is absorbing this challenge with grace and an incredible faith in Jesus, but it is still hard (speaking as someone who went through immune deficiency treatment, came off-treatment, and then relapsed). Please pray for their family.

As always, thanks for your support! Please continue to pray for our ministry - for our upcoming parties and for our families. Thanks!

Hoping, Believing, and Never Giving up,

Sarah

The Measure of Hope

As we prepare to ring in 2012, I am looking back and thinking of all the things that Break the Grey did in 2011. How have we put hands and feet to our mission statement – to share the love and hope of Jesus Christ by serving, supporting, and encouraging families facing childhood cancer or other life-altering illnesses – for the last 12 months?

On Tuesday, February 15, 2011, we served approximately 20 families on the childhood cancer unit at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. We took gifts for the patients and their siblings, gift baskets for the parents, and food. We hung out, laughed, ate, played, and prayed with and for these precious families.

Break the Grey Party at Riley Children's Hospital - February 2011

 And then we did it again. On Friday, April 8, 2011, we served another 10-15 families on 7 West – the children’s kidney and cancer floor at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, KY. Again, we hung out, laughed, ate, played, prayed, and even painted pottery with families living in the middle of devastating childhood illness. 

But not before we stood up and spoke out. Break the Grey was a featured ministry in a chapel service at Anderson University in Anderson, IN on Tuesday, March 1, 2011. I had the awesome privilege of speaking to approximately 2,000 college students, faculty, and staff and making them aware of the reality of childhood cancer. More than that, I had the opportunity to demonstrate what is being done about it and to challenge them to do something not just with us, but also with and for the Kingdom of God at large. 

Break the Grey in chapel at Anderson University - March 2011

 In the summer, we hosted our first ever Christmas in July party – in August! The party was postponed due to construction, but Santa and Mrs. Clause made an appearance just the same. We did this event on 7 East, or the Outpatient Medical Observation (OMO) unit, at Kosair Children’s Hospital. This unit is where children in treatment for cancer, kidney disease, and a variety of other conditions go for chemo, dialysis, spinal taps, bone marrow aspirations, infusions, blood tests, and other procedures and treatments. Many children are there all day with nothing to do. We wanted to change that – to “break the grey” of a long treatment day, if you will. Santa – sporting flip flops, swimming trunks, and sun glasses, and accompanied by Mrs. Clause – brought some Christmas spirit: cheer, distraction, and presents to approximately 10 kids that day. (Unfortunately, the only pictures are on Santa’s cell phone.)

And then the holidays – Thanksgiving and Christmas. As in years past, we partnered with one of our families, the Smiths, to provide gift cards to families undergoing pediatric bone marrow transplants around Thanksgiving.  Then for Christmas, we were contacted by one of our families who had some needs for Christmas. Break the Grey volunteers responded and threw a Christmas party to show love to and provide for this family. 

Break the Grey Christmas Party - December 2011

 But Break the Grey is not about the events – what we do or what we say. It’s about loving people. It’s about the families whom we meet every single day.

In 2011, we loved and we lost. On Friday, February 11, 2011, 4-year-old Susana Whitaker finished her race and was made forever cancer-free in the presence of her Savior at 12:45 pm. 

Susana, age 4, praising Jesus - she met Him in February 2011

 Later, the Patrick family contacted us. 14-year-old Nick Patrick had an inoperable, malignant brain tumor. We sent care packages to him and his family in Georgia, and grieved with them when Nick went to be with Jesus on Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 7:16 am. Another southern family, the Thomasons, lost their 10-year-old son, Evan, to neuroblastoma after a 5-year battle on Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 6:40 am. 

Nick, age 14, with his family before he went to heaven in August 2011

 There were some triumphs too in our Break the Grey family. Two of our kiddos, Noah and Adam, completed treatment for cancer in 2011. Noah completed over 3 years of treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and Adam completed 18 months or so of treatment for medulloblastoma, a brain tumor. In October, Break the Grey provided “end-of-chemo” gifts to Adam and his family as a way to celebrate with them. And Michelle, whom we met a couple of years ago at one of our parties at Kosair Children’s Hospital, underwent a successful kidney transplant on November 1, 2011. 

Adam in his "I did it!" shirt just after his last chemo treatment

 In 2011, we did 4 major events. We made contact with roughly 45 families and tried to convey to them how much Jesus loves them. We had 3 families lose children. We had 3 of our children reach major medical milestones.

In some respects, looking at the above list, we did a lot. In others, we didn’t do enough.  The needs are enormous, and there were times in 2011 when our hearts broke and tears fell from our eyes because our love was bigger than our resources.

But how do you measure it, really? What really counts? Something tells me that numbers cannot accurately convey all that happened this past year. How do you measure these things: relationships, love, grief, courage, faith, or hope?

Maybe, for some things, words and numbers simply will not suffice. Maybe, for some things, actions and experiences are what count.

Maybe, at the end of the day – or the year, in our case – it’s not about how many families we served, contacted, connected with, supported, encouraged, loved, or didn’t; it’s not about how many events we threw, or didn’t; it’s not about how big our volunteer base is, or isn’t; it’s not about how much money is in our budget, or isn’t.

Maybe it’s about the families that we served, contacted, connected with, supported, encouraged, and loved – not how many. Maybe it’s about the prayers that were said both with and for our families. Maybe it’s the tears shed – in joy, in grief, and in solidarity with and for parents and children. Maybe it’s the willingness to serve demonstrated by our volunteers, no matter what form it takes: praying, hugging, shopping, organizing, wrapping, serving, holding, crying, reading, writing, speaking, giving, loving, smiling, laughing, listening, etc.

