A Blue Balloon for Walker

Walker's birthday is today, February 20th... and he's celebrating his 10th birthday in heaven.

In 2008, a few years before we moved to Chesapeake and met the Gorney family, Walker, their youngest son died after a rigorous five months of treatment fighting childhood cancer.  Since his passing, every year on this day, family and friends send balloons of blue, his favorite color up to heaven.  I've known him only in pictures and stories, but he is not a child I will soon forget.

Walker Gorney
February 20, 2004-April 11, 2008

We've known Charlie, Laura, and their other two children, Mason and Aliya for almost 4 years now.  Laura was a mother in my Chesapeake area MOPS group.  It turned out they were also our neighbors and lived just a few streets over.  Laura is an out-going person, and like me, very open about her life story.  Though I was new to the group, it wasn't long before we were sharing our tales of adoption and loss.  At the time, Laura and Charlie had just begun the process of adopting their little girl, Aliya, and it seemed we were placed in the same MOPS group together, along with another adoptive mother by more than just chance.  It was the same year our family was reunited with Zach; a time of great rejoicing and need of support for our family.  There was much love in this group of ladies- for each of us in our precise time of need.

I have heard other stories of families experiencing various degrees of loss, including of their children, but never known any of them quite as closely as we have the Gorneys.  Perhaps it was this, or that Christian was born just a few months before Walker.  Whatever the reason, I have always been deeply affected by their loss.  This year, however, it has been made more real to me than ever before- as much as it can be for anyone who has never lost a child.

At dinner this past Monday, I was telling Carlos that Walker's birthday was coming up and that Laura was participating for the second time with the 46 Mommas in their Shave for the Brave event to be held in Boston this July.  Our boys asked about Walker.  As the youngest, Adrian, of course had the most questions.  We explained as best we could, but when I told them Walker was only four when he died, Adrian immediately shouted, "He's my age!"

I hadn't even realized.

It took everything I had to hold back the tears.  To look into the face of Adrian and know Laura was forced to say goodbye to her son at his age is heart breaking.  And then to look at Christian and Julian and know she has missed seeing him grow through the ages of 7 and 10 is completely unfathomable.  I've watched the Gorneys make their journey along the never-ending path of healing and life on earth without Walker.  I've seen Laura struggle with feelings of life and loss that I can't possibly understand, nor could anyone who hasn't buried a child, and even in those struggles with anger and the deepest hurt imaginable, she wakes up every morning and presses on.  More than that, Laura and her entire family are in a constant and passionate pursuit to honor Walker by participating in organizations that support research and funding for childhood cancer.

There are many, many types of childhood cancer and the statistics are staggering.  These cancers claim the lives of more children than any other childhood disease, and worldwide, every three minutes another kid is diagnosed.  Most of the time, the cancer has already spread to other areas of the body by the time of diagnosis.  These are just a few of the facts that organizations like St. Baldrick's and Alex's Lemonade Stand are raising funds to fight, alongside the families, like the Gorneys, affected by all forms of childhood cancer.

Our family has chosen to support Charlie and Laura in their pursuit both financially and in prayer.  I hope you will consider doing the same in any capacity of which you are capable.  This week, in honor of their son, the Gorneys are matching all $10 donations to Laura's participation in Shave for the Brave.  I have included links below for further information about childhood cancer, a few of the organizations that support research efforts, and, of course the web pages that share the story of our dear friends, the Gorneys in their own words.

Today and always, we send our love to Walker in heaven and to Charlie, Laura, Mason, and Aliya in Chesapeake.

Links:
Support Laura Gorney's participation in the 46 Mommas Shave for the Brave
Support Walker's brother, Mason as a St. Baldrick's participant
Walker Gorney's story through CaringBridge
46 Mommas Shave for the Brave
Statistics from St. Baldrick's
Statistics from Alex's Lemonade Stand

Blue Balloons for Walker ~ Feb 20, 2014

Bowen's Heart

The radio dial in my car is set to K-love, a Christian radio station that is broadcast nationally. The music lifts me up each day with positive lyrics and encouraging stories of God's love. Emmersing my family in the powerful message of God's wonder just seems like a great way to start off every day.

