Today was just like the last few.  We went to radiation and then met with the doctor.  She said everything looked good.  She was pretty positive on the way he was doing.  We are praying hard for his blood counts, they will check them tomorrow.  If they are too low we will have to have a blood transfusion, which is no big deal, but would be better, if we could just keep chugging along.  The radiologist was a little confusing today when she told us that the counts need to be high enough or we may have to change our schedule some.  This week has been full of a lot of questions, but our focus on the answers has not been there, so I am not sure if we heard her right.  Just pray that the levels are ok and then there won’t be anything to worry about.

            Tomorrow we also have physical therapy as long as his lines work and the blood can be drawn so that they can test it.  Schedule = Radiation @ 8:00, Clinic right after that, Then physical therapy @ 11:00.  I will believe that schedule to work out when I see it.  We just hope that the levels will be OK, if we can get to next week the doctors feel that the levels will stay up because they start boosting areas instead of doing the entire spine so it won’t be as hard on the platelets.

            I found myself back in normal days again today, getting frustrated when the kids were fighting, when they wouldn’t listen, when Chance was throwing a fit, or even short fused with Desirae.  I then relax a few minutes and realize how blessed and fortunate that I am to have that to get frustrated about.  Thank God for the kids fighting over the stroller, Thank God for Chance asking me question after question while I am trying to update this, and Thank God Desirae has gotten used to me being mean and short with her at times when I am frustrated.  I Thank God for another precious day with my family and to have these little worries and aggravations.   Please keep Chance’s eyes and blood counts in your prayers for tomorrow and I will let you know about the outcome tomorrow night.

            Love,

            Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

    Today's schedule was alot like the last few.  Chance was a night owl once again last night.  I can guarantee if that is the case tonight I will be asleep.  He was alittle harder to wake up this morning, but we did get to radiation on time.  After radiation we came back to the apartment and soon after that Aunt Pat showed up to spend some time with us.  We all enjoyed seeing her, she is always a positive influence on us.  Chance and Destiny rode their tricycles with Pat, that was alot of fun. 

     After that we headed to occupational therapy.  Chance has been doing very good with his fine motor skills, so this was a quick apointment, but he did get to play in the balls because occupaional and physical therapy are both at the same place so he loved that.  While at the theapy I got a call on my cell phone from Roger Hollandsworth telling me he was in Durham.  We were thrilled to see him, he stayed with us throughout the afternoon and ate supper with us.  While Chance and Destiny took a nap, Roger and I rode around and talked.  During this trip he took me by Cameron and the Duke Chapel.  First time I had been to Cameron and the team  just happened to be practicing, it was a closed practice, but it is not everyday you get to see Duke practice so I kinda sneak a small peak. 

     Tomorrow will get us to 20 days down so we are getting there.  Other than that, nothing important tomorrow except for raditaiton.  Chance has gotten into doing tricks to the doctors, so we may head to Raleigh to go to a Magic shop.  Well, I better go to see if I can get Chance to bed alittle bit earlier tonight.  Once again all of our prayers go to our friends and their family, we love you guys so much.

Love,

      Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

P.S. Thanks for the call!

            I guess I will start by telling you how our day went.  Chance woke up about 7:30; I couldn’t believe he was in a good mood because he stayed up till midnight.  It is about 11:00 now and he is still going strong.  Radiation went well today and Chance woke up from it well.  He has 13 more treatments left.  I know I keep mentioning this after each treatment, but everyone is one less.  After the treatment we headed over for the clinic visit.

            The clinic visit went well, Dr. G. was satisfied.  Chance’s lines worked pretty well, I wouldn’t doubt if we don’t have to put TPA in the again by the end of the week.  His numbers had dropped some; he wanted us to come back on Thurs. to make sure they haven’t dropped too much.  If they have we may have to get a transfusion.  We will be praying that they don’t drop.  Dr. G. was not real concerned, just part of the deal.  Once they start boosting the areas of radiation the counts shouldn’t drop as bad.  This starts on Friday. 

            After radiation we had physical therapy, he really loves this.  He also improved a lot from last week.  He is very motivated to get better still.  His eyes are better at times, no headaches today was also a great blessing.  We just hope tomorrow goes as well as today did.  One more day closer.

Before I end I just want Travis and Laura and Family to know that we love you guys so much.  I know we have only been in this fight together for only about 2 months, but if I had to go into battle with someone I know who I would call first.  Thank you guys for the support and the times of talking about things.  This comes to the time where I don’t know what to say or what to do, but I can tell you Desirae and I haven’t hurt this bad since Dec. 14^th when we found out about Chance's tumor.  I know Joshua is in great hands, running and playing and will never have to suffer again.  I felt so many emotions after I read Coach’s update last night.  We all need to keep in mind our life on earth is very short, but eternity in heaven will be great.  I don’t know what was in the future for Joshua, but I do know that GOD does and he knew what was best for him.  We may not feel that now and I know we have a lot of questions, but GOD still gives us a promise that we can see him again one day.  I pray for strength for you guys through this difficult situation, but just remember GOD is there for you.

Love,                                                        

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny 

Hey,

       Just wanted to write before we headed back to Durham.  We had a good day today, it started by going to church and then coming home for the afternoon.  Chance has acted alittle more tired today than usual at times.  He also has no patience right now, I don't know if this is from his medication or him just wanting his way (PROBABLY HIS MOM).  Tomorrow is clinic day so we might be able to get some answers from Dr. G. then.  His appetite has gone back totally like the old Chance, just picking here and there, but I guess if he stays active maybe that is OK. 

      I just want all of the Mannon Family to know that you all are in my prayers.  I really enjoyed seeing and meeting each and everyone of you.  Well as we leave for hopefully another good week we ask for prayers.  Chance's eyes, stomach, and eating are all concerns right now.  Everything else is going well, hopefully by next week at this time we will be down to single digit radiation treatments left.  Please keep Joshua, Travis, Laura, and family in your prayers.  Thank you for everything.

    Love you guys and see you next week,

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

         Today was a great day.  Last night Desirae's mom and dad came up to spend the weekend with us.  Chance had a great day, he played about all day.  He hasn't complained about his head hurting today except one time.  Sometimes we don't know if it is really hurting or he is just saying this so he can get something he wants.  I really hope it is the second answer.  With Des's parents here, I was able to go up and watch some of the AAU games.  I really enjoyed and I am really excited about all of those guys coming through the program.  I was also glad to see everyone that I had a chance to speak with including parents, friends, players, kids, and referees.  It once again was truely unreal how that something like this was put together.  I really hope that this becomes an every year event.  Thank you to everyone that help put this together and everyone that helped with it also. 

