Dear family and friends,

This morning at 8:16 am, Esther left this earthly world and joined with Christ.

She is with God now and we believe the angels are taking care of her. Thank you for your prayers and support, which truly showed God’s love in our lives.

We will update you on the details of the ceremony soon.

With love in Christ,
The Boyalapalli Family

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” Psalm 116:15

On behalf of Esther’s family, I would like to apologize for leaving everyone in the dark. For those of you who are subscribed to Esther’s CaringBridge page, you’re probably aware that Esther has been in hospice care.

Esther was transferred from the hospital to hospice care this past Monday. Her condition has mostly deteriorated since her arrival here, but she is not in pain. The doctors continue to say that Esther is in her final days.

I’m not sure where each of you stand in your faith, but Esther asked me to believe that she would be healed even if everyone else doubted whether it could be done. Medicine has proven– in great abundance– that it is incapable of the type of healing that Esther needs. Many doctors have tried to help Esther, but they’ve failed. The only physician remaining is God.

My apologies to those who wanted to visit, but at this time, it would be best that Esther’s family be allowed to spend time alone with their daughter, sister, and grandchild. Esther would have been very surprised by all the support that has come from everyone.

Whether or not anyone else believes it with me, I ask God to give me the faith to support Esther by believing that God is not done with her life. A family friend shared several passages from the Bible today. One passage especially stood out to me: Job 38:4-41 http://www.facebook.com/l/;[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=job%2038&version=31]. Our God has immense power. If we can believe that, we can surely believe the things He can do for Esther.

Daniel

Dear family and friends,

This afternoon Esther was discharged from Scott & White Hospital and was taken by paramedics to hospice.

We are thankful for the few great days we had before this week. Since that time, Esther has gone down a lot and is very unresponsive. She is also not eating and is having more intense seizures, and pain in her head. She is on many medications to reduce her pain and seizures, so she is sleeping a lot.

Please continue to pray for her and our family during this very hard time.

With love from the Boyalapalli family.

Dear friends and family,

Thank you for praying for Esther sincerely in these few days.  God has been very gracious to us.  Esther underwent a series of tests, MRIs, scans, and studies while in the hospital.  A study of her brain waves showed that she had a seizure, likely due to the tumors that are pressing against her spinal cord.

Esther was discharged from the hospital yesterday night and has been put on some anti-seizure/convulsion medications to hopefully prevent the same thing from happening again.  She is at home and resting from the rough time at the hospital.

Even though we face discouragement from every side, we must always hold on to the truth.  Our busy lives blur away what is the reality for each human being, and leave us living and believing a false lie– that we are here for a long time.  God says our days are numbered here on earth, and that is truth we are realizing now– He has stripped us away from our busy work lives, recreation lives, everything and is showing us through Esther what this life is really all about.  He also says that every good thing is a gift from God.  Esther is only a gift given to us as a sister, daughter, friend, for a few years on the earth.  Whatever God’s plan is, He promises that He allows something ONLY if it is for some huge benefit.  He did not spare His own Son from a gruesome, brutal death although Jesus prayed to his father to take it away.  But God saw a huge benefit for it, even 2000 years later that all people could know God as a child knows a loving father and enjoy the REAL life that’s yet to come with Him. And we are enjoying sweet mercy and undeserved grace in our earthly life also because of that.

We do always pray and ask God for Esther’s total and complete healing, but like Jesus did in the garden before His death- we ultimately pray for His will to be done, not ours.  Because we know that, as He promises, He has the wisest and best plan for our individual lives.  We have no idea why He allowed something like this to happen in Esther’s life but we want to genuinely humble ourselves before God and understand who we are in light of Him.  We are praying and asking God to bring great eternal benefit from this situation.

Still, we ask you not to give up praying for Esther.  God is not an evil God who delights in doing evil, ignoring our prayers, and forsaking us.

