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UPDATE- March 25th---Warner is recovering at home!!
They are tired & he is still on lots of pain killers, but happy to be home & see the girls :0)
Thank you for all the prayers.
Mitsy#9
UPDATE-March 17th
Warner came through the surgery!!! Now to get him stable in the ICU.
They will have to use Morphine for the pain & that slows his breathing, so they will have to watch that.
Thank you so much for prayers so far.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
Mitsy#9
************UPDATE___March 15th 2006***************
They left early this morning & the first operation is to be done on the 16th.
MB
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From a Friend of mine... Please add them to your Prayer list.
~Mitsy#9~ March 10th, 2006
Dear friends and family,
Here we are again coming to you and asking that you intercede for our family in prayer as we face another difficult few months. Many of you have been so faithful in remembering us and we are deeply appreciative of your prayers on our behalf. For those of you who are meeting us for the first time allow me to introduce our family, son and situation.
We are the Clark family of Saint John. Our son Warner Clark has often times been on many of the prayer lists the churches in the Maritimes. He is an eight year old boy, with a sparky personality and many complicated health issues. He has spina bifida with multiple complications and as some will recall has been through more than his share of major surgeries. He has two younger sisters, Kate and Hannah. He is tiny (31 lbs) and handsome with an amazing smile. He loves NASCAR, basketball and is a bit of an agitator. Not sure where he gets that from, well okay probably my side of the family.
We are preparing to head out to Montreal next week for the first of three major surgeries. This is a rollercoaster ride we have been on before. Some will remember four years ago when Warner was the smallest person that they ever put spinal rods in, in Montreal. At that time many were praying for Warner and the family. As difficult as these things are doors do open to speak a witness for the Lord. With our rod surgery they had prepared four units of blood and were not sure if that would be enough. It was expected that a half hour into this seven and half our surgery they would begin to transfuse him and continue through out the remainder of the operation. The two Orthopedic surgeons emerged from the OR at the end of this very long day and in disbelief told us they only used a half a unit of blood just to "top him up'. They had no explanation for why he didn't bleed when they had his spine open all day long. Since then he has also had his second brain decompression, most children with this problem only ever require one decompression in their late teens. Two years ago when our neurosurgeon was about to enter the OR he couldn't look Walker and I in the eyes as he was convinced that Warner would not be coming off the table. He walked out at 6:30 that evening after working literally all day under microscope on our child's brain and spinal cord and in disbelief told us he had no explanation for why things went as smoothly as they had no right to. Walker and I in both cases were able to say with great confidence that it was God and that an army of people were praying while they were in the OR. Please be encouraged as we are that the prayers of Gods people are a powerful thing! Since then we have also had other minor surgeries as well.
We received the news in December that things were not looking very positive for this coming year. In fact our orthopedic surgeon put it to me in this way, "you have had some very major surgery and I know you understand that so allow me to tell you what we are facing next is major, major, major surgery." What this means is that every two years I have a Doctor tell me to take a few minutes to say good bye to my child and someone will be saying this to us between three and five times this year. Not a place where any parent wants to be. Things have reached a complication level that these surgeons who are the tops in their respective fields have been floundering to come up with a game plan.
God has been gracious to us in putting the best surgeons into place for Warner. The running joke among the surgeons is that we are the lowest common denominator Clarks. These men who have seen everything have never seen anyone like our young lad. The main problem we are up against at the moment is that the rods which were put into place four years ago have done something rare and dangerous instead of doing what they were designed to do. In the top part of his spine rather than acting as a guide to encourage the spine to grow straight, they have acted as a tether causing the spine to grow in a cork screw shape. This is a called a crankshaft phoneme and let me tell you is more than a little freaky to see on an x-ray. The challenge comes with how to proceed; also when neurosurgery heard about what we were looking at it became evident that Warner would require another brain decompression before orthopedics began their work.
So after a stressful last few months we received the call last week, our first surgery is booked for the 16th of March, brain decompression. This is a hard one for me to wrap my head around as the risks are so high not only of survival but as well as for complications. Warner is a paraplegic in a wheelchair; he could come out as a quadripegic. After his last decompression he lost movement in his face for four months, no smiles. All of this puts me in a very scary place. Please pray for Warner on the 16th if God brings us to your mind. He will be in the OR all day (7 ½ hours); pray God directs the surgeons' hands and protects Warner. Number three decompression although not unheard of is entering into scary territory for all involved.
As soon as Warner is recovering and stable they will begin pr-op work up for orthopedics. Our tentative surgery dates here are April 25 th and May 1st. The first surgery will involved the lengthy process of removing the rods from the top half of his spine where they have grafted onto bone. Upon the completion of this Warner will be in halo traction for two weeks to try and straighten out the corkscrew in his spine. Two weeks of hanging from the ceiling for a very active little boy. Then they will return to the OR for anterior fusion another high risk procedure. A very painful and dangerous spring awaits our child.
God has taught us that we need to ask for help. Those of you who know us are probably laughing as you know how independent Walker and I prefer to be. Since Warner has come into our lives I have learned that asking for prayer and assistance is not a sign of weakness but one of strength. It brings strength to the whole body of Christ when we uphold each other before the Lord. We are community. Although this burden may not appear to belong to those outside our family unit, it really does. Today I am humbly asking that you help us to bear it. We are leaving our two precious daughters at home, this is difficult on them. Being separated from our support of extended family and friends, being separated from my husband, it is a difficult place to be. Watching Warner yet again go through pain and suffering, it is difficult. Please pray for strength and peace for us, pray for wisdom and accuracy for our Drs, and pray for protection and healing for Warner.
Warner is a living breathing miracle. He is someone we can all rejoice in, a testimony to the goodness of the Lord. A testimony to how all of men's wisdom can not explain when God intervenes in a life. Please share in the rejoicing and miraculous nature of Warner's young life the same way you share in upholding us in prayer. I don't know what Gods will is for our future but I do know that He is in control. God works through the prayers of his people. Knowing that so many of you have been and will be on your knees interceding for us means more than you will ever know. We rejoice and thank the Lord for you.
Strangely enough, I no sooner finish typing this than I receive a phone call from the Neurosurgeon. It appears there is a question concerning next weeks surgery date. I will not know until Monday if we are a go ahead for Thursday or not. The possibility exists that we may be bumped to the first week of April. I am going to send this as I appreciate you sharing this with your church families. I will send out an update on Monday on where we stand. Thanks so much! ~ Stacey-Lynne
EmC
