Slippers for Jack

Well, we are finally off for our Winter Break after a very difficult week at Cedar Mill Elementary School. On Tuesday we were told that a third grader at our school named Jack has terminal cancer. This is his third go around with the disease. He was cancer free in June after missing most of his second grade year because of treatment and its side effects. His family was told that if it came back again he could not be treated again. Things seemed to be going ok until about Thanksgiving week when he started experiencing intense pain in his knees and back. He would come to my Math group and just put his head on the table and couldn't do any work. Staff members would help him up the stairs after lunch because he hurt so much. His doctors kept doing blood tests and said he was all right, they didn't know what the pain was from. Further testing last week revealed the cancer was back and all over his poor little body, his brain, spine, heart. The plan is to bring him home from the hospital on Sunday with Hospice care so the family can all b e home together for Christmas. We were gathered together as a staff after school yesterday and basically told that he might be gone before we come back in January. The students were told on Wednesday that his cancer is back and he was back in the hospital - not what the expected outcome is. I knit slippers for Jack to help keep him warm. When his classroom teacher goes to visit tomorrow she will take them to him along with notes and pictures from students and staff. Please keep Jack and his family in your prayers.