One Phone Call From Your Knees...

Life is an adventure and usually that's the way I like it. But sometimes things are going well and then, out of nowhere, you live through a moment or receive a phone call that pulls you to your knees. We all have examples of this. I'm sure you are thinking of one now, nodding your head and saying, "yup Shamae is right!" It's a moment that lives with you forever because in that moment, when you hear those words, you know your life will never be the same.

This past week our family experienced another one of those moments--one of those phone calls that brings you to your knees. There is a song by Mat Kearny called "Closer to Love." Here are some of the lyrics and the video...

"She got the call today

One out of the gray

And when the smoke cleared

It took her breath away.

She said she didn't believe

It could happen to me.

I guess we're all one phone call

From our knees.

We're gonna get there soon.

If every building falls

And all the stars fade

We'll still be singing this song

The one they can't take away

I'm gonna get there soon

She's gonna be there too

Crying in her room

Praying, Lord, come through

We're gonna get there soon..."

My wonderful step dad has been sick since July. He has had test after test after test ran. He has had a PICC line in his arm for DAILY IV treatments for the past 2 months to fight a staph infection. But they still couldn't figure out what else was going on with him. Last week, after a spinal biopsy, we got the news.

Cancer. Multiple Myeloma.

Its a type of cancer that affects your plasma cells which is a type of white blood cell in your bone marrow. The role of plasma cells is to make antibodies to help your body fight infection.

We have yet to know his treatment plan. We just know this is a devastating diagnosis for our family and for one heck of a great guy (and golfer.) He is a wonderful father, step-father, husband, friend and grandpa.

To make matters more complicated, Marc is an attorney. He was working as in-house legal counsel for a company. Due to situations out of his control, the company had to lay him off earlier this year--thus ending his health insurance. Do you know how many doctors will treat a cancer patient who doesn't have insurance? We haven't found one yet. To them Marc is a number not a person. It's a sad day in America when things like this happen. And, being the "little man," there isn't anything we can do about it. We have to sit around and let the "big, important people" play God with people's lives.

We don't know what the future holds for Marc and the rest of our family but we will continue to pray. We hope we find more information on treatments for people without insurance. We hope. We pray. What else can we do? So, if you are the praying kind, send some our way. I really appreciate it.

~This is Marc and my mom with Sydney and Morgan with the Easter dresses they bought the girls this year. ~My mom and Marc.

P.S. This morning my mom and Marc learned of a woman who has cancer and has insurance. However, she hit her lifetime maximum and now has to stop her treatments in the middle of everything because she can no longer afford to be treated. I don't know the answers to America's health care crisis but I do know we can't continue like this. I know it can be easy to blow these things off as "it won't happen to us" until, one day, it happens to someone you love. Then you will have a moment that pulls you to your knees and will change your life as well.