Community of Grace

Both at the memorial service, which was attended by over 500 people, and since then the Mulligan family has experienced God's grace in the form of the body of believers. The community of our local body (Crossway Community Church) and believers literally around the world have poured out their thoughts, well wishes, support, and prayers. 

We have received kind words, cards, flowers, and hundreds of chats, likes, posts, and other forms of electronic encouragement. Some are just a few words, others are moving remembrances of Jenny's life and  impact that she had on their lives.

The outpouring has been meaningful, moving, and has allowed us to further appreciate the lives that were touched by Jenny and the far reaching impact that those encounters produced.

We are doing well, God's grace is sufficient for each day for us, as it is for each of you!

The ultimate outpouring of grace

Jenny is now experiencing the grace that surpasses all others, she is seeing her savior face-to-face. What was only able to be viewed dimly is now being experienced in it's full glory. The grace that we have enjoyed throughout this journey is now being fully expressed in being able to enter the everlasting kingdom of our heaven father without spot or blemish because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross on our behalf. She is robed in his righteousness and she is worshiping like she never has before!

We will be celebrating Jenny's life which was full of grace and lived for God's glory this Sunday at Crossway Community Church in Charlotte NC at 2:00pm.
  

An eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison

Jenny has spent the last 36 hours or so in bed, in a semi-awake state, as I observe her sleeping, in a state of transition from being on this earth to going to her eternal home, I wonder what she is experiencing. The sentiments expressed by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians come to mind.

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

I am hoping that she is starting to get visions of the unseen, eternal things. She seems at peace, opening her eyes every once in a while, then she slips back into slumber. She has run the race well, preparing for that weight of glory...

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Sorry that I have not posted in a while

A number of you have given me some feedback that I haven't posted in a while, which is very true. We have had a busy month of May with the boys having the Movie premier in Charlotte last week and then n Portland OR this week-end. We also had the opportunity to spend a few days at the beach with most of the family, which was very nice. 

Jenny remains about the same, she has a remarkable attitude towards all the changes that she has had to endure as a part of this journey. Last week we had the hospital bed delivered and moved some furniture out of my office so that we had the option of not having to try and make the assent up the 15 steps to get her to bed each night. She seems to like the new arrangements, since going up and down the stair was sometimes an adventure and always took a lot of energy. The options and flexibility of mobility, eating what you want, and being able to go where ever you want have all been taken away from her, but her attitude is always amazing, and not one of complaining or bitterness as I am sure mine would be. What a grace that God has given her to take this path.

One of the high spots of each day is when we do our devotions. We are reading through the bible and currently are in Isaiah 25, where he is painting the picture of the grand feast at the end of time, when the Lord brings his chosen people together and takes away the covering of death that was upon us.

He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
(Isaiah 25:8-9 ESV) 

When we get to the end of a passage like that Jenny just says "Amen"...I agree.

Looking Forward to Easter!

This is a time given to us on our calendars to reflect upon the resurrection of our Lord, the overcoming of sin and death, of the new body, and eternal life. I was thinking this morning about the shortness of Jesus' years on earth - only 33. It was not too short, there were not things left undone, he didn't have a "bucket list" with items still unfulfilled. It was perfect, His life was exactly as God his father intended it to be, just as each of ours are, for those of us who are submitted to His lordship.

Jenny spend many hours a day sleeping, she doesn't have many items on her to do list, her calendar is not full of appointments, she is at peace. I take great comfort that She is right where God has placed her, in this place, at this time, totally at peace, knowing that on the other side of this life is one far better and forever.

As we mark this weekend as a time of remembering the death and resurrection of our Savior, I am so thankful that he has removed our fear of death and is our model of complete trust and acceptance of the grace and love shown by our loving father in heaven.

May all of you enjoy God's peace this easter....

Jennypalooza!

It has been quite a week - we celebrated Jenny's 52nd birthday in grand style. We started out the celebration with a family dinner with a few friends and a huge quantity of shrimp and grits, spending some time recanting all of the things that we so appreciate about Jenny. It was a meaningful and wonderful time. 

The 2nd night of the Jennypalooza was spent with another group of friends, worshiping together and thanking God for all of his goodness and grace that He has shown towards us. It allow allowed us to all be together as a family, a rare occurrence these days, so we had an impromptu family picture taken.

On day three of the celebration, we went out to eat with some friends and again enjoyed the Jennypalooza with ice cream and fried tortillas at a local mexican restaurant. 

So, it has been a wonderful week of celebration, family gathering, and worshiping the Lord. Also this week we have started meetings with hospice and will be getting together with them today to map out a plan for the future, as always we appreciate your support and prayers. Thank you all for your birthday cards, facebook notes, emails, flowers, chocolate covered strawberries, and all of the other birthday related kindnesses we are overwhelmed at your love poured out in so many ways...

  

A week to remember

Last week we participated in the Charlotte Brain Tumor Race, which was an event to raise money to help find cures for brain cancer. We had over 70 people sign-up to be a part of the "Running for Jenny" team.. Collectively we raised over $7,500 towards the cause. Below is a picture of Jenny and one of the sweet nurses from the infusion center that joined us on Saturday.



