Please keep Sela in your prayers too...

We have 2 beautiful, wonderful, caring, sweet girls. Sela is 9 and Sloane is 4. Both have seen and understand as best they can what is going on with their daddy. Of course, Sloane is so small, she just asks questions, you answer and she goes on about her business..like, "Why does daddy have that walker?", reply-"to help him walk better baby", Sloane replies, "Oh" and she is done-back to playing....Sela on the other hand is having a rougher time...she knows what could happen and she fears more than anything the death of her daddy. I mean, really, can you blame her? Lately I have noticed she seems to anger quickly and I pray that she can find some peace about all of this. Today, while at the movies with one of her second cousins, the attached preview came across the screen....our cousin told us once she heard the word "Melanoma" she quickly turned to Sela to see her reaction....she said Sela just looked at her like she may cry....so she talked to her a bit and after the movie started, Sela was fine....I guess the whole point to this post, is please, please, please pray for Sela...I know I have asked for prayers for Marcus, me and our entire family, but at this moment, Marcus is doing better and better everyday-so those prayers are working...what I would like now is complete prayer for my sweet baby girl...so she can have peace about his whole crazy journey she is having to experience right now....so I am attaching the video, so we can all experience what Sela did today....

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34

I will try not to worry for I have complete trust and faith in my God-but sometimes it's very hard not to worry. No chemo for Marcus today-more tests-CT of chest, xray of chest, ultrasound of left leg, more blood drawn, breathing treatments-good thing he has been hooked up to the hydromorphone pump or else I just don't know how much more he could take !! Pain management team has now removed him from pump to begin him on new track of meds that we can continue at home once he's released-still don't have that date yet. At the moment they are concerned with his high creatinine and uric acid levels-his low urine output makes sense with those elevated levels-and they are trying to figure out next steps to get those levels back where they need to be before chemo can even be considered....so we wait.

There is truly nothing else I can say right now-I just ask for continued prayers for Marcus-he is fighting so hard-but he is tired-I am tired-tired of having our lives revolve around Melanoma-we will continue to give all our glory to God and keep praying for a complete healing. I will not worry about tomorrow, but I will cherish today!

Faith Triumphs in Trouble

Romans 5:1-5 "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.  Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Yesterday, while waiting to go into his brain CT, Marcus showed me the sweet word of God above.  Little did I know that it would have perfect meaning to us today! 

Today was result day to see if the chemo was working!  Well, here's the run down: All tumors in his lungs decreased in size except for one where his pleural effusion was...and honestly, since there is still some fluid they can't tell if it really grew, or if it wasn't measured properly before due to the effusion.  No new mets in his liver, spleen, kidneys, pancreas or brain!!! PRAISE GOD!!  They did however, see a small (less than 1cm) lesion in his T12 vertebrae, but that can't say for sure if it is actually a bone met or what-because it is so small.  WE AREN'T CONCERNED WITH THIS!  So, since the bone lesion is possible and it appears the right lung tumor may have grown, this puts him into a progression category-and since he is BRAF positive, Dr. Kim wants him to go directly to one of the new BRAF phase one(where you get the medicine-no placebo) clinical trials-EXACTLY WHERE MARCUS WANTED TO BE FROM THE START!!  These new BRAF trials are seeing awesome results-we currently have a friend we have met through a melanoma patient site that is in this exact trial and currently has NO ACTIVE DISEASE after only 2 months and she had tumors all over her body!!  GLORY TO GOD!  If this progression would not have occured, then he would not be eligible for this trial-so to some it may seem negative-but to us, it is a prayer answered!!  We prayed that God would guide the doctor to whatever treatment was necessary to heal Marcus, and that is exactly what is occuring!!  We are rejoicing in this tribulation, because we know it will produce perseverance-then character-then hope-and hope does not disappoint-because the LOVE of GOD has been poured in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us!!!!

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support-please do not stop praying!  Please stand in faith with me that this possible bone lesion is nothing and will go away and that the BRAF trial will send all this melanoma to INACTIVE MODE!!! 

Glorious Day

"Living He loved me, Dying He saved me, Buried He carried my sins far away...."

Words sung beautifully by Casting Crowns....words that keep me trusting and believing...

Marcus has been battling a fever over the past week and today blood was drawn to be cultured....we don't know if it is the cancer, an infection from his Denver cath or what-but it has been frustrating...
Just when he starts to feel a little better the fever comes back-so we just keep praying for God to make this fever work to kill the melanoma and then GO AWAY and leave Marcus alone!!!! As Christmas approaches, we are so thankful to God for every breath we take-and we just keep praying and trusting in the Lord to get us through this rough season of life we are traveling through right now. "One day He's coming, Oh Glorious Day"...and we are just holding on until that glorious, glorious day....

Merry Christmas-we love you all so very much!

Marcus, Mindy, Sela & Sloane Stanley

I finally feel truly born again.....

I love the song above by Third Day....they always grab my heart with their music-and open it all up to the Lord....Thank you Third Day-I love you!!

