"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus"  - Phillippians 4: 6-7


Thank you for your patience with these updates.  We know how deeply invested everyone is who is checking this site daily, hourly, awaiting word of the results of Mark's biopsy.   It has taken a couple of days for us to find the words and to be frank, there aren't any.  There is no sugar-coating it, no easy way to say it.  Mark has been diagnosed with cancer. 


The tumor is located in a part of his brain that they cannot safely operate on without risking possible significant changes in his speech, motor skills and personality.  We will begin radiation treatment in the next couple of weeks with the intent of slowing the tumor's growth and reducing it's size.  As I type this on Wednesday night, we are still waiting on a lab test that will help us better understand the tumor and determine other options for treatment.
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A few days after we got home from the hospital with Mark, we were going through his MyChart and accidentally stumbled upon the results of the tissue exam. There were a lot of very scary words in there that neither of us are qualified to interpret.  We searched some of the terms online to determine which way this was going to go.  It wasn't what we have been praying for, so we were prepared for the meetings this week but needed to hear it from his doctors. 
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On Tuesday we had meetings set up all day at Texas Children's.  We first met with his neurosurgeon who did the surgery on Mark two weeks ago to the day.  He mostly checked the healing of Mark's incisions and looked into his eyes to see if he could see any swelling.  Mark was doing well.  We had some time after the first meeting so we went down to the third floor and got a coffee.  This was the same cafe with the Chick-fil-A that Mark walked to just 24 hours removed from his surgery.  I took the picture in this post as we were waiting for our coffee.  You can see it in his smile, he is a fighter.  
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The next meeting that we had was with his neuro-oncologist.  This was the meeting where we would get the answers we were looking for.  We had a ton of questions and to his credit, his doctor took his time with us and answered everything we asked.  He was brilliant and forthcoming, he was compassionate, there was no ego about him.  We liked him a lot.  He is leading a study that is close to a breakthrough with the type of tumor Mark has.  
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We ask that you please continue to pray for Mark, now more than ever, for the strength to fight as hard as he can against this sickness.  We ask for your prayers that this fight does not take Mark's sweet, kind, funny personality and that he uses those traits of his to combat this evil.  We ask that you pray for Mark as he returns to school (at least for now) that his friends treat him as they always have.  We ask for prayers for his team of doctors and all of the scientists working diligently to combat this.  We ask for you to pray for Ali and I that we are clear in our decisions for the best treatment for Mark and that God lights a clear path for us to follow.  We ask for prayers for Jameson as he continues to selflessly sacrifice for his brother and his family.
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Thank you for your prayers, your thoughts, your messages, your food, your homes, your friendship and your love.  Now that we know the enemy it is time for Mark's Army to stand with him and fight this battle along side of him.  

For all of you praying for Mark and our family and patiently waiting for an update, I apologize that it has been a few days.  I have taken the last few days to just enjoy being in the comfort of our home with our family and to reflect on this sudden, unwelcome shift in our lives.  Writing these blog posts is helpful for me, it's therapeutic and it's also emotionally draining.  I have not updated this in a couple of days a.) because there are no new developments. b.) I didn't have it in me, emotionally and c.) I needed some time to decompress and reflect on everything that has happened over the last week.  


We got home on Thursday night and this weekend was a very good weekend.  Almost normal.  We have taken a couple of days to do what you do when you have been away from home for a period of time.  Laundry, dishes, cleaning, relaxing.  We have had visitors that we have laughed with, cried with and prayed with.  It helps Mark to see his friends.  Although, I think he is a confused by all of the attention because he feels fine and he is acting like himself.  He feels like his old self.  As he always has been, Mark is the comedian of the family, making us laugh every chance he gets.  He is not one who likes to be the center of attention, so this is all new and sudden for him and if I am being honest, he doesn't really get it.


This period of time for us is very strange.  It is incredibly nerve-wracking and at the same time welcome.  From the minute we found out the results of the initial MRI it was a race to react.  We were getting new info constantly as well as caring for him after his brain surgery.  You don't have time in those moments to think, you simply react and recover and then do it over again.  Being home is normal, it is day-to-day life and it is boring (in a good way).  However, we know that this peace is short-lived.  We should have the results of Mark's biopsy back this week.  We will know, with a fair amount of certainty, what kind of fight we are in for.  For the next couple of days we will just enjoy the peace that comes with not knowing while we prepare for the next phase of this battle.