The week-end brought many people together including workmates, family members, neighbors, and church members as we enjoyed the beautiful day together. It was a blast to be together.  Jenny's brother was also able to arrange a lay-over in Charlotte for a couple of days on his way back to PA from a business trip in TX. It was wonderful for them to be able to spend time together.

Getting everyone together also allowed us to have some really good discussion about the treatments approach that Jenny has been following and the best direction to go from here. Based on discussions with family, friends that are in frequent contact with Jenny, and our oncologist, Jenny has determined that the benefits of the current treatments no longer outweighed the time, energy, and side effects, so we are not going to continue the infusions and chemo any longer.

Please continue to pray for us, for strength and peace for Jenny, and wisdom for the all of use, and we continue along this journey. We had a wonderful encouragement from the pulpit on Sunday from Psalm 78, where we were reminded that we should "...put our trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands." 

Even now, we do not forget God's deed of grace and mercy which has be showered upon us, so we keep his command to trust in his goodness and kindness towards us.

3.6.14 Update - Good News on the MRI

The MRI done yesterday showed no change from last month, which is great news. Based on some of the memory loss and mental confusion that Jenny has experienced over the last few weeks we were bracing ourselves for news that wasn't nearly as encouraging, but God continues to surprise us with daily graces that exceed our expectations!

today we are rejoicing in the words of psalms 23:5 "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over"

We are in the infusion center for a little bag of avastin and then we'll be heading home for a nap. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

2-20-14 Update

We are sitting in the Infusion center, waiting for the last IV bag to empty out. Never fast enough. The last few days have been a little bit of a roller coaster, on Monday Jenny was unable to get out of bed or walk without assistance, it was pretty scary. The only change was that her dosage of anti-seizure medicine had been doubled on Saturday, so we hoped that there was a correlation between the increase in dosage and the decrease in function... We based the dose back to the original level and see seems to be doing better. 

Jenny and Her Dad at the Infusion Center

She continues to take naps everyday and not have a huge amount of energy, but it looks like we are not going to have to employ the walker that a bought quite yet....

We have been blessed with having Jenny's sister Maria here on Monday, and then her mom and dad here for a few days this week. It has been a real blessing!

Thank you all for your prayers and support, and if you haven't signed up for the Brain Tumor Fund Raising race in Charlotte on March 22nd do so by clicking here.

  

The latest as of 2.9.14

Sorry for the delay in posts. Here is the latest - Jenny has started a daily pilled based chemo (Temador). This is the same medicine that she was on when she was getting radiation. She will be on this for the next 30 days, and then we'll do another MRI. Based on the pathology of the tumor, we have some indication that it might be effective.

We also had to meet with a Neurologist this week after Jenny suffered a mild seizure last week. She is now on some anti-seizure medicine and will go in for an EEG in a couple of weeks to see if there seems to be any addition abnormal brain wave activity. She has not had any other events like that since.

Overall, she is holding up well, the chemo has taken a little spring out of her step, but she is overall doing well. Jenny's sister, Paty, came and stated at the house for a few days earlier this week and was a real blessing with her laughter and culinary skills and allowed me to head up to Boston for a couple of days to meet with a client. At the worship meeting this morning a group of people prayed for Jenny, which was very encouraging to both of us.

We are enjoying the nice weather, taking some opportunities to sit out in the sun... Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

For any of you in the charlotte area, we are doing a 5K/10K fund raising race on 3/22. Go to this link - password is Jenny if you want to register for the race... the team name is Running for Jenny

Update on Duke Trial

We sent the latest MRI to Duke for them to review, which they did yesterday. There is a 1 cm minimum size that the tumor has to be in order for them to consider anyone for the trial, Jenny does not meet this criteria, so we will discuss options with the oncologist here in Charlotte on Thursday.

Thanks for your prayers and support, just wanted to keep everyone informed... 

MRI Results and Next Steps

Jenny had another MRI performed yesterday and we met with her oncologist today to discuss the results:

The MRI shows some signs of new tumor growth, not enormous, but detectable. This was not want we wanted, but what we expected, given her symptoms that we have observed over the last few weeks. 

So, now we will send the latest MRI up to Duke and see if she now qualifies for the polio vaccine trial.  This may involve further testing and it is not clear if she is a good candidate or not. If she does not qualify for the trail, we will try a different type of chemo (pill based) to see if that will help limit the tumor's ability to grow.  

She had a great time this week-end with some very long-time friends from the DC area, everyone was encouraged by their fellowship and God's loving care that he provides to us through dear friends. 

I thought that I would add one of our Christmas photos, since we were not that good at getting all of our Christmas cards out this year:

Thanks for your continued prayers, pray for us to have wisdom during this time of decision making, and that we could bring glory to God in the process...

Some Discouraging Developments

Over the last few weeks we have noticed that Jenny had gotten noticeably weaker and having a harder time with some routine tasks, especially if they involved remembering things. She has also communicated that she was losing some of her feeling in her right hand and foot. None of these were very encouraging developments. 

