The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow
foreword by Brian Gourley
We watched Annie a couple of months before Lucas diagnosis. As the older brother of 2 little sisters I had watched it around a million times growing up, right around when VHS came into our lives. This year though, during Covid, with 3 kids on Disney+ it felt different. When I heard that song, it was like an old friend. Right now we believe in the present but we also sing, we sing for tomorrow. My head is shaved , not as short as Lucas but kind of like the dad that took care of Annie. Lucas is my hero, the sun will come out tomorrow buddy. You got this.
by Erin Gourley
We're praying for a miracle tomorrow. As you know, two weeks ago Lucas had a life threatening ‘status epilepticus’ seizure and made it thru. While on breathing tubes they performed a bone marrow assessment and the numbers showed there was no decrease in the cancer cells in fact they had increased to over 70%. That was day 21 the last day of his second round of chemo . We were sick over the news as no response to two rounds of treatment indicates that he could be 'refactory' and the words 'challenging and complicated case' were not music to our ears.
As a result, Brian and I doubled down the past 10 days. We've been working closely with our Doctor who is now Brian's brother from another mother. We've been in contact with many hospitals regarding Lucas's case. We've narrowed down the second opinions to Cincinnati Childrens, CHOP (Philly), and Texas Childrens as they all have treated difficult cases and have large pediatric stem-cell transplant operations for children under 10. We're getting the formal second opinions later this week as to where we go from here in collaboration with our doctor. Getting these records together has been a tireless effort. Records are frequently siloed in hospitals, with MRIs in one place, hematology for bone marrow in another and spinal fluid slides on a different floor altogether. Compared to the effort, getting second opinions about his third roundis a very worthy pursuit, especially considering what Lucas has already been through.
During our outreach, a few doctors were perplexed because Lucas's counts have been coming up (counts are high at the writing of this blog ), he looks good, and well it doesn't make total sense. They said there is a chance that tomorrow when they go in for the 35 day bone marrow assessment maybe the cancer cell counts will be down significantly. Honestly this will be a miracle if it's the case. He needs the cancer removed to go to transplant. We aren't sure what a round 3 even looks like. If we have learned anyhing its that we really dont know anything.
We took Lucas home last Tuesday and he's been so happy. While Brian and I were feeling down in the dumps, Brian turned to me and said 'enough of this. We could be miserable or we can make this such a great time being together as a family'. And that's what we did. I brought the kids downstairs that night and we played football and DD ball. This is what we needed to believe in him and that things can and will turn around. He had to go back in Wednesday night as he was having trouble walking due to low kidney functioning (dehydration due to diuretics). He was so determined to get out of there Thursday he agreed to wear a backpack of fluids. He only needed it until Friday.
Dylan, Lucas’ Little Sister / Donor — AKA Wonder Woman (she sleeps in this one)
He's watched football, played tons of games, legos, etc. and thrown the football in our courtyard every night since Tuesday and we got Jack and Lucas nintendo switch minis with the Target gift card money all of you donated, so they can play eachother in the hospital. Like a little kid way of staying in touch. We even went to Rice University to see the tennis courts yesterday. And, mommy let him go peek inside because the door was open. Yes, he got locked in and I had to call 911 because I couldn't get him out. I was freaking out. Lucas walked out after the broke the gate down cool as a cucumber. The figher fighter asked him if he was scared. He answered 'no it was no big deal'. I on the other hand had PTSD. Lucas has been laughing and each night he switches rooms. One night with DD and one night with Jack. He's got all of the angel trinkets, crystals, Anne's eagle feathers, if you sent it it's around him at night to bring in the healing. Blankets, prayer crosses, everything people send we use. We believe in God and we believe in loving energy and the power of healing.
One last story to share. When we were in Brazil a few years ago, we visited Brian's dear friend, Delcio in March (around 2 hours outside of Rio). He has the most amazing energy and healing spirit. Last night I randomly picked up the picture of us all from our visit. Delcio and Dylan were looking straight up at the sky together in unity. I never noticed that before. We notice A LOT more things in the present moment these days and appreciate the littlest things. Brian WhatsApped Delcio and he sent us the most beautiful message. He said today is a special day in Brazil as it's the day of the Children. Also it's a day to honor the Black Patrones, Senhora Aparcida who is associated with hope and renewal. He told us to give special attention to DD because she will strenghten Lucas and that all 5 of us must be one body. He ended it saying 'He will be fine. Believe. ‘
Marica, Rio de Janeiro Brasil August 8th, 2018
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I believe in miracles. Let's make one tomorrow and band together our energy. We thank you so much for doing this for him. He's going in at 7am. He'll have the lumber puncture/bone marrow assessment at 8:30am followed by a 2 hour MRI of his spine and brain. Let the brain inflammation and whatever looks suspicious in his spine be clear. Please let the cancer be gone from his body. Let the past two weeks been a huge transition for him in the right direction. Tomorrow's a big day. Let's save Lucas!!!
