Details of Surgery

May 6, 2014.

This is the newest update about Cassidy's situation:

Today, May 6th, 2014, we spoke with Dr. Gerstle and Dr. Baruchel

Dr. Gerstle is the doctor who will be performing the surgery next Monday at 8 am (May 12th, 2014). The surgery itself will be 5-6 hours long to remove the lesion near her left breast and the lesion on her lung.

While the surgery is expected to go smoothly, but there may be a few possible effects:

Cassidy may have some tissue in the breast removed.

The lower section of the lung may have to be removed because of the position of the lesion.  The ribs will be open in order to remove the tumour. This may affect Cassidy's lung capacity and as competitive swimming.

Cassidy will likely be on epidural for 3 days after the surgery, although the anesthesiologist will be consulted before finalizing that decision. There will be other painkillers available. 

Dr. Baruchel, the oncologist will give the report about removed tumours/lesions after they have been identified in the lab.  Pray that they do not contain any new cancer cells.

Cassidy's recovery period is estimated a month, although it will be some time before she reaches full capacity again. Physiotherapy has been recommended during the rehab.

Please continue to pray for the following:-
a. Pray that the peace, and comfort from God be with the family, and they will have strong faith in God.
b. May God use this time to strengthen the family, draw them closer to each other, and learn to walk deeper with God.
c. Pray that the 5~6 hours surgery next Monday to remove the tumours/lesions will be smoothly carried out and Cassidy will recover as God created.

Happy Birthday, Cassidy!!

April 29, 2014.

It's Cassidy's birthday today. Happy Birthday!! :)

She's been sick since last week for catching a cold after swimming. No more fever, thank God!

May God bless her and her family abundantly and keep her spirit strong as she has been!


Update from Mama Carmen:

Cass is still sick & cough a lot over the weekend! She couldn't join her own b-day party over the weekend & she will miss the one her class is going to surprise her for her birthday tomorrow as she us still too weak to go to school. Please pray for her to recovery from the cold soon such that she will be strong (physically & spiritually) for her surgery on the 2nd week of May. We are seeing the doctors this Thursday to discuss about the surgery & she will do the MRI as well. 

Biopsy Result and Prayer Requests

April 22, 2014.

This morning, our whole family met with an oncologist in Sickkids and we had the following discussion with the biopsy result.

1.     Cassidy fought once, she needs to fight again. She has two known lesions. One is below her chest on the left side, made of cartilage cells which is part of the osteosarcoma (bone cancer cells). It is a very rare case and only less than 5 % of such situation. The other one is on her lung, most likely made of osteosarcoma cells based on calcium deposits on her left side.

2.     Neither lesion is aggressive for the time being and both can be removed with surgery.

3.     At the present moment, no chemo is necessary if there are no new findings. The surgery on her lung will not affect the lung itself.  While we are unsure of how exactly the surgery will proceed, and we will meeting the surgeon soon to discuss about it, and the surgery will be scheduled on the 2nd week of May.

4.     The recovery and rehabilitation time is estimated to be around 1 month. A close monitor of Cassidy's health issue will be followed up in the next three years.

Furthermore, Cassidy needs to go through a bone scan tomorrow (April 23, Wednesday) at 10:00 a.m. and an MRI (not scheduled yet) of the brain to ensure there are no other tumours, lesions, or otherwise abnormal developments. There will also be a scan on her other lung as a precaution.

By the way, Cassidy was very upset when the doctor told her that she won't be able to go for her swim meets in the next couple months and not until she is totally recover from surgery. However, it's such big relief and we thank God that there's no chemo at this time.

Please continue to pray for the following,

a.     Pray that the faith, peace, and comfort from God be with the family.

b.    May God use this time to strengthen us, trust in Him, and draw us close to Him.

c.    Pray that a thorough bone scan and MRI will be carried out for Cassidy and no more lesions will be found in her body.

d.     Pray that the surgery will be smoothly carried out and Cassidy will recover very quickly such that she can continue her swimming very shortly.

Biopsy Scheduled

April 15, 2014.

Sickkids has scheduled Cassidy's Biopsy procedure tomorrow (Wednesday) at 10:30am. She will be going to the hospital at 8:30am to prepare for the procedure. Cass chose to do the procedure under the localized anaesthetic.

Please pray for the following,

1.   Cassidy has good spirit to prepare for the procedure tomorrow and the follow up arrangement required in the future.

2.   Since Cassidy is concerned about pain during the procedure, pray that the nurses and doctors will handle the procedure in a very smooth and nice way such that Cassidy will not feel much pain from it.

3,   The doctors have the wisdom to actually diagnose the problem and provide the best treatment for Cassidy.

4.    After all, pray that we all have the patience, trust and faith to just follow Him step by step, one day at a time. Teach us to lean on Him in all situations.

By the way, just to clarify the areas at which the lump and calcium deposits were noticed.

1.   The lump was notice at the left side of the body, rather than at the left chest as previously described.

2.   The calcium deposits were noticed in the right lung, rather the left lung as was described before.

Possibly Secondary Cancer from the Osteosarcoma

April 14, 2014.

Here is an update from Carmen:

"We are still in Sickkids, & my heart sunk after after the discussion with the doctors! They found that there's some calcium deposits which would be from her leg ( osteosarcoma) and the lump Cass's chest is something superficial (it might come from her leg's disease). She may has secondary cancer from the osteosarcoma. They are arranging the biopsy to find out more. But treatments & surgery will be arranged after, as they have to remove them from her body!"

Please pray fervently for Cassidy and her family.

Again, please let them have quiet time. If you want to send them message, please tell them "no need to reply" so they can know you're supporting them with prayers yet no need to worry about replying your messages.

