Numbers are just numbers...

With his port in and his levels so high, we have been soaking in every moment of “normal” that we can. From visiting the lemonade stand, to breakfast with friends, to impromptu play dates, to getting to swim with cousins. And they say a photo is worth a thousand words, and this photo does exactly that for me. Just a few running around in my head… Strength. Courage. Bravery. Overcomer. Fighter. Determined. Blessed. Answered prayers. Testimony. Peace. Endurance. Excitement. Pure joy. Summer. But then there are the other ones too… Pale. Weak. Sore. Bruised. Scared. Just the beginning. You see the excitement of being with some of his favorite people, but you realize just how different his summer has been. Just how different his journey is. His normally sun darkened skin is pale from hospital stays and everything his body is battling. The hands that love to do legos now struggle to get the pieces together. His summer, our summer, is just not what we expected. And before bed, Brady finally asked the question I wondered if he was ever going to ask. “Mom”, he said, sitting at the kitchen counter, “of the 64 that have had my leukemia, how many have lived?” I stood across from him and asked him the same thing his oncologist asked me when I posed the same question, “do you really want to know?” He sat there for a minute eating his snack and then shook his head and quietly answered, “yes”. I told him the answer. As he sat there eating another bite I looked at him and said, “but Brady, you might not have the complications that some of the others had and your treatment is going to be different.” Then, I added, “And guess what? We only need one. Just you. And you know what else? I know, in my heart and soul, God is going to carry you through this. He is with you. Can you feel that?” He shook his head again and finished his snack while he processed. “I can feel it,” he said. Brady’s journey has proven that some numbers, are just numbers. Let the numbers go and focus on the only one thing that matters. Come to the One that created you and let Him fight your battles. Because guess what? When you let the numbers go and focus on what does matter, miracles happen. Two thousand five hundred and eighty of them. “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” #waytobattlebrady #bravelikebrady #leukemiawarrior #phillylikemutation #TheBattleIsOn