Jasmine's Journey

On this frigid February Wednesday, we find ourselves at Day 23 since Jasmine was first given chemo. The chemo is administered in cycles: the first cycle is called Induction. In this round Jasmine was given four chemo drugs over 10 days. The goal is to begin a new round of chemo every 29 days, but that all depends on how Jasmine’s bone marrow recovers each time. The doctors are projecting a minimum of four rounds of chemo, which will take a minimum of six months.

AML (Acute Myeloid Leukaemia) is a type of cancer involving blood forming cells called myeloid cells. Myeloid cells include certain types of White Blood Cells (WBC), Red Blood Cells (RBC) and Platelets. AML begins when a single young blood forming cell, called a myeloblast, develops a series of mistakes or mutations that transform it into a leukemia cell. The leukemia cell multiplies uncontrollably, crowding out healthy cells in the bone marrow. The leukemia cells can also spill out into the bloodstream, and spread to the lymph nodes, spleen, liver and other organs. Leukemia cells can also spread to the spinal fluid. Jasmine’s Leukemia is only in her bone marrow.

Every couple of days Jasmine receives a transfusion of either red blood cells or platelets. This is because her bone marrow is unable to make as many healthy blood cells as she needs. When her RBC count is low, it affects her body’s ability to carry oxygen throughout her body. When her platelets are low, it affects her body’s ability to clot when bleeding occurs. This cycle of dropping RBC and platelet levels is normal for kids with AML and will continue until she is healthy.

White blood cells, which are cells that fight infection, cannot be transfused. As her bone marrow recovers, her WBC levels slowly begin to rise. It is expected for Jasmine’s WBC count to drop to zero after every round of chemotherapy (which is what happened).  A normal WBC count is 4-11. Even on Day 23, Jasmine’s WBC count is only 2.3 so it is recovering very slowly. Because her WBC’s are so low, she is at extreme risk for infection. Unfortunately this means that Jasmine cannot be around large groups of people or anyone with cold symptoms.

Therefore, although we were anticipating a minimum of four rounds of chemo beginning every 29 days, we now realize that the next round of chemo cannot begin until Jasmine’s WBC count has recovered enough so that it is safe for her to receive more chemotherapy. The doctors have said that every kid is different, and we will just have to wait for her levels to come up on their own.

WAITING seems to be one of the more prominent themes of this journey – for Jasmine and her family, but for her army as well. Waiting is so hard because we are not in control of how long we wait for, and sometimes we don’t know what to do with ourselves while we wait.

Here are some things you can be praying for in the waiting:

1. That Jasmine’s White Blood Cell count will rise quickly to the levels they need to be at in order to begin Round 2 of chemo.
2. That fear will not take root – although the bone marrow biopsy resulted in Jas being low risk, this prognosis is still not 100%
3. That Jasmine and her family will have hope and stamina – a minimum of 6 months of chemo is a long time, and there is no definite end in sight. This can can be discouraging and exhausting.
4. That God will continue to do His work up front and behind the scenes in healing Jasmine’s body, but also in healing hearts.

Thank you for fighting and praying with us! It is evident that prayer has helped Jasmine and her family during this journey so far, so let us not stop!

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Ephesians 6:18

P.S. We are organizing a prayer night in Cochrane on behalf of the Adams family for anyone who would like to come together and lift up this family. Details to come soon!

One of the more devastating realities of getting Leukemia for Jasmine was losing her hair. Since she was diagnosed three weeks ago, this was something we knew was coming, but dreaded entirely. And knowing it was coming didn’t make it any less devastating.

It’s like knowing that a thief will come and steal something from you but not being able to stop it. Well, the thief of hair loss has struck, and Jasmine is beginning to lose what was left of her hair after shaving it. Although it was inevitable, it is still devastating.

This reminds me that life is far more out of our control than we want it to be. Often, things we don’t want to happen do happen and visa versa. Good people, bad people, deserving people, undeserving people – no matter how we label ourselves, circumstances in this life don’t seem to notice or care.

