Prayers for Micaelyn

In my post on November 20 where I showed everyone all the pictures we have of Micaelyn, I mentioned a genetic syndrome which explained the large tongue that was seen in some of the pictures. One of the biggest concerns with this particular syndrome, Beckwith-Weidemann syndrome, is a high risk for childhood cancer. Specifically, BWS kids are at least 600 times more likely than the average child to have cancer. BWS kids should have an abdominal ultrasound every 3 months and blood work every 6 weeks to screen for tumors so that if they appear they can be treated early. The greatest risk is for liver and kidney tumors. What is particularly concerning with Micaelyn is that she has NEVER received the appropriate screening. What is even more concerning is that when her liver enzymes were tested along with standard blood work to prepare her file for adoption her liver enzymes were noticeably elevated (they were twice the upper limit for normal levels).

Back in August before we submitted our request to adopt Micaelyn we requested an ultrasound and blood work to rule out the presence of tumors. Our concern was that she could already have tumors that weren't being treated, and we could get her home to find out she had cancer spread throughout her body with no hope for recovery. Obviously this would be devastating to us and our children, but it would also be a terrible, unnecessary, and very unfair tragedy to take the life from this precious child when she could have been saved with appropriate screening and treatment. Unfortunately, we never received any word from China, but we did decided to proceed with her adoption. It was a true leap of faith - it is only through our faith in God that we are able to proceed with her adoption given the high risk for tumors.

We have just sent another request to our agency for an abdominal ultrasound and blood work. We also asked 5 medically significant questions and requested updated pictures. Obviously we want new pictures, but more importantly we need to line up medical care for her before she gets home, and she will need to be evaluated by a craniofacial team to determine any problems that may have occurred with her teeth and jaw development due to the enlarged tongue. Had she been born here in America she would have had tongue reduction surgery as an infant that would have prevented or at least reduced the severity of these problems. Since she didn't have the surgery as an infant, we need to determine how that has affected her.

Please pray that China honors our request for an ultrasound and blood work, and please especially pray that Micaelyn's little body does not have any tumors.

Since I have no pictures of Micaelyn beyond the few I've already posted, I'll leave you with a few pictures of Caleb showing his love for his new little sister. He asks me constantly when we will get her home, he picks out clothes and toys for her when we go shopping, and he always remembers her in his prayers. When he prays he asks God to make sure she has food to eat and somebody to love her and teach her about Jesus, and just like a 5 year old he also asks to make sure she has plenty of toys. When I was printing up some pictures one day he asked to keep one for himself. Later that night when I went into his room I found he had set the picture up on his nightstand using some blocks, and he had fallen asleep looking at her picture. Does it get any sweeter than that?