5.9.09

I have a prayer request this morning for a Kindergartener at my school. His name is Riley and he was born with a very rare disease that resulted in being born with a birth mark covering most of his body. His mother struggled with infertility for years and never thought she'd be able to have children, so when she found out she was pregnant with Riley, she felt like she had been blessed with a miracle. (I believe they have 2 younger children, perhaps adopted) She and her husband were shocked when Riley was born with this disease, as it isn't something that is detected by u/s, so it was a complete surprise. He also has neurofibromatosis 1 (NF 1, a disease that causes tumors to grow on nerves everywhere in the body, especially the optical nerve)-- my cousin's son has NF 2, so this is hitting close to home for me. Riley is also battling other problems.

After much testing at Children's Hospital, from what I understand from his family's Caring Bridge journal, Riley's doctors have confirmed that he has a form of cancer and it does not look good.

I just can't even imagine the pain that his family is going through, but they have hundreds of people praying for them and it looks like sweet Riley is going to keep going to school as much as possible over the next month, so he'll have a great support system of friends and normalcy for a little while. As of last week, he did not know the seriousness of his condition. I'm not sure they've told him yet.

If you want to read more about his story, you can go to his family's journal. Please keep this family in your thoughts, especially tomorrow on what could be Riley's mommy's last Mother's Day with her son.