September 9^th is a special day in my house. Its the anniversary of my daughters bone marrow transplant. It’s my sisters birthday too btw… I sat down to write an entry on the 9^th but just never got finished or really started for that matter. But this is an amazing anniversary and I didn’t want it to pass without telling yall a little.

My daughter Megan was diagnosed with a pre-leukemia when she was 9 months old. We went through countless procedures, countless doctor visits, countless hours in the hospital. The doctors really weren’t even sure how to treat it because they had never seen this particular translocation in an infant before. Eventually the doctors decided a bone marrow transplant was the only hope of her survival. My wife and I were tested. My then 3 year old son was tested. My extended family got tested. Everyone I knew was tested. But no one matched. That meant going with an unrelated donor. This of course reduced the success rate. Megan was almost two when she had the procedure. In fact she had her two year old birthday party in the hospital. This was a crazy time. We faced many many obstacles. But without fail we saw prayer after prayer answered.

There’s sooooo much I could write about: Detailing some of the horrific procedures, some of the terrible side effects of chemo, the mental struggle and fatigue from living in the hospital, the strain on our marriage, the courage of my son during the whole thing, the list of miracles… it was…. well it just was…

I thought I would share one glimpse of time that has been forever captured in mind… in my life… in my very essence… It is one of those things that change the way you see everything.

Imagine the scene, My daughter went through the chemo, her bone m arrow was now dead, she had zero immune system so sores began to from around her mouth, in her mouth, down her throat. She was so tiny and frail. Her hair is almost completely gone with just a few straggling wisps remaining. She is sitting in my lap, helpless, not really understanding what was happening… in terrible pain as it hurt to even swallow… Your always only moments away from tears when you live in the hospital with your dieing child.. and she’s there, in my lap… she looks up at me with tear filled round brown eyes and in her barely audible voice, tears running down her face she whispers… “Help me daddy”

I was helpless. I couldn’t do anything to save my baby girl. Here she was looking to me to rescue her from this terrible place… and I was helpless… alone… all I knew to do was hold her… and pray.

It was then that I experienced the love of my heavenly father. Its something I can’t even begin to put into words but as I was sitting there in that chair, holding her, loving her, willing to do anything to save her… I knew… my father was sitting there… right next to me, holding me, loving me, willing to to anything to save me. Romans 8:28 became real to me that day. It was no longer just some words written in some old book. The bible came to life for me. I knew, that no matter what, God was in control here. I didn’t have to worry about everything because in the end, God is, always has been and always will be a God who loves beyond anything we can even imagine and he has the ability to work all things for good.

It’s now 7 years later. My daughter Megan remains cancer free to this day. She is so full of energy and life. She is an amazing miracle.

About the pictures:
Picture 1: Sitting on a rocking horse in the ROnald McDonald House waiting for check-in day

Picture 2: Check-in day

Picture 3: Ten days post-transplant

Picture 4: Going on a walk. She had to wear a mask whenever she left our room.

Megan was amazing. During her entire stay there was only one day she didn’t smile at some point during the day. She loved the camera and I tired to capture her smiles, not the bad times, every day we were there.