Biblical Hope
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Stop Writing the Ending
August 5, 2025 Today was a big day. Kinley and I showed up at the hospital at 7:15 that morning and immediately started making the rounds. Clinic. Bloodwork. Re-access her port. Ultrasound. CT scan. Cardiology. EKG. Another ultrasound around her heart. By the time we finished all of that, Kinley was finally released to eat.…
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A Night We Didn’t Expect
There are some nights you plan. There are others that seem to get handed to you. September 13, 2025 was one of those. We got a call from Megan’s sister, Brittney. She said she had a surprise for Kinley if she was up for it. She asked if we were planning to go to the…
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Pain Is a Microphone
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Before cancer entered our family, I knew that in the same general way most people probably do. I knew children got cancer. I knew St. Jude existed. I knew there were ribbons and fundraisers and families going through unimaginably hard things. But awareness changes when the child has your…
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Good Blood
July 9–25, 2025 By July, the hospital had started becoming part of the rhythm of our lives. Not normal exactly. I do not think any of this ever became normal. But familiar. We knew the drive. We knew the clinic routine. We knew the questions. We knew that chemo days themselves were not always the…
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Rejoice Anyway
One of Kinley’s requests when we finally got a few days at home was to have a The rules were simple. Come over. Have fun. And you had to wear a wig. As her dad, I had already assumed wigs were probably going to become part of this season. Her hair was gone, and in…
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A Few Days Later
A few days after finally coming home, Megan woke around four in the morning to Kinley calling for help. A very generous friend had let us borrow a bed that could incline, almost like a hospital bed, because Kinley could not lie flat on her back. Even with that setup, she usually chose the couch,…
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Two Nerf Guns and a Miracle
June 16–20, 2025 On Monday, the doctors decided to take a little more time before starting Kinley’s next round of chemotherapy. They wanted to get her fluids up and make sure her body was strong enough to handle what came next. Dr. Bains, one of the resident doctors, stopped by to check on her. He…
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His Word Will Not Return Empty
June 11–13, 2025 Wednesday was Megan’s and my fourteenth wedding anniversary. Fourteen years earlier, we stood together and promised to walk through life side by side. I am sure neither of us pictured celebrating an anniversary in separate cities while our daughter recovered from her first round of chemotherapy. Kinley was still feeling the effects…
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The Treatment Plan Starts
Whatever It Takes June 3–9, 2025 Tuesday was chemo day. Kinley was scheduled to receive her first round of chemotherapy, but nothing about the process was quick or casual. Late the night before, someone came into the room to check her heart and make sure it was strong enough for treatment. The next morning, we…
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Diagnosis
The Day the Waiting Had a Name June 2, 2025 The night before, Megan took Cohen home. The plan was for her to get a decent night’s sleep, spend some time at The Refined Pantry in the morning, and stop by the blood drive our family and friends had organized in Kinley’s name. There was…