Sunday, November 1, 2020

My "Grand-daughter" Needs Help



Hello to all of you who are reading these words. Since 2011, when I began to blog, you have supported me whenever I shared a health concern with you . . . and there have been many concerns.

Or so it seems to me. You have prayed for me in many different ways because each of you has your own Center of Oneness. And each of you calls that center by the name that best describes where you are on the circle of belief that connects us all.

Back in 2006 when Meniere’s Disease entered my life, a Minnesota friend said, “Dee, I think you have fourteen guardian angels watching over you. Somehow, no matter what, you always bounce back.” 

The truth is that I have even more angels now for when I’ve shared my health concerns with you, you’ve always been sympathetic, compassionate, thoughtful, empathetic, gracious angels. Always. 

Now I’m asking you to extend your great, good concern for others to Elisa Magagna, whom I met through blogging. She has become the daughter—or granddaughter (given our age)—I never had. Her four children call me Grandma Dee. Elisa and her family are an abiding blessing as I move through these final years of my life. 

Elisa is now at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City. After several lengthy CAT and MRI scans over the past week, the doctors have discovered the following: 

·      An invasive tumor on her L2 and L3 vertebra in her lower back. That tumor is eating into the bones and causing pressure on the spinal column so that both her legs are now numb and walking has become difficult. The bone pain is horrific.

·      A second tumor on her spine.

·      Tumors on her gallbladder.

·      Tumors in her lungs.

·      A tumor in her brain.

The doctors think this is all caused by the metastasizing of the melanoma removed from her wrist two years ago. However, they won’t know for sure until they do a biopsy tomorrow.

Everything seems dire. However, I try to stay in the present moment and not let my mind race into future possibilities. For me, life is now one step; one moment; one day. Sufficient unto this day is information I now have.

Let me tell you a little about Elisa. She was 28 when we met in 2011; I was 75. Caught in the web of a troubled marriage, she got a divorce and became a single-parent, raising four children—who are now 10, 12, 16, and 18—on the minimum-wage job she found that would enable her to be at home when the children most needed her.

Time passed. She grew in the confidence that had evaporated during her first marriage. She met and married a man who gave her the love and support that now enriches her life. Mike, an exceptional human being . . . as is Elisa, is a thoughtful husband and a loving father. 

Now Elisa, who is 37, is involved in the fight of her life. I believe she has a plethora of angels, but she needs more. She needs you who have been such a support and comfort to me. 

I ask you to pray for her—that is to do whatever is comfortable for you to do when someone asks for your help. Pray; send healing thoughts; visualize; put her name on prayer lists at your church or community center. 

None of us knows what is best, but all of us know that the loving concern of others can bring healing of mind and heart, spirit and soul. And we hope and trust . . .  healing of body. 

Thank you. Peace.

 

26 comments:

  1. There are two cancers that terrify me: melanoma and pancreatic cancer. They are both swift and deadly. However, I learned that recently a new treatment has been developed for melanoma. I pray that she will qualify for it. So very young! I will continue to hold her in my heart.

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    1. Dear DJan, thank you for holding her within your heart--such a safe, blessed place to be. I'm remembering with your mention of pancreatic cancer that I once read a posting of yours about a blogging friend who'd been diagnosed with it. I went to her blog and read her postings in which she shared her journey with this deadly cancer. Then vision concerns intervened and I never went back to her blog. Did she die? She seemed so brave to me. Courageous. Her reaching out by sharing by a great blessing for all of us who read her words. Peace.

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  2. Dee, I'm so sorry your friend and her family have to go through this. I'm sending healing thoughts to you, Elisa and to her family.

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    1. Dear Jean, thank you for the healing thoughts that will, I believe, help all of us. Elisa is concerned about her mother and me--that this will be too hard for us. But, truly, I am living in the moment and trusting that in that moment there is grace, poured out and pressed down into our very souls. It is where Elisa is also. Peace.

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  3. In my thoughts, Dee. And please, save your eyesight for reading, not for answering me. We know each other.

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    1. Dear Joanne, yes we do. Thank you for being such a good friend. Peace.

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  4. Oh Dee. I am so very sorry to read this. I will hold your friend and her family in my heart and send many, many good wishes their way.

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    1. Dear Sue, there is no safer place for them to be then in your heart. thank you. Peace.

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    1. Dear Rita, thank you and peace, pressed down and overflowing to you and to all who face the imprisonment of ill health today.

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  6. I just did and will continue to keep her and her family in my prayers. It's a blessing that she has you and a devoted husband by her side.

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    1. Dear Patti, yes, Mike is a true blessing to her and the children. Thank you for your prayers. I'm going to update the news I know today about Elisa's cancer. Peace.

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  7. Oh my, Dee. My heart hurts for your friend, her family and you. This should not be happening to someone so young.

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    1. Dear Arleen, yes, she is so young and like all good parents she wants to live long enough to see her four children grow up and find the lives that will bless them and have the grandchildren that most mothers long for. Peace.

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  8. Yes, I will definitely add her to my prayers, Dee... her and her family. I do believe that thoughts and prayers are powerful. And miracles do happen.

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    1. Dear Rian, like you, I believe thoughts and prayers are powerful; miracles do happen. I trust as Julian of Norwich did, "that all shall be well." I'm not sure--because I'm not in control--of what "being well" will look like, but I trust Oneness. Peace.

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  9. Prayed for her at this moment and will add her to my daily prayer list. I have seen miracles of healing and I pray to God and our precious Lord Jesus to direct the doctor's to find the best cure for her.

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    1. Dear Judy, oh, thank you for adding Elisa and her family to your prayer list. I'm doing a post today on the latest that she knows from the biopsy and the doctors' explanations. Peace.

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  10. I believe in the power of prayer so I have said one for your friend.

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    1. Dear Jo-Anne, like you, I believe in the power of our reaching out beyond ourselves to the Oneness that unites/connects us all. And in that Oneness will come, I trust, what is best for Elisa. All of us at times want to be in control. That's what I'd like right now. But I'm not, so I need to believe in, as you say, "The power of prayer." Thank you. Peace.

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  11. Dear, dear Dee, I am sending good thoughts for Eliza, for the hands and hearts, doctors and nurses who are helping her, and for her children, husband and for you as well, Dee. I keep you all in my prayers.

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    1. Dear Penny, trust you to remember that her life now is in the "hands and hearts" of doctors and nurses--the presence of Oneness in our midst. They are and will help her and Mike and the children. And thank you, too, for sending those good thoughts of yours my way. Peace, pressed down and overflowing.

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  12. my heartfelt prayers for your precious friend dear Dee!
    i am so glad i could know you through blogging world ,you are splendid ,kindred soul filled with love for humanity !

    i am always amazed by your delicacy of narration and ease of words that touch my heart so deep my friend!
    she will be having place in my thoughts and prays always so do you !
    hugs and blessings!

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    1. Dear Baili, you, who are always so joyful in your response to nature and to the beauty of others, would love Elisa. At the deep center of herself is an abiding joy. I think the two of you are kindred spirits. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. They mean so much. Peace.

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  13. Dee, I am so very sorry to learn of Elisa's very serious health crisis. The thought of a young woman facing such a daunting struggle for life, accompanied by extreme pain, breaks my heart. I won't be complacent in my prayers, but offer them with my belief that God cares for her, her husband and children, and you, her very special honorary grandmother. Thank you for offering us the privilege of being a part of your life in this way, and giving us a chance to send support to this sweet soul. Bless you, too, Dee.

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    1. Dear Debra, thank you. What a blessing all it has been in my life to meet you and so many other compassionate and understanding human beings thru this blog. Peace.

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