thesweetermelody:

thesweetermelody:

This is my earthly father. Ten years ago, he was diagnosed with an extremely rare blood disorder, with no cure. Over the past decade, I’ve seen this strong, man (who was in the prime of his life when diagnosed) wither away into a pool of pain. Because of his condition, he has severe liver scarring, always feeling nauseous, spurs in his ankles, hip cysts and a frayed shoulder tendon. He has developed acute arthritis in his ankles, knees, hips and hands. This has prevented him from making music, horse riding and in the past year, he’s had to give up bike riding; Basically all that he loves and is passionate about, he’s had to stop doing.

He has the bones of a 65 year old.

It’s his 49th birthday today (27th February). When he was first diagnosed, the doctors told him that they’d get him to 50. After that… Life is on a tightrope.

The catch is, my Dad doesn’t know Jesus. He was once searching for Him, but gave up, and slipped right away. He needs the Lord, possibly more than ever before. He doesn’t respond to the gospel being preached and shared. He’s heard it so many times before. He appreciates people living what they preach, and rarely leaves room for error, which is impossible sometimes (for we all fail).

Through this, I’m asking people to join with me in prayer for him. Pray for his salvation, dear reader. Pray that he’ll soften his heart to the Lord and His perfect ways. I love this man more than he could ever realise. His time is running out.

Reblogs are always appreciated, spread the word.

I posted this nine months ago to raise awareness of my father’s declining health, and his condition. Tomorrow, he will be going into surgery.

A year and a half ago, he went to visit his best friend in England, right when the Volcanic ash began to spread. His trip was significantly prolonged. Dad has always been a keen bike rider, and his best friend’s son (Worsel) suggested that they went on a ride together. Dad was hesitant. He had to give up bike riding a year prior to this because he was putting too much pressure and strain on his liver, and his arthritis was too bad. But—for the sake of something he passionately loves doing, he agreed to. 

He clipped his feet into the pedals, and away they went.

Things were going fine until Worsel decided that he wanted to race. Dad is highly competitive, and will never back down in the name of his pride. As they went round a bend on the narrow roads of North England, Dad crashed. 

Nothing seemed to be damaged, except Dad’s pride. But over the next few days, his ankle was in absolute agony. To make the matter worse, he went on a long hike with his best friend. He retells that he could barely move, and thought he had broken it.

My Dad’s a fighter. He has complained only half a dozen times since he was diagnosed. After six months of constant agony, he decided to get his ankle checked out. 

As it turns out, his ankle had basically disintegrated, the cartilage had been worn away, and what was left of it was slush. His joints were basically grinding on top of one another with no padding. The doctors assessed his options, and only a month ago, they came up with the idea of a very high-tech solution.

Tomorrow, they are to open his ankle up, and scrape away the “rotten” cartilage. Whatever is left that is usable, they will take away to a lab in Sydney, and try to grow it for six weeks in a test tube. They will leave Dad with a little bit of root cartilage left, so his body might naturally grow some too. 

After six weeks, they reopen his ankle, and put the cartilage back in. They will also do his hip replacement that he has so needed for five years.

I know this probably seems like nothing. But it makes my heart absolutely ache. Dad is frail. A lot more frail than he makes out. This could either work, or fail miserably. 

Please pray, dear reader. This man needs to be healed. Most of all, he needs Jesus. More than anything, he just needs Jesus.