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I don't know where I got a link in July of 2006 to the blog of this family. But I have been reading their blog and Amy's incredibly steadfast-faith-filled missives since a couple weeks after her diagnosis with acute myelogenous leukemia. And her faith and complete trust in God, in the face of such suffering touched me, changed me.
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Over the past year, I have rejoiced when I read her first transplant went well. The sacrifice her young brother made was a new humbling experience for me. The one her even younger sister was about to make this week.... That a thirteen-year-old would willingly submit herself to a painful procedure in an attempt to help her sister heal - what an incredible family!
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I have also spent a significant portion of time over the past year praying for Amy and her husband - and their sweet son. When there was an urgent request for prayer yesterday, I called the girls in from playing and we said a rosary together for Amy and her family. I couldn't help but pray for a complete miracle and total earthly healing for Amy. Our last prayers were for God's will be done and that if it was time for Amy to be healed in Him, that it would be a happy and peaceful death. Roughly fifteen minutes later, that's exactly what happened.
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And yet, my heart aches. I rejoice for Amy - she's healed! she has defeated the evil that had broken her body. And she now fully rests, in joy, with her Lord. My heart aches for her husband, that he has fought alongside her and poured his heart into this precious, believing woman. That his future is surely nothing what he'd imagined just days, weeks ago. My heart aches for her beautiful son, her gift to her family. This little boy is a certain miracle himself, as he was born just months before his mother's diagnosis. May he grow up knowing how much his mom fought to stay with him, how her fierce love for him was more important to her than her own suffering - and how the best days of her life were the ones she got to spend with him and his father.
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Last night, as I read the news that Amy had left this world, I was filled with a different kind of sadness. I can't imagine what all of this must have been like for her mom. As a mom, you don't even want to imagine what it would be like to lose one of your children, let alone after watching her fight a beast the last year. Every time the doctors were amazed at the miracle that was Amy's case, I am sure her mother felt an immense sense of relief - that there was still hope she would beat the beast. The heartache I feel now, for Amy's mother especially is surely not even a portion of what her family is going through.
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I ask you to pray with me for peace for the Wilhoite family - the kind of peace that passes understanding. And I encourage you to read Amy's story, in her own words. I guarantee your heart will be changed.
