Scan results

Hello everyone I hope you are having a great day! Well this has been a great day because I got my scan results back and they were awesome! We are so excited to say that there were no cancer cells that showed up on the scans. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as we wait for my thyroglobulin levels to decrease. God is so great and He hears all of our prayers. Thank everyone for the support and prayers I cannot explain in words how much they mean to me! I will still continue to keep everyone posted with my energy levels and my friends from St. Jude. Have a blessed day! :)

St. Jude gala

Good afternoon! I am going to try my very hardest to put this into words. Saturday night was such a spectacular night and an experience that I will cherish for a lifetime. I had the privilege of taking part in the St. Jude 50th Anniversary gala. The program consisted of powerful words from Danny's family, stories from former patients, and wonderful musical performances. This gala was so beautiful because it showed the long journey and everything it took to make St. Jude what it is today. For everyone who does not know the story of St. Jude I am going to share this link with you guys Story of St. Jude. Danny Thomas is the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and he had a dream to create a hospital where no one would ever have to pay for their treatment and made sure that he staffed it with the best doctors in the world to all work together to cure childhood cancer. I heard such wonderful stories about Danny from his family members and close friends. In 1991 he passed away but left a hospital to the people he loved the most and they are still continuing his mission to make sure that no child dies in the dawn of life. There was a huge screen where videos of Danny and pictures of patients were projected. This screen was breathtaking and it was so neat to see how the hospital has grown and changed over the years. On this wonderful screen there were also videos of the journey of patients. There was one patient to represent each decade and after their beautiful testimony was shared they came up and gave a speech. Back when the hospital first opened the survival rate for leukemia was 4% and I cannot even begin to explain the emotion that filled the room after each patient shared their story. All of these survivors were so thankful for Danny's dream because of his dream they were given a second chance at life. Everyone stood up and cheered for these angels after they told their story and it was like everyone in that room was a family and we were all cheering together and celebrating our relative's miracle of life. At the beginning of this post I said that I am going to try my very best to put this in words when in reality no words can be used to explain the greatness of the unity everybody felt that night. The room was filled with Thomas family members, new board members, old board members, patients, survivors, and people who just wanted to come and support St. Jude. We were all strangers but we were all united because of our passion and love for St. Jude. After these intimate stories were shared  there were wonderful performances by Billy Rivers and the Angelic Voices of Faith, Luis Fonsi, and Randy Owens. Billy Rivers and his choir sang such a wonderful song that really touched me. I have no idea what it is called but I wish I did. The lyrics said "hold on, the best is yet to come". Wow so true! I had chills when this extremely talented choir sang those words. Luis Fonsi performed after Billy Rivers and wow this guy was so talented as well! He is a Spanish singer so I had no earthy idea what he was singing haha but he was very gifted and you could tell that St. Jude held a special place in his heart. He got everyone on their feet and everyone had such a great time jammin out to his music! After Luis Fonsi sang Randy Owens came on. Just like Luis Fonsi you could really tell how much St. Jude meant to him. He wrote a song specially for the kids of St. Jude called "Angles Among Us". When he performed the song all of the patients came up on stage with him and sang! It was so incredible! There were new patients, old patients, and survivors all together on the stage like a huge family. I am so grateful that I had this wonderful opportunity to come and be a part of this wonderful celebration. Please continue to keep me and all of the patients of St. Jude in your daily prayers. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray without ceasing." Have a blessed day!

50th Anniversary Fun!

