With my whole heart, with my whole life, and with my innermost being,
I bow in wonder and love before you, the holy God!
Yahweh, you are my soul’s celebration.
How could I ever forget the miracles of kindness you’ve done for me?
You kissed my heart with forgiveness, in spite of all I’ve done.
You’ve healed me inside and out from every disease.
You’ve rescued me from hell and saved my life.
You’ve crowned me with love and mercy.
You satisfy my every desire with good things.
You’ve supercharged my life so that I soar again
like a flying eagle in the sky! (Psalm 103:1-5 TPT)
From “Cora’s” mom:
“It’s been a little while since we’ve shared an update, and a lot has happened over the past month.
“On December 23rd, “Cora” finally had her post-surgery follow-up MRI. We are beyond grateful to share that the remaining tumor is showing as “inactive”. We spoke with her oncologist at [the local children’s hospital] that evening and also consulted with an oncologist at [the regional children’s hospital] on December 31st, and both agreed that the best course of action right now is simply monitoring with MRIs every 3 months. That means **no medications or treatments** unless something changes and the tumor begins to grow. Praise God!
“Around Christmas, we started noticing Cora’s voice sounding stronger and more like her normal voice. We were hopeful this meant her vocal cord paralysis was improving. On January 8th, we met with a new ENT at [the regional children’s hospital] who performed a laryngoscopy, and praise God—we learned that not only is her vocal cord moving (though still weak), but her soft palate is moving too. It’s not fully healed yet, but this is a HUGE improvement!
“Today, we met again with her plastic surgeon to discuss her facial nerve paralysis because is still not much movement on the right side of her face.
“Unless something changes before March, Cora will be having another surgery called a babysitter procedure. This involves connecting cranial nerve 5 to cranial nerve 7 in hopes of helping the facial nerve heal and preventing muscle atrophy. This surgery is intended to help with her smile and mouth movement, but it will take 9–12 months to know if it’s successful. Before the surgery, she’ll also undergo an EMG to be sure the nerve they plan to use is viable, since so many of her nerves have been affected. We are praying God heals her before March, but we are incredibly grateful there is a surgical option if it comes to that.
“We are also so thankful to share that Cora has finally gained 2.5 pounds! Keeping weight on since surgery has been a huge struggle, so this is a big win. She still has about 5 pounds to go to reach her pre-surgery weight, and we continue to pray we keep moving in the right direction.
“Cora is continuing physical therapy to regain neck movement and occupational therapy for VitalStim on her throat and face. She works so hard, and we are so proud of her.
“Thank you all so much for your continued prayers, love, and support. You have truly carried us through so much, and we are endlessly grateful.”
Yahweh,
With our whole hearts, lives, and innermost beings, we bow in wonder and love before you, the holy God! You are my soul’s celebration. We remember the miracles of kindness you’ve done for us, especially the healing you’ve done to young “Cora.” Thank you for these good reports – especially that the tumor is inactive! We thank you for the progress she’s made in gaining weight, improvement in her vocal cord and soft palate paralysis, and in her overall health. We thank you that there are surgical options to help with her facial paralysis, but we pray in the strong name of Jesus for a complete and total healing even before the scheduled surgery. Thank you for the love and support Cora and her family have from family, friends, church, and others. We pray you will bless all those who intervene for her at your throne of glory. Crown us with love and mercy, satisfy our desires with good things. As we continue to pray for Cora, we ask that she will be returned to full health and full energy and will be like an eagle in the sky, soaring again! We ask all these things in the powerful name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, our Healer, our Redeemer. AMEN.