I know that so many of you are deeply invested in Mark's journey and we appreciate your prayers and support more than you know.  We are touched by the outpouring of love from everyone.  While we may not have responded to every text or call or liked every message on Facebook or this page, please know that we have read each and every comment.  These words of encouragement and messages of hope help us more than you know.  Thank you to everyone who has taken time out of their day to pray for us and wish Mark well.  
We have a teleconference with his team of doctors later this week.  We also have a full day of meetings set up next Monday, in person, at Texas Children's.  By this time next week we will know what we are dealing with.  I will update Mark's Army after we know more so that we can all pray together and prepare to fight this fight along side of him.  
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We trust that Mark is being watched over by God.  We continue to ask for your prayers for Mark and for our family.  Please pray for strength for us.  Strength of faith, strength of family and that God give Mark the physical strength to wage war with whatever is going on inside his head.  

"Too often we want God's resources but we don't want His timing.  We want His presence, but we don't want His patience....God is working.  Waiting means we give God the benefit of the doubt and trust that He knows what He's doing. "

This was taken from a devotional sent to Ali and I yesterday morning from a friend of ours.  We received their text at 9:40am.  At 10:09am we received word from the medical team that Mark would more than likely be going home.  At 6:00pm Thursday evening we drove away from the hospital, less than 48 hours removed from brain surgery.  A quiet fighter indeed.  
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Around 9am Thursday morning I left the hospital for the first time since we arrived on Sunday evening to drive to Ali's mom's to get Jameson and bring him back to the hospital for the day, we were excited to see him and bring him to the hospital for what we hoped would be a pretty normal (dare I say 'fun' day at the hospital).  I received the text from our friends with the devotional above as I was driving to get him.  Reading the words it hit me like a ton of bricks.  We cannot ask God for everything we have been praying for and expect it to be done on the timeline that is convenient for us.  If we are asking for all His resources we have to trust that He will provide but on His timeline.  I was at peace with that.  If Mark got to go home on Friday that would be unexpected but great.  If it was a few days longer than that, fine.  At least he would be going home.  The next text I got was from Ali, letting us know that most likely Mark would be going home later that day.  For the first time since all of this started I was going to put it all in His hands and let it happen as he may.  It turns out that his timeline was a lot better than ours.

Jameson and I got back to the hospital and met Mark and Ali in the food court area on the third floor.  The two of them were sitting there just talking and hanging out.  Mark was being himself and he looked great.  We went back up to the room and had some quiet time.  Mark and Jameson looked at some videos and giggled with each other while Ali and I responded to texts and made some phone calls.  We still weren't positive that Mark was going to be released because we hadn't seen any paperwork.  However, it just felt like this part of the journey was coming to an end.  The visits from the doctors and nurses were very infrequent.  We were just killing time at this point.
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The boys and I went up to the 16th floor to the arcade for about an hour and Ali enjoyed some much needed quiet time.  The arcade was really neat and I knew that if for some reason we didn't get discharged before the end of the day would be going back and killing a lot more time up there.  Mark got to play Fortnite on one of the Xbox's, which made him really happy.  They played Mario Kart on the arcade, we played air hockey and foosball and the three of us just got to be kids for awhile.  It didn't feel like we were in a hospital.  

After the arcade we went back down to the room.  While we still had not seen any paperwork, his nurse came by and took out his IV.  Putting the IV in on Sunday was hard to watch because it was painful for him but more than that it symbolized that he wasn't going to be leaving any time soon.  Watching them take it out meant the opposite.  We were indeed going home.  We packed the room and got ready to go.  Somehow we were leaving with twice the amount of stuff we arrived with.  New toys, stuffed animals, balloons, food and snacks and drinks.  Then they came with the paperwork.  After the nurse had gone over everything with us and talked to us about upcoming appointments we kind of looked at her like, 'so....is that it?'  She said that we could leave.  
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This went on for an hour or so.  We would get him calmed down and they they would go up again.  At one point they agreed to put him on a low dose of something but he had to eat something first.  He ate 1/8 of a graham cracker and got sick.  Poor guy just wanted to rest but couldn't get comfortable or relief. Ali was finally able to get him to calm down and take deep breaths.  He was finally able to fall back asleep around 4 only to have them come at 4:45 to get him for his CT scan.  They wanted to make sure that everything looked good in his head from the surgery standpoint.  

He asked where we were going and when we said that they needed to take pictures of his brain again he got upset.  That is what we told him about the MRI so that is where he thought he was going.  We assured him this machine looks similar but this was going to take just 90 seconds and not make hardly any noise.  He trusted that we were telling the truth and felt better.  Got back to his room after the scan and he got to open a care package that he got.  There was some awesome stuff in there, a new Rubik's cube, some Lego sets, candy and other treats for him.  This really brightened his spirits.  Of course he wasn't able to go back to sleep before solving the Rubik's cube.  The good thing is that he can do it very quickly so after that we all enjoyed a really good 3 straight hours of sleep. 
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Please pray for Mark's continued healing.  Please pray for his strength to return home.  Please pray that the doctors are able to find out what is going on in Mark's brain and use their wisdom and expertise to cure him of whatever it is.  Please pray for Jameson who has been absolutely selfless throughout.  Please pray that God watches over both of our boys always, but especially during this difficult time.  Please say prayers of thanks for all of the love and support that we have received, for the successful surgery on Tuesday and for hope. 
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After a few hugs and kisses they took him away on the stretcher back through double doors on his way to brain surgery.  The goal for today was two-fold.  First they wanted to drain the spinal fluid that was building up and causing the pressure that was causing his headaches.  Second, they wanted to get a biopsy of the tumor to determine what it is and what the best treatment for him will be going forward.

