JENESSA NICOLE “BOEY” BYERS

Unfortunately we’re still in the hospital, but Boey’s doing much better today..yeahhhh!!! The sores in her throat are healing up and her pain level was only at a 4(on a scale of 1 to 10)this afternoon, which is a huge improvement. Eric the manager at Olive Garden in Lake Oswego donated a wonderful meal to our family, thankyou OLIVE GARDEN!!! Boey LOVES Olive Garden and was craving it big time today, so that was a major hit..thankyou!!! Thankyou to Legend Homes for sending the awesome cookie basket, Boey’s eyes lit up when she saw it LOL!! As soon as her pain goes down and she can eat again, those cookies are going to make one happy Boey(is she gets to them before dad haha)!!!

Boey had a platelet transfusion this morning, she was at 7,000 (normal is 250,000) and up, WBC’s are 300(normal is 12,000 and up). She’s never ever been this low with her counts, it’s really crazy and very scary. She has been so amazingly strong through all this, she’s incredible. She never complains..she truly is a mighty little warrior. We still don’t know when we can go home because her pain is still high and her counts are so low. I can’t believe she might have to get chemo again next week for five days in a row giving her little body no time to recover. I know how important it is to not delay chemo, but I wish she could have time to just be with her friends in her new room and be Boey..this is heartbreaking to see her reduced to life in this room and everything she has to endure. BELIEVE AND PRAY FOR BOEY..GOD BLESS

Psalm 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will sayi of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Unfortunately, this is our third day here and the docs just came in and said it’ll be another two or three. It all started with a fever, sore throat, throwing up all night, nosebleeds, and stomach pain last Thursday. She received antibiotics last Friday because of her fever, and they started her on morphine right away when we arrived at Doernbecher’s because her pain level was unbearable, poor baby. She never had mouth sores before with chemo, the Doxyrubicin is just so aggressive it’s caused radiation recall in her throat and without any saliva production it’s a really bad combination for causing these terrible sores. She hasn’t eaten since last Thursday, but lastnight she was craving her favorite from Shari’s, steak and stuffed hashbrowns. Of course whatever Boey’s craving we rush off and try to find it!! There was a Shari’s close by, that made for one happy Boey!! She finally was able to chow down with little pain…she definitely made up for the last four days!!!!! She ate every last bite!! YEAHH!! She had a blood transfusion yesterday, and we know that helped her feel better too. To put things into perspective, a normal white blood cell count can range from 12,000 to 18,0000, Boey’s was 18 on Friday at the ER. That was the lowest she’s ever been, that was a little scary. So far, the cultures are negative thankGod, but we can’t go home until her WBC’s increase, her pain level decreases, and she can swallow pills on her own. I can’t believe we have to come back next Monday for another round of chemo…we’re talking to the docs about giving her a week to really recover and to at least have that week where she can enjoy being Boey and live life cause that’s who Boey is, full of life and love!! This last round of chemo and being in the hospital from neutropenia has really kicked all of our butts. Don’t get me wrong, we are stronger than ever, but at the same time we are so mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted from watching our baby girl go through this, I just can’t see Boey going through this much longer. We are crying out to God and plan on fasting this week so we can draw closer to him than ever. We don’t want Boey to suffer anymore, this is like watching her being tortured, it’s unbearable. She has fought so hard for so long, and never complains..she’s unbelievably strong even when she doesn’t have to be.  She deserves better than this, it’s not fair. She’s fought for her little warrior friends while fighting for her own life, she deserves better, she’s our hero. We want to break free from this bondage of hospitals, stupid evil cancer and chemo, and get our old life back!! We want her to be free, able to play with her friends and become the little fashion designer that Ty Pennington himself said she will be!! We want Boey to be Boey!! She’s bigger than life  and so full of love and laughter. Just like Boey has said all along, she is going to live out all her dreams, and it’s about time she gets to do just that!!l We know that God has a very special plan for her life. She’s going to have her own ministry and share God’s awesome healing power and her incredible unwavering Faith with the world!! Only 8 yrs old and has a developed a faith that is a force to be reckoned with. Even while she was throwing up all night she kept saying under her breath ” I Believe, I Believe, I Believe”. She’s amazing.

