Baby Joel - Bad Report or God Report?

At Denver International Airport - after two days of canceled flights - getting ready to board.

I have seen God's hand at work, even in the delays.

Doctor's Report: Yesterday the pathology report was presented to Amy and Ryan. By human standards it was pretty bad. The tumor was the AR/TR cancer the surgeon feared it was. It is very, very rare and so they have very little direction when it comes to treating it. Basically, they treat it as aggressively as possible without the treatment becoming fatal - at the risk of many side effects and possible complications from the treatment.

Doctors say it is their only option.

The most extensive study on treatment and survival rates on children with AR/TR was just recently completed. It was a two year study, but the cancer is so rare it only included 12 children. The survival rate for that two year period was 50%

Joel is scheduled to undergo 6 weeks of intense radiation, followed 46 weeks of chemo.

It is only very recently that they have treated children under 3 with radiation.

Of course the radiation and chemo can be greatly damaging to Joel, as well as to the cancer.

Please, please pray that God will see Joel through this treatment with no permanent damage - and little or no pain or side effects!

The most difficult thing for Amy & Ryan is that there is no longer any medical measure which might show that God has healed Joel and spare him all or a part of these treatments.

The MRI they did after surgery was clear - yet, the surgeon knows that he left a small bit of the tumor which was right at the bottom of the brain stem and had a major artery and nerve running through it, making it too dangerous to remove.

There will be many tests along the way, but none that will show him to be healed.

I would ask you to pray fervently for Ryan and Amy as they journey through this next year - that they would turn to each other, support each other, encourage each other, grow in love for each other - and have God's peace which passes all understanding - and that God would increase their faith daily as they are bombarded with difficult information and circumstances - and that through it all, they would keep their eyes and hearts on God and be able to hold fast to Him and His work in Joel!

Pray for their two other boys, Caleb and Issac.

Above all - keep praying - keep following the blog - http://joelevangreen.com - and keep posting on the Facebook group - I Believe! Praying for Joel's Healing

I have been so honored to be here, to pray over Joel and, because of flight cancellation, to be able to pray with Ryan and Amy right after they had received the pathology report.

This may all seem to be devastating news - it may even seem to some that our prayers for Joel were not answered - but let me assure you of this -

GOD'S REPORT IS THAT JOEL HAS A 100% CHANCE OF SURVIVAL
WITH NO COMPLICATIONS - THAT HE WILL LIVE 80+ YEARS, HAVE A POWERFUL TESTIMONY - AND THAT MANY SOULS WILL BE SAVED BECAUSE OF THIS THING WITH SATAN MEANT FOR BAD!

I thank you for your many, many prayers - more than 3000 people from 29 countries have seen Joel's blog and are praying.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR JOEL AND FOR AMY & RYAN!

Love in Christ Jesus,

Jim
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Great Report on Joel!

This is Joel yesterday - less then 24 hours after brain surgery to remove the tumor from his brain stem! Looks great, doesn't he!

My flight home today was canceled due to ice & snow in Tulsa and I've been re-booked for a flight out late tomorrow afternoon! The ways in which God moved to get me out here, I can only believe that God wants me here for another day, so I'm rejoicing in the delay.

So much good news today in regard to Joel!

The pathology report on the tumor will be available tomorrow. I'd ask you to continue to pray that it is a less aggressive form than the surgeon expects - or, better yet, that it is not even cancer at all!

Amy and Ryan were told today not to be overly concerned with the very low survival rates they have seen for this type of cancer for children Joel's age. Denver Children's Hospital is one of the 4 leading hospitals for research/treatment of pediatric brain tumors - sharing treatment advances with the others four. AND - new and successful advances in treatment are moving so quickly that published statistics cannot keep up with the reality. So, even it if is the type of cancer they suspect, Joel's chances of cure are much better than we first thought.

Joel is recovering from his surgery in miraculous fashion! Generally babies his age do nothing but lay still for several days. 48 hours after surgery, Joel is rolling over, reaching for things with both hands and pulling and pushing them to and from him. He is awake and alert!

AND - he has already been moved out of ICU!

A couple of years ago, Joel's older brother Issac had to have surgery on his skull shortly after he was born. There was one nurse who was especially helpful at that time. Guess what nurse was assigned to Joel in his new room? This nurse has set the goal to get Joel eating on his own, all tubes out and ready to go home ASAP! In fact, she was going try to have the feeding tube out and Joel eating this afternoon, so that when his brothers came to the hospital this evening, Joel could be brought out of his room for them to see him!

Joel cannot go home till the fluid draining from his brain is clear. Right now it is still pretty red from the normal bleeding following the surgery. Please pray that it becomes clear very quickly! They said it could happen tomorrow or next week - just no way to tell. Pray it is tomorrow!

