A Mother's Day Blessing

  It is 3 years this week since Kenna was first diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome.  The first three days in the hospital, we had no idea what was wrong with her.  God is so good and so faithful.  I am still amazed how God has used our testimony to encourage people who are hurting or who need to know of the goodness of God even through the hardest times we face. 

 Interesting enough, He has used the book I wrote in remarkable ways (not bragging here, it is ALL HIM not the book).  I will be speaking at a book club meeting next month.  This club is designed to "empower" women and is very secular.  They are going to have a 20 minute "question and answer" time regarding my book.  God does have a sense of humor!

Psalms 103:1-4 (NKJV) Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! {2} Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: {3} Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, {4} Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies.

Psalms 30:2 (NKJV) O LORD my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me.

Psalm 30:5 (NKJV) ...weeping may be for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

Psalms 147:3 (NKJV) He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed .

Isaiah 58:8 (NKJV) Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Isaiah 61:1 (NKJV) The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound.

Jeremiah 17:14 (NKJV) Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.

Matthew 8:13 (NKJV) Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour.

  Matthew 9:35 (NKJV) Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

Matthew 10:1 (NKJV) And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

Matthew 10:8 (NKJV) Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Matthew 14:14 (NKJV) And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.

Luke 6:19 (NKJV) And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.

Luke 9:6 (NKJV) So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. (The twelve are sent out).

Luke 10:8-9 (NKJV) Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. {9} And heal the sick there, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near to you.(The seventy are sent out).

Acts 4:29-31 (NKJV) Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, {30} by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus. {31} And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

James 5:14-16 (NKJV) Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. {15} and the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. {16} Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Luke 8:47 (NKJV) Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.

  Luke 8:48 (NKJV) And He said to her, Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.

(Below written last year 2007)

2 years ago this week was the day our family began a ministry we would never have imagined. 2 years ago today the Lord took our lives in a direction we never thought we wanted but would never change for anything.  Today marks the day our beautiful Kenna was admitted to DeVos Children's hospital.  We had no idea this illness was going to take us in the direction it has.  When she was admitted, she was having a hard time walking and by that night she was completely paralyzed including not being able to hold up her own neck or close her eyes all the way.  Her resting heart rate was going over 180 beats per minute and both numbers on her blood pressure readings were over 100.  Her breathing was shallow and she was not able to swallow even her own saliva without choking.  No one knew why.

Long story short....after over 48 hours of tests and guessing what might be happening, our neurologist figured out that she had Guillain Barre Syndrome.  GBS is a rare auto immune disorder involving the nerve coverings being stripped and causing paralysis and permanent nerve damage.  It can affect your heart, breathing, and internal organs causing....well ya know.  It is very rare in children under 5 (1 in 800,000) and a bit more common in adults (1:100,000). 

The doctors prepared us for months in the hospital and rehab for a year or more. 

Yes, it was all of that.  Nearly 3 months in the hospital (DeVos then Mary Free Bed rehab hospital) and over a year of outpatient therapy 3-4 times a week.

Today, Kenna is walking, running, playing and doing nearly everything a regular 6 year old girl should do.  She still struggles with fatigue and stumbling a bit when she is tired.  She also has 'tummy aches' which can be severe at times.  The Lord is surely not done with her yet!  The doctors are always amazed that she shows no signs of any long term damage to her nerves!!  Almost always when this happens so quickly as her case was, there is always permanent nerve damage.  I thank God everyday for her life as well as what HE did THROUGH this!  All praise be to God!! 

Kenna in DeVos;  she was there for nearly 2 weeks before we even took pictures because she was in so much pain.  This is her doing much better.  You can see her little stuffed doggie holding up her head.  We couldn't touch her for almost 2 weeks because it would cause so much pain.  Finally, we started being able to sit on the edge of her bed and put her stuffed animals on her bed without her having pain.

We snuck Biscuit up to see Kenna (this was about 2 1/2 weeks into her stay).  She wanted us to move her hand to 'pet' her. This was one of Kenna's faithful nurses.  She cared for Kenna 6 days a week (everytime she worked).  We would 'play "Guess Who" Kenna could barely speak and couldn't move but she liked to 'act' like she was playing.

