Mighty Man Will Lanicek

Before you read this know it is all over the place. I jump thoughts from paragraph to paragraph but that’s how I roll.

Obviously, we weren’t prepared for any of this, there is no “Your kid has cancer Handbook.” We have learned and experienced so much in the last six days. One thing we learned is Holy smokes chemo does a number on a body. The first 24 hours after chemo we had to wear gloves to change Will’s diaper. Billy lucked out and got all the dirty diapers the night chemo started.

Side note: I know when he’s older and reads this he will be so proud that I wrote about his dirty diapers.

Tonight will be 48 hours since chemo. I am not sure if it is the fact the nutritionist switched his formula (you know because mine is hippie formula as Billy says) or the chemo but wow these dirty diapers are STRONG! I am pretty sure our little man can put a pack mule to shame with his gas and poops. They are so strong! Like all the cows and pigs in the world pooped at the same time – strong!

As I sit here waiting for our nightly switch and the nurse to come to remove the smelly diaper, I keep thinking this can’t be real. It is. It is real. Our son has cancer. A six month old child has a 7 cm tumor inside his body. So many questions and what if’s have gone through my mind, but they all bring us here. Here to the place where our little boy has majorly stinky poops and a raw butt.

We have had so many people reach out and join in prayer for our little man. I know without a doubt he is covered in prayer. The other night friends of mine text me from outside the hospital where they came to pray before Will underwent his first treatment. Today someone messaged me that they heard about Will from their Sunday school group and wanted to let us know they were praying. These are just two examples of so very many. Our friends are going out of their way to share Will’s journey and gather more prayer warriors in so many ways possible. We will forever be grateful to you all.

The Treatment

We have had many questions about the treatment Will is going through. Since he was awarded the trial drug he will have one chemo drug injected into via a port in his chest every 14 days. We will stay at the hospital the majority of the time until they get him stable with pain levels and fluids.

At the 14 day mark, he will have labs and scans to see if the tumor is shrinking. Once the tumor is small enough to remove Will will undergo surgery then finish out chemo. He will have a total of six rounds of chemo. The tumor can not be removed until it shrinks due to the fact it is vascular (covered in veins and receiving a lot of blood). the good thing about it being vascular is that blood is rushing to it to feed it and the chemo is delivered through the blood.

***Pray the tumor shrinks quickly and all the cancer can be removed***

Hope and Faith

We are finding hope and faith all around us. From text messages to Sunday morning sermons via Facebook. One instance, in particular, was Friday night when I woke up to a voice message from a friend who shared 30 days of Hope with me. 30 Days of Hope is a list of bible verses to read about hope. The first one was Jeremiah 17:14:

“Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;
 save me and I will be saved,
 for you are the one I praise.”

Day 2 is James 5:14-15:

^” Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.”

Another friend messaged me today and told me she felt the need to let me know she prayed for Will today and thought of him at church. She said her mind kept coming back to Emmanuel. I looked up Emmanuel to learn more. I learned Emmanuel means God with us. I truly feel that is the case and I am grateful for the reminder through my sweet friend.

Last I share about how our little man got the name, Mighty Will. Billy has a group of friends who text like a bunch of middle school girls. They are some of the greatest men we know and have provided words of encouragement and much more to Billy through this process. He told me Tuesday night they were calling Will Mighty Will. I knew he was mighty, he’s an all-around strong little boy, but I didn’t think too much into it until I was reading Will the baby bible. We read the story of David and the Giant from Samuel 17:1-50. After telling the baby version of David getting the strength to take out a giant that everyone feared (ie: cancer) the last paragraph read ” God helped David even though he was small. God will help you, too!”