In August, our family’s world changed in a way we never could have imagined. It started with our daughter having trouble seeing. At her eye appointment, she told us that when she looked straight ahead with her right eye, all she could see was black. As parents, hearing your child say something like that is terrifying. Her doctor noticed that her optic nerve looked pale and immediately referred us to a specialist. On September 10, after hours of testing, we were told to take her straight to the emergency room for an MRI. We knew something wasn’t right, but nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to hear. About two hours later, a doctor walked into the room and told us they had found a 4 cm mass in the middle of our little girl’s brain. In that moment, everything else in life stopped mattering. The next several days became a blur of doctors, tests, questions, fear, prayers, and trying to stay strong in front of our daughter when inside we were terrified. As her parents, all we wanted was to trade places with her. Instead, we had to put our trust in God and in the medical team caring for our baby girl.

On September 16, we watched our daughter be taken away for brain surgery. There are no words to describe what it feels like to watch your child disappear through those hospital doors and know that all you can do is wait, pray, and trust that she will come back through them. By the grace of God, her surgery went well. After nearly two weeks in the hospital, we finally got to do something we had prayed desperately for—we brought our little girl home. But coming home does not mean this journey is over. She is still recovering, and we have multiple follow-up appointments ahead of us as we continue taking things one day at a time.

Throughout all of this, I have been out of work so I could be where I needed to be: beside my daughter and my family. I am the only income earner in our household, and after two weeks away from work, the financial strain has become very real. I have now used all of my paid time off, which means every day I miss for one of my daughter’s medical appointments is a day without pay. Her appointments also require a two-hour round trip, so between lost wages, gas, household bills, and everyday expenses, we are trying our best to keep our heads above water while making sure our daughter receives the care she needs. Asking for help is extremely difficult for me. I am much more comfortable being the person who helps someone else than being the one saying, “My family needs help.” But right now, we do. We are not asking for anything extravagant. We are simply asking for a little help keeping our household going and getting our daughter to the appointments she needs while our family works toward getting back on our feet. To everyone who has already prayed for our daughter, checked on us, brought us something, sent a message, called, or simply reminded us that we are not walking through this alone—thank you. Our friends, family, and community have shown our little girl and our entire family more love than we could ever put into words. If you are able to donate, no matter the amount, please know that it will go directly toward helping our family through this season. Every dollar helps with a tank of gas, a bill, groceries, or another day that I can be there when my daughter needs her dad. And if you cannot donate, please do not feel that you have nothing to give. Please pray for our baby girl. Pray for her healing. Pray for her vision. Pray for good news at every appointment ahead. Pray for strength for her on the difficult days, and pray that one day we can look back on this chapter of her life and see just how far God carried her. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for loving our daughter and our family through one of the hardest moments of our lives. We brought our little girl home. Now we just want to help her heal.