September 29, 2005 - Prayer for Erik from Chip Riggsbee

I have been a friend of Lee Melvin since we went through high school together. She sent out an email for prayer for little Erik. I am so very sorry about what's happened in little Erik's short life so far but His creator is watching out for His child and I believe that He will give Erik a full life to enjoy His blessings. I also thank God for blessing you, his parents, with His strength, wisdom, and peace during the time Erik has been ill. May I give you my testiomony? The Lord heals. I know. In 1999 I contracted a spinal virus that was eating up my vertebrae and turning them to oatmeal. This left me in excruciating pain and virtually paralyzed. 3 spinal surgeries were totally unsucessful. By God's leading a Christian couple that my wife and I are friends with recommended an orthopedic surgeon in Charlotte that had operated on the husband's back wih excellent results. We went to the surgeon and he did two surgeries on me and after 3 years of being nearly paralyzed I began to be able to go to physical therapy and to make a long story short the Lord healed me to the point where I could attend Bible College. I received my Associate of Theology with an emphasis in ministry degree this past May. I graduated summa cum laude, and #1 in my class with a 3.99 GPA (all the glory goes to God for this). I don't tell you these things to brag on myself but to give glory to God for the powerful way he can and does turn situations around. He totally turned mine around and I am confident He's on the way to doing the same for Erik. I will put Erik on our church's prayer chain and he will continue to receive intercessory prayer from us. I'll also continue to follow his story which has touched me deeply. I am the parent of two children and while I can't feel what you're feeling because everyone's feelings are different I can imagine how I would cling to the Lord as you have during your child's illness. May God richly bless you and your wonderful family now and in the future. Chip Rigsbee Pawleys Island, SC

September 29, 2005 - Erik updates

Hello All! We are adjusting to life outside of the hospital and all is going well. We have an appointment with Erik's medical team tomorrow morning and then the goal is to come home on Saturday! YEAH!!! Many times we sit and think about how quickly things have changes over the past 2 years. One minute things are going great and the next minute, things have gone another direction. This also has worked in reverse - one minute things are not going well and then there is an amazing impovement. One thing has been steady - God has always been with us and has held us through it all. It seems like the Footprints poem many of us have read has been our experience. When things have been the hardest, we have laid it at God's feet and he has picked us up in various ways and let us know he is with us through it all. We still have quite a road ahead of us but know that we are being faithful in our walk with God. This is what God asks us to do. He wants us to rely on him, believe in his power, and trust him with everything. Many times people say to us they cannot imagine how we make it through tough times leaning on God. Our experience has been that these are the times we have found it easiest to do this. Our job going forward will be to maintain our faith, trust and hope in God while we are going through what may seem to be "easier times". This may prove to be harder than anything we have been through thus far. We will continue to take and celebrate it all - day by day. We are excited to let you know about a web site that has been set up to help keep everyone informed of Erik's progress. It is: http://erikmedlin.org. Check it out! Thanks to our friends for setting this up for us. We certaintly have not made time to do this but we think it is an awesome thing!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, for those of you who are local . . . don't forget about the BBQ October 8th at our church - Good Hope Baptist. We will list details below. There will also be a carnival that day for the kids from 4-7pm and at 7pm a local gospel group will be singing. It should be lots of fun! This is a fundraiser to help raise money to cover Erik's medical expenses. Love in Christ! Erik's Family

September 25, 2005 - We're out...

Hello Everyone! I am sending this email from the Ronald McDonald House . . . with Erik!!!!!!!! We are here for a few days. We have a few appointments this week and hopefully if all goes well, we will be coming home on Friday! It is so exciting to have Erik out of the hospital. Well, I know this is a brief email but I have a busy little man to entertain now so I need to go. Love in Christ, Wendy

September 22, 2005 The roller coaster

Hello Everyone! Just a quick update for everyone. It has been real up-and-down lately. Erik was doing well and then he started seizing some, sleeping more than usual, his heart rate was elevated, and his incision was leaking. Whew! Just when you think you are going forward, you go backwards. We have ridden this "roller coaster" before so our reaction is to tighten our seat belts and pray! Well, Blockbuster has helped me some too! I rented some movies to watch and that helps time pass! As many of you know, going forwards and backwards is a part of the healing process and our journey with Erik. The enemy just can't give up! Just when he tries to get to us though, it causes us to rely and trust God even more than before! With your help through prayer, we hope to send the enemy running and screaming! All of this is real complicated which reminds us that we are fortunate to be where we are with the medical care available to us. Each segment of every day is unique. Erik is still doing fine and able to eat, move around, look around, and interact but he seems tired or like he has a headache. Hopefully today will be a GREAT day. Please pray for physical healing for Erik, continued restoration, and peace for our family during this time of separation! Love in Christ, Erik's Family

September 17, 2005 - Keep the prayers coming

Hello all! Yes - it is a late night here in CA. It has been an "off" day for us. Erik has experienced some seizure like activity off and on since noon and he has been acting like he is not feeling well. We are talking to the doctors, observing him, and praying that we will quickly figure out the cause of this! Please keep Erik in your prayers. Pray that the doctors will be given the knowledge to do the right things to figure this out and that things improve! Love in Christ, Erik's Family

September 15, 2005 - We are moving THROUGH this time

Hello Everyone! Things are moving so fast here in CA! This is GREAT news and God's work! Each day, Erik appears to be progressing. Today, he is making streams of sounds which is something we have not heard in a VERY, VERY, VERY long time! It is great to hear his voice. He is participating in therapy and appears to be motivated to move around. He actually has been awake most of the day. The other thing he is doing that is neat to see is that he complains when we leave him or when he wants to be held or fed. He has not been this responsive in months. PRAISE GOD! There are no words that can describe how AWESOME God has been. Erik is definantly touching many and is a testimony of God's amazing power. We have met some wonderful people here and are sure our trip here has been puropseful in many ways. Many that we may never directly know about. Please continue to pray for stability for Erik and for his body to be fully restored. Love in Christ, Erik's Family

