Fighting4Dylan

THANKS TO BE GIVEN

2012-11-21T15:56:00.001-05:00

We are so THANKFUL for all the blessings that God has bestowed upon us! Two years ago today Dylan was at Duke Children's Hospital having his second brain surgery! During that surgery the doctor was able to remove 100% of the cancerous tumor out of Dylan's brain! So, today is his two year mark of being CANCER FREE!!! We praise and thank God for this miracle everyday!
Dylan continues to grow and is healthy, he continues to take his hydrocortisone tablets because of the cortisol insufficiency that he has, but overall good health!
He did break his foot playing soccer and has been wearing a boot, however, he goes back to see his doctor next week, and may be able to stop wearing it, it's up to the doctor. He did sign up to play rec basketball and we thought he would not be able to play, but I learned the games don't start until January, so he will be able to play, that made Dylan's day!

We are so thankful for his continued good health, as well as, a home to live in, food to eat, clothes to wear, good health for our family, my husband having a good job, our family being together, and for every single person that continues to keep our family in their prayers, WE GREATLY APPRECIATE THAT, AND HOPE that God will bless your families as well!

WE WISH EVERYONE A HAPPY AND GLORIOUS THANKSGIVING!

The Prater Family

More News.............

2012-10-29T14:04:00.000-04:00

Dylan just finished playing a season of soccer, and tried out for a whole week for the middle school basketball team, however, throughout this he had complained of pain in his left foot.

So, we took Dylan to an orthopedic doctor today and found out he has a broken bone in his foot!!! The doctor put him in a boot and told us to come back in 4 weeks, he is also out of gym class for 6 weeks.

Dylan is so tore up and very upset about this! The doctor explained to him that if he does not get this fixed now, it could get worse and could cause having to have surgery, so we explained to him the importance of getting this taken care of now.

Ever since Dylan's brain cancer and his surgeries, Dylan had to give up football, which was VERY HARD on him. He relied on basketball and soccer to fill the void of football, and NOW he can't play basketball for this season! Please pray that Dylan's foot heals properly and that he will adjust emotionally to all of this.

Thanks,
The Prater Family

Test Results............

2012-10-26T21:17:00.000-04:00

Just want to let everybody know that Dylan's test results came back this week for his testosterone. His levels are within NORMAL RANGE-----------PRAISE GOD! They were on the low end of normal, but for now everything is good! YEAH!
Dylan spent this week trying out for the Andrew Lewis Middle School Basketball team. He did wonderful, he made the first cut......YEAH! But then today was the final cut and he did not make it. : (
We told Dylan not to worry about it, that he did great, and he can try again next year. We did sign him up for the Rec team, so he will be able to play for them. I told Dylan playing for rec. is not as stressful and he can improve his skills for tryouts next year.

God Bless You All!

News on Dylan...........

2012-10-20T22:40:00.000-04:00

First let me apologize for the lateness of this post!!!!!!!
There is a very good reason I will tell you about after Dylan's update.

We went to Duke on 9/11-9/13/12, Dylan had his MRI and his visit with the neurosurgeon. The MRI came back EXCELLENT, no new growth and NO CANCER! PRAISE GOD! The visit with the neurologist was just as good, so the Oncologist did not need to see us, and the neurologist told us we can start coming once a year instead of twice a year.......YEAH! Dylan has grown SO MUCH......he is 5"5' (my height) and weighs 115lbs, he is getting so big!!! He reminds Mike and I how tall he is everyday!

