Some of you know that Erin Hope had become seriously ill while attending the Victory Junction Gang Camp

Some of you know that Erin Hope had become seriously ill while attending the Victory Junction Gang Camp, a Nascar charity, this week. She began vomiting early in the morning on Wednesday and was taken to the onsite infirmary called the 'Body Shop'. There, 2 physicians and 4 nurses are staffed. They started an IV on her and watched her. We obtained a prescription for some anti-nausea medication and were kept informed of her condition. I was paged at work at 1:30 in the afternoon and was told that Erin Hope had not vomited since 7:00 a.m. and was resting quietly. I received another page shortly after 2:00 p.m. telling me that Erin Hope's status had changed significantly and was barely arousable after infliction of what would normally be very severe pain. An ambulance was summoned after consulting with me and she was taken to North Carolina Baptist Hospital.

Erin Hope's mother was waiting on her at the E.R. at Baptist. Erin was responsive but had very decreased neurological response. I arrived about 20 minutes later. Within the 20 minutes after I arrived, Erin Hope went from being able to respond slowly to questions and moving all of her extremities, to barely a verbal response and unable to move anything on her right side. Erin Hope received a CT scan that showed probable tumor, bleeding and swelling inside her brain that was causing increased pressure in her brain. Erin Hope was given the choice by her mother and father whether she wanted to 'fight' this cancer or just go to sleep and wake up in heaven. She said that she wanted to fight, but it would be okay to go to sleep and wake up in heaven. She reassured us of her salvation and knew that Jesus was in her heart and that it would be okay to go to sleep or die. She became more ill by the minute. The decision was made to give her some medication that would decrease the swelling of her brain and hopefully improve her mental status. Within 30 minutes of starting that medication, she became noticeably more alert to where she could move all of her extremities, eyes wide awake and able to carry on a mostly normal conversation. During that time before she improved, we were talking with the Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery and were informed that the medication may not work for some time or it may not work at all. We did not know what to do at this time. Since Erin Hope's condition markedly improved, we consulted her as to what her wishes were. The medication would decrease the swelling temporarily. She was told the risks of surgery, including delaying the surgery until the next day (which we were told may be too late to fix her brain compromise) or what could happen if she did not do the surgery. She stated that she wanted to fight this cancer, that she wasn't giving up and the decision was made between her and her mother to have the surgery.

She came through the surgery very well and the surgeon was very pleased with the outcome. She has been following commands ever since. We got to see her just after midnight on Wednesday night. She was laying in her bed and eating ice chips and everything about her seemed to be working correctly. Her mom and dad stayed up almost all night with her and got just an hour or two of sleep. She went for an MRI of her brain this morning; a standard procedure after brain surgery for removal of a tumor. This revealed a good response to surgery with a decrease in swelling but also revealed an additional tumor that the surgeon was unable to visualize in surgery. This tumor is 4-5 times smaller than the one he removed but is deeper into the surface of the brain tissue. He said that he could go back in and remove the other tumor tomorrow but we needed to determine if the recent events and/or the presence of a brain tumor would disqualify her from a clinical trial at the National Cancer Institute that she was going to do. We found out this afternoon that she could still do the clinical trial as long as she is functioning properly and not having any significant compromise.

Erin Hope was transferred out of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit to a regular oncology bed this evening around 8:00 p.m. She was drowsy, a little nauseated and had some moderate head pain. She had eaten some apple slices earlier in the day and drank some Sprite. We all are very pleased and thank God for His touch on her. Many of you have been praying very diligently for her the last day and believe me we have felt the hand of God. Hopefully, she will be able to come home in a couple of days. Please continue praying and claiming her complete healing. God is not finished with this lady. God bless you and we will keep you informed.