June 20, 2012
Slow and Steady
I have always loved that tale of the Tortoise and the Hare...slow and steady wins the race! I am hoping that this is the case for Jonathan and Caitlin.
Last night was not full of lots of restful sleep, but they are making progress. Caitlin has been able to sit in a chair today for the first time...with much pain...but progress none the less. They are planning to move Jonathan out of ICU this afternoon, which means he has made great progress. From the looks of Jonathan, he really looks great! Honestly, his color is 100% better than it has been over the past year really! The doctors are very pleased right now with the way the kidney is working...SUCH A PRAISE!
They are both in lots of pain...but they are in great hands and we continue to ask that you cover their healing in prayer. Their road to recovery in this process will be long...but what a start! Thank you so much for your support!
-Lauren Beckner (Jonathan's sister)
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June 19, 2012
Working
An update of praise! Both Caitlin and Jonathan's surgeries went well. The KIDNEY IS WORKING! So many things to be grateful for...too many to really even name!
Caitlin is recovering and Jonathan is in ICU. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers. Please continue to surround them in prayer!
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June 19, 2012
Surgery this morning
Friends and Family, Jonathan and Cailtin are beyond grateful for the amount of support and prayers that everyone has given to them. We ask that those prayers only continue as they walk into surgery this morning.
Caitlin's surgery will begin at 7:30 am and Jonathan's will begin at 8:30. We will try to update as we know more. "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!"
-Lauren (Jonathan's sister)
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June 17, 2012
We're a match...again?!
Well, we just received a text from our Doctor. A really nice text to receive today saying our cross-match was negative. (And yes negative sounds bad...but negative is a good thing with kidneys, cross-matches, and blood!) He told us that all was on for the surgery Tuesday (Lord willing!).
We will update at least one last time before the surgery but for now thank you so much for your care and prayers. Honestly, we are so humbled by this.
Jonathan & Caitlin
2 Cor 1:11...then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
June 16, 2012
A little more drama : )
This update wasn't supposed to be written. To be honest, tonight was date night and no offense but blogging wasn't really a planned part of it.
Jonathan and I had gotten burritos, talked about the next four days, chased turtles down by turtle creek and were sitting on our picnic blanket when Jonathan looked at his phone and noticed he had missed a call from Dr. Melton.
Jonathan (being the eternal optimist that he is) thought it was a kind gesture from our doctor to check in on us a few days out from our from our transplant, I on the other hand immediately said, "oh no." This is one time it's not fun to say, I was right.
Dr. Melton said, "are you nervous for the surgery on Tuesday?" Jonathan said we were a combination of excited and a little nervous and Dr. Melton responded, " Well this might make you more nervous." He explained that when they had cross matched our blood yesterday, I was no longer a match. However, they discovered that some of the tubes that the blood was put in, had a bacteria in it that contaminated the blood and therefor made our tests invalid. The doctor is 95% sure(not quite sure what that means?) that it was the bacteria that caused our blood to not match this time, but tomorrow we will see if he is correct.
Part of us wanted to wait and tell everyone tomorrow what the final results are, but well to be honest we want you all to know and we are asking you to plead with our Great and Mighty God who hears the cries of His people.
Will you pray that our hope is in Christ and not in results? Will you pray for healing for Jonathan, whether by God's direct healing hand through a miracle or that tomorrow we will go in and we will still be a match and Jonathan's body will receive my kidney as his own on Tuesday? Will you pray that if we get the news we dread, that all of us would still praise His name remembering that the Lord is always, ALWAYS perfectly and lovingly in control.
We are so thankful for all of you. This would be a very different fight without you. Thank you for your prayers and support. May God be ever so near to you and cause Your hearts to see Him as perfectly beautiful.
Jonathan & Caitlin
June 10, 2012
12 years: In Honor of my Mom
This is in honor of my mother who gave me a kidney transplant 12 years ago Friday (June 8, 2000). All know that she gave birth to me, some know that she led me to Jesus at a young age, most know that she gave me her kidney a while back....but most don’t know the now humorous (it wasn’t funny at the time but, it is now) story of how she initiated the saving of a young boy’s life in Chicago in 1999. In honor of her today, the woman who taught me, that “sometimes you either laugh or cry.” Here it is.
