A New Start

It is now shortly after noon and Lydia is in the middle of receiving the bone marrow from her sibling donor.  This photo shows the actual bone marrow running into our precious child during her morning nap.  Our brave little donor is also awake from surgery and doing well.  The bone marrow was extracted and given to the lab for processing at around 9:00 am this morning.  It begin dripping into Lydia by 10:40 am. The entire transfer should be complete around 1:40 pm.

Team of Drs. hanging the bag.

Lydia has been blessed with a new start and opportunity to produce cells that are not cancerous.  Although this transplant is going smoothly, Lydia still faces challenges in the days and weeks ahead.  In order to be considered a successful transplant, these new cells must begin to graft and produce healthy cells within Lydia.  This process typically begins within two weeks of the transplant.

There have been many blessings in this journey thus far and today is no exception.  We continue to be thankful for God's grace and peace through this process.  We are filled with joy that the initial step is complete and journey is underway. Our prayers are now focused on keeping Lydia safe from serious infection and for the grafting process to run properly.

 

I'm Ready!

The much anticipated bone marrow transplant day is tomorrow and the doctors have given the green light.  The sibling donor will be at the hospital very early in the morning for the bone marrow aspiration - a procedure that takes around an hour. The donor will be completely sedated as the cells are extracted from the hip area. The stems cells will then be quickly processed and placed in Lydia before noon.

We ask again for your prayers.  Please pray for wisdom and steady hands for the doctors. Please pray that Lydia's body will not reject the cells and that she is protected from infection and viruses while her system is down.  Please pray for the sibling donor that the procedure goes well and there is minimal pain.  Please pray for mom and dad that they have the emotional strength to be supportive parents.  Peace be with you!

Children of Kenya's Mathare Slums - Praying for Lydia

An amazing thing happened this morning!  We received an email from Kenya where our church mission team is currently spreading the Gospel to the poor families living in the Mathare Slums.  The children there have very, very little.  Most have experienced death of loved ones through disease or civil strife.  Their homes are shacks with no stable electricity or running water.  Food and nourishment is not always plentiful.  The lives of these poor people are more difficult than the life many of us are fortunate enough to experience in the comfortable confines of our communities.

But we have a very important common bond with some of these children and that is Hope through Jesus Christ. These children are being ministered to by our missionary team.  They are told that Jesus loves them very much and faith in Him means Hope no matter how difficult their circumstances. 

Early today, the Mathare children kept asking one of the team members, Jamie Eisnor, about the Lydia bracelet on his wrist.  Jamie used this inquiry to speak to the Mathare children about Lydia Kovac's leukemia story and how, on the other side of the world, a little baby from an entirely different culture is also experiencing pain and requiring the peaceful protection of a loving God.  After the story was told, Jamie gathered the 20 children closely and they prayed for Lydia.  Today, we thank the children of Kenya's Mathare Slums for listening patiently to Lydia's leukemia story and expressing the desire to pray for her.  We too will keep these little children in our hearts and prayers. 

Doing Well - Post Surgery

Lydia made it through surgery this morning just fine.  She was in the operating room for a little over an hour and comfortably recovering in Angela's arms a short time later.  This picture was taken at approximately 1:00 pm as the anesthesia was wearing off.  We are always comforted when Lydia smiles, once again, we know that God has protected her and provided joy despite the uncomfortable morning procedure.

The surgeons had to replace Lydia's broviac line which was clogged.  As you can see from the picture below, a broviac line is a critical medical tube that allows for fluids and medications to flow directly into Lydia's major artery.  She now has two broviac lines on both sides of her chest.  These lines will remain in Lydia for the duration of her treatment. 

Lydia's chemotherapy resumes this afternoon around 2:00 p.m. - while she is napping.  After today, only two more chemo rounds remain. Aside from some minor vomitting, which is controlled by medications, Lydia has been doing great.  The doctors do indicate that additional side effects may occur after the chemotherapy is completely finished.  But for now, Lydia is strong!  

