Pray for Josiah

Another prayer request . . . this time for a little 4-year old boy, Josiah Herring. I was friends with his mother, Suzanne Stahlnaker, as a teen and young adult until we each married and moved away from home (Ohio). Suzie, her husband and her parents are all in the ministry.

If my memory serves me correctly, Suzie & Jason just dealt with a miscarriage earlier this year and now just recently learned that their youngest son has a brain tumor. It was misdiagnosed at first even though it was thought to be a brain tumor, it was a far less deadly tumor. The second diagnosis revealed a kind of tumor that only gives him a year to live, and because of his age there is a lot less data regarding treatment. They opted to let him live as long as he can enjoying life rather than enduring treatment with unknown results.

A few weeks ago, they took a trip to Walt Disney World with Make A Wish Foundation . . .

Dear Friends,

After five wonderful days in the Walt Disney World resort, this morning we encountered a problem. Josiah woke up hungry, just like he has every morning, and he asked for some Cheetos. Suzie fixed him a bowl, and after taking two bites he acted like he was falling asleep. We gave him a bath, hoping it would wake him up for the character breakfast we had made reservations for at Chef Mickeys. But all Josiah could do was mumble a response with his eyes closed. We dressed him and placed him on the bed thinking that perhaps the excitement of the last few days was taking its toll and perhaps he just needed some more rest. None of this was normal, however.

Every morning Josiah has been up at the crack of dawn. He doesn't have a world of energy, but he doesn't nap until late afternoon. When we checked his eyes and noticed that one pupil was dilated larger than the other we imediately called his oncologist in Boise who told us to take him to the hospital for a MRI.

Disney provides ambulance service for their guests, and they offered to take us to the hospital. A CT scan at Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital revealed that Josiah was suffering from hydrocephalus and the tumor was hemorrhaging. The fluid level in his ventricles was at a dangerous level because the bleeding had caused a clot to block the third ventriculostomy. The neurosurgeon imediately went in and did a frontal ventriculostomy to release the dangerous fluid pressure in Josiah's brain.

Now here's the hard part. Josiah is currently in a chomatose state. He could come out of the choma as soon as the fluid levels return to normal or not. The choma could have been caused by the bleeding or the pressure from the fluid. There is a very serious possibility that the bleeding into Josiah's brain and brain stem might cause neurological damage or impairment. We are waiting to see if Josiah will regain consciousness and when he does if there will be any impairments to his neurological functions.

The doctors assured us that there was nothing that could have been done to prevent this and there is nothing that we did to cause this. If Josiah wasn't at a Disney World resort this would have happened in our living room in Eagle. None of the activity of the recent days caused this tumor to hemmorhage. The nasty nature of these tumors is that they sometimes bleed.

Please, pray for my son. Our situation is desperate. I feel the heartcry of Abraham as I plead: "O, that Josiah might live for thee!"

Jason Herring

For those of you on Facebook, you can become a fan of "Praying for little Josiah Herring" and received updates that way. I will try to add updates as often as I hear something. Thank you for your prayers. Makes you thankful for your health and the health of your family, doesn't it??