The Latest on Esther

Here is an unedited letter that my sister Jennifer, wrote concerning Esther and how she is doing. Please continue to pray for all of us! I will write another time about how furlough is going.


Hello, friends and family.

Thank you for praying for Esther. I am sorry we have kept you wondering. I have not been able to update till now. Adam and I are Esther's full time nurses now, we went home on Hospice Friday. Little sleep, lots of meds, enjoying and making the most of our good hours together as a family is what we have been doing. Esther's last trip to the KJM barn was to jump one of the school's ponies, that was last Monday. She had of course, pain in the saddle but thoroughly enjoyed it thanks to Pie, a trainer from Pagosa Springs, CO. Her lack of strength and energy has her confined to her wheel chair, the couch, our bed, and our picnic mat. We got her out every chance we had last week to enjoy the beautiful balmy weather. She side walk chalked with her brothers and sister laying on her tummy with pillows under her, I painted her fingernails out there, Daddy topped of the day with bringing the surprise of pizza to our picnic. She ate a whole piece! We would appreciate your prayers for her stomach. She prays all the time "Lord please help me not throw up!" A CT scan was done last week that showed her small bowel was almost occluded by tumor. She barely takes 1-2 bites a day but gastric juices continue to fill the stomach so when it reaches its capacity it empties the wrong way. Her anti-nausea meds cant stop that. The MRI came back showing that her liver is almost full of tumor. Where her lungs on the last scan showed one spot on each, it now looks like pop corn all over each of her lungs. There is also tumor filling the cavity between her ribs and lungs, and tumor pressing on things in her pelvis. Her bone marrow is so invaded that she still needs platelets every day and blood every three to four. This locks her out of all clinical trials or chemos, for treatment her platelets would have to remain at 50,000 for at least 7 day without transplants. Her platelets were 8,000 today that is a critical level, they transfuse at 20,000. What I am saying is there is no way to eradicate or stop this cancer now. Please pray for her eye sight. It is coming and going and blurry at times, this is frustrating to Esther as she rubs to try and clear them. Also you can pray that her awake moments (which have became fewer) will be painless enjoyable ones. For Esther's dignity and to maximize our time together this will be our last update for a while. We will let you know when she is no longer hurting. Please do not send flowers now or later she would rather you gave that money to a missionary or, as a church or family take dinner to the hurting families at your local Ronald MacDonald house in honor of Esther. Thank you for all your love and prayers.

For Him Who Saves and Keeps Us, Jesus Christ our Lord
Adam and Jennifer