Nate the Great

My Mom's college roomate has a son who is going through treatment for leukemia. He is (or should be) a Senior in High School. We try to keep him in our thoughts. His mom sent this out to all of us. If you want to know more about him and his amazing family, his blog is listed at the right, Nate Sparks.

Nate will meet with his doctor on Wednesday, and have a lumbar puncture to test his bone marrow and blood. She is currently trying to determine the leukemia protocol going forward for him.
Nate has reacted twice now very poorly to chemotherapy to the point that Dr. Storch doesn't know if he can survive any more chemo. The kidney doctor came in after the holidays to tell him that he is very lucky to still have kidneys as he has had dialysis twice now -- very blessed is much more accurate. The plan until a few weeks ago is that he should be having two more intense rounds of chemo, and if all goes well he should be done unless he goes out of remission later at some point. He may just be done without further treatment which is a concern as the leukemia may not really been gone. If he goes out of remission he will have more rounds of chemo and then a bone marrow transplant which has a survival rate of 67%.
We are asking for your faith and prayers that his doctor will be inspired to do the right thing in his behalf.
Nate has been home for 6 days now. He is weak and we are working on feeding him non-stop so that he doesn't look like he is a walking skeleton. His bones never stop aching as the chemo destroyed all the marrow in his bones in order to destroy the cancer. He is gaining more energy every day which is encouraging. I sleep with him every night and marvel at all his has gone through as I listen to him breathe and moan. He is still handsome even though he is gaunt and bald.
In the midst of all the uncertainty of life right now throughout the world I am so appreciative of all those who care in so many ways. Thank you and may you be blessed with the blessings you need in your life and that of your family!