I’m sure many of us have heard the phrase cancer doesn’t discriminate. [You could also fill in that blank with any of these: mental illness, disease, miscarriage, pain, etc]. It’s true! It can happen to anyone.

There are very few guarantees in this world, but there is one we know for sure because it is said and shown throughout the entirety of scripture: God always offers us His PRESENCE through everything, as much of Him as we want.

“I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you.” Isaiah 43:2

It’s interesting that God says, when you go through these difficult things, I will be with you. He doesn’t promise that if we follow Him we will be safe from all things difficult and uncomfortable. He says they will happen anyway because there is sin in this world, but He promises to be with us through them. We don’t have to go through things alone.

“When he calls out to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and give him honor.” Psalm 91:15

In the hard times, He is with us. So what difference could it make in our lives if we allow God to enter into our pain and walk through it with us?

First of all, we have His empathy. He feels with us. He mourns with us. When we feel like we are all alone in our struggle, HE knows how we are feeling. We are seen and understood. In the Bible, when Mary and Martha’s brother, Lazarus, died, Jesus wept with them.

Secondly, we have His peace. When our human selves are crippled under the weight of fear – the fear of “what-ifs”, the fear of the outcome, the fear of the painful process – we often drown in hopelessness. But when we have God with us, He can quiet our fears and give us an unwavering peace that doesn’t change when our daily circumstances do.

Thirdly, we have His joy. When everything is wrong, we can still be content. How is it that in the most distressing moments we can still have times of laughter and glimpses of good? It’s only God. And the evidence of Jasmine’s joy is the smile on her face day after day.

The pain is present whether we like it or not. So will we walk alone or will we let Him in?

God’s presence doesn’t take away the pain, but He gives us the strength to face the pain.

When God is with us, we have so much that we wouldn’t have on our own. It’s not just in the hard times that He is near – it’s in the celebrations too.

And right now we are celebrating the results from Jasmine’s bone marrow biopsy! Jasmine’s bone marrow sample was extracted two weeks ago and the results came back that she is LOW RISK! This is amazing news, as it points to the high likelihood of only chemotherapy being needed to treat the Leukemia.

In the sorrows, He is near.

In the celebrations, He is near.

Jasmine’s Auntie Anita is back in Louisiana after visiting for a week. She is now feeling very similar to many of you who are following Jasmine’s journey from a distance, wondering how to help from far away.

Anita wrote this post with practical ways to help when you aren’t close by, and it’s a different list than a previous post on ways to help:

Being far away from those you love and are hurting is a special kind of difficult. I was so blessed to travel home last week and what seemed like a whirlwind trip to be able to provide a small amount of relief for my sister and myself, honestly.

Seeing my beautiful girl still joking, smiling, crafting and laughing was such good medicine. Spending time with the people who love her was more of a blessing to me than I was a blessing to them. Being back home means I now must bless from a distance.

There are so many of us who are far away who want to be a blessing. Here are some tangible ways to bless the Adams family and Jasmine from a distance. We post this list with no expectations whatsoever, I just know that when those you love are struggling it’s helpful to know what to do if you can’t be nearby to help.

