A birthday celebration

Greetings

Wednesday the 28th was Walkers 22nd birthday. We had a party for him that night at Top Golf in Orlando with 6 of his childhood buddies and most of his family in attendance. It seems taking turns swinging golf clubs loosens up a party :-), a good time had by all. And last weekend Walker got to see his beautiful sister Laura before she and her friends let for her junior prom. Too sweet! 

On Tuesday the 27th, Walker and his Mom & Dad got to meet with his transplant doctors at AdventHealth recently rated 5 star by CMS. Most of his testing has been done and they are wanting more focused rehab time and some counseling done before proceeding with putting him on the GO list for transplants, once he’s on that it’s game time. They explained that there are more lungs available than transplant recipients, so that it will move quickly once he is put on the list probably in a couple of months. However, they told us that there were concerns on the committee that compliance with their directions may be an issue after the transplant.

They made it very clear that this procedure will only move forward if they are assured that Walker will do all the task required of him after the transplant which are many and varied. It’s practically a full time job at least for the first 6 months until he is in a safe zone and everything is going according to plan. We all assured them that we are working as a Team and that Walker will be doing everything they ask of him so that he may live, saying this is a tough pill to swallow does not come close to the reality of the truth. More like choking on that tough pill for months at a time.

Speaking of tough pills to swallow, we acquired more challenges to our little family. In March Candy started feeling strange, loosing feeling in her chest and hands. We thought it was probably a pinched nerve caused by stress. She went to our Chiropractor, Dr Marvin Terry, several times but no relief, so eventually she checked into the ER at ORMC where she works. They scheduled an MRI for her the next week and reported back that she has a severe case of MS. This news was very hard to hear for all of us to be sure, we have cried and stressed out about it, then we pulled our boots up as usual and moved on with our new reality. 

The more we learned about the current treatment available for MS, the more encouraged we became about Candy’s prognosis for living a full, normal life. Thankfully, God had seen fit to place her at a job where her direct report, the Chief Nursing Officer, whom Candy had been telling me how much she loves her, how excellent she is, also has MS. So she has wonderful counselors to help her manage this situation which takes some of the stress off her. Needless to say that it adds another layer of medical drama to an already tall stack of ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ mental sticky notes littered around our home. Situations like this is what cliches were made for like ‘this too shall pass’, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’, and ‘ever onward ever forward’ to name a few of the many that fit our story.

Lucky for me, for us, we have something much stronger to stand on than the cliches of man, we have the privilege of standing firm on promises written from the spoken word of the creator of our lives, the living God that has his hands on this situation. We stand on promises like ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble’ and ‘Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord’. We have made it this far because we are favored by God who is close to those in trouble. 

It was Walkers idea to re-affirm his faith in Christ a week ago Sunday at First Presbyterian Church downtown with Dr. Swanson. He wanted to make sure he had all the help he could get facing the troubles of his transplant surgery to come. Dr. Swanson got to know Walker well in 2019 when he prayed over Walker several times anointing him with Holy water while he was on life support at AdventHealth. We learned first hand how powerful prayer is while watching miracles happen again and again with Walker as God chose to save his life from the deadly virus that would have ended it. Please see below if you would like to help and please pass our story along to your network, it is much appreciated.

The National Foundation for Transplants is working with volunteers and supporters to help relieve the growing burden of expenses for Walker. The National Foundation for Transplants has been assisting transplant patients with fundraising support for more than 35 years. Your gift—of $25, $100, $500 or more—will enable The National Foundation for Transplants to provide Walker with the financial support he desperately needs.

You can help by visiting http://charity.gofundme.com/nft-walkermcknight to make a tax-deductible donation to The National Foundation for Transplants to help with his expenses.  If you prefer to send your gift by mail, please send it to:

 NFT Florida Transplant Fund 3249 W. Sarazen's Circle, Suite 100, Memphis TN 38125

If you have any questions about The National Foundation for Transplants, feel free to contact the staff at 800-489-3863. Please note that this is not like our previous GoFundMe account which was paid directly to the family, this is paid, and it’s tax deductible, to the National Transplant Foundation which oversees Walker fund.

all things are possible through Christ who strengthens us. Amen.

Thank you for your prayers for our family. Dave