This was Kenna's first wheelchair ride. (About 2 1/2 weeks into the stay)  They had a wheelchair bed we could put her in.  It took us about 45 minutes and lots of pillows to get her semi-comfortable to be able to take a ride.  After about 10 minutes she would be so uncomfortable she had to go back to bed.  She so looked forward to that 10 minutes out of bed, it was well worth it!  It took 2 of us to walk her around (one to push the pole and one to push her).

Tuesday evenings, 'therapy dogs' would come and visit the patients.  Kenna LOVED this!!  She would want us to move her hand so the dogs could kiss it.  So sweet!

This was taken at Mary Free Bed about a month after being in the hospital. This was the first time Campbenny (dad) was able to hold Kenna.  (Because she had so much pain, with even being touched until then).

Kenna at Mary Free Bed, having pool therapy (her favorite therapy).

Kenna having speech therapy (those braces on her legs were to stretch her muscles and the ones on her feet were to prevent foot drop.  They were very painful to wear but she had to wear them about an hour on and two hours off.  It was even very painful to have her bed elevated.  She was a trooper though!

We celebrated lots of holidays in the hospital including Memorial Day, Mother's day, Lil'Campbenny's birthday, and Campbenny's 30th birthday.

Then, it finally happened!  She walked!!  As you can see her therapist is helping her and she is actually in a fair amount of pain but she stood for about 10 seconds and then she took a couple steps; Dad helping Kenna walk (and Claudia helping).

This one was actually taken when she was days from going home. She was feeling pretty great but her therapist was watching those little legs very close.

She was even visited by the Rampage quarterbacks !

Once Kenna was strong enough to wheel herself around, I could hardly keep track of her! She became very close with the nurses.  She would wheel herself around the nurse's desk and 'help'.  I would often find her on one of their laps as they typed or did their paper work.

This was one of her nurses who cared for Kenna in the night.  She would greet him at 6am in the hall.  He was always making jokes and making her giggle .

She even befriended the maintenance man :)  He didn't speak great English but that didn't keep Kenna from communicating with him.  He said Kenna made his day.

Campbenny and 'Cheetos Girl' this was the day she got that feeding tube out!  She wanted Cheetos first thing!

The day finally came after nearly 3 MONTHS, Kenna got to come home!!  The community gave us so much support and love.  The local pizza place even welcomed Kenna home on their sign!

The first thing Kenna wanted to do was to ride her bike!  She was still weak and could barely walk unassisted so we were pretty leery but with Dad holding the back of the bike, she was in her glory!

I can't even put into words how this experience changed our lives in so many ways (most for the BETTER)!  God is so good and His mercies are unending!  Thank you Lord for taking us through this experience and showing us Your love!  Thank you that YOU alone are our healer and Your ways are so much higher and better than ours.  We will praise Your name forever!!

Christy's Book Review from 2007

Joy In The Morning...such an appropriate title for Amy Kuncaitis' story. As a parent, you fear the day your child will suffer from that which you have no control over. Such was the fear that Amy & Ben were met with on Friday, April 15th, 2005.

Many spiritual leaders will tell you to place your faith, your life and the life of your child in God's hands. As Christians, we know that this is what we are to do. God created us, God is all knowing and even when we think that everything in our lives is going wrong, God knows exactly what he has in store for each of us. But when it comes down to our child, our flesh and blood, there is something inside of us, mothers and fathers, that doesn't want to let go of our child. It goes against our very nature as a parent. Yet, God intends us to lay our child at his feet and put our faith in Him.

  Amy shares how she and her husband fought through this emotional and spiritual journey, and in doing so, shows all of us that it can be done, if you "let go and let God". There were times they wanted to give up, and many times they simply wanted their 'old' life back. Yet, as you read through this relatively short book, you see a glimpse of what it's like to truly live on the faith you have in God. One can never know how this is possible until they go through it themselves, but Amy provides us with a small indication of what it's like.

I recommend this book, not just for those who are struggling with a 'mountain' or a similar experience, but for any parent. My son (thank God) is a healthy, happy child. But I am certainly more thankful for that now, when I compare my day to day struggles with that of little McKenna Kuncaitis.

Visit Amy online! Her blog is www.xanga.com/gracie1402

From Amy: To get an autographed copy, go to www.joyinthemorningbook.com , click on BUY and it will ask you if you want an autographed copy, choose yes, pay with PayPal (or Credit Card or you can send me a check) and I will send you an autographed copy!