March 14, 2000

Dear Family,

It is Tuesday evening.  Skylar is in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
here at the hospital.  His life is presently being sustained by a
ventilator which is helping him to breath.

Yesterday his breathing got worse and worse; he was working so hard just
breathing (even with an oxygen mask) that he slept almost all day.  They
moved him to the PICU in the evening, and he was coughing more and more
and his breathing became progressively more and more labored and his blood
oxygen saturation became worse and worse.  At about 10:00 PM they decided
to put him on the ventilator.  He has been sedated and unconscious ever
since then in order to prevent him from panic and from pulling the tubing
out of his throat.

I can scarcely begin to tell you of the sinking feeling when a doctor
takes you into the hallway and tells you that there is almost no hope
left, that this is likely the beginning of the end.  The agony of my
soul was great.  Pam stayed in the room with Skylar, but Suzanne and
I were told that the doctors thought Skylar's lung congestion could be
a sign of a runaway immune system. I then had to tell Pam, which was
as difficult.

This motivated me to call and consult with another doctor; he offered some
hope that it may in fact be more likely that what we are seeing is a
viral infection; if that is the case, it may be treatable.  However, the
doctor in charge of Skylar's bone marrow transplant said today that they
did not expect this situation and so he was not very encouraging.  More
distress and tears.

Skylar presently is laying unconscious; we can watch his vital signs on
a computer monitor above his bed.  Earlier today they visually inspected
inside of his lungs with a scoping device, and also took samples of the
mucous clogging his lungs in order to study it and find out what is
causing the congestion.

Thank you for your heartfelt prayers for Skylar and for us; thank you for
your emails and words of encouragement.  I will not give up hope as long
as Skylar lives; and should he die, my hope continues to be in the One
Who raises the dead.

When I left his room about an hour ago, there were some encouraging signs
of improvement; Skylar's heartrate was reduced (still high, but moving in
the right direction).  His blood oxygen saturation had increased even though
they had reduced his percentage of oxygen input.  His blood pressure was down,
indicating that he was resting somewhat more comfortably.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

In Christ,

-Dann (for all of us)