         Once again our concerns are Chance's eyes and his upset stomach.  I want everyone to keep Travis, Laura, and Joshua in their prayers in that the hours will improve Joshua's health.  Tomorrow hopefully will involve church and hopefully the weather won't be too bad to be able to stay late like we normally do.  Once again thank you to everyone and we appreciate all you do until we can personally see you and thank you.  I know we will never be able to do this to everyone, but I hope you know that we really do appreciate everything.

Love,

      Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

P.S. Also, I would like everyone to keep Mr. Mannon's family in your prayers, as they are going through a tough time.  He was a very well respected man that changed alot of peoples life.  He will no longer have to suffer here on earth.

Another good day.  We got home about 12:30, Chance come out of radiation alot better today.  Another answered prayer.  After we got home Chance laid down for a nap and I headed to the store.  Chance is doing pretty well except he is complaining alittle bit of a headache every now and then.  We are hoping it is coming off of the steriod, but it still scares us.  We keep praying about his eyes, his stomach has improved.  The radiation is starting to darken and dry his skin out in places.  17 days down and 14 more to go, keep praying and keep the faith.  On the way home while we were coming through Greensboro, I saw a mini-van that had PSM 341.  So I wrote it on my hand so that I could check it out later.  After I went to the store I headed back home, I drove past the church and decided I needed to go back to the church to pray for Joshua and Chance.  At the front of our church is a big bible, when I got to it, it was opened to the page before Psalm 34:1, this scripture reads "I bless God every chance I get; my lungs expand with his praise."  Everyone needs to read the rest of Psalm 34 also.  God has truly blessed us with alot of things.  Over the last couple of days alot of thoughts have gone through my head in what the future holds.  I don't know how our situation will end, but I do know that God is with us everyday of the journey.  He will never leave or forsake us, and our faith that he is in control is what makes us so certain that everything is going to work out.  We are praying so hard for Travis, Laura, Joshua, and Family right now.  Joshua and Chance had alot of opportunites before all of this happened to play together, but it always seemed that both families were too busy, but we are praying for more times to have play days and I guarantee being too busy will never be a problem again.

Love,

Brian,Desirae,Chance,and Destiny

            Another great blessed day.  It started with radiation at 8:00 and everything went well except when Chance comes out again.  He was very upset so that was alittle upsetting to us, but once we got him back to the apartment he calmed down.  He is doing really well.  After about an hour at the apartment it was time to go to the physical therapy appointment.

            We check in and met our therapist, she was really nice.  The more we talked the more we found out, she was from Blacksburg and played basketball for them, graduated in 1993.  What a small world it is.  Chance loved this; he really worked hard with everything that she put him through.  She set us up with two appointments next week.  We didn’t really know where he should be at now walking and playing around so that is one reason why we got PT.  Another reason we just wanted to know how to improve on his weaknesses especially right now that he is very motivated because we know that will probably change in the future.  We are just trying to get him as strong as possible until that time comes.

            After that we headed to the science museum.  It was really cool, he loved it also.  Duke had given us some passes.  He got to ride a train and they also had a butterfly pavilion where he got get us close and personal to hundreds of butterflies.  This was a lot of fun and then we headed back to the apartment.  We are planning to go back in the weeks to come because we didn’t even get to see a ¼ of the museum and other things.

            Tomorrow once again hopefully will be the same schedule, hopefully things will be on time and we will get back to apartment and his lines will flush.  We should be able to head to Floyd a little bit earlier, maybe getting there somewhere around 12:00.  We are all praying hard for Joshua right now.  We all want him to improve so fast and I know God is hearing our prayers.  We just can’t lose the faith.  Well hope to see a lot of you this weekend and hope all is well.  Good luck to the Lady Buffaloes!

            Love,

            Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

             Just wanted to give everyone and update because I don’t know if I will be able to later.  We have had a great day and a very fun day.  Chance went through radiation good again and then we had to see the radiologist today for our weekly checkup.  During the checkup I asked her how we would now if this was working and she said by the way he is acting and that he is off of his steroid.  So far so good, but we know that it still can change at any time.  Tomorrow is day 16, so tomorrow will be the half way point through radiation.  We know we have been blessed this far and I am sure that the blessings won’t stop here.  We hope that the next 15 ½ go just like these did.

            After radiation we came back and Laura called and wanted to know if we would watch AJ.  Chance was very excited about that.   Chance rode his tricycle while AJ and Destiny rode in the wagon.  Then we decided to do a craft, we picked up pine combs and put peanut butter on them and then bird seed to make a bird feeder.  All of them really enjoyed this.  We also had a little picnic over at the picnic area, it was a lot of fun, and then we headed in for a nap.  Each of us took one kid to try to get to sleep.  Of course I took the easiest one since I was the most inexperienced, I chose Chance.  We were both out pretty quick; you know that you have to go to sleep to get them to sleep.

            Well the afternoon and night looks fun for all of them.  The reason why I wrote early was that my Uncle Mike had got 4 tickets to the UNC game tonight at home.  I finally asked Chance after going back and forth and he said it was OK to go.  I think all he is worried about is AJ is going to be here to play so I probably won’t be missed.  Desirae may write more later, but not sure. 

            Tomorrow has the same schedule except we have a physical therapy appointment in the morning.  Hard to believe it is almost Thursday and hopefully just one more day before we get to head up the road again.

            Brain, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

            As we awoke today we knew it would be a long day because it was clinic day.  Chance woke up in a good mood about 7:00, which is his normal wake up time before all of this started about 5 months ago.  We headed to radiation and that went well.  He woke up and we headed over to clinic.  We were a little bit early so we went up to see the helicopter and stopped by to see Laura and family.  It was good to see Coach Pratt, Saundra, and Laura.  I just really wish we could have spent time with them at a different location.  I know that before much longer the group of both families and friends are going to be able to spend time together and have a lot of fun with the kids.

            We got back over for a clinic visit and Chance was really tired, not sure why.  Once again his lines didn’t work so they had to put TPA in again, which means at least another hour of waiting.  We then went back up to see Laura and family and spend some time with them.  We came back down in an hour, but it was another 30 min. before we every got in to get the TPA out.  Once again it worked and his lines were working well.  Dr. G. came in and told us everything was looking great.  He also told us to take him off his steroid which will caused him to have a bad headache this afternoon.  He said his blood counts were perfect so that is good news.