Yesterday marked a special day for Marcus and I....we celebrated 15 years of wedded bliss ;) A big milestone! Every day I have with him now seems monumental to me-it is just sad that it took Melanoma for us both to see through all the crap the world has for us and get back down to the REAL DEAL....we have grown closer as a couple and our relationship with God has been moved to a level I never dreamed....I am so eternally grateful for the love our God has given us-and the sacrifice He made by sending us Jesus...there are no words that can truly express that gratefulness.

Marcus still fatigues easily, but he is doing well. He starts his next round of chemo Dec. 28 and then will do scans in Jan. We are still standing in faith, believing he will receive a complete healing, from the inside out. Thank you all for your support-we love you all and pray you have a blessed Christmas!

all is well

just a quick little post to let you all know that marcus is doing very well!! he completed day 2 of chemo today-and has 2 more days of this cycle....then 17 days off.  he spoke with dr. lavalais and she told him this chemo would accumulate and he may not feel anything until a few weeks after receiving treatment...but we are going to keep praying that God keeps all side effects to a minimum and he keeps feeling great!  we are still draining fluid from his denver catheter that was inserted into his chest last week-this has helped him tremendously!  he was having such a hard time breathing because of the fluid in his pleural cavity.  dr. lavalais said it may take 3-4 weeks before he sees a decrease in that fluid.

we are still standing in faith that God will use this chemo to produce a complete healing....and we will not accept anything else!!!  thank you all for your continued prayers, emails, texts and support-we love you all so very much!!

Great start

So far so good! Marcus finished his first dose of IL-2 around 10:30am and will receive his second dose at 6:30pm. At this point he has not had any side effects and is doing great-he is resting now until his next dose. He was feeling so good earlier he got up and walked around-he hates being stuck in the bed. But I just keep reminding him that he needs to take this time and relax, accept the treatment and concentrate on getting this melanoma out of his lungs!!! He agrees-we just keep asking God for strength and thanking Him for what we have received so far! No side effects at all up to this point! The drs really act like they are shocked and keep asking "are you sure you don't have shortness of breath, chest pain, etc?". I told Marcus they just don't understand the power of prayer!! All those
mighty prayer warriors out there-thank you-we know without those prayers-Marcus would not be doing as well as he is!!!! So keep them prayers coming!!!! :) don't stop now !! If he keeps doing well after his second dose, he will receive another at 2am. At this point we don't know how many more-he has 15 doses reserved for him-but they only keep giving as long as he keeps doing well,so I will keep you all posted. I am also posting updates on facebook, so if we aren't friends yet, send me an invite and you can get more updates!

Thank you again to everyone that came out to eat Saturday night for Marcus' 35th
bday and for everyone that came to Church on the Rock Sunday to join us and the elders of the church prayin over him. I feel this prayer was so powerful -not only for
Marcus but for everyone there! God brought us all together and I thank Him so much!! And thank you Cynthia Miller for arranging that for
Marcus-you and Byron are true blessings to us-thank you, thank you so very much!!!

What does Melanoma look like?

So often Marcus gets asked about how his journey began.  Most people are shocked when we tell them this all started with a mole he was born with.  I am attaching some pics from prior to his first biopsy at the dermatologist-click on the pic and zoom in to get a better view (I have inserted a big arrow pointing to the mole), and 2 after that biopsy, but before his wide excision at MD Anderson that removed the margin around the mole and rebuilt his thumb with a skin graft from his side.  Maybe this will give some folks a little better idea about how it looked....crazy to think that Melanoma can start as a simple mole, then travel to lymph nodes and now lungs...amazing.....we have to be aware and teach others how to do skin exams.  We don't want to see anyone else have to go through this.  Prevention and early detection are the keys.  Please spread the word.

MELANOMA TRULY SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i don't like to use the word hate, but right now, i HATE melanoma. with a passion. marcus went back to MD yesterday for repeat scans-in june they found 2 new spots in his lungs that were 5mm in size-but they weren't sure it was melanoma and wanted to do repeat scans yesterday to compare. well, now there are at least 4 nodules-12-15mm in size.....surgery is not an option because they are in both lungs and scattered. we go back sept 10 to discuss treatment with dr. kim-it will probably be a combination of chemos, vaccines, trials, we aren't quite sure yet.


marcus and i are both in shock. we just knew that the spots were some type of inflammation and would be gone. we were floored with the news. he truly needs every prayer he can get...he is so strong and is ready to fight this monster with all he has-and i am behind him 200%.....

give me serenity

i have this prayer on my keychain, on my bible cover, on my cell phone wallpaper-no matter what font or pretty decorations/pictures are used to re-create it, it is a prayer i will always hold dear to my heart-yes it is simple, but so powerful. marcus recently went for some routine tests, and still has to have a brain mri before all the drs. can say he remains cancer free.....the wait, doubt, fear, consumes me on most days. i want him to be healthy-i believe that is what God wants too-but then i go to mpip.org and see so many stories of fellow melanoma warriors that felt the same way-but eventually lost the fight. today i am just asking God to give me serenity-to get through the wait-the doubt-the fear-and enjoy everyday we have-i know none of us is guaranteed a second on this earth-thank you all for your continued prayers for our family and for marcus....i love you all so very much!