Pray that Harry gets on transplant list

Good evening friends,

I just got back from the hospital. Kathleen, who usually writes the blog, is in Vancouver at a conference, so I’ll take a turn tonight. This is an urgent appeal from Cynthia and Henry to keep Harry, their family and especially also the medical specialists both in Winnipeg and Toronto in your thoughts, prayers and meditations during the next days. The specialists have an important decision to make, and your support and positive energy, which has been powerfully at work in Harry’s healing journey, is needed to support them in their decision-making.

Cynthia and Henry had a consultation today with the pediatric liver specialist – the same one who back on that February Saturday determined that Harry’s liver had a very serious illness. She will be contacting the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto tomorrow or Thursday to inquire about putting Harry on the waiting list for a liver transplant. This is good news, in that Harry’s healing has progressed to a point where this important step to “apply to the waiting list” is being taken. The metastatic disease has essentially been dealt with in the lymphatic system and the lungs (the spot in the lung is only 3mm in size), so this is the surgical consultation Henry and Cynthia have been hoping for.

The liver specialist explained, though, that she isn’t able to say with certainty how Sick Kids will respond. No one at HSC has much experience with Harry’s very rare type of cancer, and so have few if any precedents to go on. The oncology team believes at this point that a transplant is the best option, because all four lobes of the liver have been affected by the Rhabdoid tumour.

During my visit this evening, Harry woke up, and fussed until he threw up quite a bit of his formula. After crying for about a minute or two, he looked around and beamed his patented toothy smile across the room. Cynthia spoke about the quite amazing growth and development Harry has experienced during the past 4 months, in spite of his illness. For example, he’s trying to walk; he’s clearly impatient to communicate; when asked: “Where’s Lyddie’s or daddy’s picture?” he happily points to the appropriate picture on the wall (when asked about mommy’s picture, he gets a little confused, because she’s right there in person); this evening we took delight in his interest in the buses that pass by on Sherbrook Street – when he sees a bus, he knocks on the hospital window and points. Cynthia explained that they do this at their living room window at home, where they can see the bus-stop where daddy gets off at the end of the day; he’s also started initiating the playing of peek-a-boo. He pulls a blanket over himself, and playfully peeks out. These are all signs of a very healthy and normally developing little youngster. The liver specialist was also struck by how big he’s gotten, and how healthy he looks.

Please pray that Sick Kids Hospital places Harry on the liver transplant list. Henry and Cynthia want you to know how very grateful they are for your ongoing love and support.