PSALM 103
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

Please pray not just for physical healing and strength but especially for the strength in her heart to know she is deeply loved by God and that He may give her perfect peace through this.  Pray for our family as well to cling tightly to the Truth even when it feels like we’re drowning.  Please also pray for the next decisions that have to be made regarding treatments and for doctors’ wisdom.  Thank you for your genuine prayers before God.

On another note:
We found a story online of a young woman and mother named Rachel, who is going through a similar life-journey as Esther. She has breast cancer that has metastasized all over her body, and she now faces the shocking reality of how near death is.  We hope you find it as a source of encouragement as you hear her story:Rachel’s Story.

With love,
The Boyalapalli Family

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ADMITTED TO THE HOSPITAL on June 1st.

MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2009 9:04 AM, CDT

Dear friends and family,

Thank you for your sincere prayers and loving encouragement for our Esther and our family.

Esther has been hospitalized this evening due to complications from the chemotherapy she received last week.
Despite her already fragile state, Esther received her second round of chemotherapy early last week. Her white blood cells and platelet counts have dropped to dangerously low levels, therefore having no way to fight infections on her own.

Unfortunately, she has caught something and is having high fever (called Neutropenic fever), lots of coughing and fluid retention in the lungs. She is also having a drug reaction which is giving her very bad, sensitive rashes all over her body.

Please pray for God’s favor to bring her out of this. We do not have information on her room number yet. Once we get it, we will inform you. However, we strongly encourage you to keep these few days at a distance from Esther since she is extremely susceptible to catching any cold or bug- until she is out of this dangerous neutropenic state.

We will keep you updated, but please pray for Esther and our family. Above all, God knows her body the best better than any other doctor. He knows what is going on and He is promising the best for her life.

God describes this life on earth like a flower in a field. In the morning it beautifully blooms towards the sun, and in the evening it is gone. Putting all of our hopes in this short life alone is a wasted effort, it indeed will come to an end in the blink of an eye. Most of the time, we live like this life is all we have; always pushing away the thought that we could ever die, muchless before old age. Our lives are often routine, mundane, and without focus. Do we really believe this life is short? If we knew we had only a few days to live, wouldn’t our priorities change? Wouldn’t we want to accomplish things with focus, take risks, throw out superficiality and say how we really feel, work hard to make resolution in relationships? What clarity in life we would have! The only thing that matters in this “preview” life is living in such a way that will make an impact for the Real life that is yet to come.

Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives. -Alan Sachs

When we die and move to the Real life, little of what we enjoy today will transfer over. Our money is not coming with us, our car, nor our career and degree. The only thing that will come from this earthly life to the next life with God is other people. We want to live to make an impact here on this short earth life that will transfer into eternity. Genuinely loving people and leading them to enjoy the Real life with the Creator. That is the satisfaction of this short preview life.

The doctors have started Esther on a lower dose of the chemo drugs she took during her first round. The reason for the smaller dose is that the doctors believe those remain her best option, despite their negative effects on her bones, marrow, and platelets. The higher doses of the first round are no longer feasible, considering Esther’s weakened condition.

Esther will be receiving a blood transfusion tomorrow morning. This step has been necessitated by the slower than expected recovery from the first round of therapy.

Additionally, Esther has been experiencing a rash/contusion (bruising) on her legs. These have not been overly painful, but do present her with discomfort.

Some things to pray for:
1) A better response by the tumor to the second round of chemotherapy
2) That Esther’s body would better tolerate the lower chemotherapy dose
3) That Esther’s skin contusions would heal
4) And finally that tomorrow’s blood transfusion would not present any complications

Because her immune system is very weak, it would be to her benefit to have very few, if any, visitors at this time. Esther does, however, get very bored at home so any ideas that do not compromise her health are welcome.

Thanks to everyone for their continued prayers, support, and love.

Esther:
It is with a humble and thankful heart that I can say that I am alive today and able to experience this life. We want to thank everyone for all of their support, prayers, and encouragement during this time. I just wanted to take this opportunity to share the latest update from the doctor after seeing the MRI I had on Monday.