Please pray for God to give us the wisdom, strength, and guidance we need right now. We have some very big decisions to make. I trust God with all my heart for the healing of our little warrior. This dumb cancer is a drop in the bucket for God, nothing is impossible to him that believes, and WE BELIEVE!!! WE WILL NEVER GIVE UP OR YIELD TO THIS EVIL COWARDLY DISEASE, GOD IS BIGGER THAN CANCER, WE BELIEVE!!! Please pray that the manifestation of her healing would come soon, we don’t want Boey to suffer anymore. We know that God has a plan for us to keep our new home. We try to not stress about it, but reality is that Rob hasn’t been able to work very much because of all the hospital stays, I can’t imagine going through this without him. He has been my rock. It’s pretty lonely up here in the hospital, and it’s very oppressing, I hate being here without him. I miss my boys LIKE CRAZYYYYY!!! I feel like I’ve missed out on so much of their lives, it’s heartbreaking. I love you guys so much, I can’t wait till we can all be together again and rejoice in Boey’s healing!! It’s kind of crazy and stressful knowing we have all these financial hurdles to deal with while we’re faced with Boey’s battle. With my car broke down, we really need a car big enough for our entire family, a wheelchair, suitcases, and Boey’s wagon We were nominated for the Ford Giveaway like 50 times, and they haven’t been to Oregon yet, that would be such a blessing right now!! I hate asking for anything, but because of the situation we are faced with, I feel like I have no choice. If anyone out there has a trampoline or treadmill, please contact us. Boey needs physical therapy and we dont’ have any equipment for her right now. She basically lived on her trampoline and it was excellent therapy for her feet. We were already a year behind in our finances, so we are trying to figure out how we can afford a car payment along with the costs of our new beautiful home. We are SO BLESSED BY HUNDREDS OF AWESOME AND INCREDIBLE PEOPLE WITH HEARTS OF GOLD WHO WORKED ON OUR NEW BEAUTIFUL SANCTUARY, WE CAN NEVER THANKYOU ENOUGH!!!!!!!!! WE CAN’T WAIT TO GO HOME!!! We are trusting and believing that God will take care of all our needs just like he always has. Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Pray and Believe, God Bless.

Well…at least we’ve had at least 6 restful nights in our new home..now back to the reality of stupid cancer and side effects of the nasty chemo.  I have to make this quick because we’re off to Doernbecher’s and it’s 1a.m. Boey’s been feeling terrible the last two days, terrible sore throat, fever, throwing up all night lastnight, and stomach pain. When she’s not looking I can’t stop crying cause I HATE seeing her this way, it kills me. We will NEVER GIVE UP, WE ARE WARRIORS AND WE KNOW GOD HAS HER IN HIS HOLY BUBBLE AND IS PROTECTING AND HEALING HER BODY. She could use your prayers now and always. Don’t know how long we’ll be up there, but they’ll be doing blood cultures and antibiotics. I can’t wait till she can be a little girl again, so much of her life has been ripped away. HAVE I MENTIONED HOW MUCH I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE CANCER???????????? GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! ThankGod Boey is so strong, she continues to claim her healing even while she feels like this, she’s so amazing. I love her more than anything in the world, she’s my hero, my life, my inspiration, my little mini me, a gift, a total blessing, I LOVE MY BOEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please pray for her brothers, they are so worried about their baby sister and once again we can’t be together and enjoy our new home. Boey is so blessed to have them watching over her, we love you Chris and Joe SOOO MUCH!!! PLEEEEEEEEEASE Pray and Believe and we’ll update when we know more. God Bless 

