What now....
Linear Accelerometer was applied to my AVM on Thursday, August 7, 2008 - instead of the Gamma Knife; seems they are equivalent.
Camps and Kaisers
these last two weeks I was blessed to go up to Verdugo Pines Bible Camp and serve on program staff and as a counselor for Jr. High and High School camps. It was ridiculously awesome. The theme was "Man vs. Wild." The speaker, Keith Kaiser, spoke on the Israelites in the wilderness, and our need to deal with sin in our lives. There were 4 workshops dealing with four sins the Israelites struggled with, mentioned in 1Cor. 10:6-14.I, myself, was challenged with sin in my life and was able to say along with the Paul and the campers, "But thanks be to God! He give us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1Cor. 15:57b
Monday August 11th (yes, that's 2 days from now), I am going in for brain surgery so here are some ways you can be praying:
1) that there would be no emergency surgeries, or really anything else, that would push my surgery later in the day. My mom needs to get sleep for her first day of teaching her new little kiddos the next day.
2) success. in this case, that would mean that the glueish stuff they are putting in my blood vessels would block the blood flow the way it's supposed to, and last until God gives me a new, incorruptible body.
3) no complications. they are fixing both the unburst aneurysm and the burst AVM. if for some reason the fixing of the aneurysm got messed up, they'd stop and have to fix the AVM later, so it'd be great if it all just worked the way it's supposed to.
4) recovery and beyond:
i'll be in the hospital down in Hollywood for two days (give me a call if you want to come see me!).
i'd really like to make it to the next two weddings I've been invited to this month, both are dear friends of mine.
after the hospital there is a month of recovery and then i should be good to go for Canada, Lord willing. so clarity of the Lord's will and good healing in that time would be sweet.
thanks to all of you who are praying for me! I'll try and blog again as soon as I'm home from the Hospital
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Girl battles illness
Lemonade stand proceeds to fight genetic disease
Emma Purdy's lemonade stand on Ponderosa Drive in Clyde Township looked pretty standard. Stocked with additional snacks like brownies and M&Ms, Emma, 7, and her brother, Elliot, 3, waited patiently for customers.he stand was there from 9 to 11 a.m. to raise money and increase awareness for a disease that affects several members of their family.
The children, like many of their family members, have Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia, or HHT. According to the HHT foundation, the genetic disorder causes easily ruptured connections called arterioveneous malformations, or AVMs, to form between veins and arteries. This can result in symptoms ranging from nosebleeds to strokes.
"I've had nosebleeds pretty much my whole life," said Don Purdy, 36, Emma's father. He also has the condition, which the foundation said affects one in 5,000 people. Because the disease isn't well-known, Don said, they've had to seek out specialists for treatment.
Emma's mother, Diana, 34, said the girl learned how expensive medical care can be after the family took a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota -- one of only eight specialty centers in the country -- to repair an AVM in Don's lung.
"(Emma) wanted to raise money, and I said there's pretty much only one way a seven-year-old can raise money, and that's doing something small like this," Diana said.
Emma, who shied from questions, plans to send the money to the foundation, Diana said, because she wants to help her many family members who have the disease. Emma's grandmother, Linda Purdy, and great-aunt, Nancy White, both 59, have the condition, as do two of Nancy's grandchildren.
White said she once had an AVM in her lung so large doctors told her she was "a sneeze away from death." It required surgery to correct, but since the malformations can form in patients without HHT, she wasn't properly diagnosed right away.
Linda Purdy was the first member of the family to be diagnosed. She said she had been treated for anemia due to a large amount of blood lost through her gastrointestincal tract. Doctors found hundreds of bleeding vessels in her stomach. She was diagnosed shortly after that.
Blood tests confirmed that other members of the family had the disease.
"It feels a little helpless," said Diana Purdy. "There's not a lot I can do for (the kids) except make sure they get everything they need done."
Regular bloodwork, MRIs and CAT scans to look for AVMs are part of the routine, she said.
Diana said she believes the family has done a good job of informing others about HHT.
"My whole entire workplace knows about it now; their families know about it," Diana said.
Also, thanks to "generous neighbors," Diana said, the lemonade stand raised $88.
Emma will likely be selling more lemonade -- and educating customers -- at a neighborhood garage sale August 23.
"I think I really want to raise more money for the HHT," Emma said.
Contact Jesse Dunsmore at (810) 989-6276 or jdunsmore@gannett.com.
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All sad...
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