I have MVP Raymond Lewallen in my list of blogs to follow. I read with great sadness the following blog post:

There is a link to the story of this little man's fight at the above link. Donation information

is also available. The family will use the donations to benefit the

level 3 NICU (Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit) and Aikman's end zone.

This story hits close to home because my wife faced some of the same

issues and concerns for our daughter, who turned 1 year old last month.

We were doing an ultrasound once a week and my wife was induced because

of polyhydramnios. It was a very nerve wracking time because there was

an anomaly noted in one of her ventricles in her brain. While she was

healthy when born, we still had to do

two ultrasounds to verify there wasn't a issue. The

last few months haven't been a cakewalk either because our daughter is

very small... she hasn't grown very much, but her head is larger than

normal. Initially it was attributed

to a condition known as renal tubular acidosis,

which can impair the effectiveness of the human growth hormone.

However, even after receiving daily medicine for that, she's still very

small for her age. The head size is my fault. I have a larger than

normal head and she inherited that from me (my boys also seem to have

larger than normal heads, but they've never been measured). She's been

poked, prodded, and stuck for blood more

times than I can count. She's been tested for cystic fibrosis. Thankfully that test came back negative. She's now being tested for celiac disease.

It may just be that she's small, as my wife's sister is short, my mom

is short (even by Japanese standards) and my aunt is even shorter than

my mom.

But we're lucky. We have our daughter, along with two healthy boys,

aged 8 and 7. We can hold her. We can play with her. We can talk with

her and interact with her. She's a fireball of energy and loves hugs

and snuggles.

She's into everything and makes her curious brothers look lethargic.

After reading a story like Drew's, it makes me realize how blessed we

are despite all the issues, the medical testing, etc., going on with

our daughter. As I taught the kids at church tonight, life isn't fair.

But still we must continue on. My prayers will be with the Lewallen

family.