Burleson Bandits and Chemo Update

Last night Ben's All-Star team played against the Burleson Bandits. This is the same team that Joe played against last year in t-ball. This special team has been praying for Joe since they heard about his diagnosis and has sent him gifts and notes of encouragement. Before the game, Joe got to go into their dugout to meet each and every player and give them some high fives and orange "Going to Bat 4 Joe" bracelets. He also got to meet the coaches and shake hands with some parents that were at the game. Joe threw out the first pitch of the game, which is a little unusual for a youth coach pitch game, but everyone cheered and clapped for him. It was a good strong throw and Joe called it a "strike". This team has been such a blessing to Joe and to our family by reaching out to us. We are humbled that a team we compete with would go out of their way to show so much love and compassion to our little boy fighting cancer. This was a special game and we appreciate all of the Burleson Bandits for showing such class and maturity. Thank you and we look forward to Joe being out on the field playing against you next year. Also, special thanks to Stephanie Bedunah for taking the pictures!

As for Joe's chemo update, today he completed his eighth week of treatment. This round was one medicine, Vincristine. Joe is always happy to know when he gets just the Vincristine as it does not seem to have many side effects for him. He is learning all the names of the medications and procedures and is becoming fluent in the "chemotherapy lingo". Joe's hemoglobin is down again from last week to 7.7. The count is low and seems to be recovering slowly but the doctors are still going to allow him to continue normal activities without any blood transfusions. We will keep a close eye on him and as long as he continues to remain active and alert, we will let his body try to increase the hemoglobin on its own. We are pleased, relieved, and thankful that this process is going so well. We pray that all of the cancer cells are being destroyed. We are prayerful for a complete recover and that Joe will be declared in remission by his 8th birthday in November. We continue to put our trust and faith in Christ who has provided immeasurably more to us than we could ask. Thank you for your continued prayers...they are being answered daily.