Albuquerque Branch

Story of Hope

Dear Basket of Hope:

I live in Tularosa New Mexico and have three children still living at home. One of my daughters was born with cerebral palsy and has always had a lot of medical problems which we have always dealt with and she lives a relatively normal life. My youngest son has always been healthy and is 11 years old. He played PeeWee football for two years and moved up to Youth League this past fall. He got hit in the leg one day by a helmet during practice and his leg hurt. I did all the mom things, ice, rest, and self diagnosed him with shin splints. He wanted to finish the season so I bought him a shin splint brace to wear for the rest of the season. Sure enough when the season was over his leg appeared to get better. However on Thanksgiving weekend he bumped it on the console of a truck and the symptoms were back and the pain a lot worse. I took him to the doctor and from there we have progressed to a diagnosis of Ewing Sarcoma. A rare childhood cancer of the bone. In his case the tumor is located in his tibia and the cancer cells are also in his bone marrow. He began cancer treatment at the UNM Children's hospital in Albuquerque, NM which is about 200 miles from here. These treatments will last about 40 weeks and there may be an aggressive surgery to take out his tibia bone and replace it with a donor bone or a metal rod.

I tell you that long story to tell you this.

During his last hospital stay, we were the recipients of a "Basket of Hope". We had never heard of the program. As I said we are from a small town in New Mexico. Inside we found lots of inspirational books and music, a prayer journal, and your book Quiet Strength. Having lots of time in the hospital and being a huge fan of God and his marvelous works, I immediately began reading your book. I am almost finished with it and I couldn't help but notice your basket of hope picture in the book.

I wanted you to know how much it meant to us that this program exists and to tell you how much I enjoyed Quiet Strength.

I think you and your family are an amazing example of why God put us here in the first place.

Thank you for all you do.
Judy