Hello family and friends, I hope your day has been spectacular! Mine has been so wonderful! I started off the morning by going to the hospital (St. Jude) to see Jordin Sparks perform because she was holding a concert for all the patients. She is such a beautiful young lady with such a sweet heart! I cannot say enough good things about her. It speaks so much about her character to give up her time to do this for the families of St. Jude. The show was so much fun and the best part was being able to visit with all of my St. Jude friends. It is so great to have activities like this because it helps patients like me get their mind off of everything. This weekend is a very busy week full of special celebrations for St. Jude because this year is their 50th year anniversary. Tonight I had the privilege of attending one of the dinners and it was truly such a wonderful experience. It was a night filled with touching stories, Lebanese dancing, and delicious food. It was so incredible to be in a room filled with the people who have helped made St. Jude what it is today. I got to hear personal stories from Tony Thomas (the founder of St. Jude's son) about his father and I got to see a side of St. Jude that I have never seen before. Because I am a patient most of my time is spent up at the hospital but I have never really been able to experience this personal side and hear stories about what went into making the hospital what it is today. I am so blessed to be in the excellent hands of St. Jude and I am so thankful for Danny Thomas and his dream to make sure that no child dies in the dawn of life. I am looking forward to the gala tomorrow night and the best part is some of my friends were asked to speak and tell their story. How neat! St. Jude is one huge family and I am fortunate enough to be a part of it. Today was a very good day for me energy wise. After the concert we went home and I got to take a nap. Then I got all dressed up in fancy clothes and went to the dinner. I started to feel bad and so I had to leave a little early but I am very proud of myself for staying as long as I did. Please continsue to pray for the consistency of my energy levels and for my recovery. Keep ALL of the patients of St. Jude in your prayers as they face their daily health challenges. Once again thank you everyone for all of

your wonderful support and prayers through this tough time in my life! :)

"When the righteous cry for help, The LORD hears, and rescues them from all their troubles."  Psalm 34:17

Scan update

Good afternoon! I am so thankful for another day the LORD has blessed me with to live out and serve Him! This morning my doctor called and said that he was going out of town for a week but saw the scans and they are good. I am exactly where I need to be in my treatment. We will get the full report and the details of the scans sometime next week. He just wanted to let us know before he left town so that we would not worry. My thyroglobin levels are 8 and eventually we want to get them down to 2 or even better get them down to 0. I am not completely done but we sure are getting close! The type of treatment I receive is called radioactive iodine radiation. This type of treatment stays in your body for a long time so the treatment is still fighting off the cancer cells and thyroid cells. Our plan is to have more scans in December and thyroglobin blood work test to see where I am. We are praying and hoping that my thyroglobin levels will decrease by December which means the treatment is still in my body and continuing to do its job. Today I went up to St. Jude to pick some things up. St. Jude is such a happy place and all the walls are decorated with art that the kids make. As most of you know my friend Andre passed away Friday night and he has a beautiful poem and it is hanging up in one of the main hallways.

My Real World
By Andre C.
Lately it’s been hard.
Lately it’s been tough.
I’ve got to be strong
And never, ever give up.
Leukemia, MDS, Transplant I, Transplant II
This is taking forever, but what can I do?
This wasn’t my plan that’s for sure,
But with God, there’s nothing I can’t endure.

This journey is painful,
As everyone knows.
God’s carrying me through
And it really shows.
I’ll return to my real world
When all this is done.
I’ll have beaten it all.
And I will say, “I won!”

There will be camping, hunting,
Fishing and sports.
Hanging out with family, friends,
And fun of all sorts.
I’ve been inpatient and outpatient
For almost two years.
My doctors and nurses
Have helped calm my fears.
So back to my real world
Is where I’ll be heading.
St. Jude will be in my heart
Forever and ever.

Wow! That poem brings tears to my eyes every time I read it. He had such a wonderful attitude about everything and relied completely on the LORD. His faith was contagious and he touched so many people's lives including mine! He will be missed but I know he is in Heaven with our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ. Please continue to keep his family in your prayers during this difficult time. Thank you everyone for the support and please continue to keep me and my recovery in your prayers. "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified through it." John 11:4 Have a blessed day! :)

Still waiting...

