Hello friends and family! Thank you for taking time to pause and connect with our family update on some of the ongoing health issues. Many of you have asked how their situations are going at this point. We truly appreciate your genuine care and concern. While the past ten years of countless doctor appointments have cost us countless dollars, I would have to agree with William Shakespeare by saying, "I am wealthy in my friends". Your encouragement as friends is priceless!
So, without further ado, here is the good news update! 1. Jordan was born with a hemangioma mass behind his eye. This is a rare place for one to occur as most are not internal nor are placed behind the eye. This unique issue would have caused him to be blind by 10 months because of its location between the eye and the brain. Thankfully, there is no surgery needed. He is on blood pressure medicine which has caused the mass to shrink and he will be completely fine long term. His medicine is down to two doses a day and the doctor's plan is to have him off all medicine in the next 6 months. God has brought us so far with him! He is sleeping more and much happier these days!
2. Allison (pictured with Dr.Fischer, April 2015 ) has had 129 fever/vomiting/joint pain/headache episodes over the past three years. After much research, the Mayo Clinic has diagnosed her with a rare genetic autoimmune disease called "Hyper Ig-D Syndrome". (For those of you who enjoy research, here is a link on more info: http://www.nomidalliance.org/hids.php) Interestingly, she also has a rare form of the rare disease. So she is a"rare-rare" case. Basically, outside of a miracle, we cannot stop the episodes. We can treat each one with steroids to minimize the symptoms, but otherwise, this is something we will have to face for the next several years. Thankfully, long term, she would outgrow the challenges by adulthood. In the mean time, because the episodes are painful and hard on her body, we will have to pace her to avoid as many as we can. The most common triggers for episodes are viruses and stress as her body goes into a hyper-attack mode to kill off anything working against the body. We are praying for wisdom on how to allow her to enjoy life and yet still be smart in how she does life. In addition, there are still more answers we are looking for which will come in time in regards to her lack of weight gain (her BMI is 3%...didn't get that from me!) and her hunger issues. Keep praying with us but we are thankful we are on the right track!
3. Candice continues to grow in how to handle her diagnosis from this time last year at the Mayo Clinic of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). The following article gives an exact glimpse into how this condition affects life and how to treat it. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/health/18brody.html?_r=0 For years we were unsure of why she struggled with being upright, heat, feeling faint, exhaustion, sweating and having chills. However, after 5 years of tests, appointments, and treatments we were relieved to find an answer. We were especially thankful we could treat it with salt, rigorous exercise, and high water intake with some other minor lifestyle adjustments. Over time, this too will heal and in adulthood should not be an issue. Again, God has gone before us! 
4. It has been one year since Scotty completed the Mayo Clinic Pain Management Program (picture is with some of the staff there in MN) and has been off all medicine completely. What a challenging journey of 21 years in pain after a college football injury requiring 4 back surgeries but we are seeing healing progress! He is able to do much more than before including exercise and endurance for the work day and preaching. Although he still deals with chronic pain especially at night, we are believing the Lord will continue to heal as He has this past year. He is feeling stronger each month and there are no more medicine side effects to deal with in life. We are SO thankful to see improvement! So that's the latest! Again, thank you for being friends that care enough to pray with us and send your encouragement. Our God is faithful...in every trial He is with us! We are praising Him for so many blessings towards healing. Some people are healed immediately while others are promised that God will give them the strength to handle it. For anyone else facing the need of healing, this verse is our heart for you:
3 John 1:2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and that your body may keep well, even as I know your soul keeps well and prospers!
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