June 2, 2014

It is birthday season at the Wallace’s. On May 16th it was Afton’s, on May 29th it was Kaylynne’s and today it is Abigail’s. What crappy birthday’s for all of them. Afton has cancer and Abi and Kaylynne’s sister and parents are just gone. Our kids have been awesome, amazing, stupendous and fantastic through this entire ordeal. Thank you also for helping Grandma Wallace this past week. Thanks also to David Wilcox for providing a special cake and ice cream. We are so grateful for everyone who is watching over and taking care of our children back in Vicksburg.

Afton’s condition seems to have stabilized. We have asked 

for a miracle and we believe it has been granted. Afton’s downward spiraling and out-of-control symptoms have stopped getting worse and in some cases have improved. There are still many tumors in her body that are causing partial paralysis in her left lower leg and mouth. This makes it difficult for her to walk and to speak. The doctors think that the with time many of these neurological problems will be reduced as the chemotherapy fights off the cancer, but we will not know the long term impacts for some time.

When we first arrived and the oncology department looked at Afton’s CT scans, it became clear that surgery was not going to be an option immediately. She had too much cancer. Dr. Holt then transferred primary responsibility (since she is a surgeon) to Dr. Pastakia who is a pediatric oncologist and a specialist in Ewing’s Sarcoma. Dr. Pastakia has been amazing. He has made all of the correct decisions regarding treatments and procedures and we feel very blessed that Afton has been in his care. He even cracked a smile and was extremely encouraged when Afton began moving her left leg again. All of the Dr’s and nurses are astonished that she is still alive. It was looking very bleak for a while.

       Below is my list of events that we wish to share:

 
1. Blood drives - So many of you have asked what you can do to help us. We feel that we have been so blessed and that most of our needs have been met. However, since Afton has been receiving blood as part of her treatment, some have asked to organize blood donations on her behalf. As of now there will be three blood drives where you can give blood on Afton’s behalf. The first is a previously organized blood drive that will be held tomorrow at ERDC and is primarily for ERDC employees who wish to give blood. This is the information from the email that went out this morning:

The ERDC Blood Drive is scheduled Tuesday, June 3, from 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. in the CHL Conference Facility, Room 495 of Bldg 3200. Please call me to schedule a time as I'm sure they will have a large turnout tomorrow. In order to give for Afton, please tell Mississippi Blood Service Personnel that you are donating for Afton Wallace and her code is "DH41". Remember, you do not need to have the same blood type as Afton and realistically it is unlikely that your blood will actually be used by Afton. BUT, it will be used by someone that is in desperate need of life-giving blood.

The other two blood drives will be held as follows:

June 18 (Wed) from 4pm -8 pm in the parking lot of the Clinton LDS chapel. The address is 1301 Pinehaven Dr, Clinton, MS 39056. Diane Roskelly is the contact individual for this blood drive. Her email is droskelley@hotmail.com. Please contact her to schedule times to come. The same code “DH41” will be used to credit the blood to Afton.

June 21 (Sat) from 10 am- 3pm at the parking lot of the Vicksburg LDS chapel. The address is 6300 Indiana Ave, Vicksburg, MS 39180. Renee Crimm will be the contact individual for this blood drive. She can be reached at renee.crimm@att.net.

2. Visitors - Afton’s aunt Deanne, her husband Nick and their four children drove down from Indianapolis on Friday and stayed through Sunday. What a fabulous weekend visit. Deanne helped Sheri decorate the room with photographs and cards. It looks wonderful. On Saturday, Afton’s teacher Andrea Fairchild made a surprise visit on her way up to Indiana to visit her mother. Afton was completely shocked when the door opened and there was Ms. Fairchild. It really lifted Afton's spirits. Some of our friends from Mississippi who now live in the Nashville area also came to visit. Thanks to Wendy Krause and her son Josh for making the effort to come despite arriving home from vacation that same day.

3. Food - Afton has not eaten any significant amounts of solid food for about three weeks. Prior to that she had no appetite. Between 21-April and 26-May, she lost 24 lbs. Since arriving at Vanderbilt she has lost an additional four pounds despite being fed intravenously. Needless to say this has been a very major concern for everyone. However, today she started eating solid foods again. That is a huge deal. While on chemotherapy they want her to consume 3500 calories per day. Eating solid food again and having an appetite is so huge. This is a good start

4. Gifts - first thing this morning one of the nurses knocked on the door and when I opened it I could not even see her face because of the number of boxes and packages that had arrived. Holy cow, there were six or seven packages and over 20 cards just this morning. Further, she has received dozens of e-cards. What a blessing to have so many people who are concerned for her welfare. Thank you.

5. Physical Therapy - The tumor that is wrapping around her lower spine is still constricting the nerve such that she cannot properly move her left leg. While the radiation therapy made significant progress at halting the advance of this tumor, she still is not able to walk properly. Today, physical therapy came and helped her get up and start walking again with a walker. This is the first time she has been able to move like this in two weeks. Considering that only last week we thought she may never walk again, this is good progress.

6. Speech Therapy - The tumor around her pituitary gland is in the same status as the one on her spine. We think it has stopped growing but it has not shrunk enough for her to regain complete use of her mouth and tongue. Speech therapy came today and told her to practice words that make her mouth work properly. We decide that the following phrase was perfect, “The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain,” and “Moses supposes his toeses are roses, but moses supposes erroneously.” Miss Nancy, that was definitely for you.

7. Scans and biopsies - The tertiary report came back from the labs in Omaha and confirmed that this cancer is a small blue cell cancer. They are performing one final genetic test to verify that it is Ewing Sarcoma. At least we know that the chemotherapy that we are using is appropriate. That is good. Because of all the emergency procedures that were conducted last week to stop the growth of the cancer, we never completed a Positron emission tomography (PET) scan. This will be conducted tomorrow. The purpose is to map out all of the cancerous tumors throughout her body. I’m not excited to see all of them. What I want is for them to be gone.

8. Faith and prayers - Afton has been the object of so many personal prayers, group prayers, prayer meetings, fasts and prayer offerings. We are so grateful. We feel like we have witnessed a miracle in the preservation of her life. When we first arrived and her symptoms were spiraling out of control, the doctors gave us the “there is only so much we can do for her" speech. I know that they give the same speech to all patients whose conditions are worsening but I don’t think they had much hope for her survival. We were petrified as well. Honestly, we still do not know exactly what will happen. There are so many unknowns. However, we feel that we are finally moving in a positive direction. We are so relieved. Most importantly, we feel sustained by the thousands of prayers being offered on behalf of Afton and our family. We have never felt abandoned by God. In fact, we have felt His constant companionship and we are most grateful.

9. Sunkist Swim Team and the Stamm Family Invitational - The winning team at the big swim meet held in Vicksburg this past weekend receives a $500 cash award. This year the Sunkist Swim Team from the Madison and Flowood area in central Mississippi won the meet and the award. Unbelievably, they donated the entire amount to help fight Afton’s cancer. We are just blown away by this incredible gesture. Thank you Sunkist for making such a gift.