Prayer request: Novena for Emily

One of our friends (and a family in our homeschool group) has a 3yo daughter Emily who has been sick on and off for the past few months. They thought it was various things, but an MRI now shows that it is a brain tumor. They will be operating tomorrow (Tuesday Aug 5) afternoon and then she will have to be on chemo because they don't think they can get it all out. The family is expecting the birth of their 5th child in a couple of weeks and they are supposed to move to another state this summer as well.

Please join us in a novena for Emily's healing. We are praying the St Therese novena, which can be found here.

Thanks so much!

I received this update today (Aug 11):
Emily is being discharged from the hospital today. Everything has gone so well with her recovery. The doctors keep saying everything has gone as well as it could possibly go. They found out on Friday that the tumor is a slow growing tumor which is great news. What an answer to prayers! They are supposed to check it every 3 months for the next couple years and if it has grown a sizable amount they may have to do chemo but if not they can leave it alone. They will put off doing radiation until they absolutely have to because you can only do radiation on the brain stem once in a lifetime, the tissue is too sensitive for more. Emily is being sent home with a feeding tube. Her body is just not used to taking in much and she has no interest in eating. The doctors are hopeful that her appetite will kick in within a couple days.