1. Pray, pray hard, and keep praying! Nothing is more tangible and real than the presence of God in the midst of Jasmine’s fight. Many of you posted her ribbon and the word HOPE as a frame on your profile picture, and our hope for a Leukemia cure is in Christ! If you’re not “religious” that’s ok, give prayer a chance to give you hope. It works! God is real and he loves our Jasmine fiercely!
2. Give blood in Jasmine’s honour. While I was in Canada at the hospital, she received blood or parts of blood several times. Although it’s unlikely Jasmine will receive your blood, there are so many children and adults who will! We are so much more aware of that need now. In the US, the American Red Cross website will direct you to blood drives near you. In Canada, Canadian Blood Services website will do the same. This suggestion came from one of Jasmine’s favourite nurses on her paediatric oncology unit at Alberta Children’s Hospital.
3. Give gas money. Lately, Jasmine has been able to go home on a four-hour pass a few times. She loves to go home even for just a little while, as it helps her feel a little more normal and she gets to be in her own space. Christine and Brad drive about 30 miles each way to the hospital, and they would never ask for money themselves. Even the GoFundMe was started by a friend and our family continues to be amazed by the generosity. This is a marathon, not a sprint for them. Christine spends most days and nights with Jasmine and Brad drives back and forth with supplies. Brad also drives Jasmine’s caregivers to and from the hospital, and gas is expensive, as we know. I checked the donations page recently and I saw someone gave 14 dollars. I was so overcome with thankfulness. I know of several people whose gift was a financial sacrifice. No gift is small! Our family is overwhelmed with thankfulness for each and every person who took the time to give. We know none of you had this donation budgeted but you gave anyway! Thank you is not a good enough word to express how we feel. **For those local, you can donate Shell gas gift cards as well.
4. Wear orange and post. We will be doing regular scheduled Wear Orange Days as Jasmine moves through her chemo schedule. I tried to screenshot or save all the pictures I had access to on her birthday and afterward. My phone is bursting with pictures and videos of all of you wearing orange. We were completely in awe of the response; Jasmine couldn’t believe it! We were lifted up by the love and support. I was going to post the pictures and thank as many of you as I could but there were simply too many to post even a fraction. On the first day of each cycle of Jasmine’s chemo, we will wear orange and we will make sure you know when to wear it. Orange has never been my favourite colour but now it stands for an abundance of love and hope like I never imagined. Jasmine’s schedule for chemo is subject to changes as we move forward, so we will post and share when to wear orange.
5. Wear a Fight Like a Girl shirt. Currently, there is no one in charge of making large quantities of these shirts, but Christine and Jasmine want anyone to have one that wants to. So, you can have one made if you know someone who can make one, or you can make one yourself. If you need the logo, I (Anita) have it and I can send it. Jessie Taillon and Sarah Blackaby (cousin Daniel’s wife) have the logo as well, and we would love to share it with you. We also have a version that says Jasmine’s name on it. The Adams family is touched by each gesture of support, whether it’s a gift of money or simply wearing her logo and praying for Jasmine.
6. Bone Marrow Donors are needed for many children and adults with Leukemia as well as other diseases. We have never been as aware of this need as we are now. At this time, we have no reason to believe Jasmine will need a marrow transplant. We believe and claim that chemo alone will cure her AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia). There is a need for donors who are willing to give to many deserving patients. Donors have some side affects like fatigue, pain and dizziness but none of these things are as severe as the diseases of children and adults who need a bone marrow donor. Visit Be the Match for more information about bone marrow donations.
7. Send a Food Gift Card. If you’re near enough to buy an Alberta Children’s Hospital cafeteria gift card so Christine can eat close by that’s wonderful. Jasmine loves the pancakes and sausages from the cafeteria as well and it’s nice for her to get a break from hospital food. If you’re far, you can buy a gift card for an app like Skip The Dishes. Christine and I ordered Vietnamese on this app one of the nights we were at the hospital together late. This app allows you to order from a local restaurant and it is delivered to you, like Uber for food. Christine has some dietary restrictions and keeping her healthy is very important. There is currently a Meal Train for meals but gifts like these provide another option for both Jasmine and whoever is with her. It also means Christine or whoever stays does not have to leave Jasmine to get food. Buy a Skip the Dishes gift card here. When you buy a gift card, send it to steen.adams@gmail.com
   
8. Give the gift of Peace. The amount of messages received by Christine and Brad is immeasurable. They are so thankful for all the love from each and every person who has messaged or called or checked on them. However, they cannot possibly answer even a fraction of the messages. They are completely focused on Jasmine. They are praying and fighting with her to cure her Leukemia. It is all-consuming and they have little to no time to be in contact with anyone. This doesn’t mean they don’t read messages or appreciate the massive amounts of prayer and support, they are simply living their primary calling of taking care of their family above everything else. This is more than a full time job, it’s 24 hours. Don’t stop praying or supporting them through this, we just understand that they can’t lose focus on God and their family. Join Jasmine’s Army on Facebook and read Jasmine’s Journey blog. These two places have the most recent information and are our best source of specific prayer needs. Feel free to contact those of us not on the front lines of care. We will respond as much as we can and we will communicate as much as is possible with the Adams family.

