Help the Shumway Family with Medical Expenses

Mikaela is the youngest daugther of Jon and Carmen. Jon is a pastor at Seneca Creek Community Church in Gaithersburg, MD.

Mikaela just turned two earlier this month and has already been through a bone marrow biopsy, MRI, CT, X-Rays, ultrasounds, and now has both a PICC line and a NG tube. She has been admitted since September 8th and the doctors still don't have a clear diagnosis.

Jon and Carmen got called into Children's National for irregular blood work that suggested leukemia. The doctors confirmed blasts in her bloodwork and admitted them for treatment of Leukemia. But the blood test to figure out the type of leukemia was inconclusive so they did a bone marrow biopsy next. The biopsy indicated that her bone marrow was inflamed but no sign of leukemia. So next she had an MRI that showed multiple dark spots (at least 4) in her bones that showed possible infection. But doctors were wondering why her bone cells were dying at a significant rate and spreading. She was then diagnosed with disseminated histoplasmosis, a rare fungal infection in her bones. But they have no idea how/why she got it and were concerned about her immune system and why it didn't stop the infection. She started a 10 day IV anti fungal medication. The latest update from the doctors was that she has anomalies in Chromosomes 7 and 8, suggesting malignancy/ cancerous possibility but this is not matching up with previous tests so they are re-doing the tests. Her case continues to be a mystery.

In the middle of all of this, Jon and Carmen also have two little ones at home who just want to be together with their parents. Carmen is on FMLA and going without her salary. Now I am asking for you to bless this family in the most practical way to help with their medial expenses. If you know Jon, you know that he loves his family/ friends/ community with everything. And now it's time for us to show up and support them. And most importantly we ask that you pray for healing and for wisdom for the doctors.