Hi. My name is Erin Hope. I lived in North Carolina and lived with my Mom, Dad, sister and brother. In 2002 I was in the fourth grade and enjoyed singing, dancing, watching T.V., riding my bike and listening to all kinds of music, except hard rock and roll.
I also liked going to baseball games.

August 2 of 2002, I had to go to the Emergency Room at the hospital my Mom and Dad worked at. My stomach was hurting pretty badly. I had been at the E.R. a few weeks earlier with the same problem and they thought I was constipated and gave me some medicine for it. I felt a little better after that but my stomach would hurt every now and then. 

I had to drink some pretty nasty stuff and they got a C.T. scan of my belly. A doctor friend of my Mom and Dad came and met us at the E.R. and looked at the pictures. He saw something that he didn't like. They had to put an I.V. in my hand and I had to do the C.T. again. The doctor told us that I had a tumor in my liver and I needed to go to Baptist Hospital soon. 

The doctors at Baptist Hospital looked at the pictures and then wanted some more pictures done. They took more C.T. scans of my lungs and belly. They found more tumors in my lungs and some in my heart. Plus, I had a hole in my heart that had been there since I was born. My younger sister had one too and had to have heart surgery last year to fix hers. I had to have an operation to find out what kind of tumor I had. The doctors said it was Hepatocellular Carcinoma. This is very rare in children my age; about 1 in 2 million cases of child cancers.

I soon started chemotherapy treatment. I had to stay in the hospital for 3 days. It made me feel real sick and I could not eat for 4 days. I felt better later. I had to take shots every day to keep me from getting real sick. A few weeks later I went back to the hospital for more chemotherapy. 

Then, they got more C.T. scans to see if the chemo was working. Then they would decide when to do surgery. I had to have part of my liver taken out, tumors from my lungs removed and open heart surgery all at the same time.

I was pretty scared and so were my parents and other family members. But, I had Jesus in my heart and I knew that he would keep me safe. I knew that he could make me better. There were a lot of people all over the United States and the world praying for me. My Mom and Dad said that the prayers from those people and God's grace help to make us strong. 

Our church helped us a lot with prayers, food and money. My Mom and Dad's Sunday School Teacher even came and mowed our grass. Friends and other people, who we didn't even know were helping too. Its nice to know that people love you so much.

God did heal me but not the way that my family, friends, or me wanted.  You see, on August 2, 2004, exactly two years after finding I had a tumor, God decided that my work on this earth was done.  Jesus sent His angels to escort my soul into heaven.  At the end of this life, I didn't have to suffer long because I was totally unconscious in less than five minutes after becoming very ill all of a sudden.  Tumors had spread to my brain and my brain bled very fast.  My parents rushed me to the hospital where my body died.  But, my soul lives forever because I made Jesus Christ the Lord of my life.  You can too and someday we will meet in heaven.

Please pray for my family that God will continue to bring them healing. And, if you haven't already, please ask Jesus into your heart. He can be your best friend. The bible says that the only way to get to heaven is by trusting and believing in Jesus and asking him to be Lord of your life. He can forgive you of anything. He died for us that we could live with him in heaven. And, you know the best part of it all is, getting to heaven is free! Jesus already paid your way.

Thanks for praying for me and my family. Keep checking back as we get better with this site. 

I hope you like my website. My uncle John is taking care of it for me. 

God bless you.
Erin Hope