MY MEDICAL UPDATE

For the past several weeks, I have been undergoing radiation treatments for the large tumor in my lower spine and a smaller one in my neck. Based on the consultation with the doctors at Scott and White, they came up with a chemo regimen [the same that M.D. Anderson suggested], and I just finished the first round of chemotherapy a few weeks ago. Now for the past three weeks, I have been at home recovering.

The results of Monday’s MRI were crucial to see how effective radiation had been on shrinking the tumors, and how effective the first round of chemotherapy has been.

The great news is that radiation successfully decreased the size of the tumor in the lower spine from 10 cm to 6 cm; tumors found in the neck also shrunk significantly. However, I have officially reached the maximum limit on how much radiation I can receive without damaging healthy tissues, so this therapy will no longer be continued.

On the other hand, there are several more serious areas of concern that the doctor discussed with us after viewing the MRI and the latest blood test results.

1) My platelet count is dangerously low. It’s too low to start the next round of chemotherapy. Platelets are a type of blood cell, created in the bone marrow, which naturally help form clots to seal up areas of injury like a cut or wound. If the platelet count is too low, excessive bleeding can occur and the flow of blood cannot be stopped.

2) My bone marrow is in pretty bad shape. The bone marrow creates all blood cells (WBC and RBC). The white blood cells protect me from infection, platelets clot to prevent bleeding, and there are red blood cells. Because of the huge hit to the bone marrow after every chemotherapy round (even from chemo given last year), it has weakened immensely. The doctor fears that giving another round of heavy chemotherapy may disable the bone marrow completely and could lose its ability to create blood cells on its own.

3) There has been significant spread of cancer within the bones of my body.

Right now, it’s too early to tell whether or not the chemo is working or not. But, the major concern right now is that far too much damage is being done to the good cells to continue on the same track. We’ve decided to wait another week to see if the platelet count goes up and if it does, we will go ahead with the next round of chemotherapy. If not, the doctor has suggested as a last-resort option, another chemotherapy drug that will be easier on my bone marrow, but much less effective on killing cancer cells.

Overall, the doctor has voiced great concern over the outlook of my health. The fact that little improvement has taken place even with such strong radiation and chemotherapy has been hard to swallow. Physically I am beginning to feel pain where the tumor is on the right side of my neck, severe bruising on my body because of a low platelet count, and pain on my left hipbone from the bone metastasis. Of course, I am also having hair loss, mouth sores, unsteady gait and unstable hands, numbness, skin discoloration, and general pain. If I was an older individual, the doctor said that they would just discontinue treatments and send me home to let me live the rest of my life comfortably. But since I am only 22 years old, they want to do as much as they can to ensure that I may live as long as possible. The fact is that they just don’t know how long I may live because of the rare nature of this cancer; they honestly do not know what to do. However, God has given me great strength to deal with all of this, especially with my previous experience with cancer, and I am so joyful that God has even blessed me with this life :)!

I will not lie– all of the facts and information I’ve been hearing can be scary, particularly to those who have no faith to hold onto. God has, however, truly given me a lot of reason to trust in Him. I completely trust Him with my life and whatever His perfect will may be, it will be done, regardless of the medical knowledge that God has given all the doctors. I know from my heart that God has a will for all His children, and because He has only the best things planned for us, He will NOT leave us stranded in the middle of carrying out His plan. He has not let me know what His will is, but I know that He has a great plan for everyone and everything , so let’s continue holding onto the promise of His beautiful purpose and plan.

I thank everyone who is praying for me and my family, encouraging and loving us so very much - again, it’s very humbling. It has been a great journey and we honestly thank God that we can experience this.

I will end with an encouraging part of a song that I have grown to love, “You give and you take away, but my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name!”

Thank you again for all of your support and love, you are all a great blessing to us all, and I am thankful to Him for you.

Please continue to pray for us.

