Philadelphia

We arrived here on Sunday, October 25th. Lucas is going to be taken care of at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) . If you are not aware of this place, it is special on many levels, and consistently rated the top children’s hospital in the world. The past 2 weeks have involved a lot of traveling with a lot of amazing people helping us, specifically the Ivers’ family in Cincinnati, and the entire crew in Houston that helped us get moved out, kids back to Austin and to the Hanover Southampton that let us out of our lease. There were angels along the way that helped Lucas and Erin get flown to Cincinnati from Houston safely and privately, and there were even more that helped get them moved from Cincinnati to Philly. My truck is our support car, and it’s been great to have it, driving clears my head and lets me see the beauty of this country that God created. There are so many people to thank I do not even know where to start, and, to be honest, I don’t know who all helped because I have been so focused on Lucas, moving, talking to Doctors, etc.

Lucas still has disease that needs to be treated in his spine and in his bone marrow. We have been vigilant about staying on top of communication with teams across the US. Patients and parents need to feel empowered to ask for their medical records and be advocates for their children. Keeping conversations open about Lucas and listening and learning is a big part of being an advocate. Today Lucas has an MRI, another Lumbar Puncture and another bone marrow biopsy, all being done at CHOP.

Lucas is a great sport, his fighting spirit is there, but we have to treat this cancer, we have to get Lucas in remission and we need your prayers.

I set up a Google Form in Philadelphia while we get our bearings if there are any ideas / resources that friends and families of Team Lucas have.

I am working on some new beautiful things to share with our supporters for emotional support and prayer. Erin is going to write a blog also, soon.

We are currently staying at a place called AKA University City and met the owner today, who is a big supporter of CHOP. They are taking good care of us.

So , 2 things . 1) Please pray for Lucas treatment to work this round, let the doctors get it right, let his fighting spirit remain, rid the disease in his spine, and get him in remission in his marrow so we can get to transplant.

2) Please let us know of any resources

From what I can tell the country is pretty divided right now. The one good thing about what Lucas has, is that it brings people together, and we are grateful for that, we are grateful for your prayers and support and we need them. Lucas needs them.

God Bless