Urgent prayer request for two young children
  • I learned this morning that both of one of my choir member’s grandchildren are in the hospital. The little boy was with his parents on a trip, several hundred miles from home, when he came down with pneumonia. The girl, only 8 months old but born a very fragile preemie, was admitted to the hospital with a possible collapsed lung and is currently on a ventilator. As of this morning the doctors were beginning to see the affected lung work on its own, but it’s still a critical situation. It’s just an unimaginable situation to have not one but both children so sick at the same time, and one being in a hospital so far away from home. Please pray for these little ones and their families.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,973
    Prayers.
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,164
    Praying. Asking the intercession of St. Jude Thaddeus
  • keeping them in prayers. Thanks for letting us know.
  • Will certainly pray.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,189
    Praying for these families and their little ones.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Prayers for all: children, their family, and doctors.
    Thanked by 1Carol
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,482
    Hail Mary...
    Thanked by 1Carol
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    Our Father...
    Hail Mary.... (x3)
    Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost...
    O my Jesus... (Fatima Prayer)
    St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle... (Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel)

    (Full prayers said. Shorthand here just to save time.)
  • Do you have any information on how the poor young children are doing?
  • I have an update today:

    The little boy is doing well and is no longer ill.

    The little girl was diagnosed today with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a chromosomal disease that is 95% fatal and a life expectancy no longer than two years when it is diagnosed in infancy. The family is in shock, the parents learned they were both carriers and were even more shaken by the doctors’ warnings that any other children they conceive have a one in FOUR chance of also being born with the disease. She continues to struggle with the effects the RSV virus that caused her lung to collapse, but despite all of this apparently was able to take a bottle yesterday. It’s all in God’s hands...
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Carol
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,189
    Good news for the little boy, but such sad and distressing news about the little girl and the prospects for her parents. Prayers continue for each and all of them.
    Thanked by 2FidemInFidebus Carol
  • Odds are sometimes defied. This little girl and her unbelievable mother live in our town.
    http://evasmiracle.com
    Thanked by 2FidemInFidebus Carol
  • Okay then not sure why the unnecessary disclaimer was put on my post. I don’t agree with the doctors making such a warning especially during this time, but maybe they’re required to say things like that. I don’t know. Those statistics I shared are just that-statistics-and those mean nothing to God. But absolutely nothing in my post goes against or is intended to go against Church teachings, dear future reader.

    Another choir member who is very close to the family and works for their business gave us all this news today before rehearsal. I didn’t even know what to say or do, I haven’t known them for very long. I can’t believe she stayed for rehearsal, she was so distraught.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Carol
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,211
    The "routine reminders" are randomly chosen. If you want to see a different one, refresh the page.

    (Psst, unless the post is by Fidem, in which case they are strategically selected! Well, not really. Hers are just as random as anyone else's.)

    Thanked by 2FidemInFidebus Carol
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,930
    Prayers, definitely.
    Thanked by 2Carol CHGiffen
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,164
    Offering prayers of thanksgiving for the little boy. Asking the intercession of St. Jude Thaddeus for the little girl.
    Thanked by 2Carol CHGiffen
  • Carol
    Posts: 856
    So sorry for the trials this family is undergoing at this time, but grateful for the recovery of the little boy. It is amazing how often music has the power to uplift us when nothing else seems to help. Perhaps that is why the choir member stayed. Will continue to pray for this family.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    parents learned they were both carriers [...] children they conceive have a one in FOUR chance

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punnett_square
  • The little girl is scheduled to come home soon, but of course has a very long road ahead. The virus affecting her lungs has cleared and she is breathing and eating on her own again. There are some new drugs that have shown some promise in extending life expectancy of children diagnosed with SMA, and they are also looking into some kind of stem cell treatments as well, but I don’t know any details on that other than they are considering it. I know that can be a thorny area to get into re: where those stem cells come from. Thank you all for your prayers for this child and her family.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • I don’t agree with the doctors making such a warning especially during this time, but maybe they’re required to say things like that. I don’t know. Those statistics I shared are just that-statistics-and those mean nothing to God.


    It's better that the parents get factual information from the doctors, than that they are left to discover the probabilities from the internet later with no qualified person at hand to guide them interpreting the information.

    Sometimes in situations like this, the figures are not statistics (ie estimates obtained from studies of what happens when two carriers have a child). Instead they are probabilities based on the possible gene-combinations: a child of two carriers may get (0,0), (0,1) (1,0) or (1,1) and if they get (1,1) they have the condition. The wild-card with these probabilities is whether the gene-combination effects on whether the pregnancy miscarries: It can be that the probability is 1-in-4, but the observed frequency in a full-term births is lower because babies with the condition often don't make their zero-th birthday. With rare conditions, there may not have been enough people diagnosed with the condition for meaningful statistics to even exist.

    God isn't ruled by statistics, but God created the universe with various laws of biology (which we meet in cases like this) and physics (which we meet in understanding how sound is heard in our churches). It is foolish to pretend that such laws don't exist. Yes, miracles can happen. But usually they don't. If they did, then our understanding of God's laws of biology would be different, so the miracles wouldn't be miracles at all.


    Praying for both the children and the parents in this situation.

    Thanked by 2bhcordova eft94530
  • It’s a really sad situation. I think they also tested other family members (siblings of mom, grandparents) and also found them to be carriers. So that’s probably why they threw out the one in four chance. I read that this condition is one of the top causes for miscarriage/stillbirth, but only five states currently include it on newborn screening. I sure hope that changes.
    Thanked by 1canadash