We had to re-schedule Dylan's appointment's with the neuro-psychologist, and his endocrinologist because we had to come back home unexpectedly. We found a great Pediatric Endocrinologist here in Roanoke, so we re-scheduled Dylan's appointment with her. Dylan is still taking Hydrocortisone tablets for his cortisol insufficiency and has not had any issues with that. However, for several weeks, he had been complaining of his body getting REALLY HOT, on the inside of his body. These "hot flashes" do not last very long, however, we did tell the doctor about it at his appointment. Dylan saw her a couple weeks ago, here in Roanoke, and she drew all his labs that are normally done at Duke, and she did an exam on him.
We thought everything went well with his appointment, then we got a phone call this past week about Dylan's labs. The doctor told us that everything looked good, EXCEPT Dylan's testosterone levels were low. The doctor told us to bring Dylan back to get an 8am lab drawn so she could see his levels with that. She said if it comes back below normal, that he will have to start getting injections of testosterone. We took him this past Friday to get his blood drawn, most likely we will hear something this coming up week. We are praying that it comes back normal, I just hate for him to have to start getting injections on top of already taking medication 3 times a day, he has been through so much, PLEASE PRAY WITH US!

The reason we had to come back from Duke early is because we got some VERY DISTURBING NEWS about me. I had been very sick for a month, and unable to work. After being hospitalized here in Salem, and seeing a few doctors here, I was told that I had something in my brain in "the pineal region", however, nobody locally could help me. So, I made an appointment with the top adult neurosurgeon at Duke, and I saw him while we were there for Dylan, on 9/11/12. The "PINEAL GLAND" is the same location that Dylan had his cancerous brain tumor!!!!!!! When I saw the doctor at Duke, he looked at my MRI and told me there was a tumor mass in "the pineal region", however, he could not tell if it was cancerous or not. After we talked about my symptoms that I had been having for a month, and what Dylan's diagnoses and treatments were, the doctor recommended that I have surgery, THE SAME EXACT SURGERY THAT DYLAN HAD AT DUKE IN NOVEMBER, 2010............WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, I had brain surgery on October 1, 2012 at Duke. I don't want to fill this website with my issues, so if anybody would like to read and follow my story, PLEASE go to my CaringBridge site:

Site Address:: www.caringbridge.org/visit/kerryprater

Site Name:: kerryprater; PLEASE pray with us for normal labs for Dylan, we should get results this week, and I will post as soon as we find out.; Thank you ALL for following Dylan's story, and ALL your prayers and support!; Kerry Prater

Another Duke visit.............

2012-09-07T20:24:00.000-04:00

It's Time Again...............

Well Dylan started school this past week, and he is doing great so far! He has not had any physical issues lately, which is good. He has been playing soccer, and has his first game tomorrow.

We will travel to Duke next week for Dylan's follow-up appointments. On the first day, he will have an MRI, see his neurosurgeon, and see his oncologist, this will be a LONG day. The second day he has a four hour appointment with the neuro-psychologist, this is just to make sure he does not have any learning deficits for school. The third day he will see his Endocrinologist, this will be to check all his glands, make sure his medication is working properly, and make sure he is growing as expected.

We do not expect anything abnormal to show up, and we pray that the cancer has not returned! PLEASE pray with us that all of Dylan's appointments go well and for continued good health for him.
I will send updates as I can while we are there.

We want to sincerely thank everyone for their continued support and prayers for our family.

May God Bless You ALL!

Prater Family

Pediatric Brain Tumors

2012-08-27T20:47:00.001-04:00

Facts about pediatric brain tumors (THESE ARE REAL & VERY TRUE!)

•Each year 4,200 more children—11.5 each day—are diagnosed with a pediatric brain tumor in the U.S.
•72 percent of children diagnosed with a brain tumor are younger than 15.2

•Brain tumors are the deadliest form of childhood cancer. Some tumors, such as atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors and some brain stem gliomas, have survival rates of less than 20 percent.

•Non-malignant/benign brain tumors can kill children if their location in the brain prevents surgical removal or other curative treatments.

•There are 130 different types of brain tumors, making diagnosis and treatment very difficult.

•More than 612,000 people in the U. S. were living with a diagnosis of a primary brain or central nervous system tumor in the United States in 2004. Of this number, approximately 28,000 were children with a primary brain tumors.

