One of our speakers at Influence this year is slated to speak on living publicly through grief and hard times. Diana Stone has walked through the valley many times in the last year or so. She lost twin boys (Julian and Preston), had an adoption fall through after they’d received a referral, and then a bit after that found out they were pregnant again (with a baby boy!).
That baby boy Kaden Isaiah is now 3 weeks old and in a fight for his life. On the day the Stones were supposed to leave the hospital as a family of 4, an abnormality was detected in Kaden’s heart and he was life-flighted from El Paso to Dallas. It was discovered that he has the virus HHV6, which would normally present as a cold or a fever…most everyone on Earth has been exposed to this virus. However, in Kaden’s case (and there have been few cases like him), the virus attacked his heart and caused the lower ventricles to fail. Diana and her husband Sam were waiting to hear if Kaden was a candidate for a heart transplant (based on a few tests due to come back this week), when he declined medically.
He is now in the fight for his life. The Stone’s have been told that Kaden has maybe a day to live.
Diana has written publicly about her life through loss and she’s growing weary. Imaginably, she is living in a world of whiplash and grief. They thought they’d be bringing home a baby boy–a great redemption, not replacing their twins, but making life a bit sweeter. Instead, they are facing another great loss. As someone who has benefitted from reading Diana’s honest and vulnerable posts on grief and trust and faith–I feel a huge connection and burden for Diana and her family. We write at She Reads Truth together, she was supposed to speak at my conference…she is a friend.
Like Aaron and Hur in Exodus 17 held up Moses’s arms when he grew weary–we can do the same for Diana. She has said that she feels the peace of our prayers, and I know that the NICU is not a peaceful place. So, we know that prayers are benefitting the Stones. She is thankful for them.
Some women in The Influence Network community started a 24 hour concentrated time of prayer for Kaden. We’re choosing to believe that God will heal Kaden and make his heart healthy and whole–until He shows us that He wants otherwise. We aren’t giving up hope for the Stones. We’d be honored if you’d grab a 10 minute time slot and join us in praying. If you aren’t the praying type, maybe you’d choose a 10 minute slot and just sit quietly in support of Diana.
If you want to learn more about Diana’s story, head to her blog. Check Facebook and Twitter for Diana’s most recent updates. And, if you feel compelled to give, regardless of Kaden’s outcome–the Stones are going to have massive bills to deal with as they are maintaining duel lives in Dallas and El Paso.