WOW!! How do we even begin to say thankyou when there isn’t enough ways of expressing how INCREDIBLY BLESSED, OVERWHELMED WITH GRATITUDE, AND THANKFUL WE ARE FOR THE LOVE, AND SLEEPLESS AND SELFLESS NIGHTS THAT WENT INTO OUR NEW HOME!!!! We can try but it’ll NEVER be enough!!!!! AHHH!!! The last two weeks have been surreal, like living in one of the most awesome dreams EVER and never wanting to wake up!! First off, I want to apologize for taking so long to update, but our life has been completely so crazy(a VERY exciting crazy)ever since Ty and the design team showed up, we haven’t stopped since they arrived!! When we arrived home, we only had a couple days in our new home and then we were off to the hospital for five days for Boey’s chemo. BUT NOW WE’RE HOME or as Ty said himself WELCOME HOME BYERS FAMILY WELCOME HOME!! YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! IT’S SO UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING!!!! I WOKE UP AFTER THE FIRST NIGHT IN OUR HOME AND I FELT LIKE I NEEDED TO PACK AND CHECK OUT BECAUSE IT FELT LIKE WE WERE ON VACATION!!! IT’S DREAMY!! HUGE AND SPECIAL THANKYOU’S TO ABC(tons of hugs and love to the awesome design team, producers, crazy Ty Pennington, camera crew, and the bighearted guys on the crew who shaved their heads in honor of Boey)the ever so lovable Herb Ankrom and his production team for taking good care of us while on vacation, LEGEND HOMES(thankyou will never be enough for all you have done), MARK STEWART DESIGNS(you couldn’t have designed a more perfect house, all our love to you), CHELLE STEWART( Robs in Koi heaven, thankyouuuuu),ALL THE SPONSORS, SUBCONTRACTORS AND INCREDIBLY AWESOME VENDORS, SOME OF WHO WE HAD THE HONOR OF MEETING YESTERDAY, THE AMAZING COMMUNITY OF CORVALLIS AND ALL THE VOLUNTEERS WHO SELFLESSLY DONATED THEIR TIME AND WORKED EXHAUSTING HOURS, MAYOR TOMLINSON AND THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, INKWELL(special thankyou to Amy and staff..everything you donated is sooooo beautiful!!), DREAM DINNERS WHICH ARE TOTALLY DREAMY!! SEARS, CORVALLIS CLINIC(Boey LOVES her new Joy wagon, thankyou!!))THE OSU BOOKSTORE, OUR VERY OWN NATIONAL CHAMPS THE OSU BASEBALL TEAM YEAHHHHHH!! THE ONE N ONLY BENNY THE BEAVER…. THAT WAS THE MOST AWESOME & EXCITING ENTERTAINING DEMOLITION THE SHOW’S EVER DONE(just a bit biased considering we’re HUUUUUGE BEAVER FANS) HAHA!! GOOO BEAVS!!!!!!!! TO ALL THE INCREDIBLE VOLUNTEERS, ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO SOLD BRACELETS, BRAVED THE SCORCHING HEAT AND WORKED COUNTLESS HOURS(special thanks to our parents, Shae, Helena, Suze, Keziah, Riss, Josh, Denise, Laurie and Felisha)ALL OF BOEY’S AMAZING WARRIOR FRIENDS AT DOERNBECHER’S, THE NURSES, DOCTORS, THE SPARROW CLUB AND ALL OF THE BRAVE AND AWESOME SPARROW KIDS WHO WERE A PART OF THE SHOW, TO ALL OF OUR NEW FRIENDS IN SOUTH CAROLINA(RICH, LISA, JOE, JENNIFER, JIM, RYAN,JASON, BLUE CRAB & THE ENTIRE DISNEY VACATION CLUB STAFF…WE LOVE AND MISS YOU GUYS!!!) THANKYOU FOR MAKING OUR VACATION SO SPECIAL!!! TO ALL THE DAUGHTRY AND MYSPACE FANS WHO HAVE LOVED, SUPP0RTED AND PRAYED FOR BOEY AND OUR FAMILY, THE WONDERFUL MEMBERS OF CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE(thankyou for our wonderful dinners and all your support), OUR AWESOME SUPPORTIVE NEIGHBORS FOR PUTTING UP WITH THE CHAOS FOR OUR FAMILY, SEN. WYDEN, LIVESTRONG FOUNDATION(thankyou Doug for the very special letter to Boey and special thanks to Brooke McMillan) TO ALL THE AWESOME COMPANIES THAT DONATED GIFTS TO OUR FAMILY, EVERYONE WHO VOLUNTEERED THEIR TIME AND LOVE THANKYOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU WITH ALL OUR HEARTS!!!! YOU HAVE BLESSED US AND GIVEN OUR DAUGHTER A SAFE AND HEALTHY HOME TO HEAL IN, YOU’VE GIVEN HER THE GIFT OF LIFE. HOW DO WE EVER THANKYOU ENOUGH FOR THAT? 

