Robyn...

I know I have not given very many updates on my friend Robyn, but it seems that when I would get bad news, it would almost always follow up with good news. Then the good news (of her progressing well), went bad very quickly. Robyn went to be with the Lord on Saturday morning (December 20th) after a 4 month battle with cancer.

Just a quick recap of her progression and continuation of the email below...Robyn was taken off the ventilator, and given a trach. This allowed her to be more awake and she was able to breathe more on her own. Although she was still unable to talk (because of the swelling in her esophagus) she was more alert and wrote notes to friends and family. The swelling in her body went down and she looked like her old self again. They also gave her a 3rd round of chemo and discovered that it was actually doing its job. This was such a praise and encouragement to the family. Then they hit a wall and discovered an infection in her lungs. The doctors decided to do surgery on her right lung to remove as much of the infection as they could. The surgery was very successful and gave them hope in operating on the left side. After a couple days, they went in to the left lung and noticed it was more infected than they thought and because of some heavy bleeding, decided to end the surgery pre-maturely. After she came out of recovery, they soon discovered, by her vital signs, that she suffered a stroke during the surgery. After much prayer, the family decided that the Lord brought her into the world and he needed to take her out of the world when He was ready. So they decided not to do any type of life support for her. They left her on her ventilator, but decided not to increase the effectiveness of it. When they discovered on Saturday that her brain was inactive, they took her off the ventilator and allowed the Lord to bring her home, in his timing.

The graveside funeral was held on Friday and a memorial service was held on Saturday. I was not able to go on Saturday, but I did attend the small graveside gathering which was very touching. My brother Chris, and his wife, Kara sang and did a beautiful job. I am asking for you to please be in prayer for the Hassell family. They need your prayers as I am sure reality is beginning to set in. If you will, please lift up her parents, Becky and Danny and her siblings, Daniel, Jonathan and Christie.