Day 307 - Abbie and Neuroblastoma

This is Abbie. She's 6. She has neuroblastoma. Her cancer was discovered when her mother, Brandie, took her to the doctors for some seemingly non-threatening health issues. Turns out, Abbie had a very large tumor in her abdomen, and it can't be cured.

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Abbie has undergone a year's worth of surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation. Needless to say, her outlook is grim. Doctors have quit treating Abbie's cancer and are now making her comfortable. Abbie's mother, Brandie, must be devastated. I know I would be.

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I don't know Abbie or her mother. I know their friend, Jennifer, who told me of Abbie's condition. I spent two days crying. I can't get this sweet little girl's face out of my mind. I can't believe the amount of pain and suffering this sweet, young baby has had to endure...all for naught.

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I don't understand it. I mean, I know intellectually that God has all things in His hands, that He gives and He takes away. But taking a child away like this is so, so...heartwrenching! My eyes have been swollen all day at work. On my lunch break, I broke down at my kitchen table and bawled like I haven't bawled in years. My heart breaks for not only Abbie, but her mother. How does she endure? How does she carry on? How gut-wrenching it must be to tuck your child into bed at night, knowing that very soon, she won't be alive when you go to her in the morning. How heart-breaking it must be when your child smiles up at you and whispers, "I love you, Mama," because you never know if it'll be the last time you hear your precious child's terms of endearment.

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Brandie is a single mother, and Abbie her only child. Take her child away, and Brandie has nobody.

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Father God, I pray that you might bring comfort to Brandie as she struggles to maintain her composure around her dying child. I pray that you might bring others into her life who might walk this death walk with her, side by side, encouraging and prodding her forward through her days. I pray that you might bless mother and daughter with quiet days together, snuggled in one another's arms. And I pray that you might bless Brandie for her continued faith in You, despite the grim future for her beloved baby girl. Amen.

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Brandie's words in her online journal: "God is good. That's all there is to it."