Thanks for your prayers this morning.  

Broviac Line

Surgery

This is Lydia just prior to surgery this morning to replace her broviac line.  As you can see, this beautiful child continues to smile and shine under God's protection and with the thoughts and prayers from you!  Thank you all for supporting Lydia and our family!

Still Smiling

Lydia has just completed her fourth full day of chemotherapy and she is now more than half way through this seven day course.  God has blessed Lydia with a continued happiness and minimal side effects thus far.  She has maintained a typical diet of nursing and solid foods. Lydia continues to play happily and with energy!

Lydia does have a surgical procedure scheduled on Monday.  One of her broviac lines, which is implanted in her chest and runs into a major artery, has clogged.  This line is used to insert medication and fluids so Lydia does not have to be constantly poked with needles.  The surgeons will have to perform a relatively routine procedure to insert a new line.  Although we do not anticipate any problems, our little baby will still be sedated and have to endure yet another evasive procedure.  We ask that you continue to pray for Lydia and especially that this procedure goes well.

This week is very important.  Lydia's bone marrow will be eliminated by the chemo in preparation for transplant.  The chemo ends on Wednesday and Lydia will be able to rest one day.  On Friday the sibling donor will be sedated and have bone marrow extracted during a morning surgical procedure.  In the afternoon, the donor's bone marrow stem cells will drip into Lydia's system through an IV bag and broviac line.  We then wait and pray that these stem cells "graft" properly in Lydia's system and produce healthy, non-cancerous cells.  We pray "without ceasing" that the Lord continues to strengthen Lydia, Angela, and family.

Jesus Take the Wheel

Our daughter, Katherine, enjoys the song "Jesus Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood (American Idol winner for Season 4 - for those keeping track). The song speaks of a young woman struggling through life as a parent and dealing with issues she can't handle. While driving on an icy road with her baby and beset with many problems on her mind, the mother's car begins to spin out of control. Scared and desperate, she throws up her hands and cries:

Jesus, take the wheel. Take it from my hands. 

Cause I can't do this on my own. 

I'm letting go so give me one more chance 

to save me from this road I'm on. 

Jesus, take the wheel.

The mother's car slides safely to the shoulder, and she bows her head in prayer.

This morning shortly after 8:00 a.m. the chemotherapy drugs began dripping into Lydia's veins. This first dose was completed two hours later, around 10:00 a.m., and then Lydia will do it all over again beginning at 2:00 pm this afternoon.  Sickness will soon follow and we pray that it will not be severe. This will go on for the next seven days.

If you have stood by a very sick infant with pain and vomiting, you know - it is a heart wrenching experience! When this seven day treatment of chemotherapy is complete, the struggle moves on for Lydia as she battles through the Bone Marrow Transplant. During this phase, there is worry about rejection, serious infection, and having the overall physical strength to get through the treatment. For many of you who have lived through similar dire circumstances, you realize there are just some issues that are beyond our control. In these situations, we too throw up our hands and pray: "Jesus, Take the Wheel."

Happy Father's Day

Daddy and Lydia

The goal for today is to celebrate Father's Day as a family and to spend quality time with Lydia.  For the last three weeks of her home stay, Lydia has brought so much joy to our home.  She has been healthy and actively playing like any child her age.  Lydia's huge smile and belly laughs have been contagious. Our entire family has savored these moments with Lydia and filled her emotional tank with much love in hope that it will provide extra strength for the difficulty that lies ahead.

Lydia will be readmitted into the hospital this Tuesday.  She will receive one week of intense chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant (June 29), and have a critical recovery period that could last up to eight weeks.  Our family is having a difficult time letting her go through this procedure, but it is her best chance to fully eradicate the leukemia and restore her to normal health.