•Pediatric brain tumors aren’t like those in adults. Children’s brain tumors require specific research and different treatments.

•Even though survival rates for some childhood brain tumors have increased over the past 30 years, survivors often suffer from lifelong side effects of treatments such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

•Brain tumors are located in children’s control center of thought, emotion and movement, often resulting in long-term side effects. Survivors can have physical, learning and emotional challenges that will limit the quality of their lives into adulthood.

•Research that focuses specifically on pediatric brain tumors is crucial to saving children’s lives and improving survivors’ quality of life.

It's Been A While.............

2012-08-26T15:19:00.001-04:00

Just want to let everybody know how Dylan is doing. It's been about 4 months since I posted an update, lots to tell. Dylan has grown so much, he is 5" 4' and weighs 115lbs, I can't keep him in clothes he is growing so fast! At least his pituitary gland has not been affected from the radiation, since he is growing so much......praise God! He is still taking his medication for the cortisol insufficiency, and I ordered him a medic alert bracelet that he wears all the time.

He participated in a basketball and soccer camp this summer, he plays basketball in our driveway almost everyday and he is playing soccer right now with the 12-14 yr-old kids. I get a little nervous about this because the older boys seem to be more aggressive than the younger ones. We decided to let him play, but we told the coach no goalie position, no heading the ball and if he starts feeling bad (i.e. headache, dizziness, etc) that he needs to come out and take a break. We also have a shot that we carry with us at all times for Dylan only for severe emergent cases, and of course I told Dylan try NOT to fall on his head. We know that God will watch over and protect him, he has been all along.
Dylan is getting ready to start 7th grade in a couple of weeks, I can't believe it! It just seems like yesterday that he was so little, and it does not feel like it has been 1 year and 9 months since Dylan's last brain surgery! God has blessed us tremendously with him!

We return to Duke in a few weeks for 3 days worth of follow-up appts. for Dylan, PLEASE pray for a good health report again for Dylan. We want to thank ALL of you who continue to think and pray for our family, it means a great deal to us!

Enjoy these latest pictures of Dylan..............................

Dylan's Birthday!

2012-04-24T23:03:00.001-04:00

Twelve years ago today we were truly BLESSED with the birth of our WONDERFUL son, Dylan Joseph Prater. He joined us at 2:10 a.m., weighing 7lbs 9 1/4oz and was 21inches long. He was so small and pink, with blond hair and beautiful blue eyes, and the sweetest smile ever!

Dylan 3 months old

Dylan 1yr old

Dylan 3yrs old

DEAR DYLAN,

You looked at us and gave us a smile that was so divine,
Even in the darkness, your bright smile would shine.
Today when we look at you, the smile is still the same,
So are the lovely set of eyes, from heaven that came.
But even more than your physical beauty is your loving heart.

It's easy to see that your birth is part of God's master plan,
He is using you for a GREAT purpose.
Happy Birthday to our darling son.

We Always Love You,
Mommy & Daddy

Dylan 10 yrs old, this was taken 2 months before the brain tumor was found

Dylan today 12 yrs old with his birthday cake

Blowing out his candles HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!

AWARENESS

2012-04-20T22:35:00.001-04:00

Month of April...................

Did you all know that the month of April is Brain Tumor Awareness month? It also happens to be the month Dylan was born, he will be 12 on the 24th, he is getting so big, he is 5'3", and weighs 107lbs, some people don't recognize him because he keeps growing!

Dylan is doing well on his medication, we had a little set back a week ago.......he was bit by a dog! He was in our back yard with a bunch of kids playing soccer, and he backed into a fence to get the soccer ball, and the dog on the other side of the fence was able to stand up on the opposite side of the fence, and bite Dylan in the back right shoulder. Out of ALL the kids playing in our yard, Dylan was the one that got bit!
So we had to call his endocrinologist, she told us to increase his meds for a few days, and we took him to the pediatrician the next day. She said everything looks fine, and did not recommend any antibiotics at this time. The bite does not look very bad, if I did not know otherwise, I would not think it was a dog bite.

