I have made, I will carry, I will SAVE!!

Dear Friends and Family,

It has been 12 months since our little one came down with E-Coli and HUS one of the toughest diseases a child can face. After five units of blood, two weeks of dialysis, and 28 days in the hospital, she finally came home, but her healing has still been going on for these past 12 months.  Here's a long update, but it's worth your time to read it!

When Jennifer and I look back on that time, it seems like a bad dream, and not something that actually happened.  As Madilyn's little body continues to heal, we keep getting reminders that it was real, and we are filled with gratitude for how far she has come.

Thank you for praying for her!  We would love to update you and ask for continued prayer, but before that I want to share a brief passage from Isaiah 46 with you:

Isaiah 46: 1 - 4 - 

“Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock;
these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. 2 They stoop; they bow down together; they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity.
3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb;
4 even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.” 

Bel and Nebo were names given to the gods of the Babylonian Empire, and Isaiah is using them as an example to show the futility of worshipping false gods.  If we replace those names with two common idols we worship today, this passage has much to say to us today.  Here's my paraphrase -

Wealth and Success are useless to you. You carry these things around like you are a beast of burden.  They cannot save you, but instead they go with you into whatever trouble you may face. "Listen to me" says God, "I have been carrying you from your mother's womb, and I will carry you through until your head is full of gray in your old age. I have made you, I will carry you, and I will Save you."

I share this passage with you because in the last 12 months, though God has done many amazing things through and around the illness of our daughter, the most gracious thing God has done has been to use these circumstances to show me the futility of my idols.  I'm grateful that my idol of control has been exposed this year as a complete fraud, and a worthless substitute for God.

What do you worship (or place at the pinnacle of your life) today?  Is it money, power, romance, controlling your life and your family, or perhaps you are after the approval of others. The message from this passage is clear - you can carry those things around with you until God burns them up in front of you, or you drop them and let your creator carry you instead.  For more on the subject, I'd recommend a great book by Tim Keller called Counterfeit Gods.

Now, on to the update:

How is Madilyn Doing?

Over the summer, we had a few blood draws and doctor visits, and we had 2-3 in a row that came with bad news.  Mostly, the results showed that her kidneys were functioning around the high 70% range.  While we weren't happy with those, Dr. Simon could see that she wasn't well hydrated for each of those results.  

So, we had to switch the time of day when we were drawing blood, and then do a better job of begging, pleading, and bribing her to drink more water.  After that, we went back and had much better news.  Then yesterday, we got another result that confirmed the good news!

For the first time in 12 months:

• Madilyn's red blood cell count is NORMAL...her body has finally replaced all the red blood cells that were broken and destroyed due to E-Coli.
• Her potassium level was NORMAL.  This means her kidneys are removing the right amount of potassium from her bloodstream, and we have now taken her off her last medication!
• Basically, this means her kidneys are now doing all the jobs they are supposed to do, at a level that the doctor doesn't need to support them with medicine!

We are so thankful for all of your prayers and support, and we cannot contain our joy!

How can you pray?

Pray for her next results to be good again.  

Now that she's off medication, Dr. Simon needs to check her one more time to make sure potassium doesn't creep back up, or anything else surprising.  We'll likely get those results next Monday or Tuesday.  If the numbers are good again, we can keep her off medicine!

Pray for her to stay hydrated at school.

I can't believe it, but she started kindergarten today! That means she has a long school day without us to remind her to drink drink drink.  Pray that she'll finish a couple bottles of water each day.  Also, that we won't cry like babies every day we drop her off...today was rough.

Pray for a family and toddler who was hit with this same illness this summer.

This summer, we learned that another family was going through a similar fight at Dell Children's.  Their two year old boy was fighting for his life against HUS.  Please keep them in your prayers, we have reached out to be resource to them, but so far all we know is that he's slowly recovering.

Love,

The Rascos

Incredible news about Madilyn

Dear Friends and Family,

I’m so excited to write this post! It has been a long time since I’ve been able to post such great news about Madilyn.

Last week, we had our check up with the kidney specialist Dr. Simon.  We had been waiting for two months for this appointment, and didn’t know what to expect.  During the week I was studying Isaiah 13, and this passage stood out to me: 

Isaiah 13:4 - 

“Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude!

Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together!

The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war.” 

This verse is in the middle of a prophesy against the Babylonian Empire, who was attacking, terrorizing and taking Israel captive. In the middle of this war, Isaiah gives this promise that God is mustering his forces for battle. What I took from this passage was a stark reminder that no matter what our circumstances, God is working, and moving in ways that we can’t see or even imagine.  