Again, the support we’ve received as a family is overwhelming and we are in awe of everything God has done. We see all the posts and each one is so important. We read the messages and are touched. We see the donations and we are amazed at the generosity. There is nothing like family. Some family you’re born into and some you can count on to come around you when you need them. Both of these groups are so present and real to all of us! Jasmine is in the eye of a love hurricane. There’s no better place to be.

Here is a message from Christine, Jasmine’s mom:

Jasmine’s first round of CHEMO finished Thursday and she is into her first observation/recovery phase of the cycle.

Today is day 12 of the first 29 day cycle. (Every cycle is 29 days— 10 days of chemo followed by 19 days of observing and recovery.)

We are so THANKFUL. Her symptoms are being managed well. Jasmine’s physical appearance points directly to the grace of God. It’s not that it hasn’t had side effects, but she is doing physically well. She is pale and has lost a bit of weight but you wouldn’t guess she had cancer by looking at her.

THANK YOU LORD that we have been allowed to go on a pass (leave the hospital) for 4 hours for a few days. We’ve been able to go home and Jas has been able to see Zelda (the family dog) and her two hamsters. We can’t see anyone or go to public places because of her compromised immunity, but being at home even for a few hours has been a gift.

We are waiting on the the results of her first bone marrow biopsy and should receive them Monday or Tuesday.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1) PRAY FOR a good test result from her first bone marrow biopsy. This is where they determine the severity level of the cancer. The lowest level would mean only chemo is needed. Higher levels will require more treatment.

2) PRAY that the cancer has responded to the chemotherapy. On day 28 when they do the second bone marrow biopsy, the doctors want to see 0 for cancer cells. This will tell them that the chemo is WORKING. If they see cancer cells when they test her on day 28, that means her body is not responding and other treatment will be needed.

3) PRAY for continued ease of physical side effects. THANK YOU LORD that so far there is no inflammation in her mouth and her hair has not fallen out. Her symptoms have been managed well with medication.

4) PRAY for NO infection (she neutropenic which means because of her white blood cell (WBC) being 1 (normal is 150-300), she has a very compromised immune system.

In addition:

5) PRAY for REST hope, joy and peace in the waiting. The next 17 days will be much waiting. Pray that God will renew their strength as they wait on the Lord and that He would protect their minds and hearts with HIS peace and their faith in His great faithfulness.

6) PRAY for complete physical healing in Jasmine’s body from Leukemia and complete healing from the grip of fear in Jesus name for Jasmine and her family. Our hope is in Jesus Christ, not an outcome, but He invites us to KEEP ASKING, so ask we will, with great faith in God’s ability.

Thank you prayer warriors. Let’s continue to uphold this family and invite heaven to fight on Jasmine’s behalf!

For those who shared a message for Jasmine at the party on video, Jasmine has received all of the messages, we just didn’t share them publicly.

Yesterday Connie mailed off Jasmine’s hair to the company who will make her wig. When she was filling out the form describing what was inside the package, she was asked to give a monetary value.

“There is no box for priceless,” she said.

Before Jasmine’s hair was cut off at her party, it was carefully tied together in multiple places. It was tied with an elastic band up high close to the head, and then again halfway down to gather it together. Jasmine held the pieces tightly in her hand while the rest of her hair was shaved off. The whole purpose of preserving the hair was to make a wig, so we couldn’t risk messing this part up.