He is doing pretty good in school, and the doctor said Dylan is allowed to play soccer. I talked with his coach and gave him Dylan's background, and asked that Dylan NOT be put in the goalie position. It's a little concerning to me about the roughness in soccer, however, I can't keep Dylan in a bubble, so I just put all my worries in God's hands.

We want to THANK EVERYONE for the continued PRAYERS for Dylan and our Family! We would also like to ask for prayer for another little boy who goes to school with Dylan who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in March, his name is AJ Leffler. He has undergone brain surgery, and is now starting to get chemo and radiation treatments, PLEASE PRAY for him and his family as they go through this horrible life-changing event! They also need help financially to help pay for time lost at work, the travel, and the medical bills. There are several upcoming fundraisers listed on their FB page at https://www.facebook.com/#!/AJsArmy, they need lots of volunteers! Please share this information with others in order to help this family.

Thank You All,

The Prater Family

Inspiring

2012-03-28T22:36:00.000-04:00

Dylan having fun fishing 3-22-12

"What Cancer Cannot Do"

Cancer is so limited.........

It cannot cripple love. It cannot shatter hope. It cannot corrode faith. It cannot eat away peace. It cannot destroy confidence.

It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot quench the spirit.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.

Dylan has been doing well since we came back from Duke. He is back on his normal regimen of the medication for the cortisol, and has not had any episodes.....THANK YOU JESUS!

He is also doing well in school, hopefully we will have an uneventful rest of the school year!

The Prater Family

Test Results.........

2012-03-20T00:07:00.000-04:00

Dylan's endocrinologist, Dr. MacIver emailed me today and told me that the Prolactin and Thyroid labs that were ran last week on Dylan, came back normal, YEAH!

So, Dylan only has to continue taking the meds 2x daily for the adrenal insufficiency. While at Duke, I did confirm that there are no side effects of the drug for Dylan. The doctors told me that because Dylan's ACTH gland in his brain is not making enough cortisol for his body, that his body needs it. Because his body needs it, there will not be any side affects, however, the doctor did say that Dylan will have to take this for the rest of his life because the ACTH gland will shrink and stop making cortisol all together, KINDA SCARY!

I also have to carry around the emergency syringe kit if Dylan ever needs it, due to any PHYSICAL stress.

Dylan has been on his regular dosage of medication since 3-17, the doctors told me to monitor him for 7-10 days, and if he does not have any dizziness, that's great. If he does have dizziness, I need to take him to a local ENT to check his inner ear. I will also continue keeping a log of anything that happens, and updating the team of doctors at Duke as needed. We will return to Duke again in six months, unless something happens before then.

We GREATLY APPRECIATE all the support, prayers, and donations, to help our family through this most recent follow-up. May GOD Bless You ALL!

The Prater Family

Duke Trip

2012-03-17T21:56:00.001-04:00

We arrived at the hotel around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday 3-14 evening, and we crashed. Thursday morning I took Dylan to his MRI at 7:30a.m., they did an MRI with and without contrast, so Dylan had to have an IV put in his arm. From there we went to his neuro-opthalmology appt., and we finished the eye exam rather quickly. The doc said Dylan's eyes are great, in fact, better than they were last Sept.when he checked them. He said the problem is not in his eyes, that it could be a brain thing. We still don't know what the MRI results are. We are getting some lunch and then we have 3 more appts this afternoon.

We finally got done at the doctor's at about 6pm, and EVERYTHING looks GREAT! The doctors can't really explain the dizziness and vision issues that Dylan has been having, there is no fluid in his brain and no new growth....PRAISE GOD! However, they did draw more blood today to check his thyroid and prolactin glands, we were told to keep giving Dylan the meds for his adrenal gland, give it 7-10 days and see if his body will adjust to the medication. The neurologist said that the radiation may have affected these glands and that's why they are not functioning properly, BUT these are easily treatable without side affects, YEAH!

