Get the Word Out family and friends….SO much has happened in the last month! I’ve returned from my “quick trip to Kenya” to help obtain the visa for Koech.  Over and back, 18,000 miles from the US to Kenya in four days gives new meaning to “short term mission trip!”

I’m excited to be able to share with you miracle upon miracle:

• Miracle #1: After three denials, Koech and his uncle Peter were able to obtain Visas to travel to the U.S.for diagnosis and treatment.  The US Embassy refused to give Koech a Visa for several reasons, and declared the decision final, however – Jesus declared differently, and the Visa was granted on Oct. 28 !   Koech and Peter were able to travel from Nairobi to Washington DC on November 2, and were delivered to St. Louis by Wings of Hope late Wednesday night, Nov. 3.
  

  Seeing Koech off on his journey to healing.

• Miracle #2: Koech was admitted to St. John’s Mercy Hospital in St. Louis and multiple tests done including bone marrow, spinal tap, tumor sampling have been done.  The results are in and he has been diagnosed.  He has a rare form of Leukemia called AML (Acute Myelocytic Leukemia). Basically, it is a cancer of the white blood cells.  It will be a hard treatment course – several harsh drugs used to kill the pervasive cancer cells which is all over his body. Then he will rest for several weeks to build back up. The chemo will kill all blood cells, good and bad, so he will remain in the hospital and will need two-three  pints of blood each week to replace what is being lost, and plasma every day during the course. These 10 treatment/weeks of recovery will continue for a year – all parts of his body have been affected. He will require hospitalization throughout as he will be VERY susceptible to getting any kind of cold, infection, etc. and will have to e carefully guarded and protected. The good news is that he is treatable.  The miracle is that he is still alive.  Dr. Hanson has told us, that surviving to this point is nothing short of a miracle.
  

  Happy 18th birthday Koech!

  

  Koech post-surgery

• Koech received his first chemo treatment Nov. 9  (IV).  On  Nov. 10 morning he got a chemo injection into his spine, and the first round of 10 days of treatment begins.  He is very weak, but his spirit is strong and the favor of the Lord rests upon him.  It’s incredible that St. John’s has agreed to provide treatment for Koech.
  

  Koech and Dr. Hanson

• Miracle #3: Your participation!  So many people have already stepped up both financially and in prayer to be a part of this work – God has given us an amazing opportunity to be a part of this adventure.  So many others have offered to help.  We will be needing friends who can simply come and sit with him at the hospital, A large part of helping will be to be donors of plasma or blood – you can donate directly.  Please call to set up an appointment to donate to James Koech Lokwakapel  @ the St. John’s Blood Bank (314) 251-4483.
• Carecalendar.org will be vehicle we will use to coordinate other help for the needs for Koech, such as visits and personal needs.  Angie Marceleno – artnang@mac.com will be the coordinator, and we should have that set up soon.

We give all thanks and praise to God who is the Great Physician, our Savior and Healer.  He is a God of mercy, compassion, and great power!

Praise the LORD.  Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power. praise Him for His surpassing greatness. Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet., praise Him with the strings and fulte, praise Him with the clash of cymbals, praise Him with resounding cymbals.  Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.  Praise the LORD.  Psalm 150

First dormitory of The Esther House

Speaking of  miracles and God’s provision, The first dormitory at The Esther House is ready to roof.  The Hen House is complete and the first chicks have arrived. It will cost  $3500 for the roof, $1000 for the electricity. We can begin work on both when we raise the money.

Get the WORD Out, Inc. is partnering with George the Shoeman and with Kingdom Seeds Outreach to present a  Worship and Praise Concert on Oct 24 at Kirkwood Park Amphitheatre  to collect shoes. The proceeds from sales of the shoes will build wells in Kenya.

A list of  shoe collection locations is on our Get the Word Out website, or at Kingdom Seeds Outreach.

You can collect old shoes for us! Just gather up old shoes from friends and neighbors to drop off at one of our many locations in the area (including on GTWO Director Karen Smith’s front porch at 204 S. Maple, corner of Maple and Swon in Webster Groves). There are 25 locations on the GTWO website including  the Webster Groves  Recreation Center, and more to come.  200,000 pairs  is the goal. Make sure to tie the pairs together with string, zip ties, or in some other manner.

