Prayer Request for Parents of Young Cancer Patients

last june i found out that the daughter of a friend was in the hospital and was diagnosed with a cancer called neuroblastoma. my friend started posting progress reports and her husband posted diary entries daily on their daughters website. www.sydneydungan.com i instantly became hooked on visiting this website and praying for my friend and her family. their story has touched me so many ways. it has helped me to be a better father and husband. also, it has helped me to get past some major mountains and through some pretty deep valleys in my spiritual journey. they, along with other parents of children with neuroblastoma, have started a grassroots fundraising effort to find a cure for this deadly cancer. this effort is called "lunch for life". my prayer request is for these parents to have success in this effort. it is very important for them to be successful because it gives them something for their children that is hard to find in so many of their stories, HOPE! although i have been a lurker here at freerepublic for sometime, i have only recently started posting. i have posted several news articles pertaining to this story and checked every topic that i could think of that might generate interest. i have received very little response and am not sure what i am doing wrong. but one thing i do know, when my wisdom and strength fails, there is an inexhaustable supply that is yeilded to me through prayer. my prayer is that people read this and respond to my request.

Thank you for calling this to our attention.

Please Father, grant strength and courage to these families that are dealing with the horror of their children having this illness. Please show mercy and healing for the children. Reveal Yourself to these families who need You now more than ever.

We ask these favors as your humble servants in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

I was listening this morning to my favorite hymn, It is Well With My Soul. The story behind the words of the hymn, which was written in 1873 by Horatio Spafford, serves as an inspiring testimony of one mans' unwavering FAITH in HIM, even while enduring tagedy and sorrow.

It truly is a great story which deserves to be retold. On September 9, my own dear wife of 39 years passed away after a 3 1/2 month battle with primary peritoneal cancer. She requested that "It is well with my soul" be sung at her memorial service (and it was). In the program, I printed this 'background' on the hymn and its importance to us.

" The words to It Is Well With My Soul were written by Horatio G. Spafford in 1873. It was written after two major traumas in Spafford’s life. The first was the great Chicago Fire of October 1871, which ruined him financially (he had been a wealthy businessman). Shortly after, while crossing the Atlantic, all four of Spafford’s daughters died in a ship collision. Spafford’s wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, “Saved alone.” Several weeks later, as Spafford’s own ship passed near the spot where his daughters had died, he was inspired to write these words. They speak to the eternal hope that all believers have, no matter what pain and grief befall them on earth.
This was always one of Nancy’s favorite hymns. It became particularly dear to her when, in the late summer of 1970, her father died and her second child was stillborn within the same month."

Cancer is largely a factor of age. Some 80% of all cancers occur after age 55. I can testify that this does not lessen its impact. But it is even more sad when it attacks those who have not yet had a chance at life. We all pray for these little ones.

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