The doctors still want me to continue keeping a log of things that happen, so we can have a history or to see any patterns. The oncologist mentioned possibly the inner ear affecting Dylan (dizziness) and that if the meds don't rectify the problem to maybe see and ENT specialist locally, other than that, IT'S ALL GOOD NEWS........HALLELUJAH! Dylan will be scheduled to return again in 6 months, unless something happens before then.
We want to SINCERELY THANK ALL the prayer warriors out there that have been praying for Dylan, I will admit, I was very nervous and scared about this appt., but GOD ALWAYS KNOWS BEST!

Something else happened during our eventful trip..........while our minivan sat in the parking garage, some lady backed up straight into the back of our van! There is a HUGE dent, luckily the lady called the police and he took a report with her info, then when we came out to our van we had to call the police and do a report.

So now, we have to get our van fixed! This same thing happened to us when we went to UVA with Dylan the first time. At least we ALL have God and our HEALTH! AMEN!

We all made it back home safely Friday morning around 10am, we were ALL wore out, so we rested most of the day.

The Prater Family

Dylan.............

2012-03-13T14:01:00.001-04:00

Well, I had to pick Dylan up again from school today, he's had 4 episodes of dizziness and headaches. I called his doctor immediately, she told me to increase his meds for the next 24hrs and when we get to Duke on Thursday she wants to run more in depth blood work on the rest of his hormones.

PLEASE PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM!!!!

Also Miranda Beck posted this is the Salem Times for our family:
http://blogs.roanoke.com/sosalem/2012/03/update-on-dylan-prater/

More News....

2012-03-10T20:42:00.001-05:00

NEWS ON DYLAN............

Dylan's endocrinologist called me today to see how Dylan is doing with the meds and she gave me good and bad news. Dylan is doing GREAT and feels good on the meds, that is the good news. The bad news is, because he is responding so well to the medication it means that his adrenal gland in his brain is not working. The adrenal gland in the brain triggers when to send cortisol into the body, and since Dylan's is not working properly, the medication, which is a steroid, takes the place of giving Dylan's body the cortisol that he needs, and that is why he feels so much better.

The doctor said he will need to be on this steroid for an undetermined amount of time, and that means his body will STOP making cortisol all together.
Sooo, if Dylan gets very sick, has to have any surgery, breaks a bone, or ANYTHING that causes his body to be under a lot of physical stress, we have to call his doctor immediately b/c the dosage of the steroid will have to be increased dramatically. I asked the doctor if this means emotional stress, and she said no, there is a difference between physical and emotional stress. I also asked about side affects of the steroid, the doctor said, if I were to look up the medication on the internet it would show a lot of side affects, HOWEVER, Dylan's body needs this drug, b/c he is not producing it, so he will not have the side affects.
PLEASE CONTINUE to pray b/c we still have to find out what is going on with Dylan's eyes, and of course another MRI.

Thanks for ALL your SUPPORT and PRAYERS!

New Update............

2012-03-09T22:26:00.001-05:00

Another UPDATE ON DYLAN....

After getting home from the pediatrician today, Dylan's endocrinologist from Duke called me. She ordered blood work to be done locally the other day and she got the results back. She ordered testing on his levels of cortisol and ADTH (Adrenocorticotropic hormone), these should typically be an average of
15 for Dylan's age, she is ok with readings as low as 10, however, Dylan's readings were 5, which is VERY LOW!

So she sent a prescription to the local CVS for a hormone tablets, and told me to have Dylan take 3 of these in the next 24 hrs, with the first dosage being tonight. She also ordered and emergency injection kit with the pills, she told me if Dylan gets sick and starts throwing up from the meds, that I need to immediately inject him with the injection. The doc told me if the meds are working that he should start feeling better by tomorrow and we can lower the dosage of the medication.