            By now it was about 2:30, which once again is normal for a clinic day.  Chance came back and took a nap a then we went walking.  Chance wanted to ride his tricycle so the weather was nice enough down here that we let him do that.  He hadn’t eaten anything all day so he was ready to go and wanted to go to Golden Corral.  If anyone sees us at Golden Corral you will never be able to get pepperoni pizza, because Chance eats all of the pepperonis, sorry.  The night went better, Coach Cantrell and Gayle stopped by before they headed to Brenda’s.  It was good talking to them and spending some time with them.  As we go through this with Laura and Travis we feel that every one of us is related.  We love their families just like we love and care about ours. 

            Tomorrows schedule should be the same hopefully, please keep Chance’s belly and eyes in your prayers and keep Joshua in your prayers as they prepare for a long day tomorrow.  I know God will make it a successful one for them and everyone.  Thanks for all that you are doing everywhere; we still don’t know how to think each and everyone of you. 

            Love,

                        Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

Back in Durham, we arrived last night about 11:30pm ready for another week.  Radiation time was changed to 8:00am instead of 8:30am, so we didn't know how that would effect him.  He woke up in a pretty good mood, and went on to radiation.  Another day down and it went well.  Chance's stomach is still upset, according to Dr.G he thinks it is from radiation.  We are still praying for his eyes also.  He is still very motivated to get better walking, his only weakness is getting up from a seated position.  Tomorrow is clinic day so we always expect a longer day, hopefully blood work and everything else will be OK. 

Today we went outside and fed the birds, Chance really enjoyed that.  It was still cold, but the rest of the week looks good temperature wise.  We have physical therapy on Thursday to get some ideas on how to improve.  Chance is doing great, but anything to improve him more, especially right now that he is motivated.  Thank you for your prayers, please keep praying for Chance and brighter days for Joshua over the next few days.  Once again we are very blessed to have another fun day, we really enjoy everyone of them.  Talk to you tomorrow.

Love,

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

Man it is cold!  We are getting ready to head back to Durham, it is almost 8:00pm.  We had a great weekend and it was good to see everyone that we did.  Chance enjoyed going to church today and playing with Kyle.  He also had a real good weekend with Desirae’s Mom and Dad up here.  Hopefully this week will be another good one.  Right now one of our concerns is his upset stomach.  He is not complaining about it, but it is upset.  His eyes are better, but they still need to improve some.  As I said on Friday I thought that the radiation was catching up to him by making him fatigued, I may have been wrong.  He had a hour nap yesterday and none today, so I am not sure. 

            It was so good to go to church today, we all really enjoy hearing Mike.  I love when he really hits home on his sermon.  God is so great, we all need not to be afraid to share that with everyone.  If you care about someone and they are not right with the Lord you need to talk to them.  You realize how sad it would be to get to Heaven and that friend, relative, or spouse not be there.  Think about it; eternity is a long time.  God has just been touching me a lot lately and I just want everyone to know how we feel and you need to think about and see where you sit right now if something should happen.  Well the bus is getting ready to leave, once again another great and blessed weekend, and we hope and pray for a lot more.  Also, don’t forget Joshua’s big day on Tuesday.

Love,
Brian, Desirae, Chance, Destiny

Another good day.  Chance woke up playing and eating, more playing than eating, so he is even more getting back to himself.  His stomach wasn’t upset this morning, which was an answered prayer.  About midday we went over to Wal-Mart, got some lunch at Red Robin and the usual we went by Cold Stone.  It was another fun day!  When we got home Pat and Bradley came by which it was good to see them.  We are praying hard for Chance’s eyes to get better, also he has been complaining some about his belly and head.  I just hope this is nothing big.  We will find out more on Tuesday when we meet with Dr. G.  The radiation is starting to affect his hair, this morning we noticed more hair on his pillow.  Other than that it was a really good day and really good being home. 

Congratulations to the basketball teams that are still playing and I hope Giles and Radford represent the Three Rivers District well in Regionals and hopefully State.  I have really missed you guys.  

Hopefully we will see you at church tomorrow and then we are going to get Chance’s hair cut, even though it is falling out; we think he will feel better.  Then about 8:00pm we will head back to Durham to start another week.  This week we will get over the hump.    We keep praying and keep the Faith that everything is going to be OK.

Love,

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

P.S.  J.P good talking to you and hope to see you soon.

Well we are writing tonight from Floyd County which is a very good feeling.  Today has been a good day, but a few challenges throughout the day has made us remember that everyday isn't going to be easy.  Radiation went well this morning, but he was really tired when he got out.  He let us flush his lines to make sure they worked before we headed home and they did.  After we got home Chance wanted to take a nap, so Chance and I laid down.  He slept for about 3 hours, I am still wondering if the radiation is effecting him.  He also has had alittle bit of upset stomach, so I don't know if that is from radiation or from maybe a small bug that he has.  Hopefully it will get back to normal.  This weekend will be a good couple of days off.  Next week we will get over the 1/2 way mark which will be good.  Tonight Chance ate OK, Dr. G. said do decrease his steriod and maybe take him off of it next week.  Tonight we notice that the dressing wasn't exacttly right from the change today and that is Chance's biggest issue is the tape.  Putting on or taking off, he gets so upset just adding tape.  I know that is going to be a issue when we can't do it when he is asleep.  Cross that bridge when we get to it.   We added alittle to it and hopefully it will be ok till next week. 

It was so good to see the ice on the tress in the sun, it was really pretty.  I know there is alot of people who don't agree with this especially the ones that don't have power.  We can see the houses across the ridge with no lights, but we have been lucky we still have ours.  Desirae's mom and dad have come up to spend the weekend with us, so that will be good.  Who knows what he will want to do tomorrow, but I bet it will include Wal-Mart.  I got a chance to go by the store and saw Brenda and Louie Dalton, I really  enjoyed talking to them.  We miss seeing and talking face to face with everyone, please  keep in touch over the well wishes, we love to read them and Chance does too.  Thank you for your prayers, because we are home again and still pushing ahead.  Chance keeps improving, but I think we may start seeing some signs of the treatment.  Please keep Joshua in your prayers big time over the weekend and especially on Tues.  Chance wants to play with him alot, WE JUST HOPE THAT THE SWALLOWING TEST WILL GO WELL.  PRAY HARD!!  Hope we get to come to church on Sunday, but we will have to wait and see.  Talk to you tomorrow.