In middle school and high school days, the number 23 captured my attention along with that of hosts of other kids on playgrounds and basketball gyms, parents, sports fanatics and anyone willing to turn on the tube to see ‘His Airness.’ As a young, white jumping impaired want-to-be basketball star, Jordan had the ability to make me feel like I could do things out of the ordinary. As Michael hit turn-around jumpers on the Knicks, I hit turn- around jumpers in my driveway. When Michael hit the shot at the foul line on Craig Ehlo and then fist pumped three times in mid-air, I was doing the same in my own game on my pavement court. Michael could jump, and so could I. I wanted be like Mike. I had the majority of his NBA finals championships games on VHS labeled with sharpie and duck tape. I possessed his wide-array tapes and documentaries and watched them enough to wear out our own VHS. I began to mimic the voices and mimic his moves until I had my own play-by-play show in Marietta, Georgia.
So when the Children’s Wish Foundation approached me while going through chemotherapy in high school, there was only one thing on my mind. They give kids three wishes suspecting that some of the outlandish dreamers will create things that the Foundation can’t fulfill. My three wishes were simple:
1. Spend the day with Michael Jordan
2. Play basketball against Michael Jordan.
3. Meet Michael Jordan.
In my semi-manipulative way I got wish number 3.
In the fall of 1999, during my senior year in high school, my family and I flew to Chicago to meet the big man. The Children’s Wish Foundation went all out. We spent 4 days in Chicago seeing the museums, taking pictures with the decorative cows on display and enjoying time as a family.
When the day finally came, our family and about 11 other families waited in anticipation. I am not sure if we drooled more over the spread of food the foundation had provided or about meeting Jordan. No, Jordan. Two families were paired at each table. The plan was set. Michael would come and sit by each family for about 5-10 minutes or so taking pictures, signing autographs (cha-ching) and answering questions. Until his arrival, the kids and families were entertained with small mini-hoop basketball games and hotdogs (they must have been ballpark franks, right?) and hamburgers. If you didn’t know me as a kid, you don’t realize what a combination hotdogs and Michael Jordan was. I could easily consume 3 to 5 hotdogs per meal, or more if I could get away with it. My sisters told me I would turn into a hot dog. Others said it would be a corn dog. Some family friends simply said I would turn into an Oscar Meyer wiener. The jokes kept coming and the hot dogs kept being consumed.
So we are all enjoying our meal when the moment before the moment arrived. I am enjoying my hot dog. 11 others kids are enjoying theirs along with the Bulls fanatic at my table. I remember he donned a lot of apparel like the other kids. Bulls hat, Bulls jersey, MJ sneakers. I also remember he had thick glasses, he was in a wheelchair, and he was much bigger than most of the kids his age. My mom engaged him to ask a question innocently enough. And the next thing I knew, he was turning shades of a different color. His mom and his aunt began to panic. But it was like all of the sudden-panic moments. It was kind of like time stood still for a second. People were moving in slow motion. People were shouting. And then the unthinkable blurs into focus. My mom has jumped up out of her chair and she is going to work on this young boy. She has positioned her left hand under his sternum and is doing the Heimlich on him, attempting to lift this young man who outweighs her. She is lifting and heaving on him trying to pop this hot dog from his throat. The kid is turning shades of blue I have never before seen, and we are all thinking the same thing: This kid has gotten this far and here he is about to die on a hotdog right before meeting Michael Jordan. A ballpark hotdog?!
So my mom has her arms lassoed around this boy, she is pulling him up from his chair trying to get the position right, which punching at his stomach to dislodge the piece of meat. Lifting and punching – Lifting and punching. It as if she is trying to dig a hole with a big shovel in his stomach. Another man at a different table alerts the authorities and gives my mom a break. Finally, a large security guard comes to the rescue, and with a strong huff sends the hot dog flying across the room like a rocket. I don’t know where it went or who picked it up. We were just all relieved that it was out. The medics wheeled the traumatized boy out of the room and the party went on. All of the other 6 tables had two happy, expectant families waiting and there we are all by ourselves at our table. I guess for about fifteen more minutes we slowly chewed our own hotdogs and hamburgers. My grandmother’s advice to chew each bite 25 times had never seemed more poignant. Do we get more time now? Jonathan, don’t even think that! What is going to happen to this boy? Did this really just happen?
