You told me the cancer has spread.<\/strong><\/p>\n You told me your spouse is leaving you and your children.<\/strong><\/p>\n You told me your recent divorce means you only have your child part time.<\/strong><\/p>\n You told me that being your parent's caregiver is sometimes more than you can bear. <\/strong><\/p>\n You told me your worries rob you of sleep.<\/strong><\/p>\n You told me your childhood was painful.<\/strong><\/p>\n You told me you finally allowed yourself to grieve the loss of your parents.<\/strong><\/p>\n You told me you don\u2019t want to be held captive by perfection any longer.<\/strong><\/p>\n You told me you want to be a better mom.<\/strong><\/p>\n You told me you want to be a better dad.<\/strong><\/p>\n You told me you cannot breathe through the suffocation that is your life.<\/strong><\/p>\n And after you revealed your scars, you asked me to pray for you.<\/p>\n And I don\u2019t take that request lightly.<\/p>\n For I have a story. And I feel compelled to share it with you, as you have shared your pain with me. Let it bring you hope. Let it ease your pain. Let it be the answer that brought you here today.<\/p>\n Here is my story\u2026<\/p>\n *Permission granted to use authentic names<\/em><\/p>\n A few years ago, my friend\u2019s daughter, a kind-hearted three-year-old nicknamed \u201cDoodle,\u201d became very ill. Over a period of several months, *Mary and Mike took her to every doctor imaginable. When the tests and examinations came back \u201cnormal,\u201d the doctors said that there was nothing wrong with her. Mike and Mary were not satisfied with this; they knew something was terribly wrong.<\/p>\n I stopped by Mary\u2019s house to drop something off one afternoon. Doodle\u2019s fever had just shot up, and Mary decided she was going to take Doodle to the emergency room despite the nurse\u2019s suggestion to bring her to the doctor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n I will never forget Mary\u2019s resolve in that moment. In the most terrifying moment of her life, she was brave, strong, focused and determined.<\/p>\n Without a single quiver in her voice, she declared, \u201cI am taking her to the hospital, and I am not leaving until they figure out what is wrong with my child.\u201d<\/p>\n Although she spoke the words to me, it was more of a declaration. It was if she drew a line in the sand; the fight begins here. And Doodle would not be a casualty of this unknown enemy attacking her.<\/p>\n There was nothing that would stop this mother from making her baby well again.<\/p>\n As Mary ran back into the house to gather her lifeless daughter into her arms, she suddenly stopped.\u00a0 She shouted one last thing to me.<\/p>\n With conviction she yelled loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear: \u201cTell people to pray<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n This request was not an after thought. It was a mother\u2019s plea. When stripped of her ability to protect, there is only one answer.<\/p>\n I immediately drove to my church and informed my pastor and anyone else who happened to be there. Then I went home and bombarded the \u201cworld\u201d with an email message about a special little girl named Doodle whose life-threatening illness had become a medical mystery. What happened after I hit \u201csend\u201d was amazing.<\/p>\n Doodle took a hold of people\u2019s hearts, and a miracle unfolded right before our eyes.<\/p>\n I was flooded with responses. From everything to \u201cHow can we help?\u201d to \u201cHave they tried this?\u201d I was offered doctor names and meals.\u00a0 Some even asked if I would include a picture of this precious girl that they could not get out of their minds.<\/p>\n Over a five-day time span, I sent updates. Each day, I would receive email messages from strangers all over the country asking if I would add them to the distribution list.<\/p>\n They did not know this girl, but they felt like they did. In a way, it was their own child, their own niece or nephew, their own grandchild whose usual rosy pink cheeks were now the color of a gray sheet. It was their child who trembled with wide eyes whenever the door to her hospital room opened for fear of yet another blood draw or catheterization. It was their child who fought for her life as doctor after doctor scratched his head in bewilderment.<\/p>\n And one day when Mary called me from the hospital, I told her of the outpouring of love and prayer that was coming to her child, but she already knew.<\/p>\n Through her tears, she spoke with certainty, \u201cRachel, we know. We know. I can\u2019t explain it, but we can feel the power and the comfort of the prayers being said for us.\u201d<\/p>\n On day five of her stay, while performing a chest scan on Doodle, a technician made a mistake. She accidently revealed a portion of Doodle\u2019s kidney, which immediately lead to the diagnosis and successful treatment of a kidney infection.<\/p>\n To those who had come to love this girl, to those who had come to hope for this precious child, to those who had closed their eyes and whispered her name too many times to count, what had happened during the chest scan was no mistake. What had happened was a God-given miracle.<\/p>\n I have the privilege of picking up this healthy, extraordinary child from school each day. It is almost like a dream in slow motion as she runs to my car and the sunlight bounces off her curly dark hair. She is always smiling. Always. This is my daily gift. She is my living, breathing symbol of \u201chope\u201d in the purest form.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/DSC_0025-e1299031239564.jpg\" "\\"Reach")
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