Our Healer

Friends, it has been just over 2 years since Kailee's tumor was successfully removed & God healed her! This is for those who have not heard the entire story, or for those who would like to hear it again & rejoice with us! What an awesome God we serve!

Our Healer

On Aug. 10, 2007, our 2 1/2 year old daughter, Kailee fell & bumped her head. It wasn't a particularly hard fall, but my husband & I wanted to make sure she hadn't suffered a brain bleed. We took her to the ER, feeling confident we would return home to our other 2 children (Brittney 3, & Brandon 1) later that evening. When the doctor came in to give us the results of the CT scan, my heart sank. He had a look on his face that said, "I hate to tell you this..."

As it turns out, there was no bleed, but they did discover a tumor. We immediately went to a nearby hospital that had a pediatric unit, where she had an MRI of the brain. The MRI confirmed the location & size of the tumor. At that time, it was thought that she had a pNET (primitive neuroectodermal tumor) tumor, a malignant tumor with a 5 year survival rate of only 50%-60%. How could this be? She didn’t have any symptoms – she was perfectly normal. There was no question in our minds that God was completely in control. Only moments after the doctor took us to another room to explain the hard news to us, a wonderful friend from church showed up at the hospital to cheer up Kailee. It seemed like we were speaking with the doctor for just a few minutes, when in reality, we were in there for more than an hour! Our friend was able to stay that entire time – playing with Kailee, making her laugh & praying over her before he even knew her diagnosis. Andy, thanks for listening to God's call.

We were given several referrals to pediatric neurosurgeons & sent home to create a plan. Mike & I didn’t know where to begin. The one thing we did know, was that we were not going to make it through this all on our own. God had pushed Kailee over so we could find the tumor, & He was going to be there with us every step of the way. That Sunday we went to church knowing that we needed to worship Him & all His glory. We are both on the worship team & our worship leader asked the congregation to come up and lay hands on us after the service. We figured a handful of people would come up and pray for Kailee with us…we were way off base! At least 75 people came forward & prayed with all their hearts for Kailee’s healing, guidance, rest, health, clarity, peace, love, God’s presence. It was an experience I will never forget. Our family & church wrapped their arms around all of us in so many ways, meals, “waiting room activity bags” for Brittney & Brandon, cards for Kailee, encouraging emails, messages & visits, even money to help pay for her care! But most of all they prayed continuously over the next 2 weeks!

Finally, 10 days after her fall, we met with the surgeon, Dr. Rekate at Barrow Neurological Institute, in Phoenix. As we found out over the next several days, he is one of the top pediatric neurosurgeons in the world! This was yet another confirmation that God was completely in control of this situation. He felt so strongly that her tumor was a fast growing form of brain cancer, that he scheduled surgery just 4 days after our appointment. He explained that the surgery itself would take 4-6 hours, but they would do an intraoperative MRI immediately before & after surgery (which would add about 1 ½ hours on each end). The MRI before surgery would once again confirm the size & location of the tumor – and the MRI after surgery would check to see if they were able to remove the entire tumor. So, the total time that Kailee would be under general anesthesia would be about 8 hours. After she recovered from surgery, we would most likely begin chemo &/or radiation treatments. This was so surreal. I felt like life was whizzing by, but at the same time at a stand still – waiting for surgery.

During the few days between our first appointment with Dr. Rekate & her surgery, we tried to prepare Kailee & Brittney for what was going to happen. After Brittney & I had finished praying one day, she said to me, “Mommy, if God is going to get rid of Kailee’s tumor, why does Dr. Rekate have to do surgery on her brain?” This statement took my breath away! The faith of my daughter was much greater than I could ever have imagined! I explained that if God took the tumor away before surgery, then Dr. Rekate wouldn’t operate, but if the tumor was still there, then God would use Dr. Rekate to heal Kailee. Brittney’s response to me was, “Well, God is going to get rid of most of the tumor, then Dr. Rekate will take the rest out just like that! Then the tumor will be all gone & Sissy will be all better!” Needless to say, that became our prayer.

As we checked into our room the day before the surgery, we were again met with God's awesome power. The Phoenix Firefighter's Union had paid for our hotel & acquired meal tickets for the hospital cafeteria! It seemed like each time we discovered a new hurdle, God was right there with an answer. On Friday, Aug. 24 exactly 2 weeks after she fell, we checked in to the hospital for her surgery. At 8AM the anesthesiologist took Kailee from our arms & walked into the operating room. We felt so helpless – the only thing we knew to do was pray. We were told that the doctor would update us periodically by phone or send one of the nurses out. Imagine the terror when Dr. Rekate himself, walked into the waiting room at exactly 12 noon! I looked at Mike & knew he was thinking the same thing I was – that Kailee hadn’t made it through the surgery…that’s the only reason we should be seeing the surgeon right now. As soon as he make eye contact with us he smiled…he SMILED! He said that it was much easier to remove the tumor than he thought it would be. And when he got to the spot in her brain where the tumor was, it was obvious that is was not a pNET, but a choroid plexus papilloma – a benign tumor! He said, “it came out just like that! Kailee’s tumor is all gone & she doesn’t need any further treatment!” Incredible! God had spoken to Brittney earlier that week & told her exactly what was going to happen! What a blessing it was to have our child so in tune to God, that she was able to minister to Mike & me! God healed Kailee! Her surgery was on a Friday morning, & she was discharged 3 days later!

She recovered from surgery very well. In fact, we went & spent a few days in the mountains the Monday after surgery, to have some much-needed family time. We rested, played, fed the ducks, took walks & thanked God over & over again for healing our baby. Over the next year, Kailee would have 2 more MRI’s to make sure her brain was healing correctly & there was no recurrence of the tumor. What an incredible journey that was (and continues to be)! It has certainly given the girls a heart for prayer & a confidence that God will be with them in every situation, regardless of the severity or the outcome. All glory belongs to our Healer, Jesus Christ.