The signature Chicago Bulls intro music began to play, and in stepped MJ larger than life itself it seemed. But as all the applause erupted for Michael, the unthinkable happened. From the same entry door came the boy being wheeled speedily by his mom and his aunt yelling and screaming and pumping their fists as they peeled right in front of Jordan. It was such a strange moment. On one hand, we were so glad that they were back, and at the same moment, they came bustin’ in like they were Michael Jordan completely stealing the spotlight. My family has never stopped laughing at this story. We even have it on videotape, if you don’t believe me. Maybe we should have sent it into America’s Funniest Videos and saved some money on immunosuppressant drugs? Regardless, that day my mom shocked us all. In a room full of hundreds, she was the only one to step up to the plate until the security guard saved the day. Michael Jordan was larger than life that day, but my mom has stolen the show every since. MJ’s autographs might one day sell for thousands, but this story has already produced for us a thousand laughs.
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May 18, 2012
You've Been There
Ruthie's small right hand reached out for my left hand in the backseat of her car, while her husband took Jonathan's hand in the front seat of the car. While Dr. Horrell lead us into a prayer of thanks, the edges of my mouth curled upwards and my eyes filled with water as Ruthie held my hand so tightly as if to say, "We are here. We are with you in this fight and we love you.
Now, as I write this update, guess what? Yep, the edges of my lips are curled upward and my eyes sting as the tears well up. Your faces are running through my mind like a slideshow on my computer. So many of you have been by our side telling us that you are with us, that you love us and that you are seeking our Great God to do Great things. You are a sweet treasure to us. I wish I could hug each of you and tell you that.
Our past week has looked like this:
Monday the 7th: I went into to my long awaited CT scan and it was my Dad's birhtday
Tuesday: After a long day, we found out that the lymph node that was once in between my kidney and artery was now just a non-threatening sac of fluid.
Wed and Thursday: Our family came into town
Friday: Commencement Chapel in the morning and at 5:30pm with our families surrounding us in our little living room, Dr. Melton announced over speaker phone that the Baylor Transplant Board had officially approved me to donate my kidney to Jonathan. Our families immediately clapped and cheered as we heard.
Saturday: We tearfully watched Jonathan Woodlief walk across a large stage at Prestonwood Church to receive his diploma and officially become a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary.
We then spent some sweet time with our families and then Wednesday morning, they called to tell us that the transplant would take place first thing on June 19th. June 19th. We have a date. This is really happening. A miracle has taken place and we have all had a front row seat to see God show off.
Thank you for your prayers, love and support. We ask you to keep praying for our hearts and eyes to be focused on Christ, to trust in Him for surgery and all the "what if's" that can come with that. Pray for the surgery to be successful, for our recovery to go well and that we would get to show the staff how beautiful our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is. We are so thankful for you. Thank you for loving us so well.
"When God makes an incision, He only makes it for our good. But sometimes we rip open the wounds and refuse to take our medicine."- Matt Chandler's convicting and life giving words from church on Sunday.
May 12, 2012
A Transplant is a Comin...(Lord willing)
Caitlin and I are at a loss for words right now. We are stunned by the goodness of the LORD in her results this week. On Wednesday, after waiting nervously and expectantly for a few days we heard that Caitlin’s CT Scan came back with a positive result. The lymph node is gone and there is now a pocket of fluid in its place. The head of transplant at Baylor hospital called and talked to us and he has no concerns whatsoever with moving towards a transplant.
The transplant board at Baylor meets twice a month to approve possible kidney donors and they met today. Around 5 pm today the Dr. called and as my family gathered around to hear on speaker phone (family is in town because I am graduating from Seminary tomorrow!), he told us that Cait has been finally and fully approved to be my donor for a transplant. We should know the scheduled date for the transplant next week...it will probably be early June.
Again, we are overwhelmed with thankfulness and low on words....but a few that come to mind.
The lyrics below are some that we have been singing the past three months and will continue to sing. Even in the midst of good news, we remember that Jesus Christ is our Solid Rock to stand on.
...When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand...
‘They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness. For you are their glory and strength.’ -Psalm 89:16-17a
Thank you for your prayers,
Jonathan & Caitlin
May 3, 2012
Cait's CT Scan
Caitlin’s CT scan is going to take place next Monday @ 2pm CST and I have finished all my work and am graduating next Saturday, May 12. We have much to praise the Lord for and much we are taking to Him in prayer. Are we nervous? Sure, we are still human. At the same time we are praying and fighting for faith to believe that God is all that He says He is, namely good and God. Here is how it has played out in the last few days.
