I’d like to share a personal prayer request for a dear Christian family that could use some extra prayer support. I met Mike and Trudy Carmody about 18 years ago and we became very close friends. They had a gorgeous, healthy baby boy named Michael that brought lots of joy wherever he went. The Carmody’s ended up moving to Ohio and I moved to New York not long afterward, so we lost contact. Recently reconnecting, I’ve heard the story of their little miracle daughter Gabrielle and the long, health journey the Lord has had them on. I’d like to put a brief synopsis from their Caring Bridge website here so that you could pray along with me. If you actually log in and read the journal, you’ll see a perfect demonstration of God’s grace, strength, faithfulness and love through some of the most difficult trials in life. Here’s a brief intro...
Gabrielle is our miracle child. She has overcome numerous challenges in her thirteen years of life. She has been diagnosed with Severe Idiomatic Infantile Scoliosis. Her spinal curvature is 150 degrees. She has a lateral "C" curve that rotates to her left side. The size of the curve has caused a severe distortion of her chest cavity. This distortion has had an impact on the development of Gabrielle's lungs and has altered the path of her esophagus. As a result, Gabrielle has had trouble gaining and maintaining a healthy weight. At one point not long ago, she was down to 32 pounds.
Gabrielle was in traction for a little over 2 months. For the 14 hour surgery that occurred on April 13th, they removed 2 ribs on the left and 3 ribs on the right. They then started the vertebral resection (removing the vertebrae). Throughout the surgery they had monitored Gabrielle's spinal function. All was going well until they had removed 1/3 of the first vertebrae. 2 of the monitoring points dropped and a third (motor skills) stayed high. At that point the decision was made to stop progressing. They installed 2 rods to reinforce her back and closed her up.
She has been slowly progressing in a special facility just for this disease in Texas, but Mike had to return to work in Cleveland, Ohio, leaving Gabrielle and her mother Trudy in Dallas.
You can imagine the heart ache...but in every journal entry, the grace of God is more than evident. They love the Lord with all their hearts and because they want to bring Him glory through all of this, would you please join me in prayer for this amazing family? If you’d like to see more, read more, be in awe of the photo’s...then log on to Caring Bridge’s website yourself at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gabriellecarmody