We settled into the waiting room and soon Ali's sister came with her two kids, Jameson and Ali's mom.  We were told that the surgery should last a couple of hours from start to finish.  Texas Children's is amazing. They have a surgical liaison that comes out periodically throughout the surgery to fill you in on exactly what they are doing back there.  We knew the whole time what was going on with Mark.  

After a couple of hours the surgeon came out and let us know that while it was their intention to drain the fluid and get the biopsy from the same incision, he did not feel comfortable getting what he needed from the tumor from that spot.  He said that they were going to go back and re-plan a new entry point and strategy for getting the necessary specimen from the tumor.  Several hours went by but they kept us in the know so we were never left wondering what was going on.  Every report was promising, saying he was doing great. 
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Around 6:00 they came out and told us that he finished up and we would be able to see him shortly.  We were brought back to the post op room and saw Mark laying there asleep.  He looked like he was just taking a nap.  His surgeon was sitting there beside his bed watching over him, waiting for us to arrive.  This is not common.  You got the feeling that he was his protector, his guardian and nothing was going to happen to Mark under his watch and until he was handed off to us.  He told us that everything had gone well and they had accomplished everything they set out to do.  The got a good specimen that the surgeon hand-delivered to pathology to ensure it was what they needed.  
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We went to bed last night exhausted but content.  All of our prayers were answered for today's outcome.  His surgeons were world-class surgeons that accomplished everything they set out to do.  Mark was brave and strong and let the doctors do what they needed to do to try and help heal him.  Ali and I were strong today.  Jameson was strong for his brother.  Mark perked up when he saw Jameson walk into the room post operation.  We humbly ask that you please keep praying as hard as you know how for Mark and our family.  

The last couple of days have been an absolute whirlwind for our family. As Mark’s army of supporters and well-wishers grows, we feel that this is the best way to consistently give progress updates regarding Mark and his journey.   For all of you that have reached out, prayed, cried, helped, contributed your time or your money or offered your love and support in any form, we are forever grateful. 
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​We took about 5 minutes to pull ourselves together. We sobbed, we told Jameson, who had overheard some of the phone conversation, that Mark was sick and we needed to get to Houston. Then it was go time. We loaded up a few days of clothes, a few stuffed animals and toys and headed to Houston.


We got to Texas Children’s around 5:30, Sunday evening. We went to the ER and let them know that we were there because we had an MRI that showed a mass in Mark’s brain. They got us into a private  emergency room immediately. They started an IV and let us know they were going to need to do a much more detailed MRI that would provide them a “surgical map”. While they were getting us a permanent room we went with Mark up to the imaging lab. They told us this MRI was going to be of the full head and spine and would take about 2 hours. The one that was done at Scott & White earlier that day was about 20 minutes. You could tell that Mark was nervous but in typical Mark fashion, he put back on that brave face. The MRI is brutal for anyone but the loud banging noises the machine makes coupled with his headaches proved to be too much. After 30 minutes they stopped it and said that we would reschedule for Monday and they would put him under general anesthesia so they could get what they needed. We got back to the room around 12:30am and slept what little we all could. ​
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Monday was a blur. Sometime around 10:15am we all went back up to imaging. We met with the anesthesiologist. They told us that if they saw that he needed a shunt or a drain put in they would go ahead and do that while he was under. They took Mark and Ali back and just as quickly ushered Ali out so they could get started. The next two hours were brutal. We didn’t know if this was just an MRI or if they were doing brain surgery.  We tried to get something to eat, we paced, we cried, we texted people and we waited for them to be done.  They came out and said they had gotten everything they needed from the MRI and didn’t need to do anything else.  We felt like that was a win. 

They brought us back to recovery where Mark slowly woke up. We were able to go back to his room where he spent the afternoon sleeping. He got to FaceTime with Jameson for about 15 minutes and it was the happiest we had seen him since we checked in. Shortly after they hung up he got a bad headache and went back to sleep. The whole day we waited on pins and needles for the neurosurgeons to come and talk to us about the MRI. If the two hours that he was doing the MRI were brutal then I don’t even have the word for what this was. What did they see? How big is the tumor? Has it gone into his spine? Is it even operable? Why are they taking so long?  You try to be strong but it is a struggle to not automatically go to the worst place imaginable. 
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