George the Shoeman has established a mission which markets the used shoes to brokers, who sell them to third world countries. In addition to raising money, the shoes reduce such problems as internal parasites in the countries where they are shipped. The money raised from the sale of shoes is used to dig water wells.

We’ll be digging a well at The Esther House, and two in Turkwel by the Prince of Peace School – one in each tribe’s territory in addition to other locations.  We hope to go with George the Shoeman  in January or February to scout out locations and get things ready.

It’s an amazing way to dig wells for water in Kenya. You can clean out your closet and it will change their lives… really!

Esther returned home to Kenya with our team.

We drove for hours over “roads” that should not be termed such, and hiked up a miniature mountain to reach her father’s village!  Words can’t describe the emotion and the joy with which we were all greeted.  Her grandmother summarized it with “we thought we would never see her again.”

To celebrate, they sent us back to our home base with a goat (the kids named it Chicken Nuggets) and we had a celebration feast of roasted goat and marshmallows!  You can ask the kids on the team about that adventure…what a sight and party that was!

Healthy and whole, the Lord has proven that He has Esther in the palm of His hand.  She was rejoined with friends in Kapenguria and is looking forward to starting school in two weeks (she wants to make sure she has a uniform like Ibada’s  and I promised her that she would!)  We  can’t wait to return to see how God uses her  to encourage and to expand His Kingdom.  Thank you Lord for putting Esther in our lives!

We were able to see the Hen House built!  Walls, floor, roof – all that was left when we departed was to build the nesting boxes, set up the kerosene heaters and get the chicks!  These chicks will grow and provide eggs not only for the children housed in the Esther House, but also as income – selling the eggs.  For $1.50 you can supply a chick!

The Esther House Project – Phase I has begun!  The foundation has been dug and the concrete poured for the first dormitory and caretakers’ home – up to 28 children can be housed in each of this first building, at a  cost of about $25,000.  We have received gifts of $17,000 so far to start the project.  Please join us in raising funds to complete the first dormitory – a place for each orphan to sleep at night, a place to call home.

It’s the old chicken-or-the-egg story.

But in this case the story involves one little girl, 40 orphans, and 500 chickens… all blessed by God’s grace.

First there was the miracle of Esther,  little girl coming half way around the world for healing. That miracle inspired The Esther House, a home for little girls and boys in Kenya with needs just as important as hers. And the need to sustain The Esther House and feed the children who will live there inspired The Hen House Project.

We thank God for the amazing work that was done to bring Esther here and to save her life.  Esther will return to Kenya with our team on July 29.  She’s a vibrant, energetic child with a bright future and we are very excited to see how God will use this little girl.  We continue to trust in the Lord, that He has Esther in the palm of His hand, and He has a magnificent plan for her life!  We thank God that He has allowed us to be a part of His work in her life!

Revisit, Revive is the theme of our Mission Trip in 2010 which is scheduled for July 29th to August 9th.   Our team of nine  is preparing for the trip and looking forward to watching God do amazing things!  Here’s the focus of our trip:

The Esther House Project – Esther is just one of the more than 40 orphans who are being taken care of by Christian families in Kapenguria, Kenya.  They have no place to sleep but the hard ground, and very little to eat.  Esther has given us a clearer picture of the need for orphans like her.  She has inspired and motivated us.   We now have the opportunity to provide a home for these children!  God has opened a door and given us a vision.  Phase I is the construction of 2 dormitories – one for boys and one for girls.  Up to 28 children can be housed in each of these buildings, which cost $22,000 each.  We have received gifts of $18,000 so far to start the project.  Please join us in raising funds to provide a place for each orphan to sleep at night, a place to call home.

Hen House/Chicken Project – A great opportunity to establish a sustainability project, we’ll be constructing and filling a hen house for 500 chicks.  These chicks will grow and provide eggs not only for the children housed in The Esther House, but also as income – selling the eggs!  For $1.50 you can buy a chick – the house for 500 will cost $4,000.

Friday, January 15th, 2010 was a big day for Esther. It was the day she completed her radiation treatment at Children’s Hospital. The grapefruit-sized mass that protruded from her neck,  when she arrived in St. Louis is now imperceptible except from close up.

Friday was a day for saying goodbye to all of the people in the radiation unit at the Siteman Center for Advanced Medicine who have treated her so well. It was a day for high-fives and smiles and hugs. The fiber-mesh mask used to immobilize Esther’s head during treatment, which was so frightening to her in the beginning, was presented to her with big smiles all around as a souvenir.