Recently, on the Lisa & Eric show, I was introduced to a powerful story of one family's struggle with their newborn baby boy's diaginosis of a rare congenital heart defect- a life threatening defect. Baby Bowen was born already fighting for his life and faced a major heart surgery shortly after birth. The Hammitt family's trust in the Lord, their faith, and their strength is more than amazing, and then their willingness to share these most intimate moments is awe inspiring. I urge you to visit their blog at http://www.bowensheart.com/ and follow their story. Pray for them... pray with them. Let this family's struggle and the faith they have to conquer it move you, as it has moved me.

Little Noah Biorkman

I received a message on Facebook last week via "Status Update" about a little boy named Noah Biorkman. This one little blurb has been on my mind since, and then today I came across a Facebook Event Invitation from another Facebook friend sharing further details of his story. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=177509260842&ref=mf

Little Noah is a 5 year old from South Lyon, MI who has been fighting Neuroblastoma, the most common cancer in childhood and infancy [according to Wikipedia], since he was diagnosed in February of 2007. A long fight for a child so young! He was declared to be in remission in August 2007. Unfortunately, his family was recently told, following a relapse in September 2008 and six different trials to prevent the cancer from spreading to no avail, that Noah's battle will soon be coming to an end. Despite this unimaginable and devastating news, the family has chosen to spend their final days with Noah celebrating the birth of Our Savior a little early. the family's celebration begins next week, as we prepare for our Thanksgiving. Noah has expressed a desire for one simple gift... Christmas cards sent to him from around the world.

My family sent a card to Noah Biorkman a few days ago, and I'm asking you to do the same, to remind this family that the prayers for their son are many. Please, take a moment and send one. It is a small and inexpensive gift that would mean the world to one small child.

Noah Biorkman

1141 Fountain View Circle

South Lyon, MI 48178 USA

I, like so many, am in awe and inspired by the Biorkman family. Though I see little to celebrate, their courage and strength in facing a disease as terrible as Cancer is great, even when it is a losing battle. When I see the picture posted of Noah, I see my boys, just your average kids with all the world to live for, and I am reminded of how precious it all is. It could just as easily be someone posting messages about my family asking them to help us celebrate our last Christmas together. Noah's family is not alone; you need only take a look at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or the Make-A-Wish Foundation's websites to see just how many families are struggling to battle these childhood illnesses.

It just doesn't seem fair! Strike that... it isn't fair! Not that anyone deserves to battle through any disease, but it is absolutely heart wrenching to hear of children that must muster the strength to live with the daily pain that often comes with an chronic illness of this magnitude. Afterall, what can you say about the diseases we call Cancer? The truth is there is nothing to say that hasn't already been said a thousand times. There are 650 new cases reportedly annually in the U.S. of Neuroblastoma alone, 50 percent of which occur in children under the age of two. While some types of this and other Cancers are curable, a child diagnosed with it is still in for the fight of their lives, many times for their lives.

Noah's story reminds me of a little girl named Christina, whose story I heard years ago as a child. It was just before Christmas. I couldn't have been more than 8, and I was having trouble sleeping one night. I woke my brother (for the company) and we sat under our Christmas tree to watch TV. My brother, who was just a year younger than me, fell fast asleep, but I kept searching the channels for something, anything interesting to watch. I remember catching the middle of a program similar to Dateline about children fighting Cancer. They were following several children's story, but one in particular stuck with me. It was a little girl about my age named Christina. The details are a bit hazy, but her face remains plastered in my mind with the biggest smile you've ever seen on her face. Throughout the program, they shared how she loved to smile and make others smile, even on her sickest, weakest days. She battled her disease, of which type now escapes me, for years, all the while bringing laughter to the hospital in which she lived. She told jokes, drew colorful pictures, and brightened the days of the other children, as well as the docotrs and nurses. One day, she and the other children were on their way back home [to the hospital] from a party, and exhausted little Christina lay down to take a short nap in the back of the van. Christina never woke up. Tears rolled down my eight year old little cheeks and I couldn't stop sobbing. The world had suffered a great loss. I don't know that I fully understood her story at the time, but something touched me that night. I still think of Christina every Christmas, and I'm reminded to pray for the families of the children whose great smiles and love touch the lives of people even though their lives are short.

Noah is that kind of child, and I know that as young as he is, he has touched many people with his little life. My hope is that his parents carry that with them for the rest of theirs.