I now ask for continued Prayer for my Mothers Older Sister and her family. Their last name is Corbin.  Troy Sr. my uncle is now fading fast into the cancer that has consumed his body. He has not eaten much of anything since Christmas. He flew out to Portland with My aunt. He started getting sicker and flew home. He walked off the plane when He got here but had to be carried home.

his wife my Aunt Jerry has dealt with breast cancer in the last few months. Dealing with Radiation Therapy and taking care of her husband my uncle 24 hours a day.

Their second son my cousin Clinton. We thought he had a stroke in September. We discovered this week that it has been a growth in his brain. Tests yesterday confirmed a tumor. We do not yet know if it is malignant or not. Surgery is scheduled for Monday to remove things.

Jones who is Great Grandson to my uncle. He started having seizures about a year ago. He has lost a lot of weight. He they are working on meds and Very restricted diet to control the seizures. He was at one point having 1200 seizures a day.

My Cousin Troy named after his father. He is bearing all the weight of a father dieing from cancer, a mother dealing with breast cancer, a brother now with a brain tumor, and a grandson who was kicked out of school because they could not handle the seizures.

I pray for healing and strength for them and the rest of the extended family as we seek to help them deal with these health issues.

Sorry I’m not really sure what to ask for prayer for...I just needed to get it written down.

Chris Modderman

My father:  I would like continueing prayer for continued healing with him. as of his last check up it will be at least 3 months to his next check up. His last check up showed no new growth of the cancer that had spread to his bones and some soft tissue.

My Uncle Jim: My Mothers Older brother. she is closest to him of any of her siblings.  He has an advanced Thyroid cancer that has metasticized to his lungs.  He is undergoing Intense Chemo and Radiation therapy both in his home town of Amarillo Texas and at MD Anderson in Houston Texas.  I am really worried about My cousin who was very close to my uncle when he was young and My mother being tha she is Just younger than Jim.

My Uncle Troy:  I have been being selfish for the past few months. I have been praying to God for healing for him because I am not ready to not have him in my life.  He is 85. He is on almost daily morphine injections for pain control. When I talk to him over the phone he says that he is doing good , but then I have never heard him complain about anything ever. He was a Tanker in WW II.  I realize that there may not be a healing for him. There may at this time be only and end to his pain. From what Mike Preached today he does not Own his body he is just renting it and it is fallig apart with advanced Prostate cancer and Bone cancer through out his system.  he is sore all of the time. He does not sleep well with the pain.

Thanks for your love and prayers!
Tami

http://www.salemalliance.org/articlepage2.php?p=1&a=925

Update on John Stumbo
by Robb Childs, Executive Pastor

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008
3:00 p.m.

After receiving word this morning that John was having another setback, our entire Pastoral Management Team drove up to OHSU late this morning to be with Joanna. [Note: when we refer to our Pastoral Management Team that includes John, Steve Dangaran, Barbara Fletcher, Steve Fowler, Mike Jared, Laura Scharer and myself.] Since I wanted to get another quick update out on the web, I let the rest of PMT go on ahead and then I left about an hour later for the hospital. After they arrived and connected with Joanna, John was awake and alert enough for them to go back to his ICU room for a short visit.

It was the first time any of us had seen him in over two weeks, so you can imagine their joy in being able to connect with him. While John was not able to speak because of the breathing tube and was not able to move because of extreme weakness, he was able to communicate a thousand words with his eyes. They were able to anoint him with oil, pray for him, read some passages from Isaiah to him, tell him they loved him, and encourage him with news about Salem Alliance and how all of you were showing your strong love and support for John and his family with your concern and prayers. They also told him how much we still needed him and encouraged him not to give up, but to keep on fighting. At one point they asked him to wink back at them to express his love for them (the only thing he could physically do) and he blinked furiously for several seconds. He looked each of them in the eye and you could tell that he was communicating back to them his own love. Their hearts were warmed and so should yours that the John we know and love is still there in spite of his body being ravaged. They had a sweet time with him and John seemed to be deeply encouraged by their visit. Joanna indicated that John was the most alert that he had been in days during their visit, so that was a gift from God.

The rest of PMT was just coming out of the ICU when I arrived, but I was also able to go back for my own short visit with John along with Joanna. I, too, was able to communicate how much I missed him, how much I needed him, and that there were thousands of people praying for him. Then I prayed for both he and Joanna before I left. Even though you couldn’t be there, we hope your hearts are encouraged by what we were able to communicate to John on your behalf.

That’s the good news. Now let me turn to the more discouraging news and specific ways for you to pray.

-John’s setback this morning was because he was losing blood, presumably from internal bleeding. Right after our visits they were taking John to have a CT scan to help them detect where the internal bleeding was occurring. First and foremost, pray that the internal bleeding will stop. Short of that, pray that they would determine where he is bleeding and are able to stop it.

-They gave John some medication over several days last week to attempt to help him regain some strength. The side benefit was that it helped to lower his muscle enzyme levels. Now that they have stopped this medication (they can’t continue to give him indefinitely the levels of medication he was receiving), his enzyme levels have started to rise again. And, the medication didn’t work to help him regain strength either. Hard news on both counts.

-This morning the doctors seemed to be taking several steps backwards on his diagnosis. For most of the last week, the doctors had all but given a definitive, specific diagnosis. But now today they were much less certain that they had a diagnosis. To their credit, none of the symptoms and test results are confirming a typical (or normal) presentation of the auto-immune disorders under consideration. If John indeed has an auto-immune disorder, then his symptoms and test results are atypical (not the normal) presentation. Pray for a clear diagnosis.

-Please pray double-duty for Joanna and the family (Anna, her husband Jeff, Josiah, and Drew) today, but especially Joanna. The up and down nature of the news from the last few weeks coupled with general fatigue are taking its toll. She needs a special measure of God’s strength, courage and wisdom today.

For other requests you could continue to refer to the requests listed in the updates since last Saturday, November 29th.

As we heard during the worship services here last weekend, let me remind you:

“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10a)

Blessings,

John