September 12, 2005 - Erik's progressing

Hello Everyone! Hope you each had enjoyable weekends! It has been a pleasantly uneventful weekend for us here in CA. Erik appears to be a little better every day. Today we fed him some. He did fine but is still tired and weak. He was nice and awake more and this was good to see. Margot, Brigitte and Nick all made it to CA fine. We had fun today riding on an old steam engine through a redwood tree forest. Nick was excited to be riding on a train like Thomas. Thank you for all of the prayers. Please continue to pray for complete restoration for Erik. Love in Christ, Erik's Family

September 9, 2005 - Faith made it real!

Greetings from CA! Well, it has been a busy day for Master Erik! We started at 11am and are still going now at 11:30pm. It has been a good day though. There were 3 main steps. First the angiogram. This was great. The doctor came out from the procedure to let us know that the blood flow to and from Erik's brain was much improved from prior to the last procedure. PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!! This improvement also allowed for the doctors to remove the large mass of tissue and blood AS WELL AS the smaller one located last week. This was the second phase of treatment today. The procedure went well and Erik remained stable throughout the procedure. The mass they removed was 6cm in size!!!! This is 30% larger than expected. He should experience some relief as far as pressure goes from getting this out! The third phase was to perform an angiogram to look at everything. All was good. The ventricles were slightly enlarged but this could be due to the recent MRIs changing the setting. We will see because he was just taken down for a CT to check all of this. Prayer requests: 1) Our understanding is that the second day after a procedure like Erik had is the day there is more swelling. In Erik, this can do many things such as increase or cause seizure activity. Please pray for stability so he does not start to seize. He has been 10 days without any seizures and we want this to continue!!!! 2) Please pray for COMPLETE restoration to come quickly for Erik. 3) Please pray that Erik will remain "complication free". 4) Please pray for the nurses and physicians caring for Erik to be attentive and on high alert to any changes in him. 5) Pray for a safe trip for the kids on Saturday to CA. 6) Please pray for those who read this and those who are in the world who are not Christians. Experiencing all of this with Erik has really made us realize how lost people must feel without Christ in their lives. Our prayer is that Erik's trials will be for a purpose - to reach those who are not Christians and bring them to salvation!!!!!!!!!!!!! More than anything, please remember to thank God for answering our sincere prayers for healing in Erik. It is so powerful to be experiencing a miracle made possible ONLY through God! The physicians all but said this to me today which was a blesing to see the witness Erik has had. Today we have seen the Heavens open up and a miracle delivered! PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!! Love in Christ, Erik's Family

September 3, 2005 - Erik's CA Update

Hi Everyone! Sorry it has been a while since we updated! This week has been busy. Erik was diagnosed with high levels of ammonia in his system. Apparently the new medication he was given last Sunday to treat his seizures can do this. They did say that the reaction of high ammonia is not common and can indicate an underlying metabolic or enzyme related condition. We will be meeting with the genetics staff to learn more about this. It apparently is something that is good to know about. Also, now that we know about it, it should be manageable. They did stop the medication and now he is more responsive and interactive. It is just so good to see this!!!!! We also have made the decision to undergo another surgery within the next 2 weeks. The physicians want to remove the blood and tissue (mass) from the procedure on 8/26 and treat another small one that they found. The removal of the mass should relieve some of the pressure in Erik's skull and will eliminate future complications from the mass. The greatest risk of this procedure is a stroke. Although we are not thrilled about another surgery, we realize that this is another answered prayer and will give Erik the best chance for recovery. This is the manifestation of a miracle. Some of you may remember that since Erik's diagnosis, we have been told many times that the mass was one that could not be blocked off or removed because all of the arteries and vessels supplying the blood flow to his major organs were connected to it. I remember driving down the road praying and crying and asking God why Erik had to have THIS TYPE of mass. I asked Him why Erik wasn't given a chance by having a mass that could be removed or blocked off. After a while, we just accepted the fact that this could not be done and we stopped thinking about and praying for something that did not seem to be in our future. As I think about the past 3 weeks or so, it seems like God is giving us a break. I do believe all that we have been going through has been a test of our faith. Boy oh boy has it been tough! We have stuck together as a family and with our Christian friends and family we have made it this far but we are tired. I feel like God has reached down and answered our prayers from 2 years ago by touching Erik and making all of the procedures we are doing here possible. THIS IS TRULY A MIRACLE! Our immediate prayers are: 1) For Erik to continue to get stronger every day; 2) For Erik to seize NO MORE; 3) For the physicians to be utilized to do God's work through their skills; 4) For the procedure to go better than expected and for him to once again amaze everyone through his recovery; and 5) For the procedure to be done in God's time. We understand that this type of procedure has a greater than average recovery period. To use the doctor's words, "Who knows. Erik really amazed us last Saturday after the initial procedure so let's hope he does it again after this one!" We really feel we have been obedient by coming here. It is tough for our family to be separated but the doctor's really seem to care about Erik. Every time they come to see him, they always touch him and talk so kindly and appropriately to him. He watches them and seems to be relaxed when they are around. We really can tell they care about Erik and our family. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and encouragement. Please be in prayer for the things listed above. I am attaching a photo from a few nights ago. Erik is doing well. Love in Christ, Erik's Family