Dear Friends and Family,
 
Thank you all so much for your support over these past few days, it has been a whirlwind and I don’t know how I would have made it through without all of you. I’ve undergone more tests than I thought possible and learned much more about cancer than I ever wanted, yet in the midst of this chaos I have experienced Christ’s love so clearly through all of you. The purpose of this email is to update you on my condition and to inform you a little of the road ahead. I am currently at home and will be till Tuesday when I go back to Rochester to undergo a couple last procedures before starting chemo on Wednesday. We met with my oncologist this afternoon and he confirmed my diagnosis as a stage 4 Ewing’s Sarcoma, there are multiple tumors in my abdomen although it does not appear that any are attached to my organs. The tumors are quite large with one being about the size of a soccer ball-hence my recent indigestion. It goes without saying that this is a very serious cancer, the statistics would give me a 20% chance of survival. However, as my doctor said the statistics are not important, what is important is how my body responds. Plus I’ve always considered myself to be in the 90th percentile which gives us a little flexibility. In order to fight the cancer I will be starting an intense period of chemo I will be on a two week cycle of 3 days in the hospital receiving treatment, then 11 days out followed by 5 days in the hospital and 9 days out. This will continue for 28 weeks or 7 months at the end of which God willing the cancer will be gone forever. It is possible that at some point they may attempt to do surgery to remove some of the tumors but that will be down the road. For the present there are a series of things that you can pray for:
 
1. That the chemo is effective and the tumor shrinks/is removed
2. That my body responds well to the chemo with minimal side effects-especially in the long run I would love to finish and recover fully
3. For my family that they will have grace to deal with this difficult time
4. That God would be glorified in this and I might be open to whatever he wants to do in me
 
I’m sure there are other things to pray for so feel free to get creative, also because this is going to be a marathon and not a sprint there will be a number of ways in which my family will need practical support from transportation and meals, to people to spend time with me in the hospital …obviously, prayer is the most important of these, but for those of you who like practicals there should be plenty. We will be setting up a Caring Bridge site which should provide an excellent means of staying updated on me, until then stay posted for more emails.
 
In conclusion I just wanted to thank all of you again so much for your continued support; your prayers and messages have truly shown me Christ’s love. I am completely confident that God has a plan for me in this, although I do not know what it is. Hopefully, it is that he will bring my body to full recovery and sometime around Christmas we can celebrate his mercy and healing. Yet if that is not His plan it does not mean that He is wrong or does not know what He is doing. I know that He will be glorified in this cancer; my desire is to be open and to be used by Him. This is the most important way that you can support me—by praying that I will have the grace to fully entrust my life to Him.
 
Thank you all so much, I love you dearly and look forward to speaking with you face to face.
In Christ,
 
Joe Hall