However, if he does not get any better, then there is a problem bigger than his hormones. His endocrinologist is on call this weekend at Duke, so she told me to check in with her tomorrow about Dylan's status, and of course call her for any complications. So, I have to go to 2 different pharmacies right now to get these for Dylan and give them to him tonight.I just gave Dylan his first set of 3 tablets, then he has to have 3 more in the morning and 3 more tomorrow afternoon, will keep you all updated on his status.

PLEASE Pray..........

2012-03-09T09:57:00.002-05:00

Dylan is home again today because as he was getting ready for school, he kept getting dizzy again. This has been a daily thing since 2-29-12, I am taking him to the pediatrician today, in hopes that maybe he just has an ear infection (crossing-fingers). Please continue prayers for him and me, I just can't get rid of this feeling in my stomach that his dizziness, eye problems, and head pains are related to the cancerous brain tumor, fluid, and radiation that he had done. We continue to pray and I know he will get us through this, I will update after his appt. today.

I want to THANK EVERYONE who is praying and supporting us, MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

End of A Season.......

2012-03-08T12:59:00.001-05:00

Dylan at Harlem Globetrotters game March, 2012

DYLAN UPDATE:

Well Dylan finished out the basketball season, he had a great time. His team won the championship for his division and he was very proud of that! We also got basketball pictures made of him, the first set of sports pictures since before he diagnosed with the cancerous brain tumor, (June, 2010).

Dylan has had some things happening to him since the last update I posted.............

I picked Dylan up from school yesterday because he was having a headache and dizziness; this has been going on every day off and on since 2-29-12, the headaches he is having start at the base of his neck left side, running diagonal over top of his head to the front near his right temporal area. He has also had some vision issues, consisting of: blurred vision, things shifting while looking at them, making his eyes hurt, and bright lights making his eyes and head hurt.

I emailed Dylan's doctors at Duke about all this, and his endocrinologist ordered some labs to be drawn locally to check his ability to make the stress hormones cortisol and ACTH - cortisol is very important for maintaining normal blood pressure and blood sugar during times of physical stress. He had to do a fasting lab, so I took Dylan to a local lab this morning for these tests, and the lab will fax the results to Dylan's endocrinologist at Duke.

NEXT.....Dylan has his 6 month appointments again, at Duke next week. He has a scheduled MRI, and he will see his Oncologist, Neurologist, and his Neuro-Opthalmologist. The neuro-opthalmologist is the doctor the does very intensive visual testing on Dylan's eyes. His eyes were checked a year ago, and everything looked good, however, with the brain surgery that was done, the neorosurgeons had to work VERY CLOSELY to his eyes, b/c the pineal gland that the tumor was on is DIRECTLY behind the eyes.

Dylan's eyes are really worrying me, so I would like to ask EVERYONE to pray for Dylan and the wisdom and guidance of the doctors during this upcoming visit!

We will have to pay for travel, food, and lodging, once again, when we go to Duke next week. If you feel lead to make a financial donation to help us pay for this trip, it will be greatly appreciated and wisely used!

Please join our family in helping Dylan with his continued fight,
and ongoing treatments.
(WE RETURN TO DUKE ON 3/14/12)

A bank account has been set up at the Salem VA Federal Credit Union in the name of Kerry Prater and/or Dylan Prater:

Make Payable to: 4DYLANZBRAINTUMORAWARENESS FUND
(formerly known as The Dylan Prater Benevolence Fund)
OR to Dylan Prater/Kerry Prater
AT ANY
Salem VA Credit Union
1970 Roanoke Blvd Bldg 77, Suite 12
Salem, VA 24153
(540) 344-4419 or 1-800-308-6384

DONATIONS can be made at above address or by clicking this link.

Any and all donations will be deeply appreciated.

Thank You for helping Fighting4Dylan!

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

We especially know that times are hard on so many people right now, we have prayed about this upcoming trip and Dylan's unknown future, and we know that the Lord will take care of our family and that any support we receive will be more than sufficient to help us through this next round of hospital visits and testing. Once again we ask our many prayer warriors to pray and forward this to all of your prayer warriors.