Love,

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Desitny

Today was another good day.  Chance is getting more like himself, he was up about 6:45 wanting to wake sissy up.  That was great, they played alot today and fought alot.  It was really good to see both.  Chance took a nap about 12:00 and he just laid down to go to bed.  I don't know if fatigue is setting in alittle or not.  It was only about 8:30 when he went to bed.  Other than that it was a normal day, he ate alot of pizza for dinner.  Tomorrow will be day 12, 4 weeks left, I just pray that it keeps moving along the way it has been.

Just got a call from Timmy Slaughter on the game, congratulations to Auburn, I wished I could have been there.  Good luck the rest of the way.  I want to Thank Coach Slaughter for the time and effort that he put in with my leave of absence.  Also, to the guys and their families for all the support, once again I know they found out alot about life and themselves this year.  Thanks to the fans for all the support too, hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

Well if everything goes well tomorrow, we will be home about 12:00, hope to see you this weekend. The weather looks really cold though, but there is nothing like the air up there.  Thanks for all the prayers for another good week, after tomorrow we have gotten through it. 

Love,
Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

Hey hope everyone is having a good day.  I know the weather back home is pretty rough.  Hopefully you won’t be without power long.   I know the basketball games are getting pushed right now also, but I know it will all work out.

For us we had another good day, once again I just won’t you to know that we are so blessed.  Radiation went very well and the meeting with the doctor went well too.  Chance scared the doctor with his lizard, he thought that was funny.  He also had made the nurses at radiation some cupcakes and cookies, they really like them.  They rest of the day included going to a Christian Book store which Chance picked out a few things.  After we left there I wanted to show them the Dean Dome and a little bit of UNC’s campus.  There was a lot of heads hanging after last night.  Then we came over to golden corral to eat and then on home.  It was another fun day; I just don’t know how to tell everyone how we feel.  One reason is so many people have helped us keep pushing along with the prayers, financial support, and prayers.  The other is there is just so many times during the day that it is really hard to believe that Chance is not going to be OK.   I know there is nothing that is saying that he isn’t going to be, but after what some of the doctors say you still have that feeling.  That is when our doctor starts working; God is the greatest healer and doctor I have ever seen.  I am just so happy I have him to call on, he gives us such a peace that we know it is going to be OK.  How easy it is to get off the path that we need to stay on, but it is just as easy to stay on it though.  So many people including myself look at short time satisfactions instead of the long term.  I have told a lot of people we may be here another day, week, year, or many years, but that is no where near how long eternity is.  Well I guess I better get over here and start playing some monster trucks, thanks for what each and everyone of you have done, are doing, or are planning to do.  We would never get through this with out you. 

Love,

Brian, Desiare, Chance, and Destiny

P.S. HAPPY VALETINE’S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just wanted to let everyone know how today went.  Chance woke up in a great mood ready to go scare the doctors and nurses with his bag of tricks.  He is like a circus coming to the clinic with all he has in his bag.  He really enjoys playing with them.  His radiation went well and he woke up from it good, more prayers answered.  Today was our clinic appointment day.  After alot of time over there, taking blood and messing with his lines, Dr. G ask Desirae and myself if we would do a gene test to see if this was hereditary.  They took blood from both of us, Chance got a kick out of me being scared of the needle stick, I didin't find it too funny, but it made me smile because he did.  When we finished that up we went down a couple of doors to see Joshua before we left.  He was getting done also, so we waited on them to ride the tram back over to radiation.  Both of the kids and we as parents, enjoyed that time together. 

Dr. G said everything looked good, that we might know more the 6 weeks that radiation is over.  That is when they will do a MRI.  Desirae and I found today the most normal day in a long time.  We both felt at times that nothing was wrong and we were back to normal, it was kind of a wierd feeling, but we still know that it can change in a second.  This afternoon we all went to a mall, it was really nice.  We have really enjoyed Aunt Susan and Uncle George, they are heading back tomorrow.  The schedule should be the same tomorrow.  We were going to try to get the kids together again tonight, but both of them were pretty tired.  Well I guess I better go it will be a long day at the radiation lab after VT beat UNC.  Hope the weather improves up there and you don't lose the power.  Talk to you tomorrow.

Love,

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

Today started with Chance waking up ready to go once again.  We had prayed all weekend that he would wake up after the radiation in alot better mood.  It was alot different today when we went in, in that Joshua was at a later time.  We really missed seeing them this morning, it was very lonely.  Chance came out of radiation great, he was in such a good mood.  Another prayer answered!  We then caught the tram over to the clinic for our apointment.  Before we went that way, Chance wanted to give one of his new buddies; Simon, a stuffed dog.  When we got over to the clinic they notified us that the schedule had change, this didn't surprise us.  Instead of on Mondays we were going to be on Tuesday.   While we were there we got to see Nathan, who is at the end of his treatments and he is doing great.  It was really good to see them.  On the way out we ran into Travis and Joshua.  We spoke and they headed on up to their clinic appointment.

After that we headed back to the apartment.  When we got back, my aunt and uncle from Chesapeake were here.  They are going to spend tomorrow with us too.  It was good to have them here, Chance had alot of fun with them.  This afternoon, it was warm enough to go outside and ride his tricycle, so we went down to the tennis courts and he took off.  He rode for about 30 min, along with Destiny on her little mermaid ride.  Then we came back in and started eating this huge amount of food that Doug and Shirley Phillips had brought.  Thank you so much, it is really, really good.  Chance really likes the Mac and Cheese and Destiny likes it all.

By now it was about 7:00pm and Chance had been waiting to see Joshua.  He was so excited about going to play with him.  About this time Travis, Laura, and Joshua just got back from the hospital.  We went over and they played together for about 30 min.  It was great for all of us.  Finally we all got together in a comfortable place where we could enjoy everyone.  Joshua walked while we were there.  He is improving so much.  Prayers are being answered everyday! 

Please just keep praying for Joshua to improve everyday and for Chance's eyes to improve.  Right now that is our main worry, beside the tumor.  We are all praying that this radiation is taking care of the boo boo's in these children's heads.  While reading another book today, I know you can't believe that, but it had another great quote.

"Faith is telling a mountain to move and only being shocked when it doesn't."

We hope tomorrow to get the boys together to play more, it was really cool.  Everyone be careful tomorrow with the weather, I think we are getting all rain.  Good Luck to you guys against Auburn.  I guess need to be saying good luck in getting the first round games in.  We will talk to you tomorrow.

Love, Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

P.S.  The webcams are great.  I thought I would need to keep a eye on the guys at C.W. Harman & Son, but they are really stepping up.  You guys are doing a great job  You don't understand how much that helps having one less worry about the store and how good it is doing.  It is actually doing better with out me there, but that doesn't surprise me.  Everyone there has pulled together to pick up on the little amount of work I used to do.  The store is looking great and I hope to be back soon.  It was also good seeing Al today.  I really miss messing with you guys and giving Chug a hard time.