The doctors will wait a short while and evaluate whether the next step is medication or surgery. What is known is that a little girl who was in a very tenuous state when she arrived is now close to being fully healed.

In the waiting area of Siteman radiation unit is a brass bell. Above the bell is a plaque that reads: “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. Smile! This is one of those moments.”

All patients completing their last radiation treatment are encouraged to ring the bell. When Esther yanked on the cord all of the patients awaiting treatment, their friends and families, and Siteman staff began to applaud.

Esther with Solomon, Naomi and Josphat Kendagor

Later that evening Esther attended the Washington University international students’ monthly potluck dinner. She spent time at the dinner with Ruby and Solomon Kendagor,  Josphat and Naomi’s aunt and uncle, and just generally had a blast. The dinner became kind of a celebration event for Esther.

When she arrived in November Esther grew tired after walking for just a short while. That Friday night, she danced, played, and ran around the room after the event helping to put heavy steel folding chairs away.

The month of December and Christmas holiday has been an amazing time of healing for Esther. Her tumor has shrunk to the point where it’s scarcely perceptible. Her PIC line has been removed. She’s gaining weight. Her radiation treatment was halted for two weeks shortly before Christmas.

Over the holidays Esther moved from one activity to another. She was showered with presents from various sources, made Christmas cookies and participated

Esther participates in a family gathering.

in various family gatherings. A Kenyan friend, remembering her fondness for samaki (fish), presented her with her very own Beta fish and fishbowl.

She’s also begun to show a lot of personality, displaying her knowledge of English words and leaping into help out with housework.

Esther mops the kitchen.

Since coming home Esther has continued to heal.

The tumor is shrinking sufficiently that her doctors ordered a new fiber face mask ordered. The mask is used to immobilize her head and to give the radiation technicians references for aiming the radiation. X-rays are also being taken daily so that the medical team can be sure that they are aiming precisely at the cancer as its mass shrinks.

One anticipated aspect of the radiation has been the loss of Esther’s hair. Watching Esther pick at her hair, Karen decided to remedy the situation. Since Karen cuts hair for most of her large clan, she is experienced at home barbering.

Esther has been decorating for Christmas for the first time in her life. With Naomi and a friend she made construction paper chains for the Christmas tree. Naomi, who teaches the Bible to children back in Kenya, had the children make the chains in the form of a “Bible without words”:

• Gold for the gifts that God gave us when he created the world;
• Black for Satan and entry of sin into the world;
• Red for the blood of Christ which redeemed us;
• White for redemption and grace; and
• Green for the opportunity that redemption gives each of us  to grow.

Those are also the colors of the Kenyan flag. When the chains and ornaments were hung on the tree, Esther insisted that it needed “flowers”.

Silk poinsettia flowers were cut from their stems and wired to the tree. Esther was right; The Christmas tree was beautiful. She was delighted.

Esther is enamored of animals of all types. She loves animal books and animal shows on television. But most of all Esther loves fish. Josphat said that may be because she had never seen fish before she came to St. Louis. She first encountered them on a visit to the St. Louis Zoo.

Besides the books and TV, Esther could sit mezmerized for long periods of time watching video scenes of fish tanks at Children’s Hospital, played on the tiny monitor on the Flip video camera used to create video for this website.

On Sunday afternoon Esther’s duty nurse said that as long Esther wore a mask and her medication pump traveled with her she was cleared to walk the hallways. Esther visited fish tanks on four different floors at Children’s. She also convinced Naomi to drag the pump down a flight of stairs at the Children’s cafeteria so that Esther could get a close look at her first-ever Christmas tree.

Earlier in the day Esther had smiled broadly and repeated when Naomi told her that fish was the English word for the animal Swahili-speakers call samaki. Toward the end of the fish tank tour, teacher (mwalimu) Naomi taught pupil (mwanafunzi) Esther a nonsense song she made up on the spot about how Esther loves the fish (nakupenda samaki).

There were even more high spirits and some really good news on Monday morning following radiation treatment. Esther’s tumor had shrunk two centimeters (eight-tenths of an inch) and her white cell counts were up. She was cleared to go home and continue radiation on an outpatient basis.

Thanksgiving week began a new part of Esther’s journey. The chemo was not working.

