Clara Needs Your Help!!!

Isn't she the cutest?!

Clara needs your help. She is the youngest daughter of some friends of ours and she was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer which has spread to other parts of her body. She is currently receiving radiation trips and will begin chemotherapy very soon.

According to Natasha {Clara's Mom}:

They are just about finished creating the treatment program, but in all likelihood, Clara will receive 6 3-week cycles of chemotherapy, in addition to the concurrent radiation treatments that will probably last for 2 1/2 to 3 weeks.  She will also need a bone marrow transplant, a stem cell transplant, and possibly a second bone marrow transplant.  After this first round of treatments, which they refer to as induction, she will start consolidation, wherein they attempt to get the cancer cells that are floating around in the body but that don't show up in scans.  This is where the second bone marrow transplant comes in.  She will likely lose her hair and experience months of nausea and discomfort, most of which can be controlled through medication.  There will be times when we may be able to bring her home over the next 18 weeks, but we won't know for certain until she is well into the therapy.

This is where you all come in...

Please pray for Clara and that she can handle and respond to her treatments. Also pray for her loved ones that they can feel love and comfort during this difficult time.

And if you are so inclined, here is a fund set up in Clara's name. Donate HERE if you can.

Brian and Natasha are amazing people and already I feel like I've learned so much from them. Their outlook astounds me and they are truly an example to us all.

Here's another snippet from Natasha {via her blog}:

This is all very overwhelming, but we feel a calm assurance that the Lord's hand is in this.  We have faith that God has a plan for each of us and we hope that His will is for Clara to make it through this ordeal.  We know that we cannot change God's will, and we pray for the strength and courage to accept it, whatever that may mean for Clara and our family.  We are sincerely grateful for those who are sharing this experience with us, praying for our sweet daughter and her caretakers, and contributing in any way to alleviating the burdens that we feel.  We hope that we are all able to learn from this trial and that we each become better people and better followers of Jesus Christ as he carries us through this time of sorrow and uncertainty.

"Hope . . . is like the beam of sunlight rising up and above the horizon of our present circumstances. It pierces the darkness with a brilliant dawn. It encourages and inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an eternal Heavenly Father.” 
–President Dieter F. Uchtdorf