Once again just wanted to write before we headed back to Duke for another week.  It has been a great weekend.  Today Chance woke up in a great mood ready to go to church.  I just love walking into the church hearing the great songs being sung.  I wished we were able to stay and see everyone, but we are still trying to keep everyone as healthy as possible.  We are just so blessed to be able to come home and let Chance spend his weekends at home.  We are praying every night that Joshua will improve over the next few days so that Travis and Laura will be able to bring him back to Virginia.  I know everyone would love to see him.  We are trying to pack everything up now.  Chance’s eyes have improved over the last week, but they still have a little bit to go.  He didn’t want me to carry him up the steps at church, he wanted to walk.  That makes me so happy that he is that motivated.  Sometimes as good as he is doing it is really hard to believe he has such a bad disease, but I know God is in control.  Well better make sure Desirae packed my stuff too.  Thank you and God Bless all of you. Talk to you tomorrow.

Love

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

What a great day, thanks to a lot of different people.  It started this morning rushing around trying to get to the pit pass at the monster truck show in Roanoke.  We finally got down there about 12:00.  We went on in and got to our seats, they were really good too.  A lot of thanks to Wendy Delano for the seats and Jeff Dalton getting us hooked up with Wendy.  It was really neat seeing all these people flock around these drivers, that just a couple days ago they were one on one with Chance.  These guys were super; I don’t know what to say.  Courtney Jolly and Randy Brown treated Chance like he was their son, brother, and best friend. 

The announcer began the show by mentioning Chance and Joshua, and the samefight.org website.  About that time Courtney came running in to show her support by saying hello to Chance and Destiny.  Also, she had Chance and Joshua’s wristband on.  She had got Chance to sign it on Thursday.  After that, during intermission they took us down to a room below the civic center.  It had food and a lot of souvenirs in it that we could pick from.  While we were there they picked us to judge the freestyle competition, which was really cool. 

The freestyle competition started and several competitors were doing fair, but then Destroyer and Superman had good runs.  The last one to go was Grave Digger, I didn’t know if he could do it or not, Chance was hoping and cheering for him.  About 40 seconds into his 1 min. run he went up off these cars and flipped it over.  That did it, no question, he was going to win.  The crowd went crazy as he climbed out, what happened next brought tears to my eyes.  Randy got out, he was OK, and he walked over to the announcer.  The first thing he said was that the run he just did was for Chance Harman.  How Randy could remember Chance with all the other things he has going on.  He just flipped his big monster truck on its top.  The announcer wanted him to sign two things while he was doing the interview and they brought them right to Chance.  He mentioned how much he had enjoyed spending time with Chance on Thursday.  This was pretty amazing in front of a sold out crowd.

I told Desirae that the Monster Truck finals are in Las Vegas the 24^th of March.  If I knew that Chance would like it and be able to do it, I would make reservations right now.  Once again thank you to everyone that made this possible, it was probably one of the best days he has had in a long time.  I hope someway that we can keep in touch with Randy and Courtney, but I know so would everyone else, but they allowed us to have two awesome days.

Tomorrow is the day we head back for more treatments, but no one can take this great day away.  Thank you God for giving him the strength and the health for making this possible.  A great BLESSING ONCE AGAIN!

Love, Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

Sorry about no update last night, it has been two full days.  I will start with yesterday in that radiation went well.  We got to get a good picture of Chance and Joshua that is now posted on the internet.  They are showing off their lizards that they scare the nurses with.  After that we headed home to meet Jeff Dalton, Shannon Zeman and Papa Harman.  They had us lined up to talk to the drivers of Grave Digger and Pastrana's199 and to sit in them.  He was really excited, you should be able to view the pictures on the internet.  I really want to thank Randy Brown (Grave Digger) and Coartney Jolly (P-199), they were really cool.  Chance was alittle bit intimidated, but he really loved it.  I also want to thank Wendy Delano for lining alot of this up and for the other things we have scheduled for this weekend.  The other one is Jeff Dalton, he is the one that started the ball rolling.  Once again THANK YOU!

We left Roanoke and headed home.  After getting home, I meet Papa Harman and we headed to Blue Ridge.  After eating there, they notified us that someone from Shawsville had paid for our dinner.  Thank You. I don't know who you were, but we really appreciated it.  Then we headed to senior night basketball game, very emotional.  It was good to get back on the bench and coach a little bit.  Timmy Slaughter has done a great job with these guys and the guys have really responded well to the circumstances.  The Seniors did get the win in overtime, thanks to the shot God guided from Timmy Harris.  I really enjoyed the interaction between the players of Eastern Montgomery, especially Joey Leech and Coach Thompson.  Coach, thanks for the words, you knew exactly what to say.  After the game we left to go back to Durham. 
We arrived about 12:15am, so it was a long day, but very worth it.

Today Chance woke up in a good mood, we met the Cantrells again at radiation.  It was very good to see them again.  We had been seeing another little boy with us in there and we got to meet him today.  His name was Simon and he is 3 years old.  The location of his tumor was where they couldn't do surgery, just the treatments.  Looking at him, just a great, fun, good looking kid that you would never know anything was wrong.  His was dignosed on the 26th of December and then on the 28th, his mom and dad had twins.  I am sure their life is in a whirl wind right now. 

After Chance woke up from his radiation, he wasn't in a good mood.  He was fighting us and did this all the way back to the apartment.  After he laid down for about 15 min. he was OK, so we are praying that this won't be the situation in the future.  We headed home again, which was another blessing to leave Durham.  We got home and took a nap, which I really needed.  Desirae went to Stacy Thompson to get her hair done.  THANK YOU!  We then woke up and went to 'dad dad's' store for a little while and then he wanted to go to Midway.  He wanted some candy chips and tow bug juices.  Two of course.  Why two?  Always looking out for Destiny.

All in all it has been two great days and hopefully a good weekend with the monster truck show tomorrow.  Thank you to Dr. E. for working Destiny in today, that really helped.  My father got some good news today.  His test had come back normal, another blessing, thanks for the prayers.  How great God is and what he does for us everyday.  Count your blessings everyday, and Thank him everyday.  Well I'm heading on, Thank You for everything once again.  Thanks for the prayers, they are working.  Give him all the praise!  Talk to you soon.

Love,

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

P.S. Look forward to seeing everyone at the Monster Truck Show!!