Shortly after the head shaving, Jasmine handed the hair to my five year-old daughter to hold, which, I’m assuming, was because she asked if she could hold it. The second I saw Brielle holding the hair, I jumped up and yelled, “No! Give it back! I don’t want to be responsible for this hair!” Although my reaction may have been a bit dramatic, her hair was worth too much that I wasn’t willing to risk putting it in the hands of a five year-old.

As much as Brielle had good intentions of holding the hair, she was ill-equipped to be in charge of something so important. Who is worthy of holding something of so much value in their hand? If we know how precious Jasmine’s hair is, can we even imagine how priceless SHE is?

“Consider the ravens: they don’t sow or reap; they don’t have a storeroom or a barn; yet God feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than the birds? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying?” Luke 12:24-25

The task was too big for a five year-old to handle, just like Jasmine’s health and well-being is too big of a task for us to handle. We are ill-equipped on our own to be in charge of something worth so much. Only God is capable of holding Jasmine and being in charge of her life; Only He is worthy of holding a priceless child in His hand.

We don’t take risks with things we love because we can’t risk losing them. We are careful to be attentive to every detail and keep them safe. Like a parent holding their child’s hand to cross a busy street, we wouldn’t allow them to run across unattended because we don’t want them to get hurt.

We can’t risk putting Jasmine into our own hands because we might (and probably would) mess it up at some point. Only God is worthy of holding each of us in His hand because He is trustworthy, 100% of the time. He won’t risk our safety.

We cannot be responsible for her, but we can petition to the One who IS.

“Do not fear for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

From Anita:

When I fly home tomorrow, Jasmine will be finishing up Day 8 of her ten-day chemo treatments. When I got here she was feeling pretty bad, but that was a good day compared to the day before. Friday she felt good enough for us all to take a walk outside for an hour. She rode in a wheelchair and walked on what she called, “wobbly legs”.

She said, “I used to be the fastest girl in my grade, will my legs be like this forever?”

“NO!”

We all reminded her of Frankie from Pathway Church who had cancer as a teenager. We reminded her of how athletic he is now, and she smiled – she would be fast again.

Small, encouraging moments happened throughout the day. The doctors and nurses are the most compassionate, caring and knowledgeable medical professionals I’ve ever met. As long as we keep asking questions, they remain in the room. They know everything there is to know about Leukemia and what medications can work best for Jasmine.

It is astounding to listen to them discuss each option as they tirelessly work not only to treat the Leukemia, but to figure out which medications will cause the least amount of side effects on Jasmine.

We are very blessed to be 30 minutes (home in Cochrane) from this beautiful hospital in Calgary. The inside is full of bright colours and paintings, and the outside looks like it was built out of Lego. You could almost forget it is a hospital.

We’ve hung paintings and pictures and we’ve put up command strip hooks and hung ribbon to display all of her birthday cards. She has so many birthday cards that we have four rows of ribbon and string to hang them all up… and we’re not done, just tired!

Her birthday was full of laughter and fun, gifts, balloons, and all the nurses gathered and sang to her. She was even able to go home for a little while and see her dog, Zelda, and her hamsters, Pepper (his fur is not black, don’t assume things), and Applemold (guess which one Eli named?).

We cannot begin to express our gratitude for the levels of support we are receiving. Jasmine scrolled through some of the posts on her birthday and kept saying, “Who do I know in Tennessee? North Carolina? Texas? England?”

We were literally amazed at the sheer number of people who wore orange on her birthday and posted pictures. All of everyone’s family, and so many church people all over Canada, the United States, and even some overseas, Christine and Brad’s co-workers, my own co-workers, and people who are connected to our family in a multitude of ways.

An entire Peewee hockey team in Cochrane wrapped their sticks in orange tape, and even spelled Jasmine’s name out on their helmets. I want to hug every single one of those precious boys! Her beautiful little friends are always checking on her through text. She can’t always respond but she’s encouraged with each message.

We continue to get messages and notifications that churches, small groups and kids programs are in regular prayer and wearing orange. The kid’s program at my church is literally named Orange.