An MRI showed that growth in the tumor was not due to it breaking up.  Esther’s medical team said that it was time to move to the next step – radiation therapy.

On Wednesday Esther made her first trip to the radiation unit in the lower level of the Siteman Center for Advanced Medicine, which is part of the BJC complex. Once you get past the warm, welcoming lobby, the center is all business and a little bit foreboding, even for an adult.

Eight-foot-wide, one-foot-thick, lead-lined  doors  mark the entrance to the treatment rooms. Walls of computers and video monitors sit outside the treatment area. But the staff compassionately recognizes the fear that those entering the treatment rooms for care face. The doors to the rooms are covered with photos, children’s drawings, and heartfelt thank you notes. The technicians are warm and comforting as they go about their work.

The treatment beam equipment is something out of Star Wars – a massive apparatus that can rotate 360 degrees around the patient being treated. Laser beams shoot out of the walls to precisely map the position of the patient.

In order to treat the cancer in Esther’s neck her head needed to be immobilized. This is accomplished by building a fiber mesh mask precisely fitted to her face, which is then clamped to the back board.

Esther’s tumor had to be precisely mapped using X rays. The mask was then marked so that the treatment beam could be aimed. This process, which was done on Wednesday afternoon, took about 45 minutes. Fitting the mask and later marking the beam targets on it would be a claustrophic experience even for an adult. For a five-year-old who speaks only a few words of English, it had to terrifying.

Children are frequently sedated to calm them while this is going on. By the end of the fitting. By the end of that time Esther was crying inconsolably and her feet were kicking. But she was still holding the rest of her body stock still.

On Thanksgiving morning Esther had her first radiation treatment. The radiation oncology staff were wonderfully warm and and comforting, as they had been during the fitting and marking. The treatment took only about ten minutes. Esther was wheeled back out smiling with a pink puppy stuffed animal.

Naomi and Esther were supposed receive a four-hour day pass to celebrate Thanksgiving with some friends. But the chief fellow on duty at Children’s vetoed that, erring on the side of caution since Esther had just received her first treatment.

Friday morning Esther received her second treatment. She actually seemed to enjoy the experience except for the brief time she was immobilized. She headed back to her room having snagged a decorate-it-yourself set of puppy stickers with crayons, markers… and glitter paint – one of her favorite things.

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This was a weekend of early Thanksgiving. It was a time of fellowship, fun, and appreciation for the things that God has done and continues to do surrounding Esther. Friday’s editon of the Webster-Kirkwood Times ran a page one article:

The Webster-Kirkwood Times ran a page one article on "Esther's Story".

“Esther’s Story: Community effort brings little girl from Kenya to St. Louis for much-needed operation.” Mark Asher of the Times wrote about the miracle of God’s grace that surrounds Esther’s journey.

“Her story is the story of a circle of people stretching from that small village in Africa all the way to St. Louis, and it includes a church in Brentwood, doctors and staff at Children’s Hospital and even a United States senator.

“It’s a story of faith and of the charitable hearts of others, but above all, it’s a story about determination, about not allowing doors to shut or finding a new way to open them to make sure that Esther gets the help she needs, a chance to be healthy again,” Asher wrote.

Friday night Esther, Naomi, Josphat, and Mildred had an early Thanksgiving dinner with a friend, his grown daughter and her children, and his younger daughter who will be out of town with her mother on Thanksgiving. They prepared a feast that included turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy. But  there was also Kenyan chapati (flat bread), sukuma wiki (collards, tomatoes and garlic), and goat mchuzi (stew with peas, carrots, and spices). After dinner Lily, the older daughter, who is a pastry chef, filled some icing piping sleeves and the kids decorated sugar cookies that had just been baked. It was a crazy, fun evening of family.

On Saturday Esther, Naomi, Josphat and their host from the previous evening with his younger daughter and grandchildren rode the Metrolink to the Gateway Arch, where they toured the museum. After lunch the children played in the Citygarden park downtown.  Esther joined the other children in walking along walls, climbing on sculptures, and playing hide-and-seek. Esther slept on the train back home.

Esther climbing on a sculpture at Citygarden.

Later, waking from a nap,  Esther spiked a slight fever – prompting concern because of her compromised immune system. Rest and Tylenol seemed to the trick. But it was a reminder that while we are grateful for every glimmer of grace God has shown so far, the healing continues.