Wanted to give a update before we went to bed.  The schedule today was just like yesterday and tomorrow.  Radiation went well and then we came back to the apartment.  We then had some good vistors, Dr. Arbogaust, Coach Moran, and Mr. Hollandsworth.  I hadn't seen those guys in a long time, it was a really good time.  After that we went to Wal-Mart for a few minutes.  Came back and Chance took a nap, then tonight we went to Golden Corral to eat.  Chance ate really well!  After that Chance wanted to go over and see Joshua, so we took his tricycle over to the hospital and he rode up and down the halls.  He loved that, then we came home took a bath and went to bed.  Tomorrow has the same schedule, but we are going to try to come home after radiation for alittle while, because thanks to Jeff Dalton we are going down to see the monster trucks and meet the drivers.  We havn't told Chance yet, because just making sure he feels the same tomorrow as he has the other days.  I know he will be very excited.  Well we have 1 week down and 5 to go, just praying that the next 5 will be like this one.  Good hearing from everyone and Chance's eyes are improving.  Prayers are being answered,  I know you have heard me before, but God is so Great.  Chance is so motivated to do alot, especially walking.  He walked to the post office across the street again twice today.  Also today Desirae and I got a chance to watch the candle light visual, once again I don't know what to say,  but I know how we felt.  You could see the power of God inside the gym and on the track that night.  We cried just like you guys did, but they were tears of joy, hope, and faith that God is in control of these situations. 

Don't forget about the Boys  Basketball Senior Night tomorrow at 7:30, PLEASE come out and show your support.  I think I am going to bed, UNC is not favoring too well right now and I am not going to stay up and watch them lose.  We see too much dark blue as it is around here.  I don't guess I have watched a full game this year.   Plus in the end after this all works out Desirae and myself may have to pull for Duke every now and then, just not against Carolina.

Love,

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

P.S. Update may be late tomorrow! 

Today started just like the others, we went to radiation at 8:30.  Once again we ran into Joshua, Travis, and Laura, it is always great to see them.  Joshua gave us two or three really good smiles, how great that was!  Day 4 of radiation went well, I just hope that the rest of them are like these.  After tomorrow we will have one week done, one week closer.   I really believe Chance's eyes are getting better, but it may just be hoping that.  Chance is so motivated, this afternoon he walked over to our post office which is about 50 yards away.  I love hearing him tell me what we are going to work on tomorrow with his legs.  He also wanted to shoot some ball tonight.  Tonight was probably Chance's best night so far.  God is so great, we are so blessed he is improving.  I don't know what radiation is doing to his tumor, but I know physically he is improving everyday.   I started home today to go to senior night, before finding out it was canceled. On the way back I listened to XM radio channel 34 Christian Network.  I sang all the way back, man it was a good trip down the road.  Also today we went to find Desirae a bead shop, when we turned on the exit Nana and Desirae spotted a stain glass shop.  We also finally found the bead shop during this search, Chance made us aware of a Church we had passed also.  Even though we were looking for some places to waste some time, Chance was still noticing places we needed to spend some time.  We are still praying for his eyes and the radiation days.  Everyday is one day closer, oh yeah I forgot we went to Wal-Mart today; couldn't forget that!

Talk to you tomorrow,

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny    

Hello, hope everyone is having a good day.  I keep up with the weather all day back home I know it was cold there and tonight really cold.  Well we had another good day.  We started back radiation at 8:30 this morning.  We got there in time to spend some time with Joshua, Travis, and Laura.  Joshua is improving so much, I really believe it won’t be long before Chance and Joshua will be able to start spending some time playing together.  After radiation we have a clinic appointment with Dr. G and to give some blood.  That happens every Monday.  Once again his lines didn’t work, so they put some TPA which will take the blood clots out.  This takes about 1 hour, during the hour I took Chance up to the 9^th floor where the helicopters land, he LOVED that.  While we were up there a man gave him a stuffed helicopter and stuffed ambulance.  Then we went looking for Joshua and he had moved rooms so we just went back down to see Desirae and get ready to pull the blood off for labs.  Desirae was upset because of all we had seen, Chance and I found this funny.

They finally got the labs drawn and we saw Dr. G.  We are still concerned about Chance’s eyes, they still are not exactly right, but Dr. G said it was probably from the pressure so he wasn’t real worried.  After that we went to McDonalds and then went back to the apartment.  He had a good afternoon with a nap and then ate Nana’s rolls which he really loves.  Tomorrow is the same schedule, but no clinic appointment.  Chance still has that bad cough he can’t get rid of, but I keep praying and I know it is just a matter of time he will lose it. 

Please keep praying about Chance’s eyes and that the radiation will effect what it needs to and not have any effects on him personally.  I know I ask for a lot, but Gods says to pray for everything small and large so I am definitely going to do that.  Thanks again for the emails and all the prayers.  Desirae called a doctor office and a dentist office today back in Virginia and both people she talked to wanted to know how everyone was doing and that they were praying for us.  GOD IS SO GREAT!!

Check out the new pictures if you get a chance and Bridgett the website is looking GREAT!  Another thing I wanted to say how great it was on the way back last night seeing the two lights once again in the windows.  We came down through Patrick County this time and saw the support way on down Route 8, it really felt good to see those bright lights.  We love all of you guys, Thanks for everything.  Keep up the faith, another day down, another day closer!

Make sure you come out and support the Boys Basketball Team tomorrow night 7:30.

Thanks and We Love You,

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

This may be short because we are getting ready to pull out now and head back to Duke.  We had a great weekend and hope to be back this Friday, but we will just have to wait and see.  What a great day! We went to church and as soon as we walked in I could hear, "Victory in Jesus."  Couldn't have been a better song to come into.  Seeing everyone at church was good to, just wish we could of been able to talk to everyone, but we have to be careful right now.  Chance got a opportunity to play with Kyle, which I think both had a good time.  Man it was so great to be back in church. 

Chance is still improving, probably eating the most that he has in awhile tonight, but that was nana's cooking so that may have been why.  His eyes are still worrying us, but we have a clinic appointment after radiation so we might find some information out then.  Just pray for another good week.  On Friday we will be one day from 1/4 of the way there of radiation.  Once again ONE DAY AT A TIME.  Thanks for everyone and everything, lets hit the road, enjoy the night, and see you soon.

Talk to you tomorrow night.

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

P.S. Don't forget about senior night for the Boys Basketball team on Tuesday, PLEASE come out and support them.  Make plans now, the game starts at 7:30, Thanks for the support of the team and their family!

