Good morning friends,
I was online this morning ordering our cookbook through Lunch for a Cure and wanted to share the info with you. The website is www.lunchforacure.org. It is a cookbook that was created by neuroblastoma families and all of the proceeds go towards Neuroblastoma research. Halie submitted a few recipes for the cookbook. This year the focus is on the new immunotherapy clinical trial chapter 14.18. This is a clinical trial that Halie will, Lord willing, be a part of early January. It is only available right now for children who have NED (No Evidence of Disease) at the initial scans after transplant. Halie was NED going into transplant and will rescan in the next few weeks to find out if she qualifies. Stage IV Neuroblastoma has a high relapse rate and this new clinical trial has proven to raise survival rate 20 percent which gives her a 66 survival rate over the next two years. She will be scanned for 5 years but the trial was so effective they stopped the clinical trial early to open it up to more patients. We have prayerfully considered whether this is the right thing to do as the process involves 7 additional hospitalizations and is incredibly painful for Halie and information is not available for the benefits for past two years. Please take the time to read on this trial. My prayer is that is that our friends and families would support this cause. With Christmas coming up what better way to show love to others than giving the gift of hope. John Piper wrote an article titled, God Wills Disease Why Should We Try to Eradicate It? In the article he states when Paul taught that the creation was subjected to futility (Romans 8:20) he also taught that this subjection was "in hope that the creation itself will be set free from it's bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God (verse 21.) There is no reason that Christians should not embrace this futility lifting calling now. God will complete it in the age to come. But it is a good thing to conquer as much disease and suffering now in the name of Christ as we can. In fact, I would wave the banner right now and call some of you to enter vocations of research that may be the means of undoing some of the great diseases of the world. This is not fighting against God. God is as much in charge of the research as He is the disease. You can be an instrument in His hand. This may be the time appointed for the triumph that He wills to bring over the disease that He ordained. Don't try to read the mind of God from his mysterious decrees of calamity. Do what he says. And what he says is: Do good to everyone". (Gal 6:10)
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