I’ve always referred to Joey as my miracle child because there were complications when he was born and he nearly suffocated.  God, of course, had bigger plans for his life, and the promise that he would give him life and make him prosper.  Saying that, Joey has by far, had the most physical struggles of anyone in our family.  When he was 13 he broke his leg in a dirt biking accident.  Through a series of surgeries and different forms of therapy it took a year and a half before his leg was fully healed.  If you’ve ever seen your children in pain you can imagine how extremely difficult this was to go through, especially when he was going through at home therapy that his Dad and I had to do with him.  Still though, we believed the promise of God as a healer for Joey. 

When Joey turned 16 we knew that he was not growing at the same rate he should be.  We finally took him to the doctor and they put him on human growth hormone to initiate the growth that his body was not doing on its own.  This consisted of him taking a shot every day for a year which of course he was not a fan of.  After a year of this treatment, we started noticing side effects that were not normal, such as the loss of his peripheral vision and guzzling gallons of water.  It got to the point where walking up to the side of him would scare him because he couldn't see anything out of his direct line of vision.  We took him to an ophthalmologist who couldn’t find anything wrong in the tests.  It was then, we suggested to the endocrinologist that he get an MRI. 

In November of 2011 we got the results back from his MRI which told us that Joey had a pituitary brain tumor that was pushing on his optic nerve, hence why he was losing vision. It also had encased his pituitary gland which is why he had never grown the way he was supposed to.  Within 24 hours of finding out Joey had a tumor, it was decided he would go to Stanford Hospital in California for his surgery.  A week later the kids and I drove to Stanford where his tests began, and the day after Thanksgiving Joey underwent a long surgery.  Once again, prayer is what got us through the tough moments when he had a high fever and we were unsure of the outcome.  We spent a couple of weeks in ICU, a week in a regular hospital room, and returned home just before Christmas.  

Do you ever wonder just how much you can take?  Just two months after his surgery, the cartilage in Joey’s nose died.  This is how his tumor was originally removed.  Once again, we discussed surgery to go in and rebuild his nose.  Exactly one year after his tumor was removed, Joey was back at Stanford for surgery.  A piece of cartilage was taken from his rib to rebuild his nose.  This surgery was a success.  Joey was expected to return for an MRI and follow up visits every three months with his neurosurgeon to watch for regrowth of the tumor.  This was to happen until he had two years of no regrowth.  Then he would shift to every four months and so on.  Five months after his nose reconstruction and nearly 18 months after his original surgery, tumor cells were active again.  Joey’s options were surgery like the original and several weeks in the hospital, or a radiation treatment called cyber knife.  He underwent cyber knife.  We are now 3 1/2 years since his original surgery and 2 years of clean MRI’s, hallelujah!!!  This means we now move to 3 visits a year instead of 4!  Praise God!  

Joey is a walking miracle and has brought much joy to the hospital staff through the years and continues to.  He now believes God has asked him to experience the mission field!  After spending years together through his medical trauma, Joey and I will now share a mission trip together.  Support us as we go to Sri Lanka and Joey shares his light!