Today was a another good day.  Chance woke up in a great mood ready to go to Wal-Mart.   Who would of ever guessed that?  We went to Applebee's for lunch, Wal-Mart, and then stopped by Cold Stone for some ice cream.  Chance didn't take a nap today so he was ready to go to bed tonight.  For dinner he got his favorite, tator tots from D.J.'s drive inn and he wanted a bun with no hot dog.  Right now whatever he will eat we jump on it.  He really improved today on his walking and getting around.  He is alot like when a little one first learns how to walk and they don't want any help.  He is really improving!

Pat came over and got our web cam working, we are really looking forward to using that and keeping in touch that way.  Also, Timmy and Stern stopped by which it was good to see those guys.  Carrie, our mail person stopped by with the girls, Jason had gone to the UNC game.  I know he wasn't happy on the way home. 

One of Chance's central lines didn't work exactly right tonight, but hopefully when we flush it tomorrow it will be fixed.  We are still praying about his eye, it was ok this morning early, but then he started favoring it later.   Thanks again for all the support on the emails.  Desirae and I have had some valleys throughout the last couple of days.  I guess it's because of how good he is doing and we still realize that it is still a long battle.  One of the cards we received today was really good. 

"If it hurts you to look back, frightens you to look ahead, then just look beside you...  He is there."

Oh how true, these weeks has been exactly like that.  Thank you for the prayers and tomorrow on a update I am not sure, because we will be pulling out late to head back to Duke.  Talk to you soon and pray for next week to go as good as this one did.

Love,

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

Sorry it took so long to update.  It is about 10:30pm on Friday and we are sitting at our home in Floyd County.  Man did we really miss this place and we have only been gone about 10 days.  Last night, after I updated, Chance didn't feel real good.  I don't know if it was from the medicine or the radiation, but he got sick twice.  This morning about 7:30, he woke up in a great mood ready to go do his treatment and was that way all of the day and into tonight.  We are so thankful.  On the way home we had to make a deal, if he would take his medicine, we would stop by Wal-Mart.  Turned it up and gone, (Lost that deal, but he did take his medicine).  After we got home, I got to go to the store for about an hour.  Boy, I really miss those guys and the normal life, but thats ok.  I ran down to Ray's to get some food for our family and it was great.  Also I got to see some people, one of those was Zack Griffith, one of my basketball players.  I really miss seeing all of you guys, including all of the everyday people in the store and just meeting people on the road.  I know he probably didn't recognize me, but the first Floyd County person I saw was Hosea Blankenship.  I was so happy to see somebody I knew.  I don't believe I had either hand on the steering wheel, I was waving with both.  I am sure he is still trying to figure out who that crazy driver was.

Chance is really pushing himself, he was trying to run today. When we got home he wanted to shoot some ball, man that was great.  Two days of radiation down, twenty-eight more.  I know they may be tough, but they can't take these two great days back.  Also, another week closer to beating this monster.  We are still walking by faith and not by sight, very hard sometimes, but I know he knows best.  We are scheduled to go back late Sunday night and start again on Monday morning.  One of Chance's eyes is not focusing real well.   We mentioned it to Dr. G., but he wasn't too concerned.   Please keep that in your prayers.  We keep praying that this raditaion won't have the side effects on Chance or Joshua.

Once again we are enjoying everyday to the maximium.  Keep up the faith and will try to write tomorrow.

Love,

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

Just wanted to drop evereyone a note.  We just went through one of the toughest things so far in this journey and that was laying him down on the radiation table.  I know that this is what we have to do to beat this thing so we are doing what is best for him.  We have been at the stem-cell harvest all morning.  It was supposed to start at 8:00, but once again they drew blood at 8:00 and we finally got started at 10:30.  Yesterday we got 3 million stem-cells and we need 8 million for the whole process.  So hopefully today we got what we needed.  If not we either come back before the first chemo or after the first chemo.  He had a good night last night, at night time he is more like himself than any other time.  I just hope he comes through the radiation and has a good night.  He hasn't been able to eat all day because they had to put him asleep for the radiation.  Another thing that we are worrying about is his cough and cold, because when he comes back to he coughs alot more.

The weather wasn't much here today, but I did see where the weather is going to be very cold on Tuesday and Wed.  I am hoping that the two radiation appointments go well and maybe get home late Friday afternoon, but that is the least we are worried about right now.  When that gets here we will decide what to do so who knows.

The next fight has begun and we are going to hit it hard in hopes of stopping this monster.  We are glad that we are finally here to start something that we can see results, but along with that we are very worried also.  We keep praying throughout the night and all day so I know GOD is going to take care of this. 

The last thing I want to let you know is the re-schedule of the Senior Night for the Boys Basketball team is on Tuesday at 7:30.  Please make plans to attend, make it a huge night in support of these guys and their famlies. 

I will probably try to write tomorrow night hopefully in FLOYD, VIRGINIA, but I am not planning anything.  Thank you guys for everything especially all of the emails and the prayers.  Love all of you guys we also have some new pictures getting ready to go up on the website sometime this weekend maybe.  Thank You!

Love,

Brian, Desirae, Chance, and Destiny

     Chance is having a wonderful day today. He was eager to awake and get to the hospital for radiation (never thought I would say that). He was a little ham this morning. He received a Cat scratch toy from McDonald’s yesterday, he loves it. The cat figure makes tooting noises under his arm pit (very loud and obnoxious). Needless to say it was the thrill of the day for Chance. The doctors seem to like it as much as Chance did; they all played with it during his radiation. Chance was tooting on all the doctors and nurses, with the toy. His spirits are really good today. We have to watch him though, he just gets up and goes when he pleases (we still try to walk with him just in case). He is improving physically everyday. We thank God every single day.

     After radiation Chance wanted to go shopping (at Wal-Mart of course), he purchased a toy and ate a good breakfast. His appetite has been very good today. Thank the Lord! Chance has continued to tease his sister all day (which I also thought I would never be excited to say that). It is a joy to see them teasing and irritating one another. Destiny and Chance both seem to stand their ground (must have gotten that from their daddy; ha, ha, ha!!!).

     Chance’s central lines pulled and flushed really well today. Yesterday we had to go to clinic to declott the lines. God blessed us once again. If the nurses can’t pull or flush from at least one line, then the lines have to be replaced (another surgery). We are very thankful. Brian and I are maintaining the care of the central lines. (It’s no biggie.) We still continue to pray for Chance’s eye sight. Something is not right with his pupil in his right eye. We don’t know whether it is from the tumor swelling from radiation or what. It’s a little frustrating because no one knows exactly what’s going on with it. We mentioned it to the doctors. They say it is the least of their concerns, which we understand that but would like the best for Chance. I would just hate to neglect something that may be fixable. I know we are being greedy, but God does say to ask for EVERYTHING whether it be large or small. God has already blessed in so many ways each and every day and we can’t begin to thank him enough.

