JENESSA NICOLE “BOEY” BYERS

After a long night at the doctor’s office and waiting around at the hospital for X Rays, we finally received the results. The reality that life will never be the same after cancer hasn’t quite sunk in yet even though we’re faced with the side effects of her treatment on a daily basis. Sitting there with the doctor as she opened up the file to read her Xray was terrifying. Rhadbo is known to aggressively recur in the lungs, so with every cough, ache, and pain comes the fear. I prayed while she read the Xray results, and once again God answered our prayers. So far she said “everything looks great, I see nothing alarming, but the radiologist needs to confirm that”. To say we are relieved and overjoyed with this news is an understatement. We’ll hear from the radiologist on Monday to confirm the results. The bad news is that the high fevers, chronic sinusitis, bloody noses, throat pain, headaches, and her teeth rotting out are all side effects from the radiation. She still has a battle ahead of her but she is one amazing little warrior who’s not going to let anything get in her way of finding a cure for cancer for her and all her little warrior friends. They have already scheduled her sinus surgery with the BEST ENT at OHSU Dr. Richardson. Basically they will drill holes in her sinuses to relieve the pressure and allow the mucus to drain instead of just collecting in her sinuses causing significant and uncomfortable symptoms. She’ll have her teeth worked on at the same time as her sinus surgery, so please keep her and the doctor’s in your prayers. She’s scheduled for a 5- 6 hour extensive surgery on June 26th. Her three month MRI”s and CBC’s are coming up, but with God on our side and all our prayer warriors we know those results will be wonderful too. Thankyou to all our Boey angels!!

Quick update, we are off to the doctor’s again for the final results, we’ll update everyone as soon as we hear something. Boey was running a high temp today and not feeling well at all…please pray for her.

Hi everybody, wanted to check in with you guys and give you an update on our amazing little warrior and our awesome boys. We are super busy advocating and working on a very exciting project. It is completely inspired and created by our amazing little warrior. She has been determined ever since she was diagnosed to find a cure for all her little friends so they don’t have to suffer anymore, and she has found a way to possibly do just that. She is working on reaching out to school kids all over the world and asking them to write letters on her and all her warrior friends behalf to Pres Bush to sign a crucial bill http://capwiz.com/curesearch/issues/alert/?alertid=9283276&type=CO that would fund research for pediatric cancer and bring us that much closer to a cure. It is going to be called The Power Of A Child’s Voice. Then once all the cards are collected, we will make a beautiful plaque that she will personally hand over to Mr. Bush himself just like she’s always dreamed of. She will look directly into his eyes and say “Please sign this bill Mr.President, help me and my friends so we don’t have to suffer anymore”. We are all very excited about this project!!!

The boys are working on their comic books and Chris is hoping to get his published to all the hospitals on a national level. He was encouraged to do this by Boey’s oncologist who took one look at his work and was really blown away by how awesome his cartoons(tumor destruction comic strips)were. Joe is making his own awesome creative artwork for the pediatric patients, and also bringing donated bears to the hospital alongside his sister. He loves it and it’s so therapeutic for the kids to know what a difference they are making to these little warriors fighting for their lives!!! It’s VERY empowering and such a true blessing to be on that floor watching the children’s eyes light up when they see our kids. It brings them hope and inspiration…it’s such a blessing to be a part of that.

As for Boey’s side effects from the chemo and radiation, it’s going to be a very long road. As you can imagine, every cough, ache, fever, and pain causes major anxiety and fear. It’s so hard to seperate what a normal child illness is from a true side effect of the treatment or even scarier a sign of recurrence. Her last lung scans were not exactly clear, there were some spots on her lungs that the doctor said we just need to watch but she wasn’t worried about them being cancerous. Life is bittersweet. While all of us are rejoicing in her remission and thanking God for our beautiful daughter’s health, at the same time there is an underlying fear. I HATE IT. But I’m sure any parent who has gone through this trauma knows exactly what I”m feeling. It’s the scans every three months, the coughs(rhabdo is known to recur in the lungs), the fevers, any illnesses, bruises, heart pain, the list goes on. It’s the ugly reality of life after cancer and the side effects of the harsh treatments. So now it’s her lungs.  We’ll be taking her in tomorrow for Xrays to make sure that nothing looks suspicious, but I am really scared cause of the last scans and the spots. SHe has surgery scheduled for June for her teeth and her sinuses. The ENT doctor told us Boey had the worst case of chronic sinusitis he’s ever seen(caused by the radiation). She will need to have major surgery on her sinuses(they will drill holes in her sinus bones) and then they will look at her throat that’s been given her problems ever since radiation. She still has a long ways to go as far as her feet are concerned. She loves jumping on the trampoline, that is very therapeutic for her and has helped her feet tremendously..it’s wonderful except when it rains. She also loves to swim..she LOVES the water and that also helps her gain strength back in her hands and feet. She tells us all the time no matter how hard it is to go through all of this, she is GOING TO FIND A CURE FOR CANCER. And ya know what? WE BELIEVE HER!!!!!!!!!

Please pray for clear Xray results, and nothing but clear scans for the next 4 years!! this is going to be THE longest four years of our life.

Please pray for her little friend Mackenzie who is fighting with every ounce of her being to claim her remission status once again so they can finally do a stem cell transplant. Join us in vigilant prayer for all her little warrior friends. Pray that God will pour out his wisdom, love and grace on every person that we contact and speak to about the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act, AND PLEASE SEND LETTERS TO CONGRESS, JUST CLICK THE LINK ABOVE AND IT’LL SEND YOU RIGHT TO THE PRETEXTED LETTER TO SEND OFF!!! DO THIS FOR BOEY AND ALL HER INCREDIBLY STRONG AND AMAZING CANCER BUTT KICKING WARRIOR FRIENDS!!!!  PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS AND TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO SEND LETTERS ALSO!!

We will keep you posted on her Xray results, never stop praying and believing:) HUGS TO ALL OF YOU:)