Reason to Celebrate!!

Hello everyone! Today is Monday August 2nd and I'm inviting you all to celebrate with us! Do a dance, jump up and down or have a drink in Chad's honor today!! Chad met with Dr. May today before his 4th and final round of chemo treatments started. Dr. May went over results from previous blood work that had been sent to a lab last month. Dr. May said that Chad's tumor markers have almost all returned to normal levels!! Tumor markers are found in the blood and are what doctors use to monitor the amount of active cancer cells in the body. We don't know what they all stand for and there are many but for example one of his tumor markers called HCG was 87 when he was diagnosed in April. The normal, cancer free range for this marker is between 0-3 and Chad's in now a 1!! Another example is the AFP marker, when he was diagnosed it was 2,389.7. The normal range for this one is any number less than 8.1. Chad's is currently 324.1. Look how far it's come down!! Dr. May said that this number is right on track and will continue to go down after this final round.

We learned today that the actual tumors in his lungs may take a long time to go away. Dr. May said he has seen them show up on scans for years after a patient is done with treatment. He said they don't go by the tumors themselves but rather the tumor markers in the blood to determine if there is active cancer in the body. Basically, the tumors themselves may be there a while but as long as the cancer cells are dead and not growing it doesn't matter.

So Chad Lovers please join me in a prayer to thank God for all he has done! For hearing our prayers and requests and for loving us all so much. To thank him for bringing Chad so far already and to pray for Chad's continued healing. Please pray for God's healing for all people that are dealing with illnesses or other life struggles. Thank you all so much for believing, praying and for never losing faith!