The Year that Changed Us All

With just minutes left in the year 2009, won’t you join me in looking back at the events of the past year that changed our family forever. May these pictures speak to your heart tonight as you look back at how far God has brought us this year.

Our year started off in about the worst way you could imagine…a devastating diagnosis, a life threatening operation, intensive care…

Another surgery to place a central line in Brady’s chest…two cycles of chemotherapy, several hospital stays, our family was apart quite a bit.

As we learned that chemotherapy did not work, we began to search for a different approach. God graced us with Brady’s beautiful smile and deep blue eyes every single day… 

  People prayed for Brady, thousands of people all over the world. We were uplifted and sustained by these prayer warriors. Our family, friends, and community came together to support us. We are forever changed by the kindness shown to us this past year. Forever…

Brady’s body changed, but his spirit was never lost.

God protected the sacred trust and love between a parent and child. Even though we had to inflict pain upon Brady in order to care for him every day, Brady loved us just the same.

We made the decision to leave our family behind and travel to NYC to seek out the best Neuroblastoma surgeon we could find. And all the while, people prayed and God protected us.

In April Brady had his 2nd major, life-threatening surgery. The heavens poured rain on that day, and God poured out the biggest miracle yet! A planned 3 week recovery in the hospital, turned into 5 days…

 

Once home, Brady had a lot of healing and catching up to do…

Brady was declared done with treatment, but not completely cancer free. We learned that for the next 5 years we will live day to day watching and worrying. We are learning to watch and to pray…

During the spring and summer months, Brady began to achieve new motor skills every day. He made a miraculous neurologic recovery…Steps for Brady became a wonderful reality!

Summer brought so many delightful memories for our family. It was a blessing to watch Brady starting to catch up to his brother and sister…

Working with Linda, Brady’s physical therapist, we watched Brady achieve goals as fast as we could make them! 

It wasn’t just Brady that was changing. We knew that our heats would never be the same. After seeing what we had seen, we knew could never forget the children in our world afflicted with cancer. With the help of our family, friends, and community, we committed to making a difference.

We even took some time to celebrate Brady’s recovery and to give back to the charity that was there for us that very first day.

 

With every clear scan report, we learned to take a deep breath, thank God for more precious time, and to look ahead with hope and faith. We packed a lot of fun into the moments we had been given.

 

 

Goodbye 2009..the Williams Family is ready to take on 2010. And as we do, I’m so thankful for the words to a favorite old hymn;

Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand.

But I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.

Happy New Year from the Williams Family!