This past week was filled with medical meetings, signing of consent forms, and prayerful deliberation over various treatment courses for Lydia.  The gravity of the next couple months has really hit home after extensive consultations with the bone marrow transplant team.  With God's help, we believe that the best decisions have been made for our precious Lydia.  In order for this process to be successful, Lydia's system will be completely wiped out and she will be seriously sick for many weeks until the new bone marrow begins to "graft" and produce healthy cells.  Faith, prayer, and trust in God has gotten us this far and will continue to carry us in the weeks ahead.  We place the following prayer requests before you with the hope that you lift up Lydia during your quite time:

1. Strength for Lydia to withstand the chemo, fight the side effects, and accept the new bone marrow.
2. Peace for the sibling donor that the child does not worry about the donation procedure nor feel responsible for Lydia's response to treatment.
3. Strength for Angela that she can withstand the long hospital stay, sleepless nights, and worry that is associated with seeing her baby so sick.
4. Protection for Paul, Katherine, Caleb, Ben, and Daniel.

Peace be with you!

Taken Father's Day On Backyard Rock

Summer Vacation

Today is the first day of summer vacation and the children have been enjoying time at the pool.  Even Lydia got to sport her new swim suit and play in the shade for a couple of hours.  Lydia has been doing so well at home this past week - no illness and sleeping through the night with good naps during the day.  She just loves watching all the action surrounding her brothers and sister.   Hopefully, we will have a few more pool days prior to hospital admission later this month. 

Bone Marrow Test

Lydia returned to the hospital this afternoon for an outpatient bone marrow aspiration. This test is a routine part of the pre-transplant procedure to ensure that she is still in remission with zero cancer cells. Although this is a fairly routine procedure for leukemia patients, we still had difficulty watching our precious Lydia being sedated and poked with needles. Lydia came through the procedure just fine and we should have the results of this bone marrow test by the end of the week. Please pray for continued remission!

We also had a meeting with the bone marrow transplant team this afternoon to review the plan for transplant later this month. As it currently stands, Lydia will be readmitted into the hospital during the week of June 18. She will then undergo approximately eight days of chemotherapy followed immediately by the bone marrow transplant sometime around June 28 or 29. The pre-transplant chemotherapy is much more intense than what was previously given, and Lydia will most likely experience very uncomfortable side effects. Her immune system will also be eliminated and it will take several weeks for it to return with the assistance of the "new" stem cells from the sibling donor. We will reach out to you with specific prayer requests once we are closer to the transplant.

In the meantime, our family is enjoying time together at home where the simple things with Lydia have taken on extra meaning and provided us with much joy. We now take an extra moment to watch Lydia as she learns how to grab her toys while playing on the family room floor. We laugh as she makes a mess in her high chair while eating next to us during evening meals. We even smile when her cry wakens the home early in the morning. Thank you God for these special moments with Lydia!

Blood Drive Successful!

The Kovac family would like to thank everyone for their participation in Lydia's Blood and Bone Marrow Replenishment Drive. It was held last Wednesday at the South Hills Bible Chapel.  The following words from Marcy Braunstein (the coordinator) best describes the success:
 

Paul and Angela: the blood drive was absolutely a wonderful day! An unbelievable 73 units of blood were collected including 7 donors who donated double red cells. Nine additional donors tried to donate but were deferred for medical reasons. It was a VERY successful blood drive.  There were about 60 people on schedule and several walked in without appointments. I was there for the first hour and a half but had to leave to attend to other appointments. 

I hope you realize the impact Lydia’s blood drive had on the community blood supply. Once the blood was taken back to the lab, each unit is separated into three components—red blood cells, platelets and plasma. Over 200 blood products were made available to patients in area hospitals as a result of your willingness to share Lydia’s story.  Many of the donors either had never donated blood before or hadn’t donated in quite a while.  Lydia’s photo and story motivated so many to give the gift of life. And several joined the National Marrow Donor Registry.

Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do to service your family. Thank you again!  Marcy

Marcy Braunstein 

Replenish the Need Hospital Program

Central BloodBank