I hope everyone is having a great day so far! Energy wise, today has been a good day for me. I only had to take one nap today yayy! My doctor suggested that I  start going on short walks to gain my energy and strength back. He also says that it will help boost my metabolism since my medicine is not completely back to normal. Even though today was a good day I still did not feel up to going on a walk. My goal is to try to take two short walks by the end of the week. We are waiting and still have not gotten the results of my scans. We would be concerned by the long wait but since I have already gotten the result of my blood work and it was where it should be there is nothing to be concerned about. My oncologist, endocrinologist, and nuclear doctor all have to discuss the scans together before we hear any results so hopefully we will hear something tomorrow! "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12. I am growing through this experience and I am learning to be patient because the LORD knows the plans He has for me. I will update everyone as soon as we hear about the scans. Have a wonderful rest of the night! :)

Happy father's day!

Happy father's day to all of the wonderful dads out there! I hope everyone has had a wonderful day so far and made time to be with their family. I am still pretty worn out and very tired but just like yesterday I was able to take two naps today. When I say that I am tired it is almost misleading because I am not "sleepy tired" but I feel weak and do not have a lot of energy. I have been feeling like this for the past 11 months so it has become part of my life and I've learned how to use my energy in little bits to be able to make it through the day. I have my good days when I can go a whole day without even taking a nap but I do have bad days when I do not have enough energy to get out of bed. When I explain my tiredness to people the normal response is "I am so sorry that you are going through this" and in reality I would not take back this journey as a thyroid cancer patient for anything. It has taught me to depend on the LORD for strength. He mades me weak so that He can be strong in me. Give Me Faith- Elevation Worship <---This is one of my favorite songs because of its line "I may be weak, but Your spirit is strong in me." I listen to this song a couple times a day because it is such a wonderful reminder that I am broken but the LORD picks me up every time I fall down. His love for his children is unfailing and he never leaves us. This morning I was able to get up and go to church. It is always wonderful to see my church family and catch up with everyone. The sermon this morning was about God's love (1 John 3:1-3) and it was exactly what I needed to hear. It sounds like a pretty broad topic but it was so powerful and such a great reminder that I am a child of God and His love for me is never ending. Today is Father's Day and I celebrated it not only for my earthly father but also for my Heavenly Father. God has been so good to me and he has never left my side just like he promises in Deuteronomy 31:8.

Isaiah 53, His unfailing mercy.

Hello everyone! I am still pretty tired from my exhausting week. Today I took two naps and they were much needed!! Because I took a nap today I started to feel a little better and I got to go out to dinner with some of my friends. It is such a blessing for St. Jude to be in Memphis because although I am still going to the hospital it is nice to be able to spend time with my friends. I am able to still go to school and church and I did not have to pack everything and move away to receive my treatment. I have so much respect for the families that drop everything and move to Memphis to take care of their sick children. When you are going through something like this it is always wonderful to have your support group very close to you. It is overwhelming enough to have a sick child but must be so much harder to have to fight this battle without your friends living right down the street. I love being able to do things with my friends because they honestly make me feel better. It is encouraging and really plays a big role in my "healing process" for me to be able to do things that I normally would do if I were not a patient at St. Jude. My friends are wonderful and they are so caring. I would not be able to go through this journey without them. Not going to lie going out with my friends does require a lot of energy so tomorrow I might have to repeat the "double nap routine". Last night my sweet friend Andre from St. Jude passed away and his last words were "I am talking to Jesus". Wow so powerful. This was the very first patient I ever met at St. Jude. He was an outstanding young man and his faith was contagious and encouraged everyone around him. He was always happy and although it is very sad that he is gone I know that he is running and dancing around Heaven free from this sinful world and free from all of his pain. He will be missed but I know he is in a better place. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers through this extremely difficult time. They need prayers now more than ever. The doctor called today with my blood work results and he said that they were exceptionally good! They were better than he even expected! This is wonderful news and such a relief to me and my family. He said that he has not looked at the scans yet but it is a very good sign that my blood work results were very good. God is so great! The LORD truly hears all of our prayers and His mercy is unfailing. Isaiah 53 is such a wonderful picture of His never ending mercy for sinners like me. "But He was pierced for out transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5. Please continue to keep me in your prayers. The prayers I ask for this week are: my energy levels would come back quickly and would stay this way, that the LORD will place certain people in my life to minister to and encourage, and for the road I have ahead of me. Thank you everyone for your support and love!

