Knox Knocks Cancer

Knox Update 3/22 Knox got home from PA last Tuesday night.   We are very glad to be back home and enjoying normal life.   Knox is feeling great, is back at school, and has spending his time doing normal kid things.   Before we left PA last Tuesday we received the bone marrow biopsy results.   We are so thankful to report that there are no signs of active leukemia!   His tests have been clear for a good while now and we praise the Lord for that.   However, while that is great news, there is also some disappointing news.   The t-cells he received are designed to get rid of all b-cells (remember that everyone has b-cells, these are normal, but that leukemia is also a type of bad b-cell).   At this point he shouldn’t have any b-cells, however, he already has healthy b-cells that have returned.   Having healthy b-cells does not mean that leukemia has come back.   Remember, all of his tests have been clear of leukemia for a while now.   T...

Knox Update -  First, thank you to everyone showing us your Knox gear.  It’s a joy to see so many people wearing it and we know so many are praying for us and for Knox.  As we have stated, we hope it causes you to pray, causes others to ask about it, and that Christ will be exalted. Tomorrow is the day-28 bone marrow biopsy and spinal fluid check.  In addition to looking for any detectable amounts of leukemia, they are looking to see if there any bcells present, good or bad.  The CART cells are designed to get rid of all bcells and so the presence or absence of bcells is the indicator of whether the tcells he received are active.  You’ve been praying for the tcells to work and we are praying, specifically, that there are no bcells present in addition to no leukemia.  Once we get these results over the following few days, we’ll know what’s next.  We are praying that essentially nothing is next, and that all that will be required is more follow up l...

Knox Update 3/3 Thankfully, this past week or so has been an uneventful week to report on. We are at the point in our six week stay where trying to follow some sort of a daily routine is in focus. As far as medical reports go, Knox has only had to have bloodwork drawn a couple of times since the last post as part of his normal follow ups. All of his labs look fine relative to the treatment he’s received, so we are definitely thankful for that. For now,, our time is mostly spent making the morning Wawa run for some hazelnut coffee, then coming back to juggle times of Bible reading, school work, office work, legos, listening to Adventures in Odyssey, listening to other talk radio, playing some Fortnite, going to exercise, eating breakfast late enough to call it lunch, doing more work in the afternoons, figuring out dinner, catching a basketball game on TV (streaming sibling’s games from home and UVA when they’re playing), and finally ending with a couple hours of FaceTime with the fa...

Knox Update - Week 3 As we get to the end of week 3, I wanted to pass along an update from Philly. At the end of last week, Knox was in the hospital with high fevers. The fevers finally subsided and went away completely, allowing us to leave on Tuesday after a 6 night stay. We are thankful for our warm and comfortable townhouse and, while we are very thankful for the care he received, we are glad to be out of the hospital. He has continued to progress back to full strength. To this point, all tests have come back negative for disease. We pray for this continually and thank you all for calling out to the LORD on his behalf. We continue to pray for these Tcells to last for a long time, reaching and destroying every last blast cell that may be left. From here on out, the clinic visits are not as many and often, but he'll still get bloodwork checked once or twice a week. We are schedule to be here until March 16th and he'll have another bone marrow aspiration and lumbar pu...

Knox Update - End of Week 2 and it’s been a long eventful week. Knox had his bone marrow aspiration and lumbar puncture on Monday, requiring him to be put to sleep. Tuesday was Tcell day and he received his Tcell infusion. After infusion, there’s a window of time (10 days or so) where reactions can happen. By Wednesday evening, Knox had developed a fever that progressed quickly. There are limits that when the fever gets high enough, he has to go to the hospital. So we arrived at the Emergency Department around 9:30pm. We checked into an inpatient room at about 1:15am. The first time Knox had this done last summer, he developed a fever about 5 days after, stayed in the hospital 3 nights, then had been long enough without a fever that he could go home (back to where we’re staying). This time, his fever came quickly and has been stronger and more persistent. The fever actually went away Thursday night and was gone all day Friday, but Friday night it came back strong and continue...

Friends - many have seen our "KNOX" gear recently and asked about getting it...We're happy to report that Play It Again Sports - Lynchburg, VA has put together a store online that you can purchase from...this is not a fundraiser for us, but a pretty cool way to simply show support and have others see it too!...our goal is threefold: 1) Give others the chance to wear stuff they've seen and asked for...2) Even though it's not a fundraiser, we're asking you to buy and wear, hoping that many will ask about what "Knox" means or who he is, and that his journey and his story will continue to go out, giving all of us a chance to proclaim God's glory through it and encourage others to get on board praying for him...3) Support Play It Again Sports - Lynchburg, VA as Jeff has been gracious to get this together and make it possible...note that the store is open until 2/21, then the order will be processed and ready for pick up...HOWEVER, there is a shippin...