Examinations at Sick Kids

April 10, 2014

Cassidy, Aaron, Carmen and Andy Sheng need your prayer support!

Cassidy has done ultrasound and x-ray today, and the results showed something in her lungs. More scans are to be done. The family was not told re what's been found yet. Doctor, from Sick Kids Hospital, has called and arranged appointment for Monday morning.

Please pray for Cassidy and family for God's grace and mercy! Please pray that God's comfort be with them at this time of worrisome!

Also, please let them have quiet time. If you want to send them message, please tell them "no need to reply" so they can know you're supporting them with prayers yet no need to worry about replying your messages.

Thank you very much!

3 years had passed

It's been more than 3 years since the last post. Somewhere in 2014, postings re Cassidy's situation should be here while emails were used instead. 

Now, I will update here by posting the emails. 

More Than 17 Months

Dear All,

It's been a long time since the last posting! More than 17 months!

During this period of time, a lot of things had happened. I am sure you have experienced many happy and sad moments too.

Dr. Jesse and Jesse, you are always in our memories! We will always miss you!

As I am not good in writing, please stay tuned for our new authors.

God bless you!

Hello Santa

Guess what guys, Cassidy was on the news Dec 17 because she has gone to a very special place that day. If you also caught a peak at the news that day, you would know that our Princess has gone to the North Pole!! Yes, that's where Santa lives.

Isn't it amazing that out of those boring days of check-ups and physiotherapies, our CaCa Jue gets to have fun and enjoy such a trip with all other kids who are also going through stuggles in life. God definitely knows what CaCa Jue needs, that is a lot of love and much fun days like these. And God surely knows the needs in your hearts too. So rest assured that God is carrying you through whatever life may throw at you and that He has already prepared what is best for you. You just need to trust and follow Him!!

God never breaks His promise and that is why Baby Jesus was born to save us all. So remember that it is the great Birthday of our Lord Jesus and on this special day He gave us Himself as the Most Precious Gift of All. Would you say a pray in your heart now to tell Jesus how thankful you are for His wondrous birth?

Merry Christmas everyone!

Long Time No Hear.......

Hello Everyone, sorry for not updating for such a long time. Cassidy has been doing so well, actually amazingly well that she is out and about all the time and participating in so many activities that we all just couldn't keep up with her. She's got 1 real leg and she's running way ahead of all of us. It is amazing how God blesses her with so much energy that everybody is having a hard time to catch up with her....haha.

Well I suppose you don't expect to read 5 pages of CaCa's update here so I'll try to make things short. But if you're interested, let me know and I can give you 5 more pages...... ; )

Our princess is settling well at her new school and although she has to work very hard to catch up on her school works, especially French, she is putting a great effort to school and is doing well. In the last few months she was working really hard in her singing and music lessons for the audition to the Claude Watson School and she finally had her auditions in January. Although we have recently heard back from CWS that they cannot take Cassidy for the coming September term, but CaCa says she will work harder and try again next year. Hooray CaCa! That'a Girl!

During March Break this year, CaCa and her family kidda disappeared for a week from Toronto and guess where they're gone to?! HAWAII!!! ALOHA!! Thanks to the MakeAWish Foundation for booking up CaCa and GorGor Aaron and Mama and Papa and shipping them off to the wonderful beach and sun in the West Coast. Dr. Jesse was a bit jealous that we didn't get to tag along because we would have got to chase after the dolphin that CaCa was swimming with....ahhahhhah. But we all thank God for His wonderful timing that CaCa got to enjoy a great week of nice warm weather. Dr. Jesse will try to get some of those nice pictures uploaded here to share with everyone.....hang tight!

Also, CaCa has been swimming for a few months now and she gets 2 hours of water fun every Monday/Wednesday/Friday - WOW, that's 6 hours of swim every week! Hey Ca, you'll soon turn into a Princess Mermaid if you keep swimming so fast....haha.

It was like just a blink of eye and it's June already. CaCa is getting all hyped up for summer now. If you have any special summer bash ideas, feel free to send them in to us so we get to share the love of God in your families and your great times with the people you love. Isn't it amazing how people can love each other with the love that is already put into our hearts by God Himself?! Because God is Love and because God first loved us so we know how to love. CaCa wishes you a great deal of Love flowing from God into your hearts and prays that you and those you love would be continually blessed by the abundant Love of God.

Last but not least, CaCa and her family would like to thank Dr. Daniel Wu for checking in on her. Although we might have missed him during his recent stay in Toronto but we are warmed in our hearts by his love and concerns. Hopefully we get to see him the next time he's here! Dr. Wu, wherever you are, may the love and blessings from God be with you always! Thank you for checking in on us! You're so sweet!

Okay, everyone, here's the end of the 5 pages....hahahahaha. Stay tuned!

Back To School Cheers!

Happy Back To School Yaw! Dr. Jesse wishes you all a great new school year and all the blessings from God.

Ok, as you all know, CaCa is going to a new school this year and you're probably wondering how she's doing. Well, in general, she's doing fine but Mama Carmen says she doesn't want to talk about her new school yet. So we're yet to find out if she's having a good time at Northlea in this first week of school. But we're sure that God will give her strength to get used to all the new things and the Holy Spirit will help her to make new friends and to learn well.

For the time being, let's remember to pray for Cassidy's body to remain strong and ask God to keep her away from any germs and diseases so that she has all the energy she needs to get used to her new school, teachers and classmates.

And let's not forget about GorGor Aaron as he also started a new school year with perhaps more and harder works, let's pray for GorGor to have healthy body and wisdom from God to be able to do well on all subjects and also another happy and cheerful year of highschool learning. Go Aaron! Go!