I talked to Dr. John Hannah, one of our Seminary professors, the other day about helping him paint his fence and deck at his house. While on the phone he wanted a health update and among other things I told him about Caitlin as a transplant match but also about the concern of her enlarged lymph node. Dr. Hannah shot into my words with, “Well I hope that works...” and as his sentence trailed off he interrupted himself and said, “Well I don’t know what I hope.” He then recovered with something to the effect of our God who truly knows the best path. These words from him did not have one ounce of clichés or triteness in them. First of all, it was coming from Dr Hannah. It was almost like his years of wisdom and deep trust in the Lord seemed to cascade in a deep sense of really hoping in what God wants. This is possible with a deep, resolute belief that God is really good and for that He is really all-wise and that in His infinite wisdom and goodness He always is doing what is best. What a way to live.
This coincides with a story we heard a ‘friend’ tell about his little son wanting a cracker. As the dad reached up to the pantry to fulfill his son’s wish he found the crackers to be all moldy. The father had to stoop down to that little boy and tell him he could not give him the fuzzy and moldy crackers because it would be bad for him. As the little boy began to cry he said through tears, “I will eat the fuzz.” The dad found an alternative and gave it to the boy as a snack. Our Father knows what we need.
This is how we are trying to walk into next Monday. This is no different than how we all are walking in the various ups and downs of life. We walk seemingly paralyzed by fear at times, discouraged and not really sure what the future holds. At the same time we walk knowing truth, namely that we have an infinitely good Father who knows what we need. So, are we asking for healing continually and for a clear scan for Cait and for no dialysis for me or are we resting in a Father who is God and is Good and who gives us what we need and oh so much more. Yes. Yes, we are. Would you join us in praying?
Jonathan
May 2, 2012
Finishing Well and Open Hands - April 26th
When I used to hear the words, "Finish Well" I imagined a sweaty, bronze-skinned athlete with muscular arms and legs pumping while sporting a crinkled nose of determination as they set their eyes on the finish line. But now, I think of my husband. With a kidney functioning at 13%, he is a few days away from passing in his final paper at Dallas Theological Seminary and hopefully weeks away from receiving a kidney transplant.
This past week he has read hundreds of pages of books, written almost two papers, helped create an event on campus for this Friday and is helping to plan a graduation party for the missions department. But he also has taken me on dates, pursued Christ, played games (even when I gave him the raised eyebrow that says, "Don't you have a lot of work to do?"), taken me on dates, met with friends and paced himself with naps and maybe even some more games :) He has enjoyed life, and I love watching him do it.
On Monday, we learned that his red count is still up but so is his blood pressure and it appears his kidney function may be dropping as well. He has felt so sick this week, with severe headaches and flu like symptoms. Yesterday the doctors added a new blood pressure medicine to the mix and after a rough last night and a trip to the doctor this morning, we are pretty sure he is have an allergic reaction to the new medicine. I passed in his reading report and one of his papers today, and he has received an extension date for his last paper to be turned in. Monday, is his new deadline to turn in his final paper.
This afternoon he is final able to rest, and I am able to reflect on how he is finishing so well. Please pray that he is able to get rest and experience relief. Pray for healing, pray that the Lord would continue to be merciful and grant him more time to avoid dialysis while we wait for the transplant but most of all please pray for open hands. What I mean by that is, we want to trust God and not cling to what the doctors tell us. I see my hope being dependent upon good news from the doctors, and when it seems to get worse than better, my hope begins to falter and my hands begin to wrap tightly around the plans that Jonathan and I have of me being cleared in early May and then having a transplant by the end of May or early June. But that might not happen, and even if it does, circumstances and doctors reports make lousy places to put our hope in because they can change so quickly.
But God does not change and He is not just in control, He is lovingly in control. The same way He was with Abraham, Moses, the Israelites, Joseph, Esther, Hannah, David, Paul, Peter, John the Baptist, and yes as He was lovingly in control at the Cross. He will be lovingly in control if things get better and He is still lovingly in control if things get worse, and that is a hope we want our hands to cling to; not a report and not a circumstance but Jesus Christ.
