Our Adventurous Life: Urgent Prayer for Betty

Betty on left, Melissa on right

Just before Thanksgiving I began posting about Betty, my friend Melissa's mother. Melissa sent this email out requesting urgent prayer for Betty. Please be in prayer for both Betty and her family.

Here is the update below:

I am writing to you for more prayer! My mom got the results of the body scan today. The tumor in her lungs has grown significantly and the lymph nodes on both sides of her neck are cancerous and the cancer is going into the brain. She has to have a brain scan tomorrow to see how far it has gone into the brain. She has told the doctor that she does not want radiation because they told her the radiation on her neck would burn her esophagus and she would have a lot of pain eating, drinking and just in general. Then also with radiation on her brain can also cause memory loss so she does not want to do that. She was told with the "chemo pill" she could have up to 6 months but if it is not working - may not be working since the tumor has grown so much while taking it - that it could literally be anytime - she told me 3 to 4 weeks. I am not sure where that time frame came from - she is actually taking it better than I thought but she is still having a rough time. They have moved a hospital bed into her house because she is having a very hard time breathing and at night she has to be elevated so she can get some sleep. That is really hard on all of us. We know that God is the only answer right now. I keep saying that I can be strong in this, but when I get information like this - I wonder how in the world can I be strong? She is my mom, my best friend, my biggest supporter, the grandmother to my kids and the best ever, too and then the great grandmother to my precious little grandkids and they will not remember her! That is so hard to even think about! Please pray for her and for all of us. At a time when we need to be praying the hardest it is so hard to pray. I begin to ask HIm for healing and fall apart. I am trying to have faith but then feel like maybe I need to pray for strength to get through and be able to be there for my kids. Ok, I am rambling. I will update when we know about the brain scan - please just keep her in your prayers!

Here is a picture of Betty at Thanksgiving with her children and grandchildren and another with just her children (my friend Melissa is the one on the right side):