In Christ Alone,
Esther Boyalapalli

In addition to our online donation set-up, you can also make a donation in the form of a check payable to the Austin Christian Fellowship of India (”ACFI”). Please be sure to write “Esther Boyalapalli” in your memo.

ACFI
17724 Box Canyon Trail
Round Rock, TX 78681

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.” - Psalm 73:26-28

I would personally like to begin by thanking and praising God for the life He has given me. He has blessed me so abundantly in this journey and I cannot thank Him enough. I also want to take this opportunity to thank each of you for so lovingly supporting, encouraging, and praying for our family during this time, because that is what has sustained us thus far.

Praise be to Him that we had gotten funds from an anonymous, God-sent donor to go to a consultation at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas on March 6th. There the doctors discussed what they believed to be the very best regimen for the rare form of brain cancer I have, and came up with a treatment plan. They opted out of doing surgery because of the fact that there are multiple tumors in my spine. Operating one tumor at a time would only cause the other tumors to continue to grow and spread, as I spend time recovering from each surgery. So doctors thought it was best to tackle the situation as holistically as possible, with radiation and a different chemotherapy plan to specifically to target the brain. I began radiation and chemotherapy the beginning of this week.

The doctors at MD Anderson Cancer Center have worked in conjunction with the doctors here in Scott & White and have discussed what drugs are most effective for this type of cancer. Because MD Anderson is a very expensive place for treatments for self-paying patients, like myself, every single appointment, scan, MRI, etc., is very costly. Therefore, they thought it be best to get treated closer to home since the treatment would be no different and no more advanced than what would be provided at MD Anderson. We do, however, plan to go back to MD Anderson for further research and studies that they would like to conduct on my case, so we can better understand this cancer.

The doctors don’t know if these drugs will work as effectively as they hope, considering that the cancer has come back in such a rigorous form so quickly; but we have the full faith that God is in total control of ALL things. Whether God grants me life or death in the near future, I know His plans are the most perfect ones, and it is such a joy to be alive and honestly doing GREAT today!

I want to praise Him for this life, and the great things He is teaching all of us through this. I can say that I am thankful for this time, because it puts this temporary life into great perspective and shows what is truly important. The experiences that I come into face with are sweeter everyday with the relationships God has blessed me with, and like everything I want to bring Him the honor and glory in every way He pleases. Once again, thank you all for your love, encouragement, and prayers. I am thankful for each one of you in our lives and the great blessing that you continue to be for my family and me.
With all my love,

Esther Boyalapalli

In addition to our online donation set-up, you can also make a donation in the form of a check payable to the Austin Christian Fellowship of India (”ACFI”). Please be sure to write “Esther Boyalapalli” in your memo.
ACFI
PO Box 5672
Round Rock, TX-78683.

Esther has not been doing well today. She has had increasing urges to use the restroom over the past several weeks. The doctors say that this is likely due to the tumor pressing against her bladder and intestines. Furthermore, Esther has been experiencing a lot of pain in her hip, also due to the tumor in her lower spine.

Esther’s first round of chemotherapy began/ended last week. There did not appear to be any complications from the drug administration. Esther has, however, been battling what appears to be a cold. X-rays to the chest, by God’s grace, have not indicated any presence of tumor in that area. The cold, as a result, was likely picked up due to her immune system being compromised post-Chemotherapy. Esther is continuing to receive radiation this week and will begin her second round of Chemotherapy in two weeks.

As Esther again faces adversity, I would like to ask everyone who is able to consider fasting at least one meal this week and taking some additional time to pray for Esther. For those who wish to fast, here is a link (http://www.desiringgod.org/media/pdf/books_hfg/hfg_all.pdf) to a free book by John Piper on fasting– It’s called “A Hunger For God”. I have found the book incredibly encouraging whenever I fast and I invite you all to read through at least the first few chapters. Piper’s insights on prayer and fasting are far more encouraging than anything I can offer you all.

I want to personally thank everyone for their prayers and encouragement.

God bless.

Boyalapalli Family Supporters