Chase is Heading Home!

Well, everything with Chase’s ANP treatments continued developing as well as we had hoped and tomorrow morning is the “discharge meeting”. We just need to demonstrate that we have a good handle on all the procedures that we’ll be expected to perform from home to support his ongoing treatments, complete more paperwork, meet with the doctors (including Dr. Burzynski) and we should get the green light to return home. Tom Wheeler’s Angel network is picking us up at the local private airport again – this will really come in handy because the family accumulated lots of things locally (juicer, smoothie maker, lots of supplements, a child trailer to pull behind the bike, etc.) that we’d rather not have to replace or ship home. We can’t thank you enough Tom!!

We had a great final weekend in Houston – a visitor from my fraternity (Bill McCormick and family) drove over from San Antonio and made it a lot of fun. They joined Chase for a game of bowling (his latest diversion) and video games, that he can afford with all the quarters he’s been accumulating from adhering to his diet and supplement plan. They have a 4 ½ yr old (Charlie) who was quite impressed (?) to see Chase eat stuff like zucchini, egg plant, broccoli, and swallow “horse pills” with nothing but a sip of water. He’s proud of himself, and rightfully so – now up to about 25 pills a day with no fuss. We’re continuing to slowly get him off the decadron (steroid) – he’ll be down to 4 mg per day as of tomorrow and, so far, no side effects (getting him off this drug will be a major accomplishment). As of tomorrow, Chase will be up to 200 ml per dose of ANP (a huge milestone) and his doctors are very pleased and optimistic about the progress so far.

We recently received another affirmation of the power in the direction we’ve chosen for Chase’s recovery treatment, a book entitled “The Maker’s Diet”. It describes a pretty drastic health situation that the author experienced and eventually overcame through nutrition (after the medical system failed him). One of the things that struck me the most was the parallels pointing to the importance of faith in the process, …”when I get through this, when God heals me, He is going to use me to accomplish great things. I know he has a plan for my life.” That’s precisely the way we feel about this situation for Chase and we’re excited to watch it unfold as we learn about God’s plan for us all – one thing’s for certain, we’re deeply moved and can never be the same. Yet, there’s no question that His plan is better than we ever imagined…

Thanks for all the prayers and helping us Keep the Faith! Looking forward to providing the rest of the updates from home!

Love,John & Carol Sammut
Chase & Barbara Ann