Momma Barnes Update

This has been an awesome Thanksgiving season. One that has continually reminded me how much I have to be thankful for. I have intended to write a post on this subject since Friday, but it has been an extremely crazy week, and I kind of exhausted myself typing out an e-mail that is very important to me.

For those of you that don't know, my mother was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia back in 2007. She received chemo and the cancer went into remission, but it recently came back. It looked like Mom was going to continue to be treated with chemo in hopes of sending the CLL back into remission. Last Wednesday, we visited Johns Hopkins for a second opinion. We received new information and were given a course of action that warranted sharing with our family and friends. The following is the e-mail that resulted as an attempt to get the infomation out. This is what I would like to share for now. If this is new information for you, I am glad that I was able to share it in some way. If you have already received the e-mail, it would be great if you took another look just the same. Thanks, everyone. You are incredible.

Friends,

First off, I want to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers concerning my Mother and her health. I know that whether you've met her or not, there are many of you who love and appreciate her for a mutitude of reasons, all well deserved. I deeply appreciate your thoughts and concern, it's awesome to know that all of you are there.

This past Wednesday, we had an appointment at the Johns Hopkins cancer center in hopes that we could get some more clarity as to what is going on with my Mother's CLL. Rather than focusing on treating symptoms, the doctor at Johns Hopkins focused on specific genetic indicators in identifying the seriousness of my Mother's cancer. Two things came out of this. First, he was able to describe my Mother's condition with more specificity than we had previously been given, while identifying a very focused course of action with curative intent. This is a massive answer to prayer for us. Until now, doctors have been content to treat symptoms and use chemo as a "band-aid" to keep Mom in the best health possible (and yes, it does seem counterintuitive to poison someone in an attempt to keep them healthy). Unfortunately, this end to the fog and frustration we have been in did not come without it's downside. The second bit of information we got out of our meeting at JH is that Mom's condition is more serious than we had believed and, as a corollary, her need for treatment is also more immmediate than we expected.

Mom will be receiving a bone marrow transplant in the very near future. On Wednesday, she gave a bone marrow biopsy which will be evaluated by the middle of next week. In addition, it is likely that Tyler, Jason or myself will be the donor for the transplant, so we are all submitting our blood to be evaluated. The condition of Mom's bone marrow along with matching one of us with her seem to be the two variables in the timing of the transplant, but it would appear we are looking at a January date. The bone marrow transplant is a procedure that the doctors at Johns Hopkins are executing with curative intent, meaning if it is successful Mom will be cancer free. According to the doctor we met with, bone marrow transplants will successfully eliminate Mom's type of cancer 50-60% of the time and there is a 15% mortality rate. In the remaining patients, the transplant is successful, but the new bone marrow is still incapable of fighting off the CLL.

A bone marrow transplant essentially leaves the patient temporarily without an immune system, making the patient extremely susceptible to sickness and infection. For this reason, it is performed as an outpatient procedure, but mom will need to remain in Baltimore for approximately 60 days following. This will be an extremely challenging time as we look after her, take care of Matthew and still take care of everything else that happens to get thrown our way.

Mom is tough, optimistic and graceful as always. She has spent the days since our meeting preparing our house for a massive Thanksgiving gathering, hosting guests and looking after her visiting sons. She is an incredible woman and a servant, but I have never known her to be anything different. She has the utmost faith that God is in control both in her life and in the lives of everyone in our family. For this reason, I will end this e-mail the way I think she would like, with a list of prayer requests, having faith that you all will bring this to the One in charge. This list is comprised of items that came into my head, please feel free to add some as your wisdom or insight dictates.

1. That God's will be done through this situation and he use Mom for his greater purpose.
2. That her full recovery be part of His purpose.
3. That my Mother will continue to be as graceful, faithful and trusting as always (Not that I believe this will be an issue in the slightest).
4. Wisdom for the doctors involved, and our family and that we may have wisdom and discernment and trust God throughout this process.
5. Matthew - My 14 year old autistic brother will miss his mom during this process and it will be important that he receives the care he needs.
6. For my Dad - since coming to MHS, mom and dad have worked and lived together and have grown even closer. This will be a trying time for him.
7. Jason and Caitlin - My brother Jason and his fiancee Caitlin had scheduled a mid March Wedding and are now finding it necessary to reevaluate this date. Pray that any planning that has now become necessary will not tax them too much and that their day is incredible, as I know it will be.
8. Tyler - He's currently in his junior year at West Point. It's a busy, demanding school where he has a lot on his plate. It will be a lot to ask for him to stay focused while he is away from the family at school.
9. Me - I've found an awesome community and home - 3,500 miles away. I'm going to have to make some choices and be away from a support network that has proven invaluable to me while I am with my family. I need to keep focus and perspective.
10. For the MHS girls that will be without their House Mom while mom is away.
11. For all of the millions of little details that are going to pop up in the near future: From timing issues to the help we'll need to financial stuff. I'm sure the details and decisions will be endless.
12. For every other family that is going through something similar to this, you won't have to look far to find someone else.

I want to thank you all for being a valuable part of my life and people that I can bring all of this to. For those of you that believe prayer is valuable, please keep Mom in mind. For those of you that don't, I'd ask you to give it a try for us just the same. I have complete faith that God will use this situation to further his plans in all of our lives, and that He will bring you all in whenever there is a need to be filled. Please feel free to forward this message to anyone you would like. There are dozens of people that I simply do not have e-mail addresses for, but would love to send this to. Thank you. God Bless.

Thanks for taking the time to read this today. I'll be back with a standard post soon. I hope you all enjoyed your holidays. Just because Thanksgiving is over doesn't mean you should stop giving thanks for all you have. I know I won't.

Adelante!

-Clint