April 15, 2012
April 15, 2012
Hi Everyone,
We just wanted to send a quick update to everyone. As of last week, Jonathan's red count is up to 11 which is a miracle. The doctors were worried they might need to give him a transfusion or that his red count wouldn't go back to normal before May, but here we are in April and it has climbed up!
We called, Val, our pre-transplant coordinator about getting the next round of 8 amazing friends and family members tested to see if they are a match for Jonathan. We should know more this week and we will update you on that.
I will get re-scanned around May 13th to see if the lymph node near my right kidney has shrunk. We are praying that the lymph node was just inflamed from fighting an infection or something small. We are praying that this is nothing serious in regards to my health and also that since I am a match, that I will be able to give Jonathan my kidney sometime soon! Maybe even early summer!
Jonathan has been doing well. He has more energy now that his red count has gone up, but pray he is able to sleep well and that his blood pressure does not get too high. It has been going up as his red count has gone up.
He is also less than 2 weeks away from turning all his work in to the seminary in order to graduate on May 12th. He is so close, pray for his last few weeks of papers and projects!
We miss our family and friends scattered all over the world and are so thankful for prayers and encouragements!
Pray that we will not worry, but will trust in the One that has created us, rescued us and that will come back for us all. We love you and thank you for loving us!
Jonathan and Cait
ps. We will be updating the page instead of sending out emails, so keep checking it! We will try to update once a week!
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March 27, 2012
10.9
Great news! Jonathan's red count is now 10.9!
June 27, 2012
8 days out and counting...
Cait and I are now 8 days out from the transplant and we are both feeling pretty good. The overall sense we feel is overwhelmed by the goodness and greatness of our God. The main prayers we were praying walking into the surgery were no rejection, good health for Cait, few side-effects from the meds, 2 Cor 1- that the God of all comfort would comfort us so that we can comfort others in their own troubles, and that God would be made much of. God has blown our expectations in these areas flat out of the water. The interviews from Channel 8 and ABC news were very unexpected and we are humbled by how God is using the story He has written to encourage and bring hope to others in suffering and remind us all of the fact that He is able. Though, we have been plastered across the internet with grins and thumbs up it does not mean the days following transplant are always easy. There has been a lot of pain and discomfort, truckloads of medications, and it is a slow road to recovery for both of us and many doctor’s appointments for me over the next year...and of course for life. I will begin going 3 times a week for the first month or so.
Recently, the Lord is teaching us a lot about what it means to walk with Him in faith through the struggles and troubles of life. Even today, we got a little scare as my kidney function had decreased significantly since Monday. The doctor scheduled a kidney biopsy for Friday, more lab tests for me over the next 2 days, and a renal (kidney) sonogram for today. What a reminder of how quickly circumstances can change as just Monday we were overwhelmed with the best kidney function I have had since I was probably a teenager. I called Caitlin and her simple faith in Jesus struck me as she said in her prayer, “and Lord...we trust You.” We trust You. What does that look like? We are realizing we have had a lot of misconceptions about what it means to trust Jesus.
I think at times we have this mis-informed idea that stoicism means you are trusting God. The absence of wrestle means that you are trusting God. No tears, anger, or doubt means you are trusting God. When you read the Scriptures faith does not seem to be the absence of struggle, doubt, or wrestle, instead faith involves what you do with the doubt, depression, and the twisting. The faith that pleases God is faith that takes the doubts, struggles, fears, and wrestle and honestly brings them to Jesus. We see one example of this in the Gospel of Mark when Jesus heals the boy with an evil spirit. The father simply comes to Jesus with his unbelief saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”
This same idea has been stirring in our heads from a blog from the Gospel Coalition today. Ray Ortland the writer describes how the Hebrew word for ‘wait’ is closely connected with the translation for the word ‘twist.’ That is kind of how we felt today. Twisting, turning, and wrestling with the unsettling news as we waited in the doctor’s office for close to four hours. Ortland goes on to say this, “you may be bewildered, gasping or frightened but that doesn’t mean that you are not trusting God...it actually might mean you are trusting God.”
Well, the good news from today is that the sonogram came back clear and the doctor is now pretty sure my kidney function test from today was higher because of a certain medicine that will need to be adjusted. The better news from today was that God took us to a deeper level of freedom in our ability to see the reality of tears, struggle, darkness, frustration, and even twisting in the journey of waiting and trusting in God...and to see that is good for us to bring these raw emotions to our God.