Jasmine has been showered with more art and craft supplies than we can fit in her room. We had to buy organizing stackable containers so we could simply know what she had, and she uses her art and craft supplies every single day. I tried to organize the gift cards and kept needing to upgrade to larger envelopes. We are so thankful for these amazing gifts allowing Christine, Brad, Eli and Jas to have coffee or a smoothie. Jasmine had the strawberry smoothie from Good Earth and says it’s great!

Small tokens like these are left each day, sometimes anonymously, and sometimes we are able to say thank you. We owe so much thanks to family, friends, co-workers, church members and all who have donated in person, on Go Fund Me, or have sent cards, presents and money! We are trying to keep up with all you’ve done for our family, it is almost innumerable.

The emails, messages, text message and Facebook messages are too many to respond to, but we read them all and share as many of them as we can with Jasmine. It is a hurricane of encouragement and hope, and we are the eye of the storm.

Most importantly, we are lifted up by the continual prayers of God’s people. He hears you, He hears us, He loves Jasmine, and what more could we ask for? The joy and peace we feel in this hospital room can only be explained supernaturally.

As Jasmine and I lay in her bed last night and talked alone about a myriad of life’s tiny details, from makeup to how we could convince her mom to let her buy a cat, I was struck with the preciousness of these small blessings. We came up with a plan… I can’t tell you though because you might tell Christine.

Right before we fell asleep I said, “Jazz, I think you should name your cat Luke.”

She said, “Ok I will.”

As soon as the news sunk in that Jasmine would be starting chemo on Tuesday and would spend her actual birthday (today) in the hospital, a plan was set in motion to throw her a birthday party before. Once the idea was birthed and the word was spread, many people volunteered to take a piece of the big task of making this party spectacular for Jas.

Not only would this be her 13th birthday party, but it would also be a head shaving party. Jasmine planned on shaving her head because the chemo would cause her hair to fall out anyway, and there were a few other brave souls who committed to being shaved as well. In less than 30 hours, the birthday/head shaving party was planned, set up and happening.

By the time Jasmine and her family arrived at 5pm, there were over 50 people there waiting for them, eagerly desiring to give them the gift of “we’re with you and we love you”. The party was held in the foyer of Bow Valley Baptist Church in Cochrane, and it was packed! As the night wore on, more and more people showed up to join in the celebration of Jasmine’s life.

The room was decorated from head to toe in teal (her favourite colour) and rainbow colours with pom-poms, balloons, banners, and presents. There were many long tables of food and a photo booth with costumes of crazy hats, neon glasses, wigs, inflatable instruments and moustaches on a stick. There were two giant posterboard cards to write birthday greetings, and a journal to write longer messages.

The first portion of the night was spent visiting and eating the dishes that everyone brought. Jasmine’s favourite foods were at the feast, including pizza, lasagna and spaghetti. There was an ice cream cake, another favourite, and a whole choir of voices singing Happy Birthday.

Then it was time for the main event: the head shaving. Money was being raised at the party to buy Jasmine a wig. When her hair was cut off, it was saved to be sent to a company that will make a wig out of her own hair. The cost of this is around $1500, and within 1.5 hours, over $1600 was raised! This is separate from the Go Fund Me amount, so we are blown away!

The first two brave people went up to have their heads shaved, and then people started lining up. Nine people shaved off their hair before Connie and Jasmine went up together, each person adding to the gift of love and support demonstrated through their actions. It was beautiful to see the unity and strength in that moment. As Connie kept the crowd laughing with her witty comments, the atmosphere shifted from sadness to joy. In a moment that was supposed to be devastating, we couldn’t help but smile because we knew we could walk through this together. And right after they were done, Eli courageously walked up to shave his head too, as if he was adding the bow on the present we were all giving to Jas.