At today's visit, the Doctor confirmed our concerns and scheduled an MRI for next week to take a look at what is going on in Jenny's head. 

If you could pray for grace for all of us, as we transition to a greater level of daily care for Jenny and each other. Pray specially for Jenny, that she would not be discouraged and overwhelmed by this new set of physical obstacles. 

We will let you know how the MRI goes next week. We so appreciate all of your care and prayers for us.

Changing things up a little bit...

I pray that everyone had a wonderful time with family and friends celebrating our savior's birth. I hope your Christmas was filled with peace and joy, and not too much fruitcake...

Jenny and I are at the Infusion center again today, but we made an important decision regarding treatment options: today's visit to the infusion center will be remarkably short because we have decided to stop the chemotherapy medicine and just have Jenny do a maintenance treatment of avastin. 

We spent some time this morning discussing options with Jenny's oncologist, and we all agreed that we would try the avastin only for a few sessions here and then do another MRI later in January or early in February to see if there is any activity.

What this means is that the length and side effects  of the treatments are substantially lessened ( the time in the infusion center should go from 4-5 hours to 1-2 hours) and the side effects should be minimal, so, that is all good.

We had a very nice Christmas, it was nice and quiet with all of the kids at home for a couple of meals. 

Thank you all for your continued prayers.

Our best hopes confirmed - The Duke Visit

We have just finished up our visit at the Duke Cancer Center - it is a very impressive facility, with wonderful caring people - a evidence of God's grace. We learned a lot in our conversations with the specialist here at Duke, which has been very helpful. They are a dedicated brain cancer center that has a huge amount of experience with people like Jenny. The really good news is that they don't want to see Jenny back for a while, because she is doing so well and is having clean MRIs. They don't have anything to offer until the tumor starts to grow again, if it does. 

We have a clearer understanding of the future treatment options and will have much to talk about when we have the next appointment in Charlotte, we are really looking at the next year, and what options there will be available to us. Overall a very hopeful and positive trip. 

Thanks for all your prayers. 

Another Clean MRI!

Wonderful news on the MRI! There has been no growth or activity according to the latest scan. We have decided to push the next infusion back a week, so there will be no more infusions before Christmas. We'll make a decision at that point if we should stop the chemo, since the tumor has not shown any new activity, and the maximum amount of time that this particular medicine is tolerated is about 12 months, which we are quickly approaching. What an expression of God's grace that we will be able to enjoy this Christmas together.

Please pray that the results of the consultation with Duke will be clear, and that Jenny will continue to be able to tolerate the Chemo for the last few infusions. 

We are so thankful for the time with the family and the lack of advancement of the tumor. Please take the time during this busy time of year to spend a little more time enjoying those around you and spreading God's love...

We'll let you know about the Duke visit next week. 

 

Scheduled for the Duke Consult

We have a consultation scheduled with the Brain Cancer Center at Duke on December the 11th. The first week of December, Jenny has her MRI, treatment, and meeting with our Oncologist here in Charlotte. Then we will go to Duke for an initial consultation, and if there is a possibility of being involved in the Polio Trial, then we'll stay for a second day. 

Jenny is back from the cruise, she had a wonderful time!

So, a few things to pray for...

Believe it or not!

Here is a wonderful example of God's overwhelming grace that we enjoy: this morning, as I am sitting at my kitchen table having a cup of coffee, Jenny is somewhere off the coast of Cuba on a cruise ship! I am rejoicing this morning that God has provided this opportunity for Jenny and am amazed at His kindness that Jenny is doing so well that she is able to spend five days cruising around the Caribbean  

As I think about the 13 months since the cancer diagnosis, I would have never imagined that on Novemeber 10, 2013, Jenny would be able to enjoy such an adventure. Just another example of the overwhelming goodness of the God that we serve, where His blessings overflow the cup that we ask to be filled...

Isn't He good?

The next MRI is scheduled for December 5th, The paperwork has been completed and submitted for the Duke trial, we are just waiting on the pathology slides to be send over for their review. If all goes well, we are going to try and schedule a consultation visit the second week in December, so we can have one less MRI to do...

Thank you all for your prayers and support!

Great News - Another Clean MRI

Just got back from the Doctor's appointment, and the MRI did not show any sign of growth! So another great report. We will continue to get additional information on the trials being run at Duke, but we have some additional time to learn more. 

Thanks so much for your prayers and support, God continues to provide us the grace we require daily and we are rejoicing in Him!

Meeting Tomorrow - We would appreciate your prayers

Jenny had an MRI done today, we go in tomorrow to view the results. We are also going to talk about the potential of Jenny enrolling in a trial the is currently underway at Duke Medical Center. The trial involves injecting the Polio virus into the tumor. It has shown some degree of promise in the very limited number of patients that have received the treatment. Please pray that we have clarity about pursuing this treatment. I will publish an update tomorrow with the results of the MRI...

Thanks!