My week in pictures!

Update on my scan week: June 11-15.

Good morning! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful day so far! This week has been a pretty crazy week for me. My week was filled with St. Jude appointments and scans. I went to the hospital (St. Jude) every day. On monday I checked in and had 3 appointments. My first appointment was triage and in triage they take your vitals and do lab work. Lab work is never really a burden for me because I use LMX cream and this cream completely numbs the surface that you apply it to. A lot of kids at St. Jude have lines to get their chemo but the lines can also be used to take their lab work. Because I do not have a line I get my lab work through my arm that is numbed so it is never really a problem. St. Jude truly goes above and beyond to make sure that you go through all of your procedures and appointments with the least pain possible. So after my lab work and vitals I headed over to the endocrine building to get my Thyrogen shot. In order for me to get my scans I have to have no thyroid hormones in my body and low iodine. Because I got my thyroid removed every morning I take a thyroid hormone replacement to supply me with the hormones and energy that I need to get through the day. My choices for scans were to either go hypo or try to find this wonder drug called Thyrogen (which was very hard for a lot of doctors to get their hands on). Thyrogen is a series of two shots in your rear end and it depletes all of the thyroid hormones in 2 days instead of taking almost a month. For my treatment in the fall I had to go hypo and it honestly was terrible. Going hypo means that you take away my thyroid hormone replacement and it takes around three to four weeks for it to leave my body. During these three to four weeks I am in my bed and asleep because I do not even have the energy to do anything. Once I was done going hypo it took about 5 months for me to start feeling better and be able to go to school for full days instead of half days. I was not completely back to normal but I was a lot better than I was when I was hypo. Because my experience of going hypo was so miserable we requested the Thyrogen drug. The LORD truly blessed me and my family and the pharmacy got their hands on these magical shots! In order to achieve low iodine levels I went on a no-iodine diet for three and a half weeks. Since almost EVERY food contains iodine I could only eat certain fruits, veggies, and a certain pasta. This was not the most fun "diet" to go on but my wonderful mother went on it with me so it wasn't as hard! It was a lot better to go on this diet in the summer because all of the yummy fruits were in season unlike when I had to go on this diet in the fall. Wow that was a long explanation and I hope that it made sense. :) My Thyrogen shot went very well on Monday but my bum was a little sore and I started to feel sick. Because my thyroid hormones are still being depleted I started to feel very weak and tired and I also got a pretty bad headache. I had one more appointment for the day and it was a meeting with Child Life. Child Life is specialized for the teens at St. Jude. It is hardest for the teens because we actually know what is going on so the Child Life specialists's jobs are to make activities for us and try to get our mind off of everything. Child Life puts "meetings" on your schedule if you are having a long day or a long week and you normally just go and hang out with the other teens at St. Jude. During my "meeting" we all made summer bucket lists which was so much fun!! I love all of my friends at St. Jude and I really enjoy getting to spend time with them. Even if you do not have a "meeting" on your schedule you are still welcome to go to the teen room. The teen room has computers, video games, a jukebox, movies, and a craft station. The best part of this room is that no parents are allowed! It is so wonderful because sometimes you just need to get away and talk with teens that are going through the same thing as you. After spending time with my friends I started to feel really bad so I called my mom and she came to the teem room (do not worry she did not come in it ;) ) and got me to take me home. My next day was exactly like my day before: labs and Thyrogen shot. I was feeling pretty crummy and very tired on Tuesday as the Thyrogen began to kick in. I got to visit with all of my wonderful friends again and said goodbye to one of my friends that we thought was leaving to go home the next day. Turns out that she had a couple of more appointments so she did not leave until Friday morning! She is truly a wonderful girl and her love