Happy 6th Birthday Chris!!!!

Wow! My emotions are so raw today! Today is Chris’s sixth birthday… or re-birthday… or transplant anniversary.  Today is the day his life was saved six years ago.  Today is the day he received Jens Wagner’s life saving bone marrow and was given another chance at life… literally.  Today he would not be here with us anymore had he not received this gift of life.

As the years tick by I am amazed the normalcy of Chris.  The life he has gone on to lead.   A dad, a husband, a friend, a caregiver, a son, a baseball coach, a co-worker… everything we dreamed and imagined he would once again be.  It is hard to believe we came out of that valley from six years ago, but we did.  It is hard to see God’s story when you are in the middle.  I know our story is not finished, God is not done writing.  But I trust in His plan.

I often block out the details of all that Chris has been through.  But sometimes it is good to remember.  God makes the Impossible POSSIBLE.  After Chris’s bone marrow transplant when he was diagnosed with stage IV throat and neck cancer just two years later, prognosis was not good.  He was still not even off his immune suppressing drugs from his transplant.  He had something called Graft vs Host Disease from his transplant (a serious and sometimes fatal transplant complication) and was not out of the woods from his transplant.  And although doing much better, here he was preparing to fight another cancer battle on a transplanted immune system.  He had a tumor that was wrapped around his carotid artery.  Two surgeons had tried to operate, both unsuccessfully and neither had been able to removed any of the tumor.  Only one had even been able to get a piece of it for a biopsy.  It was inoperable stage 4 cancer.  The strange thing is, I didn’t realize how grim this was.  Inoperable stage 4??? I don’t think I ever let myself think what this could have meant.  Maybe God didn’t allow me to because he was going to make the impossible possible.

So today, six years later, Chris is cancer free.  He had his latest check up last month.  All numbers and counts are excellent.  He is healthy and strong.  He works out, coaches baseball, runs and is healthy.  But, ask him about his hurt wrist and rotator cuff.  I think that might be because he is 45 years old 😉  Those are injuries we will take!

I cannot help but marvel and God’s goodness and grace in our lives.  He truly works miracles still today.  I know that God is not done with our story and we patiently wait for his plan to unfold.  We do not know what tomorrow will bring and we work toward living in the moment so we do not let fear get ahead of us.  It is something we learned when Chris was sick and what we still have to practice to this day.

And today ocean’s apart, humble Jens Wagner is going about his day as any normal day.  But today Jens, you are our hero, as always.  Six years ago you were in a hospital room (hitting your head when you tried to get up too soon) and we did not even know your name.  And six years ago Chris was in a hospital room waiting for your marrow, as it was stuck at an airport in Germany as part of an airline strike.  Oh, the excitement and promise that lay ahead.

Tonight Chris was was going to coach Chase’s ballgame, but it got cancelled.  Instead he is taking the boys to see a college baseball game.  I will be picking Alyia up from dance class and it will  be a typical night of any typical family.  This is what we dreamed about six years ago.  And I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

Thank you Jesus for your peaks and valleys.  Thank you for giving us faith and hope through the pain and unknown.  Thank you for making the impossible possible.  Thank you Jesus for your miracle of Chris.  Happy 6th birthday my amazing husband!

Love, Laurie