Blog 10/06/08 b

Noah Moudy

I know that many of you have seen my recent status updates about Noah and the Moudys.  I want to tell you a little more about him.  Noah is 4 and is the youngest of 6 children in the blended family of Mat and Christy Moudy (pronounced like cloudy).  They live in a rural town in central Mississippi.  A perfectly normal child, Noah went to the doctor for a swimmer’s ear infection earlier this year.   After some scary symptoms showed up, Noah’s mom, Christy, didn’t take any chances but instead brought him to Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson, MS.   On June 26^th, 2008, he was diagnosed with AML leukemia.   As with most forms of cancer, chemo therapy is a common treatment and Noah is undergoing that now hopefully for the last time!  Unfortunately, the closest thing to a cure is a bone marrow transplant or BMT.  His will be tomorrow, Friday, October 10^th, 2008.  His older sister, six year old Jessica, will donate her bone marrow to Noah in the hope that he will be cancer free for the rest of his life!  Now, you might ask why THIS child has become so important to me when so many others are dealing with similar life-threatening issues.  It’s because I’ve actually spent time with this child and his parents, particularly his mother.  At first, I was with them without being in their presence, and when we did finally meet in person, we hugged like we’d known each other for years!  Christy’s sister in law works with my stepmother in Jackson, MS.  When Hold On (to Love) was released, Jane, my stepmom, brought a copy of the song to work and passed it around.  Eventually, the song made its way to Christy who found great comfort in the song and became my friend on myspace.  After many talks online, she said she wanted someone to sing the song in her church and I said I’d be happy to do that for her.  So, on September 28^th, we travelled to the rural town of Leesburg, MS to sing Hold On in her little Baptist church where Christy and several of her family members were in attendance.  It was a connection that I rarely get with an audience/congregation!  Everyone there knew Noah, his family, and his situation.  Everyone there had prayed for them at one time or another.  And everyone there knew that I’d come to sing to Christy!  There weren’t many dry eyes!  It was difficult to sing and not cry that day!  For the remainder of the service, I sat next to Christy and tried desperately to will some comfort over to her!  The previous day we’d been to the hospital to see Noah, but he’d been asleep, so we went after church on Sunday while he was up.  What a joyful child!  A typical 4 year old, playing Mario on a Nintendo DS, he was silly and playful with me!  He reminded me so much of my own four year old, just without hair!  He didn’t seem sick, but I knew he was just that and my heart went out to his family!  His sister, Jessica, was there too and she’s also a delight!  She’s so happy to be doing this for her brother; happy to be the hero of the day!  I can’t imagine what this family is going through even after seeing a sliver of their lives in the hospital that day.  Since then, we’ve been praying for Noah, his family, his health, and the upcoming transplant several times a day.  We know that afterwards, he’ll have to be in isolation at the hospital and at home for 100 days, as if the operation isn’t difficult enough! 

I’m so grateful for having the opportunity to meet this family and this precious little boy!  I’m so blessed that this song has touched them and allowed us to be brought together!  I’m so humbled by their grace in the face of this trial!  And I pray that Noah will find his purpose beyond having HAD leukemia and Jessica will find hers beyond being his donor!  Hopefully, they will put this behind them and move on to better things together!  In the meantime, we pray that God in His infinite power and might would speak to Noah’s bones as he did through Ezekial in the valley and make them LIVE! (Ez 37:1-14).  I’m praying not only for Noah’s literal bones to be made whole, but also for the structure of his whole life to be preserved not merely encapsulated by this illness.  He and his family will forever be touched and changed by this experience, but it doesn’t have to define them!  I pray that regardless of the outcome, it never will!  This family knows Jesus and serves Him actively through their local church.  Jesus said that we would have trouble in this world, but that He has overcome this world! (John 16:33) Greater is Jesus, who lives in us, in Mat, in Christy than he who lives in the world (the devil, our flesh, and the world at large)!   Though they are struggling through these tough times, the Moudys are living each day to the fullest, loving one another, serving one another, and giving of themselves to others there at the hospital.  Noah spends time with Emily another patient undergoing the same illness and treatment that he’s going through.  The families bolster each other with words of encouragement and, for Christy, passing on the song that connected us and gives her a sense of peace, Hold On (to Love).   Thank you, Noah, for being so brave!  Thank you, Jessica, for being his hero on Friday!  Thank you, Christy, for letting me and my family into your life and for sharing the song with others that you feel might need it.  Thank you to all the other Moudys that I met at Leesburg Baptist for your support of Noah and for making me feel so welcome.   We’re praying for a miracle!

If you or someone you love is facing some kind of trial or illness and you want prayer or just to talk, send me an email at angie@angieewing.com.  If you want to know more information about Noah Moudy and his situation, you can read about him at www.caringbridge.org/visit/noahmoudy.  I encourage you to get involved with someone who is struggling right now.  Walk with them and let them wrap themselves around your heart the way this family has done around mine!  You won’t regret one single moment of having loved and been loved this way!  Many blessings this week~ang