Twice, once the night before surgery and again yesterday afternoon, Joel was very fussy, but as I began to pray for him, he got quiet and still and fell asleep. I'm not sure if it is the power of my prayers or if I'm just really boring!!!

I cannot tell you what an honor it has been for me to be able to be here to pray over Joel!

The first few days after the news they had found the brain tumor, I felt very uneasy, even as I prayed for his healing. But, as I began praying aloud as I drove from the airport to the hospital, I began to have a peace about the outcome of this journey. As I prayed over Joel that first night and each time I have prayed over him since, I have felt more and more certain this is just the beginning of not only a long life, but an amazing testimony for Joel, which will result in many people being saved.

Our prayers have accomplished much - but now is not the time to stop, but to pray all the more fervently that our gracious heavenly Father will continue His work in completely healing Joel!

For more detailed updates - http://joelevangreen.com

If you are a FaceBook junkie (like me), you might want to become a fan of:
I'm Praying! Believing for Baby Joel's Miracle

Love in Christ Jesus,

Jim

Baby Joel Update

I love this picture done by Joel's dad, Ryan Green.

I stand amazed at the faith of my niece, Amy and her husband, Ryan as they continue to believe God for complete healing for Joel.

Joel was in surgery only half as long as the surgeons had expected. They were able to easily remove almost all of the tumor and are confident neither the surgery nor the tumor harmed any of Joel's nerves or brain function. The tumor has been sent to pathology for them to determine the exact type of cancer.

The neuro-surgeon said that the tumor was not the type he expected it to be, but rather a type called ATRT. This is a rare type found in only 2% or so of tumors. Survival rate in children under 3 years old (Joel is 12 months) is a very low 11%-17%. He did say that he could not say for sure that this was the type of tumor it was, and that we will need to wait on pathology for a full report. We expect that report by Friday or Monday. We are praying that pathology will find it to be a more easily treatable form of tumor - or that it is not even cancer at all!

Joel did GREAT in the surgery! He was strong and stable. And, he was resting very comfortably when I left the hospital this afternoon about 4:30. Joel was breathing on his own and looked super, especially for just undergoing brain surgery. He has tightly sutured incision running from just behind his left ear to 2/3 the way to his right ear, low on the back of his skull. No bandages and very clean.

He already looks so much better to me. Amy reported that his eye brows were already again moving in unison.

I prayed over Joel again right before I left the hospital - that in the Name of Jesus he would be healed, fully & completely, that he would live a long life and that by his great testimony many souls would be saved.

Please continue to lift Joel up in prayer as we await the MRI and pathology reports, that God would be gracious and the Joel's healing be made complete!

And, continue to life up Amy and Ryan. Their faith is so strong, yet constantly being bombarded with these bad reports. Help them to hold to the fact that God's report is the only report that matters - that His word is the final word!

You can follow Amy and Ryan's thoughts and get the latest updates on Joel at:
http://joelevangreen.com

Love in Christ Jesus,

Jim

Praying for Baby Joel

We learned last week that my great-nephew, Joel Green, has a tumor on his brain stem. Joel just turned 12 months old about 10 days ago.

People, literally, all over the world, are praying for complete healing for Joel!

You can learn more about what has happened over these last few days, and follow his journey forward, by going to Joel's blog - http:joelevangreen.com.

I am in Denver to be with family and to pray in person for Joel.

I arrived in Denver yesterday (Monday), early evening and was able to pray over Joel for 20 minutes or more last night at the new Childrens Hospital (one of the nation's top 10 hospitals for children.)

He was fussy and restless as my sister, Julie (his grandmother), and my niece Sarah (his aunt) began to pray, but he became very calm, and, as we prayed, Joel drifted off to sleep.

He had the most restful, peaceful night he has had in some time, certainly since he has been here. He was more alert and responsive this morning than he has been and even tried to smile at mom and dad.

They took him to surgery about 7:30 this morning. We just now at 10:30 (11:30 in Tulsa) - received our first report. Surgeons have reached the tumor and are taking pieces from different areas to test and will proceed based on the results. Joel is doing great! Strong and stable!

Please continue to pray!

We have all been praying that God would heal Joel and that surgery would be unnecessary, but we trust God when He says His ways are higher than our ways - and the He works all things for the good for those who love him and are called according to His purpose. We know that Joel was knit together in Amy's womb by God Himself and that God has directed and will continue to direct his course. We know that Joel has been called for God's purpose, so, as we move forward, we trust and believe that God is at this very moment working all of this for GOOD! And, that it is still His great intention to completely heal Joel.

Love in Christ Jesus,

Jim Rutherford