     We would like to thank everyone for their prayers, concerns and generosity. We don’t know how we will ever thank you all. Your well wishes are an inspiration to us all. When ever we get down, we read our bible, and then read our well messages. You truly don’t understand how much they mean to us. We love each and every one of you. Hope you have a good day!!

       Sorry, I have not been given the opportunity to finish the stories of Chance’s faith. It has been a little hard to find time lately. The doctors have kept us busy this past week. Thursday was a little hard too, Chance had a bad day. He got sick a couple of times that night and his head was hurting. We seem to think now, it was the busy day he had with stem cell harvesting and radiation on top of that. We are enjoying being home today. It was really nice to see the mountains and having the cows for neighbors. You don’t see any down at our apartment in Durham, only city life. It was really nice to see the hospital in our rear view mirror yesterday. Thank God for his many blessings.

            Chance’s faith; Reading back I did skip one! When Chance had his first resection (brain surgery) Brian and I were overwhelmed with joy to see him the first time after the procedure. The first thing we did was kiss him and told him was how much we loved him. The second thing, we told him everything was going to be o.k. He squenched his eyes open (due to the swelling) and said “I know”. Brian and I looked at one another smiled and embraced each other. We knew then physically, God was with Chance the whole time. We knew spiritually God would be with him but, Chance then told us God had him under his wings the whole time. Chance then began to ask for something to drink and a brownie. We were so relieved, we knew right off the bat he could talk and still had an appetite. Another blessing and sign of faith God has given us!

            The fourth sign God gave us was unbelievable. When Chance was a little baby his nursery was Noah’s Ark. When he moved upstairs to his “big boy” bed I still wanted to use his decorations and stuffed animals so, I painted a jungle theme on his walls. It took me forever to paint life size animals and a mural. One wall of the mural contains a tree. I wanted Chance to write his name on one of the limbs of the tree for keepsakes. He went upstairs with a permanent marker and signed his name. While we were upstairs he wanted to trace his hands on the wall. I told him sure, why not. He wanted his hands in blue (his favorite color). I asked him where he would like to put his hands, he stated above his bed. We traced his hands and went back down stairs. Papa Harman arrived a short while later. He told papa of his hands and asked papa to do him a favor. He asked papa to go up stairs and draw a cross between his hands. We all just looked at one another! Amazed and overwhelmed with joy papa fulfilled his request. He then wanted his baby sister to trace her hands above his own. The faith Chance has shown us through this journey is unbelievable, everyday he teaches us more then we could learn in a life time.

           Chance taught us another faith lesson through the radiation marks. During radiation the doctors draw permanent lines on his belly and chest with markers. The markers allow them to properly line him up for each treatment. When Brian and I saw these marks for the first time, all we could see were the x’s and the thought of the side effects of the treatment. When Chance looked down for the first time he said, “Mommie look! They drew a big blue cross on my belly”. First we did not see the marks that way. Chance was quick to bring it to our attention the positive things in life. We have learned so much over the past few months looking through a child’s eye. They never see the negative, bad things in life, only positive, good things. I think we could all learn a few life lessons, if we would only take the time to look at life through a child’s perspective.

              Chance has taught us so much about life. God has used him to teach us many lessons and help us find our way down this long bumpy road. We are so blessed each and everyday. No matter how bumpy the road gets, God always manages to show us the way and guides us down the right path. We thank him each and everyday. God bless you all.

In Christian Love,

It's about 5:30am this morning. We have not slept much Chance has been coughing his head off. Brian and I are concerned about this cold Chance has. We have another round of harvesting stem cells at 8am and then radiation around 2pm. It worries us because Chance will be put to sleep for the radiation and with a cold it is more difficult and more side effects, likely dealing with the airway. He just can't seem to kick this cold. I am eager to start radiation to see how the cancer reacts but also worried it won't react. I know God is with us though, so let his will be done. Chance was a comedian before bed again tonight. He is getting back to his old self every once in a while, so full of laughter and life. We thank God everyday for the many blessings he has given us. No matter what the out come of this situation, I thank God for sharing Chance with us. God is great!

     Chance has shown Brian and myself more faith then you can even imagine. I have been wanting to write and tell everyone about this special child (Chance). I know God talks through him because I have seen and heard things no other 4 year old would likely think about. There are several things Chance has said through our journey; most of our friends and relatives already know about them, but I want everyone else to know the miracles God has done for us.

           The first one was when we were first diagnosed (before Christmas) Chance had finished his bath and I had began to dry him off on the bed with his sister. We were all tickling and chasing each other around the bed. Chance all of a sudden stopped, looked me right in the eye and said real seriously "Mommie you know we are all going to go to heaven." I about feel in the floor. I ask him (thinking someone had been recently talking to him about God) who told you that? He told me, "It says so in the bible." I first got scared thinking God was trying to prepare me for what was to come soon. Then Chance and I continued to speak of heaven. He asked me were there birds in heaven, I said sure. He then asked were there cars in heaven? I told him no, angels have wings they don't need cars. He wanted to know how God put wings on angels. I told him God just placed them on their backs. Chance then became satisfied and began playing with normal 4 year old toys (monster trucks of course). I spoke with God that night asking him, "O.K. God I know you might be preparing me for is to come. I might not understand, but I know it is in our best interest." Little did I know then, God was just reminding me at the time; we will all go to heaven if we only believe and have faith.

                 The second message from God, through Chance, was the day we came to Duke. We had the Tahoe loaded up with just about everything but the kitchen sink. We were preparing to stay in Durham for months just in case we got that news when we arrived down here. It was about 6am in the morning and of course still dark outside. We put the kids in their car seats and began down the road. I asked Chance what he wanted to watch in the car? Scooby-doo, Cars, or John Deere? His reply to me was I want to read my bible. I looked at him with amaze. What other 4 year old would want to read the bible instead of watching a children's movie? I was overwhelmed with joy. His faith and belief in God is so much stronger then Brian and I. If we only had half we would not worry about anything. Of course Brian and I do believe and have strong faith, but our 4 year old is even stronger!!! We physically knew then, God was with us going to Duke.

                I have to leave you at the second message from God. I will continue later today about the others. We must get ready for our upcoming challenges today. Remember, God is with you through the good times and the bad, no matter what.

God bless you all,

Desirae, Brian, Chance and Destiny