Thank you so very much for taking time to read this and praying for our family.

God bless,
The Prater Family


Dylan with his baby sister Kaylee

Think About it.............

2012-02-14T07:47:00.004-05:00

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!

Here is something to think about...............

Subject: Why go to Church?

Why go to Church?

If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this!

If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it.

If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!

Why Go To Church?

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

When you are DOWN to nothing..... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

All right, now that you're done reading, send it on!

I think everyone should read this.

When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say....

"Jesus, could you get that for me?"

IN GOD WE TRUST

Special Gift

2012-02-11T15:57:00.000-05:00

Today Dylan received a great gift in the mail from an organization called Angel Hugs for Childhood Cancer. They send out special gifts to children affected by cancer all around the world. It is a wonderful organization, and the special gifts always make Dylan feel good. They even included something special for his two sisters so they don't feel left out. Today they all received Valentine's Day cards, candy, and gifts, made from people all across the United States, as well as, a letter that says:

Happy Valentine's Day
You've been Angel Hugged!

This was sent on the wings of angels to share some joy with you today.

We asked for help from our many friends so you are receiving valentines from

across the US and from around the world!

May they brighten your day and bring a smile to your face! : )
In this package we are sending something you can't see, but they are just the same........
prayers & thoughts. Packed with Angel Hugs and wishes!

May it bring a smile to you and yours....Angel Hugs!
These little gifts, cards and poems are so special for our children, if you know any
family that has a child affected with cancer please share this site with them:

www.ProjectAngelHugs.com

Latest on Dylan......

2012-02-10T21:35:00.001-05:00

Dylan Prater February, 2012 sitting in the stands at his sister Jada's basketball game.

Dylan is doing well, his grades in school fluctuate a little here and there but overall they are good. He is still playing basketball, HE LOVES IT! He still has three games left, and his team has only lost one game so far! By the end of February he will be completely done with basketball.

He wants to play soccer, but I don't know that the doctor will let him play and my husband and I are very leery of him playing because of the amount of roughness and possibility of a head injury.

Speaking of the doctor, Dylan returns to Duke's Preston Tisch Brain Tumor Center in Durham, NC on March 15th for his follow-up appointments. He will have an MRI, be seen by the Neurosurgeon, Oncologist, and Neuro-Opthalmologist. Dylan has had a few issues with his eyes, but we are praying and being very optimistic about the outcome of all the appointments. God will continue to see us through, as he has through this whole journey.

Thanks to everyone for the continued thoughts and prayers.

MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

I will post another update next month when we go to Duke, please continue to pray for continued good health and no return of cancer to Dylan.

Humbled

2012-02-10T20:41:00.003-05:00

Me: God, can I ask You a question?
God: Sure
Me: Promise You won't get mad
God: I promise
Me: Why did You let so much stuff happen to me today?
... ... ... God: What do u mean?
Me: Well, I woke up late
God: Yes
Me: My car took forever to start
God: Okay
Me: at lunch they made my sandwich wrong & I had to wait
God: Huummm
Me: On the way home, my phone went DEAD, just as I picked up a call
God: All right
Me: And on top of it all off, when I got home ~I just want to soak my feet in my new foot massager & relax. BUT it wouldn't work!!! Nothing went right today! Why did You do that?
God: Let me see, the death angel was at your bed this morning & I had to send one of My Angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that
Me (humbled): OH
GOD: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that would have hit you if you were on the road.
Me: (ashamed)
God: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick & I didn't want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to miss work.
Me (embarrassed):Okay
God: Your phone went dead bcuz the person that was calling was going to give false witness about what you said on that call, I didn't even let you talk to them so you would be covered.
Me (softly): I see God
God: Oh and that foot massager, it had a shortage that was going to throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn't think you wanted to be in the dark.
Me: I'm Sorry God
God: Don't be sorry, just learn to Trust Me.... in All things , the Good & the bad.
Me: I will trust You.
God: And don't doubt that My plan for your day is Always Better than your plan.
Me: I won't God. And let me just tell you God, Thank You for Everything today.
God: You're welcome child. It was just another day being your God and I Love looking after My Children...

