We put our hope in Jesus, no matter what comes our way!!

Friends and Family,

Yesterday was one of the longest days of mine and Jennifer's life! 

Tuesday morning, I woke up early, and sat down to read the Bible.  The verse that stood out to me most was this one from 1 Peter 1:13 - 

"13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

I wrote in my REAP journal that this verse was something I had to remember, my hope is not in circumstances, but my hope is in Jesus and the salvation he has provided. 

I thought I needed this verse because of how things were on Monday, but it turns out Tuesday was what God was prepping me for!!

This Sunday, Jennifer and I had just returned from Spain on a difficult mission trip with an awesome team from our church.  Madilyn was sick when we arrived, and she had been sick for a few days.  It seemed like a tough stomach virus, and we just started caring for her and trying to get her well.

On Monday, we took her to the doctor, they asked for some samples from her to see if we could figure out what it was, and we took her home and tried the usual things you do, fluids, rest, and tylenol for her fever.

She didn't improve much, and had a tough night with little sleep. Then on Tuesday we kept trying fluids and tylenol, but that afternoon we decided we'd better go to the hospital and get her hydrated.

At the hospital, they gave her an IV of fluids, and started running blood work and all the things that an amazing hospital like Dell Children's does! Madilyn perked up and started feeling better, even giving the sonogram tech a hard time about how long he was taking.  We thought we were close to getting home, until a blood test came back strange.

They re-ran the lab work after she was hydrated, and found that Madilyn's kidneys had stopped functioning.  That's when things got a little crazy.  Turns out her stomach virus was most likely E-Coli (labs haven't pinpointed it yet).

I've learned more about the kidneys than I'd ever thought possible over the past day and a half, but heres the short version of what happens.  E-Coli releases a toxin that damages small blood vessels, then in response your platelets zoom in to heal the blood vessels, after that your red blood cells crash into all these platelets and break open.  When all of this happens in your kidneys, which are filled with blood vessels, they lose the ability to filter your blood, and shut down.

So, yesterday Madilyn had surgery to install a Catheter into one of her main arteries in her chest. So that they can begin Dialysis on her blood that will allow her to recover and fight off these toxins in her blood.  Her color is pretty pale in this picture because of her anemia, but she's already looking better.

This morning we are getting ready to start her Dialysis, which will take over the job of the kidneys, and she will have this done once per day for a few days, until her kidneys get back into action.

Here's what she looked like this morning -



Pray for her dialysis to go great, she has an awesome team of doctors and nurses helping every day.  Pray for them, and our conversations with them, pray also for us that we get rest and grow closer to the Lord throughout this time.  We aren't sure how long it will take, but we are praying Madilyn is back to her sassy self in a few days rather than a few weeks.

For His Glory,

Brian and Jennifer Rasco