But mostly, I think it was about three things: faith, hope, and love.

Faith in a God who is good and who loves us beyond the capacity of human language to describe, and faith that when we can’t see His hand we can trust His heart – that He is with us and for us.

Hope, rooted in the cross of Jesus Christ, that screams in the darkest of places, “Yes – this is pain,” and “Yes – this hurts more than words can describe,” and “Yes – I would rather be anyplace but here,” and yet – “You, God, are still Good. You are still Glorious. You are still Awesome. You are still Deserving of Praise.” It is a hope that can stare down any moment. It is a hope that can celebrate. And it is a hope that can be fully present and alive - secure in the knowledge that because of the cross, Jesus wins in the end. And so do we.

And lastly – most importantly – love. A love for God and for people that cannot be quenched or squelched. A love that is big and loud. A love that moves from heart and head to hands and feet – beyond warm fuzzies to the nitty gritty. A love that will stop at nothing to make itself – the ultimate love found in the saving message of Jesus Christ – known: yes, even in the darkest of places and the hardest of moments.

My hope and my prayer – my “resolution,” if you will – for Break the Grey for 2012 is that our ministry will not measure itself in numbers. Perhaps not even in words, but instead will be driven by faith, by hope, and by love.

Oh, God, let it be true of us.

“Let the saving love of Christ be the measure of our lives.” – Chris Tomlin

Hoping, Believing, and Never Giving up,

Sarah

Emmanuel - God With Us

Last night was our Break the Grey Christmas Party. One of our families contacted me a few weeks ago requesting some help with Christmas. I let some of our volunteers know, and it culminated last night as we got together to finish up some Christmas shopping for our family and get everything organized.  Our volunteers went above and beyond what was asked and donated toys, gift cards, money, food, clothes, stockings, wrapping supplies, and time. It was the Kingdom of God - love and hope - personified. Christmas in action.

I've said it before, but Christmas is my favorite time of year. I just love the Advent season. Advent implies waiting for something expectantly and hopefully - our Emmanuel. God with us and for us. I just love that part of Christmas: that the boundless, limitless, timeless God who named the stars and knows them all by name considered our plight and climbed into time and space and human skin and lived with us and for us and then ultimately saved us. And that God - that Emmanuel - came to us last night. He was with us.

He was with us in the volunteers who took lists and money from my hands and fought traffic, cold, and rain to find the best gifts possible for this family.


He was with us in the generous amounts of gift cards and monetary donations that were given to help off-set the financial burden of a life-altering illness.

He was with us in one of our volunteers who, immediately after walking in the door, was sent back out again in the cold and rain on a hunt for candy for stockings - and did so with an eager spirit, a generous heart, and a smile on her face. [Then she wrote about it here - check it out!]

He was with us in the time we spent just hanging out, talking, snacking on hot chocolate and Christmas cookies, and simply loving each other with our words and our presence.

He was with us in the conversations about kidneys, medications, side effects, G-tubes, anesthesia, consultations, transplants, vomit, and lines.

He was with us in the mom who hugged my neck and cried.

He was with us as we loaded everything into their car - and packed it completely full.

God is here with us. He is love, hope, joy and peace, and He came for us. Hallelujah, we've been found!

Let hope rise. Let love be the difference.

Hoping, Believing, and Never Giving up,

Sarah

Christmas Party

As Christmas draws closer, I hope you are all soaking in the wonder of the Advent season. It is always one of my favorite times of year! This year, Break the Grey has the awesome opportunity to bring the love, hope, joy, and peace of Christ associated with this season to one of our families - and you can help!

Break the Grey is hosting a Christmas party on Thursday, December 22 from 5:30 - 8:00 pm in the Corner Room at Graceland Baptist Church. We are getting together to bless one of our families and help them with some needs for Christmas. As we serve, we will get the chance to just hang out, enjoy community together, and celebrate the season. There will be Christmas cookies, hot chocolate, and music as we work.

If you can't make it to our party, please be in prayer for this family, as well as all of our other families. This time of year can be particularly tough, between expenses, new diagnoses, continuing with treatment as usual, making hard decisions, hoping for a better new year, or trying to celebrate the season without a much-loved child.

Please also be in prayer for our ministry. We are coming up on another busy season. Once Christmas is past, we will shift our focus to the upcoming annual parties in January and February at Kosair Children's Hospital and Riley Children's Hospital. Preparations are already underway for these parties and we are becoming excited!

As always, thanks for your support and I hope to see you at our Christmas party!

O come, o come, Emmanuel.

Hoping, Believing, and Never Giving up,

Sarah

Give Love

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving and are now enjoying the Christmas season! Christmas is always one of my favorite times of year!

Since I last wrote about a week ago, I have been made aware of an opportunity that we [Break the Grey] have to share the love and hope of Jesus Christ with one of our families in a very tangible way this Christmas.

I don't want to violate their privacy and give out too many details, but if you are interested in partnering with us to meet the needs of one of our families this Christmas, please e-mail me through the contact us page on our website here.

Don't forget about the other ways you can serve this Christmas season, listed in our last update! Please also continue to pray for all of our families, especially those who are facing the holidays without their child. As always, thanks for your support!

Hoping, Believing, and Never Giving up,

Sarah