for Jesus Christ is shown through her attitude for her situation. She is one of the older teens and is such an inspiration to all of the other teen girls. I went home after my tiring day and got to eat my WONDERFUL no iodine food haha. On wednesday I went in for a small does of radiation. This radiation is called radioactive iodine I-123. I took the radioactive iodine and because there was no/low iodine in my body the left over thyroid tissue would suck up this iodine and on my scans it would glow. This makes it easy for the doctors to be able to see how the treatment is working. This was a small does of radiation so I did not have to be in isolation like I did when I had my treatment. I was pretty worn out from the Thyrogen shots but the radiation took me over the top. I was exhausted. I got to go home and I slept for almost the rest of the day! The next morning I woke up and headed to St Jude for my 24-hour scan. The scan lasted about an hour and a half. The best part about scans is that my really sweet nurse always gets me a heated blanket so after like 10 or 15 minutes I am sound asleep. I have had a lot of scans at St. Jude so sometimes when I am not tired it is just really boring but my nurse brought in some ipod speakers and I got to plug up my phone and play my favorite songs! I played my favorite songs from Hillsong and Elevation Worship. I am not going to lie it is pretty scary when you are in the scan because your mind starts to wander and you start to think about all of the things that can show up but with my worship music playing in the background I could truly feel the LORD's presence and his loving arms wrapping around me. It was such a wonderful feeling to be in this pretty scary situation and feel the LORD's presence. I have always been at peace with my situation because I know that the LORD did not give me cancer to punish me but he BLESSED me with it. Cancer has been such a blessing for me! My walk with Christ has been amplified like 1000 times! I know that no matter what results I was going to hear it was all part of God's plan. His plan is better than any plan that I can think of for myself. I will still praise him no matter what the results are I will celebrate if they are good and I will thank Him for blessing me with another trial if something were to show up. The next morning I went in for scans again but these only lasted about an hour. I was really tired so I did not ask for the ipod speakers and used this wonderful opportunity to take a nap. As I was trying to fall asleep I was just sitting there praying and asking for courage and comfort. After the scans were over my nurse asked me to stay in the hospital until she showed the scans to the nuclear doctor and asked if we needed to take any more pictures. As I was waiting in the cafeteria with my mom and best friend's mom (basically my second mom) I saw my doctor and I asked if I could go off of my no-iodine diet and he said yes!! I ran into the cafeteria and bought a huge slice of pizza. Man that pizza was delicious. St. Jude has the best food ever and their pizza is the best pizza I have ever tasted!! It was even better than I remember since I had not been able to eat it for three and a half weeks. There is also a Starbucks in the cafeteria and so I went and got a java chip frappachino. So good. We still have not heard the results and we will hopefully know on Monday. These scans were just a check in to see how I am doing in my treatment. Please keep me in your prayers for my recovery and the road I have ahead of me. Also pray that the LORD will put people in my life at St. Jude to minister and reach out to. Thank you everyone for all of the prayers and support. They mean the world to me!
-Kendree

Nice to meet chaaa

Hello! This is my first official post on my blog! Yayy! So exciting! I am still trying to figure out this whole "blog-thing" so we will see how all of this turns out. I am going to use this first post to introduce myself and what kind of things you should expect to find here on my blog. My name is Kendree and I am 15 years old. I am currently battling thyroid cancer and I have the privilege of being a patient at the wonderful children's cancer research hospital also known as St. Jude. I am a Christian and I live everyday for my LORD and savior Jesus Christ. On my blog you will be able to find my testimony and stories from my experience as a patient here at St. Jude. The LORD has used this experience he has blessed me with in so many ways and I decided that making a blog would be a really neat way to share all of my blessings. His mercy is unfailing! I hope you enjoy and don't forget to smile today :)