Prayers For Ben

My heart has been very heavy this week.  I want you to meet Ben.  He will be two years old this month and on Monday he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma.  He has a cancerous tumor in his eye.  Let me back up a bit.

Ben’s mom, Amanda, is one of my very dearest friends.  She lives in Ohio and we actually met a few years ago through my blog.  I surprised her last year for her birthday with a trip to Ohio and we “met” for the first time.  Some of you might remember that.  She is such an amazing and caring person and a wonderful mother of three boys (with another sweet boy on the way.)  A few months ago, she noticed that Ben was developing what she thought to be a lazy eye.  She later noticed a flicker of light in his one eye and made an appointment with an ophthalmologist.  That was when she heard the words that no mother should ever have to hear, “Your child has cancer.” 

The tumor actually takes up his entire eye and and on a rating from A-E based on size and severity, his is an E!  He had an MRI yesterday that showed the cancer is contained within the eye and has not spread.  Praise God!  He does, however, have surgery on Saturday to remove the entire eye and it will be replaced with an artificial eye.  He has actually been going blind over the past few months and the vision in his eye cannot be restored.  Many many prayers are needed for Ben and his family.

Throughout this tragedy, glimpses of God’s work can be seen.  The fact that the cancer is contained is a blessing, which hopefully means he will not have to go through chemo.  We still need to pray about that.  The specialist doing the surgery is actually the best in the nation and it is an hour from their house.  Basically, if they lived in California or somewhere, they would send them here! 

Please pray for this wonderful family.  I hope I said everything correctly as I try hard to understand what is going on.  I just want their whole family to feel God’s love and comfort and to know that so many people are praying!!  Let’s surround her and her family with our love and support.  Amanda is the kind of person who would be the first one to help someone in need.  That’s just the kind of person she is!  And it breaks my heart that their family is going through this.  Please pray and keep little Ben and his family close to your heart!