Erin's Journey
September 11, 2001 - Erin goes to Baptist Hospital for her
first chemotherapy treatment. This is also the day the doctors tell us that her bone scan showed the worst case of bone
cancer they have seen in their twenty years of practice. It was widespread from the tumor in her left foot, all the
way to her skull, including her lungs.
November 12, 2001 - An angel appears in Erin's
room and tells her that she does not need to be afraid because she is going to be healed!
December 8, 2001 - Erin celebrates her 8th birthday (12/23)
in the hospital playroom with friends, family and fellow oncology patients.
January 13, 2002 - Erin receives an annointing and is prayed
over.
January 18, 2002 - Erin's bone scan comes back NORMAL, with
NO SIGN OF CANCER!!! YES, PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 27-30, 2002 - The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants Erin's
wish and the whole family goes on a Disney cruise that is absolutely, positively, without a doubt, the best vacation
we have ever had! I can not imagine a better way to celebrate Erin being in remission!!!
February 2002 - The Lord begins to enlarge Erin's territory.
Erin begins to publicly share her testimony. (1 Chronicles 4:10)
September 24, 2002 - Erin receives her LAST DOSE OF CHEMO!
October 24, 2002 - Erin begins radiation as a precautionary
measure.
December 23, 2002 - Erin celebrates her 9th birthday at home!
December 27, 2002 - LAST RADIATION!
August 11, 2003 - Routine chest CT shows a small tumor in
Erin's left lung.
September 8, 2003 - Surgery is successfully performed at Baptist
Hospital to remove the tumor.
December 8, 2003 - Bone scans and chest CT show NO SIGN
OF CANCER!!!
March 8, 2003 - Her scans were moved up a week because Erin
has not been feeling well lately. She describes it as feeling like "five year old expired jello!" Well, the reason
is...her cancer has returned. The Chest CT shows 5-6 spots in and around her left lung.
March 12, 2004 - None of the medical options available
to Erin will save her life. So, with MUCH prayer and Erin's input, we have decided to leave this in God's hands and
pray for another miracle!
PLEASE PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!!!!!!!
April 24, 2004 - Erin was taken to
the emergency room at Baptist Hospital with a fever of 103.2, nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing and hearing, dizziness,
and severe back pain! After an x-ray showed that her left lung was completely surrounded by fluid, almost a liter of
fluid was drained. She will go back to Baptist on 4/27.
HOPE IS NEVER LOST WHEN IT IS IN THE LORD!!!
April 27, 2004 - Erin has been admitted to the hospital.
The chest x-ray showed more fluid around her lung today than she had on Saturday. She will have a tube surgically inserted
into her chest on 4/28 to drain the fluid and will stay in the hospital for 5-7 days. The tube will be removed before
Erin comes home.
May 15, 2004 - Just two weeks after being in the hospital
with a collapsed lung, Erin is miraculously able to dance in her dance recital with her two sisters and her mom! Check
out the pictures!
May 16, 2004 - Erin ends up back in the hospital (for one
day) diagnosed with anemia. Chest x-ray shows no change since the last one, which showed only a small pocket of fluid
left after draining.
May 22, 2004 - Erin's hemoglobin continued to fall so she
went back to the hospital to receive her first blood transfusion. The fact that she has gone two and a half years without
needing a transfusion is a miracle in itself. She is feeling so much better now, she says she can even breath easier.
May 28, 2004 - Erin completes fourth grade with straight
A's!
June 11, 2004 - Hospice comes to our home for first visit
with Erin.
June 12, 2004 - A hospital bed and oxygen is delivered
for Erin's use.
(Erin is quite upset and does not like her new bed at all!)
July 1, 2004 - Erin goes back to Baptist for a chest x-ray
because she is having intense pain and more difficulty breathing. The x-ray shows that Erin's left lung is
almost completely full of tumors and is starting to compress her right lung and cover half of her heart. She also has
a deviated trachea.
July 11 - 16,, 2004 - Erin got to go to the Victory Junction
Gang Camp and had a BLAST!!!
July 16, 2004 - The Make-A-Wish Foundation gave us four
tickets to go see Clay Aiken in concert at the Greensboro Coliseum!!! Some wonderful person worked it out for us
to "meet & greet" Clay before the concert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, he really IS as nice as he seems. He even hugged Erin!
July 30, 2004 - Erin is having a great week! Her pain level,
with only a few occasions of breakthrough pain, has been less than 1. (On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being the
best.) Tiredness has been her biggest issue. The medicine she is taking makes her very drowsy. Her nurse
came to see her on Wednesday and could not believe how good all of Erin's stats were. Her blood pressure, heart beat
and pulse were great, her oxygen level was high, and the amount of air that she could hear circulating through Erin's
left lung was "tremendous!"
Can anyone say, "MIRACLE?!?"
August 17, 2004 - Erin started back to fifth grade at High Point Christian
Academy and is doing very well! Miracle, miracle, miracle!!!
August 28, 2004 - Erin is hospitalized due to severe chest pains and difficulty
breathing. Many prayers go up and she gets out three days later. On day four, her appetite returned and she started
acting like her old self again. Please pray for weight gain!
