02/03/2026
Hi Everyone,
First off, thank you to everyone who is following along with Theo’s journey and covering our family in prayer. Your kindness and generosity have left us humbled, and your prayers are felt - as the Holy Spirit has been our comforter and ever-present help on both the good and bad days.
Unfortunately, yesterday was one of those aforementioned not-so-great days. During Theo’s exam under anesthesia at CHOA, his ophthalmologist identified that the pre-existing tumor in his right eye grew significantly alongside the development of three new small tumors (two in his left eye, one additional in his right).
This was obviously not the news we wanted to hear, as the goal of Theo’s first two rounds of chemo was to shrink the size of the initial tumor to minimize any blind spots that the next phase of his treatment, laser therapy, might incur as a side effect. Due to the significant growth of the pre-existing tumor, his medical team opted to go ahead and begin laser therapy on all tumors in both eyes alongside chemo directly injected into the area surrounding the large tumor in his right eye. While this is not the timing we hoped for, it is not necessarily bad news, as his ophthalmologist is highly confident that beginning laser treatment now will limit the growth of the existing tumors any further, and hopefully begin to remove them. We were able to return home yesterday afternoon and look forward to a few normal weeks before his next round of treatment begins on February 23.
With that said, please join us in praying for the following needs:
* The large tumor in his right eye will begin to shrink and die
* The smaller tumors found at this most recent appointment will not reoccur
* That Theo will miraculously not have blind spots where laser treatment occurs
* His side-effects from chemo will be minimal and he will continue to grow
* For the Holy Spirit to bolster our faith when it falters
I have recently begun many prayers by saying, “Lord, we thank you that you are still good even on bad days.” And in reality, I think I am coming to believe that His goodness can be most evidently felt on the days it is least obviously seen. His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9) and I am convinced that is because He sits down next to us in our sorrow and then offers His nail scarred hands to lift us up again. Despite the struggles facing our sweet boy, I am reminded that our Savior’s hands which were nailed to the cross are the same ones that formed Theo in Abbey’s womb (Psalm 139:13-14) and hold the entire fabric of the universe together (Col. 1:17). Regardless of what we face next, it is reassuring to know that He holds our son and is with us.
- Hunter