Thank you God for taking care of our family through our trials and Dylan's brain cancer!

2012-01-07T20:38:00.000-05:00

TIME 4 BASKETBALL!!

Well Friends, Dylan got to play his FIRST game of basketball in 2 YEARS today! THIS IS AMAZING considering EVERYTHING our boy has been through! He is such an inspiration to me and others!

Dylan, number 10, made a basket today, his whole team (The Wizards in black) played great, they WON 32 to 22, it was an AWESOME GAME!

WISDOM

2012-01-03T17:29:00.000-05:00

WORDS TO LIVE BY:
There may come times when we may believe God up to a certain point but then need his grace to enable us to deal with our unbelief as well. At times, our faith may become shadowed by worry or fear. We want to believe, but to much logic or too much emotion clouds our faith. In those times, we can tell God, "I do believe, Lord, but PLEASE help my unbelief." Mark 9:24

Inspiration

2011-12-31T22:26:00.002-05:00

Here are some of my favorite inspirational quotes to think about as the we ring in the New Year!

We pray everybody we know will be blessed in this New Year, God be with you ALL!

"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."
(Corrie ten Boom)

"Feed your fears and your faith will starve, feed your faith and your fears will."
(Max Lucado, Author)

"Most people who succeed in the face of seemingly impossible conditions are people who simply don't know how to quit."
(Robert Schuller)

Our Family

2011-12-30T00:35:00.001-05:00

Even though it is a little past Christmas we would like to share this slideshow with everyone and tell everybody we hope you all have a BLESSED New Year!

(when you get to the 3rd slide, DO NOT CLICK ON THE ARROW, just wait and the slideshow will continue; also, there are buttons at the bottom of the show so you can pause if needed)

Slideshow design generated with Smilebox

Fighting4Dylan

THANKS TO BE GIVEN

More News.............

Test Results............

News on Dylan...........

Another Duke visit.............

Pediatric Brain Tumors

Facts about pediatric brain tumors (THESE ARE REAL & VERY TRUE!) •Each year 4,200 more children—11.5 each day—are diagnosed with a pediatric brain tumor in the U.S.•72 percent of children diagnosed with a brain tumor are younger than 15.2

It's Been A While.............

Dylan's Birthday!

AWARENESS

Inspiring

"What Cancer Cannot Do" Cancer is so limited.........

It cannot cripple love. It cannot shatter hope. It cannot corrode faith. It cannot eat away peace. It cannot destroy confidence.

It cannot kill friendship. It cannot shut out memories. It cannot quench the spirit. It cannot silence courage. It cannot reduce eternal life.

Dylan has been doing well since we came back from Duke. He is back on his normal regimen of the medication for the cortisol, and has not had any episodes.....THANK YOU JESUS!

He is also doing well in school, hopefully we will have an uneventful rest of the school year!

The Prater Family

Test Results.........

Duke Trip

Dylan.............

More News....

New Update............

Another UPDATE ON DYLAN....

PLEASE Pray..........

I want to THANK EVERYONE who is praying and supporting us, MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

End of A Season.......

Think About it.............

Special Gift

Latest on Dylan......

Humbled

Thank you God for taking care of our family through our trials and Dylan's brain cancer!

WISDOM

Inspiration

Our Family

Facts about pediatric brain tumors (THESE ARE REAL & VERY TRUE!)

•Each year 4,200 more children—11.5 each day—are diagnosed with a pediatric brain tumor in the U.S.
•72 percent of children diagnosed with a brain tumor are younger than 15.2

"What Cancer Cannot Do"

Cancer is so limited.........

It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot quench the spirit.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.