JAYCI'S STORY

FAITH, HOPE, and Jayci JOY

Sunday, June 24, 2007, is a date my family and I will never forget.
It is the day we learned our 14 month old baby girl had cancer.
Jayci Joy began life as our miracle baby. After 5 years of marriage, and months of fertility treatments, Guy and I were excuberated to learn our invitro treatment had worked. We would finally have the child we had prayed for.
On April 20, 2006, our miracle, Jayci Joy Nickels, arrived. She was a healthy, 6 lb. 13 oz. baby girl. Our dreams had come true.
The first year of Jayci’s life was what most people would consider normal. She rolled over on time, sat up around 7 months, crawled at 8 months, walked at 11 months, she said and did the same things other babies her age did. . .she was normal. To us however, she was fantastic. . .she filled our lives with JOY.
The only thing “different” about Jayci was her inability to stay healthy. At 7 months she began a relentless cycle of what we were told was bronchitis, upper respiratory infections, colds, RSV, pneumonia. . .the kid was always sick.
It wasn’t until the awful night of June 24, 2007, that we knew something was terribly wrong.
It had been a weekend full of excitement. Both my brothers and their families had spent the weekend at my parents’ house. We had spent our time together playing pretend, swimming, going to the park and visiting the zoo. It had been fabulous; my little girl’s dream come true.
After saying some sad goodbyes, Jayci Joy stayed with her Grammy Ju to get some much needed sleep while my mom and I went to a friend’s going away party and Guy headed back to the combine. I’ll never forget complaining to Guy as we drove into town that I thought Jayci was getting sick again.
We arrived back in Bovina a few hours later to find a worried Grammy Ju and a sick little girl. Disgusted that she was in fact, sick, AGAIN, I called Guy and let him know we were on our way to the Friona ER to get some medicine for Jayci so I could actually get a good night’s sleep. Little did I know what began as a selfish act on my part would end up being a lifesaving one for Jayci Joy.
It’s always nice to see a familiar face when placed in a hospital scene. Priscilla Hicks was Jayci’s ER nurse that night. By watching Priscilla’s desperate attempt to stay calm when in the room with us, by the almost instant arrival of Dr. Jubay, and by the rapid response of the X-Ray and Lab technicians, my mom and I knew something was terribly wrong. It didn’t take long for Dr. Jubay to get Guy on speaker phone so he could tell both of us the news no parent should have to handle hearing alone. He explained that Jayci had a very large mass in her right lung area. It was compromising her breathing and was probably the source of all Jayci’s illnesses during the past 7 months. He gave us the name and number of an oncologist in Amarillo then sent Jayci, by ambulance, to BSA Hospital for further testing and treatment. He assured us he would visit with the doctors at BSA while we were in route.
Upon arrival at BSA we were greeted at the door by a team of doctors. Guy and I looked at each other in horror; we had been in emergency rooms before and knew this wasn’t standard protocol. Names were quickly exchanged and the testing began. The first test Jayci needed was a CT Scan. The doctors had to know the exact location, size, and type of the mass we had all seen on Jayci’s X-Ray. We thought Jayci was resisting the medications given to her to make her go to sleep because of all the excitement the night had ensued. We would soon learn she was resisting sleep because she was fighting to survive.
After being given a little more Demerol than what was usually required, Jayci Joy finally went to sleep. As I was laying her on the CT table, Jayci made a strange breathing sound. I commented on it to the technician. She immediately looked at Jayci and we all saw Jayci’s arms and legs draw up into her torso and watched her little body quickly turn purple. She quit breathing. It was awful.
An alarm was sound as the technician snatched Jayci off the CT table and began yelling for assistance.
Jayci was quickly taken to a treatment room where she was intubated and placed on a ventilator. The terror of the night had been exhausting. Jayci would be taken to Pediatric ICU for overnight rest and review. The CT Scan would have to wait.
Jayci Joy was diagnosed with Stage III, Intermediate, Neuroblastoma on June 27, 2007. The mass in her chest was smashing her right lung making only 5% of it usable. Her left lung seemed to be okay but was only about 95% usable because Jayci's heart, esophagus, and trachea were all being pushed to that side by the mass as well. The tumor was beginning to grow into her spine but was not in her lymph nodes. Dr. Jubay caught the tumor in the knick of time; he had saved her. After visiting with one of Jayci’s oncologists, we learned the cure rate for the type and stage of cancer Jayci had was around 90%. She would undergo 85 days of chemotherapy over 6 months and hopefully be cancer free. Our prayers had been answered. . .There would be no surgery, no radiation, no long battle, just chemotherapy. We could handle chemotherapy. The only hard battle we thought we would face would take place over the next few days. Jayci would begin chemotherapy and the tumor had to shrink enough for her to safely breathe on her own before she could be taken off the ventilator.
June 30, 2007, a terrible early morning accident leaves us grief stricken.
The first day of chemotherapy had gone extremely well. Jayci seemed to handle the medications okay and the blood transfusion had given her body the extra boost it needed to begin the road to recovery. Again, our prayers had been answered. I had even left Guy with Jayci for the remainder of the night and gone to the Ronald McDonald House for a shower and a few hours of sleep. I had just drifted into deep sleep when I was awakened by the telephone.
I quickly learned that my baby girl had taken a turn for the worst.
While working on the heater to Jayci’s ventilator, the respiratory therapists accidentally knocked over the arm holding Jayci’s ventilator tube in place, deintubating her. Unable to breathe on her own, Jayci immediately went into cardiac arrest. CPR was performed for at least 10 minutes until Dr. Habersang, Jayci’s new pediatrician, could get her reintubated. It took much longer to get her stable. Our family was called in and we were given an awful prognosis. It was time to pray.
Jayci Joy slowly began to get better. She did not have any brain damage from the trauma of cardiac arrest and the chemotherapy was shrinking her tumor. Another wonderful miracle took place on July 4, 2007. Ironically, on Independence Day, Jayci Joy was freed from the ventilator. She was quickly recovering merely days after we were given little hope for her survival. Everyone, including her doctors, knew her healing was due to miracle not medicine.
The next few months proved trying yet extremely rewarding. Jayci Joy had to relearn to suck, hold her head, roll over, sit up, crawl, walk, talk. . .she had to start her life completely over again AND she had to complete this awesome task while undergoing chemotherapy; drugs that can make even the strongest individuals weak. We knew her only hope was prayer. We called on our family, friends, and even strangers to serve as prayer warriors to help our baby girl win this battle. We all placed our faith in God to heal her frail body and make our Jayci Joy whole.
God has done just that. Jayci Joy learned to hold her head, roll over, sit up, crawl, walk and talk and she relearned to do all of these things in 2 short months. Astonishing! When you look at Jayci today and observe her behavior there is no sign of the year long battle the 2 year old has faced.
The power of prayer is indescribable. It proves to us that MIRACLES DO HAPPEN.
One of our favorite scriptures appears on Jayci Joy’s team shirt. It reads: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” God has already worked many miracles in and through Jayci Joy. Our family and friends cannot imagine what He has in store for His little miracle who sings of His glory often throughout the day. As Jayci sings, “God is so good, He’s so good to we.”
We hope you will be able to watch the short DVD we put together of Jayci’s miraculous year. We also pray her story touches the lives of those who hear it and inspires them to call on God to help remove the mountains life sometimes places in front of us.
We sincerely thank each and every one of you for suiting up in God’s armor and joining us in Jayci’s battle against cancer. We know it is your prayers that have healed her.
We’ll never be able to thank you enough.