I hope sharing this story with you will do just that. When we were in the hospital the last five days, the first two days were extremely difficult, heartbreaking and exhausting. They gave Boey a new chemo called Doxyrubicin which was infused over 48 hours(she also gets another chemo on top of this one for five nights in a row)continuously. All chemo’s are nasty, but this one is especially hard(side effects are more severe, such as heart damage) especially given two days straight. Not once did Boey complain, but it really hit her hard, she was very sick. The previous rounds in the last couple months she was really sick but she never threw up. This time around she was throwing up all day for two days. It was so heartbreaking and emotionally draining. The whole time I kept thinking how badly I wish it was me hooked up to the chemo doing it for her…anything to take away this pain. During the entire time she was sick, she would look at me and say ” I just keep thinking about my new home mommy, it’s helping me get through this, I can’t wait to get home”!!!!! THAT WAS SOOOOOOOOO AWESOME TO HEAR HER SAY THAT!!! If that isn’t an awesome thankyou I don’t know what is!! Every single person involved has helped our baby to win this horrible evil disease!!!!

Our whole family is beaming with pride and so grateful for the overwhelming amount of love, prayers and support that we’ve received!!! IT’S MINDBLOWING!!! THANKYOUUUUU!!!! We’re scared we’re leaving somebody out as we thank people, so please know that you are all so appreciated beyond words and we thankyou with all our hearts!! The house is exquisite!! The boys were so excited when they saw there room for the first time the producers called in a medic just in case…so to say the boys are happy is an understatement!!! We’ve never felt such peace. The burden of constant stress and worrying about the condition of the old house and how it was affecting Boey’s compromised immmune system and Joe’s severe asthma is lifted off of us, it’s the most incredible gift in the world. We are so blessed. We can’t thank everyone involved enough. I hope the smiles on our families faces says it all, especially Boey. To see her this spunky and happy after receiving such toxic doses of chemo is a true testament to God’s awesome power and how her environment is helping her heal..wow..what an amazing gift you’ve all given to her and our family INCREDIBLE!!!! WE LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE OUR HOME!! It has provided us a serene sanctuary where we can come home and recharge, heal, pray, be together as a family, and gather our strength to make sure our amazing little warrior beats this disease once and for all!!!!

As you can imagine, we have been bombarded with phone calls, emails, and people driving by and taking pictures of our beautiful home. Everyone is so excited for our family and they want to help in anyway they can..it’s awesome:)! Because of contractual agreements with ABC, we can’t publically talk about the inside of our home or show pictures or have pictures taken until after the show airs. Tenatively, the air date is end of September, early October. We will post the date as soon as we know.

I spoke with the wonderful staff at Legend Homes and they told us that there is an account set up at all US Banks for donations and they will continue to be accepted in the name of The Byers Family Foundation at any US Bank Branch location. Check with your tax advisor regarding tax deduction information.   At this very moment  with the mortgage, increased property taxes,  the need for physical therapy equipment for Boey, our overwhelming medical bills, need for a reliable car for our trips to Portland that’s also big enough for our family, wheelchair, walker, Boey’s wagon, Rob unable to work due during the week in the hospital, and the life threatening situation we are in with Boey’s health, things are going to be challenging.  I hope this helps clear up the many questions people have.  God is bigger than any of this. He’s taking good care of our little warrior and blessed us with an awesome community who built us a beautiful and safe home!!We BELIEVE that everything will work out. We have been blessed beyond measure by God working through all of you to help us, we are going to fight to keep this house!!!! Boey is our hero and our inspiration. We BELIEVE!!!

You can also visit the page the amazing staff at Legend Homes set up at http://www.extrememakeoveroregon.com/. It has some really great pictures of the build and you can feel all the love that went into this house just by looking at these pictures!! IT’S UNBELIEVABLE!!! THANKYOU LEGEND HOMES, WE WILL BE FOREVER GRATEFUL FOR ALL YOU’VE DONE FOR OUR FAMILY!!!

 We are in the process of a very special project that Boey’s been working on the last couple of days. She’s not able to go out of the house much, but for this little warrior, NOTHING stands in her way of her passion to help other children and to find a cure!! She keeps telling us how happy her new home makes her and she feels stronger than ever. One of her goals is to work with the Lance Armstrong Foundation and become a spokesperson for pediatric cancer. She loves Lance and everything he stands for so much that she did a spinoff of his Remember Me Cancer commercial on youtube. Even with low counts and a compromised immune system, she’s still diligently working hard on ideas and projects to bring us that much closer to a cure. Chris and Joe are excited to be a part of it too, they will be creating the drawings and cartoon pictures for all the flyers, it’s so awesome to see the kids working together towards such an important cause!! Pretty soon, we’ll have flyers at the front of our property displaying pictures of her and all her warrior friends asking you for your help in finding a cure!!  The CONQUER CHILDHOOD CANCER ACT Bill S.911 as you know is very special to Boey. Incredibly enough at only 8 years old Boey’s efforts were recorded in the Congressional Record by Sen. Ron Wyden, and this is a VERY important milestone in getting this bill passed by senate and signed by the President. She is a force to be reckoned with in seeing that this bill is passed and SOON!!! When you pick up your flyer, please spread the word through emails, phone calls to family and friends so you can help Boey and her friends finish what Boey has started!! The flyer will have pictures, links and all the info you need to help Boey and her warrior friends in this fight!! Pediatric Cancer is the #1 disease killer of our children!! TOGETHER WE CAN STAND STRONG AGAINST THIS EVIL DISEASE AND KICK IT TO THE CURB FOREVER!!

