All Clear for Joe - Cancer Free!!!!!

Last Thursday and Friday Joe had his CT scan, echo cardiogram, and blood tests. With thanksgiving in our hearts and praise to our Lord, we want to pass along the good news that Joe was declared cancer free!!! This is an amazing gift to us all and something we have prayed fervently for God to answer. Thank you, Jesus! Joe has grown up in so many ways this past six months and learned about many things that we thought he would be shielded from during his childhood. He has handled his diagnosis, treatment, pain, and disappointments with bravery, maturity, and grace. We are incredibly proud of him and the way God has used him these past 6 months to touch our lives and the lives of others. We could never properly say thank you to all of you who have lifted us up during this time and the many many people who have diligently prayed for Joe to be healed. From the bottom of our hearts...thank you to our family, friends, friends of friends, and those complete strangers who heard about Joe's story and prayed for him.

The next step for Joe will be to get his port removed from his chest. He will have a consultation this week with the surgeon and possibly have the surgery in the next week or two. This will be an outpatient surgery which should not be very difficult on Joe. He will have a few stitches but should recover quickly from the surgery. The timing of this is perfect as baseball just finished and basketball has not yet started. I think mentally this step will help us feel like this is really over. God willing, Joe will only have check ups every 3 months for the next year and then more routine checks after that.

We find it appropriate that as we celebrate Joe "winning the battle over cancer", our friend, Aubrey Huff, is celebrating his World Series victory. We have watched Aubrey Huff play all season and have cheered for him and his team since April when Aubrey reached out to encourage Joe. We have thoroughly enjoyed watching the friendship that Joe and Aubrey have made over the past 6 months. We have prayed that Aubrey Huff would be blessed as he has been an enormous blessing to Joe and our family - and indeed he has been with the World Series win and a phenomenal performance from him throughout the year! We still shake our heads in amazement that Aubrey Huff and his team, the San Francisco Giants, made the playoffs and won the World Series THIS year - the year that Aubrey Huff befriended Joe and wore the "Going to Bat 4 Joe" bracelet each game he played. This has blessed our hearts. Aubrey Huff, thank you for cheering for Joe and congratulations on your victory - a job well done and you deserve it!