This is Rachael.
Rachael is twelve years old and is a member of my church. Her parents, John and Christin, are in my Sunday school department, and her little sister, Sarah, is in my oldest son’s Sunday school class.
Rachael has cancer.
A few very short months ago Rachael was a normal young lady and a star soccer player.
Now she’s had multiple surgeries, one round of chemo, and is facing several more.
Rachael is fighting– fighting like a girl.
Rachael and her sister, Sarah.
This past week, Rachael had surgery to remove one of the tumors in her lower back. It’s been causing her excruciating pain. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to remove the tumor. When they got in, they realize that the tumor is quite large and has attached itself to many of her organs.
The hope is that chemo will shrink the tumor. The hope is that soon, Rachael will be back on the soccer field, worrying only about the things other twelve year-old girls worry about.
I’m asking for your prayers.
I’m asking that you pray for healing for Rachael.
I’m asking that you pray for guidance and wisdom for her doctors.
I’m asking that you pray for peace, faith, and strength for her parents.
Clinging to the promise that God is the ultimate healer!
Share with me: Have you known anyone who has had a child go through cancer treatment? Do you have any tips on how to help the parents and the family, other than meals, etc? Any thoughtful insights we can use?
Hale and Hearty Words 
Our neighbour’s 3rd of 4 girls had cancer. Actually, she was the 4th of 5 , but the eldest died when she was a baby.
Things we learned- spoil ALL the kids, MAKE the parents go on a date, talk about other things besides the cancer.
Bring a party to them, have someone take loads of photos and scrapbook the day.
My boys 7 year old cousin had cancer. We sent books that others could read to him. He really liked being read to.
I’m sending you a link on fb. I think you may already know of Kristina, but if not I wanted to share. She is the daugter of a classmate from CHA, so your husband will know of her!
We added Rachael to our prayer list a few months ago!
I think we all agree…cancer completely and totally stinks. It attacks without discrimination, children and adults alike. It’s just…monstrous. And it seems bigger than anything else we can fight because there are so many unknowns. But God IS the ultimate healer. He can take on the monsters that we can’t.
There is a girl in our community–she’s 16–who is fighting a cancer that was Stage IV. They pretty much told her she had 6 months to live. They did chemo and all that. Now, 9 months later, at last look, they couldn’t find cancer anywhere on the scans. They’re still doing chemo to zap anything that’s not appearing, but how amazing is that?
He can do the same for Rachael. I’ll be praying.
Walked through this with another family.
I assume they’ve set up a CaringBridge account to update friends and family on a regular basis?
I’ll be praying. My pastor and his wife adopted a little baby from China, when they got her back here, they found out she had brain cancer. She’s 12 now! What they said helped them so much was other people praying for them, that they could feel them and needed that strength when they were too exhausted. And for a solid year, they didn’t have to cook. Church family got together to see they had all the meals, cleaning, laundry, etc…all done. There’s a meal train set up that can be done through facebook I believe. If you’re not familiar, email me and I’ll get you the info.
if they aren’t already, i’d encourage them to find a grief support group or cancer support group. try local hospice, as they should be able to direct you to either/or. what a heartbreaking situation. i’ll definitely keep this sweet girl in my prayers.
Just got an update on Rachael. The oncologist has told her no chemo for now– the tumor is causing her so much pain that it has to come out. They are going to perform a very invasive, very delicate surgery to remove it. Surgery should happen in the next few days. Her parents are asking for prayer for a miracle.
Oh my. Thank you for letting us know, Jennifer. I can’t even begin to imagine the fear of her parents. Praying they trust in Christ every single step of the way.
I’ve come into this conversation a little late, but I’m hoping and praying that everything turned out well with Rachael and her surgery. I will pray for the family right now.
A friend of mine has a little girl who is my oldest daughter’s age and she’d been fighting a strange cancer for the past five years now. She is doing really, really well, but she’d had her share of heartache. There is a website called http://www.mealtrain.com to help set up meals for families. It allows everyone to go to one place, sign up, tell the family what they are bringing – and it allows the family to go in and share their needs. We’ve used it a lot with our MOPS group.
Heart wrenching. My prayers are going out to Rachael, her family and her doctors this very moment.
Praying hard for Rachael!! I see so much of my daughter in that sweet girl (12-year-old soccer player). Many prayers to her, her parents and her doctors.