Tyler - 17 year old fighting cancer!

Tyler - 17 year old fighting cancer!
Ready for Battle!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Some progress

Tyler's kidneys continue to work and he is able to process the fluids they are giving him now. Praise God! This has taken the swelling in his upper body down significantly. His stomach and legs are still swollen but they have come down some as well. And, with the fever blanket on, he has not run a fever for the last 24 hours! He was also breathing on his own for 6 hours yesterday. The doctors are happy that he's making progress...slow, but it's progress. Please continue to pray that the swelling in his stomach and legs would go down and we would continue to see progress.

Now that the swelling has gone down, the brutal effects of the chemo are showing through. Tyler's skin is extremely dry and he has lost a lot of weight in his face and arms already, and he has lost a lot of hair. He's also a little more awake and shows signs of pain and discomfort. That, of course, is difficult for us to see. Please continue to lift our family in prayer for strength, especially for his mom. Thank you!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Updated Prayer Requests

Not a whole lot to update you on. Tyler is still the same. Running a bit of a high fever today, at 103. He was able to breathe on his own for 4 hours yesterday, which is good. They are trying to keep his lungs strong to prevent him from getting pneumonia, since there is a lot of fluid sitting on his body.

Please continue to pray, here are some specifics:
  • complete healing for Tyler
  • the tumor would not grow during this time without chemo
  • the infection would clear up quickly
  • his fever would come down
  • he would not get pneumonia
  • the blood clot would clear up and not travel up his body
  • the swelling to come down and his body to start processing these fluids
Thank you for your continued support! We are truly blessed by you all!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Overwhelmed

We are already feeling overwhelmed by your generosity for Tyler and Michelle, and we're 2 weeks away from the fundraiser. So many people have already expressed their caring with time in prayer, visiting the family at the hospital, bringing a meal, sharing Tyler's story with others, making a donation of money or items for the event. We are so very blessed. God is so good to our family. We praise Him for every blessing we see poured out through you all. Thank you!

This morning, Tyler had another surgery. They did the same thing as before in just cleaning him out and checking him. He is still way too swollen to consider closing him. He's still very critical, but yesterday was an encouraging day since we finally saw some progress. Praying for more days like that ahead!

Please continue to keep Tyler in your prayers. We are so thankful for you!


Don't miss the post below this about the fundraiser - we'd love to see you there!
http://tylerkurkierewicz.blogspot.com/2012/10/fundraiser-time.html

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

A little good news this morning

I just got a text that Tyler is not doing dialysis this morning because his KIDNEYS ARE WORKING!!! Also, they pulled him off of the ventilator for a bit and Tyler was breathing on his own for 2 hours!! Yippee!! I'm so excited about this news! Tyler will be so relieved if he can come off of that ventilator soon!!

He is nowhere near out of the woods, but we hold on to every piece of good news at this point. Please continue to pray that we will see more progress.

Don't miss the post below this about the fundraiser - we'd love to see you there!
http://tylerkurkierewicz.blogspot.com/2012/10/fundraiser-time.html

Fundraiser Time

We would love to have you join us for an evening of fun and dinner. Here are the details:


Spaghetti Dinner to Benefit Tyler Kurkierewicz
Thursday, November 8th
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

National Coney Island Chip Shotz
22185 Masonic Blvd
St. Clair Shores MI 48082

$20.00 per person - all you can eat
12 and under Free
Cash Bar

Door Prizes, Raffles, 50/50

All proceeds directly benefit Tyler and Michelle Kurkierewicz. 

If you can make it, will you please mark that you're planning to attend by clicking here so we can get a count.

If you can't make it, but still want to make a donation to Michelle and Tyler, we set up a secure way to do that on GoFundMe. Just follow this link - http://www.gofundme.com/1drbvk

To make a donation for the raffle items, call my dad - Don Fields at 586.524.3847

Reason for the fundraising: 
If you've been following, you know the dire situation Tyler is in. In addition to the physical suffering there does come financial burdens, unfortunately. Michelle is currently unemployed. She was working a temporary job before all of this happened, but since she has not left Tyler's side, she has not been able to work. Our family has been helping to support them in paying bills and keeping up with everything. But, it looks like Tyler is going to be in the hospital for some time still. And this isn't even the cancer battle - that will come after he heals from being septic. That battle is at least 4 months of chemo treatments. We have a long road ahead. As for medical expenses, they are currently covered. Tyler is turning 18 on Sunday, however, and they may drop him from coverage because he is no longer a minor. All that said, it's fundraising time. 

Monday, October 22, 2012

7th surgery complete

Tyler managed to pull his feeding tube out of position with all of his frustrations over the last couple of days. So, today they went in and tried to secure it again. They also cleaned him out and will go back in again in a couple of days. He's also going to start getting blood transfusions because his blood count is low. They will continue to do dialysis and watch the blood clot. Today he's running a fever of 103 again.

They have switched up his meds to try and keep him more sedated again. They also ordered him a bigger bed, so hopefully these things will get him a little more comfortable. He's in a lot of pain and he's frustrated and emotional when he wakes up. It's really taking a toll on the emotions of the rest of us who are watching him struggle.

We thank you for partnering with us in continued prayers for Tyler and our family. We know it has been a long time, with many updates, and not a whole lot of change or good news. But please don't be discouraged, keep the prayers coming! Here are some encouraging words, for my prayer warriors, that I read this morning.

The righteous cry, and the LORD hears And delivers them out of all their troubles. ~ Psalm 34:17

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. ~ Psalm 34:18

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Sunday, October 21, 2012

21 days

Well Tyler has been hospitalized for 21 days now! Ugh. It has been a really long October so far. Tyler completed dialysis this morning and then got really frustrated afterwards. It took him a long time to calm down. His blood pressure was high, arms were swinging, and he was doing his best to fight off the medicine. I'm happy to report that I just checked in on him and he is now sleeping as comfortably as he can be in this situation. I think he is as fed up with being here as we are seeing him in this discomfort.

We have started rotating nights of staying with Michelle, amongst all of us. She hasn't left the hospital in a few weeks. So we are also taking turns doing her laundry and washing her hair for her in the sink, etc. We are in this for the long haul!

Tomorrow they are planning surgery again, his 7th one since being here. Please continue to pray for his healing and comfort...and a little sanity for the rest of us ;)