Clare

I need to ask everyone a favor.

There is a little girl from Maryland that desperately needs our prayers. Her name is Clare. In May of this year Little Clare relapsed after being completely off treatment for 16 months. Off treatment – OT. Which means Clare had completed her 2 ½ years of Chemo and was free and clear of cancer! (girls endure one less year than boys for anatomical reasons) 16 months later, the monster reared it’s ugly head. Four years earlier Clare was diagnosed with Leukemia, ALL, the same as Josh’s, November 2001. She was on CCG 1991, the same protocol as Josh. She was also 3.

Now she is 7.

Nearly 2 months ago, Clare’s brave sister, who was found to be a perfect match, gave the greatest gift a sister could give. LIFE. Phoebe checked in to the hospital, was hooked up to machines and bravely donated her bone marrow, the core of her being! so that her sister could continue to fight for her life.

Phoebe is home, Clare is not. Mom and dad juggle home and hospital in 12 hour shifts as their family is temporarily fractured. Clare now wages another war. She had been moved to the Pediatric ICU unit, and has been there for the last 37 days as her lungs battle for the next breath. I wont go into details, but in my mind, I picture a little girl in bed resembling Doc Oc with all the wires and tubes going in and out of her body, greatly outnumbering the 8 appendages our super-villain exhibits. One of the machines that helps support her life is called an ECMO. Two large catheters are placed in her groin, blue blood flows out of one leg, pumps through the machine, is oxygenated, then red blood is returned through the other leg.

This is supposed to give her lungs rest. Buy them time to heal. Build up her reserves to once again breath unassisted. Her parents report that they are rapidly approaching the end to the time she can safely be on the ECMO.

She needs prayers. Please pray that the remaining time is enough to rest her lungs so they may work again as they should. Please pray that her family finds the strength to continue to make the decisions that help Clare strive. Please pray that her doctors and nurses and technicians find the knowledge they need to heal Clare. Pray for Phoebe, who misses her sister dearly. You have been so generous in your prayers and support. We are thriving with both. As hard as Josh’s treatment seems at times: the dreaded clinic visits, the humbling ‘accidents’, the nightly meds, the weekly trips, the puke bucket… there is always someone who needs a prayer that much more. As Benno and Karen (Clare’s parents) humbly quote, reflective of the hurricane, “everything is relative”. As I tell the girls, you may seem ordinary standing next to a super-hero like Spider-Man J, but imagine how vital you are to a 3-year old toddler wanting a Popsicle out of the towering freezer!

Yesterday, Monday, at 10 a.m., was a moment of silence, a time to reflect and hold Clare in one’s thoughts and prayers, as she underwent another bone marrow aspiration at that exact same time. The results came back clear. She remains in technical remission, but she still needs our prayers. Your pleas and prayers are so powerful, if you can, please give them to Clare today!

If you so desire, you can visit Clare’s site at her Caring Bridge Page:

www.caringbridge.org/md/clareschmidt