At the time I was studying this passage, I didn’t know that God was in the middle of healing Madilyn’s kidneys even more.

How is Madilyn Doing?

When Dr. Simon read the results of Madilyn’s latest blood work, he was surprised and said that her kidney function was above 95%, and that her Creatnine level had come down to 0.47.

This was not a result we expected, and we are so excited to see her little kidneys healing.  Praise God, and thank you so much for praying for her!!  On the car ride home Madilyn was so excited and just shouted out “Thank you Jesus.”

How can you pray?

Pray for her potassium level to improve.  

Madilyn’s potassium level was near normal, but not quite where it needs to be.  So, Dr. Simon reduced her medication, and we will go back for blood work this week to see if it holds steady.  If it does hold steady, then there is a chance she could be off the medicine for good.

Pray for her red blood cell production to improve. Madilyn’s red blood cell level is close, but not quite back to normal.  This is one of the last areas to recover with this disease so it may still take a few more months, but please pray for this to improve.

Thank you again for praying, we have been overwhelmed with joy over Madilyn’s progress!

Love,

The Rascos

New Year update for Madilyn

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope this holiday season was restful and that you were able to take some time to reflect upon the gift of redemption that came through Jesus Christ. As we begin the New Year, we wanted to post an update on Madilyn, to remind you to pray for her and us, and thank God for the healing she has had so far.  (This post is a little long, but I pray it’s worth the read).

Over the holiday break I was studying Isaiah 7.  In this passage the King of Judah was facing a war against two larger nations that had conspired against his people.  God sends Isaiah with a message of hope. Isaiah says to the king “keep calm, don’t be afraid, don’t lose hope because God has your back.”  Then he finishes this poetic passage with this statement:

Isaiah 7:9 - “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” 

When I read that verse, I had to take a second look - what exactly is God saying through Isaiah here?  Faith is one of those words we hear a lot, but we don’t always think about what it means. Hebrews 11 defines faith as having confidence in the thing you are hoping for.  So, here is another way of saying this verse -  

“if you do not stand firm in the confidence of what you are hoping for, you will not stand at all”.

What’s amazing about this passage, is that faith is not something we can manufacture. Faith comes from the Lord - through the Holy Spirit.  Whatever you are facing, your first step needs to be praying and asking God to increase your faith! God, increase my confidence in your goodness…increase my confidence in your provision…increase my confidence that you love me as your own son.  

This year, will you begin by begging God to give you confidence in his character, and in his promises!

How is Madilyn Doing?

At our last appointment with Dr. Simon, Madilyn’s kidney function came back at 75%.  This test was the third test in a row that came back at that level. So, this tells us that her kidneys will likely stay at 75%.  This is not the news that we wanted to hear, we were hoping that her kidneys would continue to improve to 100%.

We are thankful that she is stable, and at 75% function Dr. Simon’s main concern is to protect the remaining 75% from stress or future damage.  No transplant, no dialysis, but we will have to keep a close eye on her kidneys from here on out.

We are thankful that we don’t have to return for another blood test until 1/18.  When Madilyn first left the hospital we had to go back every other day for blood work, now we go back every other month!

We are so thankful to our Missional Community, and other friends and family who set up a Gofundme page and gave sacrificially to help cover our expenses from Madilyn’s illness.  It was an amazing blessing to us, and an answer to prayer!  Thank you so much. 

How can you pray?

Pray for her potassium level to improve.  

Your kidneys are responsible for removing excess potassium in your blood, and this is an area where Madilyn’s kidneys have had trouble.  We are praying that this improves on 1/18 so that she can stop taking the gross medication called Kayexalate every day.  

Pray for her red blood cell production to improve. Kidneys control how many red blood cells your body produces, and this is one area where Madilyn is close, but not quite back to normal.  Please pray for this to improve again.

Pray for her kidneys to show even more improvement - the number 75% is not necessarily locked in.  Dr. Simon said there is no way of knowing if she’ll improve some more, so we are praying that we would be surprised and she’d show even more improvement!

Pray for us to be steadfast as we serve the Lord. We want to trust the Lord with Madilyn’s health…we have no way of knowing how God will use this for her good and for His Glory, so we ask for the faith to trust him, and know that God loves Madilyn even more than we do.

Thank you again for praying!

Love,

The Rascos