In a few short months (8.5) God has used the life of Leah Helen to teach us about FAITH! To show us that GOD is in control...we are not!
A while back I wrote about a good friend of mine and her daughter Leah who was born with a neck tumor. The thing is, I don't think any of us (the extended support system) knew the magnitude of the tumor! The tumor was about 1/3 of Leah's body weight at birth...huge!! But aside from the unimaginable details, what we celebrated this weekend was Leah's life! Her amazing story of fighting and thriving. As a special education teacher, I am soooooo impressed by Leah's development! She is so strong and doing everything (even ahead on a few) that a baby her age should do! My friend Laurie has been an awesome mom to both Matthew and Leah! You can tell just by seeing the light in her eyes and in Leah's smile. Laurie's husband Mike is in the military and he was away getting his job and their new home in St. Louis set up!
Praise God for this Blue-Eyed Miracle!!
"For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him." 1 Samuel 1:27
"For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him." 1 Samuel 1:27
She has the prettiest baby blues ever!! What a precious miracle from god and I pray that her tumor is healed quick quick! God has a plan for all of us even if we don't know exactly what it is yet!
ReplyDeleteYou friend sounds like an amazing mommy and that pic of the three of them is beyond precious!!
I love that bible verse ALOT!!
Have a great day girlie....thanks for sharing....really touched my heart
xoxo
Summer
I am the Mommy of Leah! Thanks Summer for your sweet comment. A little recap and update for all who read Stephanie's blog. Leah is doing great. She was born with a 2 pound cervical teratoma (benign tumor) at bith. (Aug. 27, 2009) It was mainly on the left side of her neck. It was so big, larger than her head even. Hard to imagine. No one knows how it happened and it is not genetic. It was diagnosed at my 20 week ultrasound when we found out we were having a baby girl. We lived in Maryland at the time and I was eventually put on bed rest at home and then at 32 weeks at Johns Hopkins Hospital (where we were going for weekly ultrasounds to monitor the tumor.) A team of miracle working surgeons were prepared weeks in advance for Leah's arrival. My water broke at 33 weeks and she was born via emergency c-section. They removed the tumor on day 12 and we spent two months in the NICU. A trying time for my husband and me, but with a wonderful family/friend support network, faith, and love for each other we got through it and as you can see Leah is doing great! Two little cysts are growing back and they will have to remove them in Feb. or earlier (they are monitoring them with MRI's). She will also have plastic surgery when they remove the cysts to reconstruct her neck. The tumor was so big that they left some skin folds and extra skin so that her neck could grow and the plastic surgeon would have something to work with down the road.
ReplyDeleteWe are blessed to have her in our life and so lucky she is such a little fighter. Matthew is the best big brother too!
Thanks for the many prayers, and again...thank you Stephanie for being such a dear friend and for including Leah on your blog.
Love,
Laurie