Please pray for Baby Lexie and all of Boey’s warrior friends who need our prayers right now. Boey was so content holding Baby Lexie after she got her chemo. She loves her so much and prays for her everyday. She’s always wanted a baby sister. Baby Lexie holds a special place in her heart. Please pray for complete healing of Boey’s body. She has been so strong, never complaining, just as happy as can be when she’s not getting chemo. You would never know that she’s going through this if it wasn’t for her adorable bald head. She’s amazing. Pray specifically for protection over her body from the side effects of the chemo, and that the proof of Boey’s healing in her scans would come quickly so she doesn’t have to suffer anymore. We BELIEVE Boey has received her healing, Boey claims her healing and praises God everyday!!! Now we rest and trust in him for the manifestation of the healing to be revealed.

ISAIAH 28-31 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary, there is no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall feebly stumble across and fall exhausted. But those who wait for the Lord(who expect, look for, and hope in Him)shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up(close to God)as eagles(mount up to the sun);they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.AMEN!!

FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS, THANKYOU WITH ALL OUR HEARTS FOR THE INCREDIBLE BLESSING YOU HAVE GIVEN TO OUR FAMILY. WE ARE FOREVER GRATEFUL. YOU HAVE ALL TOUCHED OUR LIVES DEEPLY. GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

Happy 4th of July!! What a nice change of scenery from last year at this time. We celebrated this awesome holiday with not only a gorgeous day full of sun and fun, but most importantly we were all together..FINALLY!!!! Last year our family was seperated and Boey was in the hospital getting chemo, it was extremely difficult for everyone. Well..we definitely made up for lost time yesterday!! We went to a friend’s house(thankyou to Faye and family for blessing us with all the food fun and games) and the kids played most of the day with squirt guns and all kinds of water games….nobody there could believe for a second that Boey was fighting for her life. She had the most energy out of everyone!! We all put the hospital life behind us yesterday and we just enjoyed every second..it was wonderful. All three of my boys(this includes dad lol)set off fireworks lastnight and had such a great time. Boey and I cuddled in a blanket and just enjoyed the show..they did a great job of entertaining the crowd!! Thankyou God for blessing us with this awesome day together as a family!! We look forward to the rest of our lives together celebrating Boey’s victory and putting this nightmare behind us! Tomorrow we’ll get Boey’s counts. Her platelets were so low a couple weeks ago, they had to put off her chemo. I know her counts are going to be PERFECT tomorrow!! She’s had an awesome amount of energy. We all look forward to this weekend being together. We are going to cherish every moment together and giving God praise for Boey’s healing. Boey’s faith is such an awesome testament to God’s Glory. All three of our kids are major prayer warriors, it’s really exciting!! Boey proudly reminded me lastnight right before she fell asleep how she is so excited to live out all her dreams. She said ” mommy, this dumb cancer tried to keep me from   living out all my dreams so it must really like getting it’s butt kicked, why else would it come back”? That is what we like to call a Boeyism..little random quirky thoughts that’ll make ya laugh and cry at the same time. Sometimes I’m convinced she really is 30 stuck in an 8 yr old body with the wisdom and maturity she has..she’s just amazing. After we laughed at how dumb the cancer is for messing with the wrong Boey, she went on to tell me how she WILL find a cure for cancer, and NOTHING is going to stop her. She is heartbroken over her little warrior friends and so passionate about doing whatever it takes to find a cure to END the suffering!!! We have no doubt that she will do just that!!

ISAIAH 41:10

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

MATHEW 15:28 ( My very good friend Riss received this scripture,she felt God gave it to her to share with me. It was so powerful, it made me cry..once you read it you’ll understand why)

Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted”. And her daughter was healed from that very hour.