The last event of the night was surrounding Jasmine and the Adams family with love and prayers. As we wrapped our arms around them, it was like they were able to unwrap the gift of God’s love.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.” Jeremiah 31:3

Thank you to everybody who came! We apologize to anyone who would have wanted to come but didn’t get an invite, it was thrown together pretty quickly. If you want to write a note to Jasmine, please do so in the comments and we will make sure she gets it.

Christine’s sister Anita, better known as Neen to her family, arrived today from Louisiana. This is from her:

“I haven’t taken a real deep breath since Thursday night. I haven’t taken one of those soul deep breaths. I landed in Calgary this afternoon, and had to go to my parents’ home from the airport so I could shower and make sure I wasn’t taking any of the airport/plane/Louisiana germs with me to the  hospital.

All of our choices are now put through a brand new Leukemia filter; a new way of thinking and evaluating and deciding.

There are two distinct kinds of tired a person can feel: We can be tired because we need sleep and we can be tired because we need peace. I was the second one. I didn’t have peace; I had anger and I was broken. Praying was difficult and singing in the choir on Sunday was excruciating. 

Jasmine was buried under soft blankets, asleep, when I arrived. Christine and I visited while she slept. Every time I heard a rustle from her bed I would stand up to see if she opened her eyes. Finally she opened her eyes and saw me. 

She smiled and said, “Hi… I love you!” and fell back asleep… deep breath…  peace.”

“The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Job 33:4

Jasmine had a good day today. She was eating and drinking and didn’t complain of nausea once until her new chemo drugs kicked in around 4pm (They gave her four chemo drugs today.) This was a huge answer to prayer as yesterday she barely ate due to being so sick.

“To you, my strength, I sing praises, because God is my stronghold – my faithful God.” Psalms 59:17

Jas was also fitted for a wig today! When her head was shaved at her birthday party on Sunday night, her hair was kept to be sent off and made into a wig. Christine said it was stressful for her to make sure Jasmine’s head was measured with near perfect accuracy.

Stay tuned for a birthday party post with head shaving details. It will be posted on Jasmine’s birthday on Saturday!

Firstly, the whole family wants you all to know how much your support means to Jasmine and all of us. We have been overwhelmed with the outpouring of love, care, messages, offers to help, meals, financial donations and prayer. THANK YOU.

Please see below for the answers to some questions you may have:

Can I visit Jasmine in the hospital?

From Christine, Just wanted to let everyone know that the unit is very strict about visitors  (something we didn’t even realize until yesterday). Technically they only let 4 “main caregivers” in to see Jasmine during the winter months because of the  risk of infection and flu season. These 4 main caregivers have to be the same people all the time. So myself, Brad, and two others. I had to get special  permission for my sister, Anita, and sister-in law, Joni, who will be here from  Louisiana to be able to visit Jasmine.

Once they leave, the other two caregivers will most likely be my mom, Connie, and Brad’s mom, Lisa. I know there are a lot of people who would love to visit Jasmine, but because of her particular cancer, she is at great risk for infection. Thank you all for your love and support.

Do they need meals? 

There is a meal train going for those who wish to drop off a meal. With so many people signing up to bring food, there is a pause on the sign-ups until they have a chance to eat all this food. We will re-open it again in a week or so for people to continue signing up.

Please make all meals dairy and gluten-free to accommodate food allergies, and see the website for drop-off location and instructions. This is so helpful as Brad and Eli spend time at home and Christine brings food to the hospital for herself. Thank you!

https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/8dq151

Where can I donate money to support them?

There is a Go Fund Me page to donate online. So far $8106.00 has been raised to support the Adams family!

We are astounded by your generosity, thank you so much! This will help with a number of costs while Christine and Brad take time off work to be there for their kids.

https://www.gofundme.com/jasmine039s-leukemia-journey

Where can I find updates to pray?

Besides this blog, there is a page on Facebook called Jasmine’s Army – an army of prayer warriors, encouragers, intercessors, friends and family, who are upholding Jasmine and her family as she and Jesus battle her leukaemia!

As Christine sends updates, we will post them here so you can know what to pray for.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/600448343724813/