Chase Earned his Wings

After a long, grueling battle for over two years, Chase followed his calling to the light to be greeted into the arms of Jesus and receive his angel wings. Over the past week and a half, we treated his port infection once again with a strong combination of IV antibiotics. However, this time his organs couldn’t endure the trauma and his kidneys and liver were starting to fail. Over the weekend, we began getting an indication that he was struggling – he was retaining fluids and the swelling was getting worse. After trying everything we’ve learned over the past few rounds of infections without making progress, last night we decided to have Chase admitted to St. John hospital. They actually administered the same treatments we were using without making any more progress so it became very clear that this was the decision between Chase and God, regardless of anyone’s efforts. His battle ended peacefully this afternoon in our arms and we couldn’t be prouder of our Chaser Boy! He hung in there to the very end and seemed to hold off taking this journey until we were all ready for him to go in peace.

We will be celebrating Chase’s life over the next few days with the following schedule:

Thursday and Friday viewing at Lynch’s Funeral Home on Crooks Rd in Troy from 4-8 p.m. with a prayer service on Friday at 7 p.m. The funeral service will be held at St. Columban church on Saturday at 9:30 am followed by procession to Franklin cemetery and a wake at the Reserve (Big Rock) on Eaton in Birmingham from 12 to 3 p.m.

A trust fund will be established in Chase’s name to benefit Grandivew Farm, which is used to support the therapy of LifeHorse a specially designed therapeutic horseback riding program for terminally and chronically ill children to ride and be around horses. Donations came be made through their website at www.lifehorse.org.

We truly appreciate all the dedicated support of Chase’s Prayer Warriors around the world. We couldn’t have made this journey without all your prayers and Chase is now our special angel in heaven. We look forward to celebrating his life and remembering how he touched us all.

God Bless!!

John & Carol Sammut
Chase & Barbara Ann

Chase Hits Another Speed Bump

After several weeks of stability with improved blood tests, great vitals, etc. Chase has another infection – this time it’s his urinary tract as well as blood (sepsis). We’re not sure where it started and we’re hoping it’s not from the port again – the last round of IV antibiotics was really strong and it seemed to knock it out, but something reintroduced the bacteria into his system. We’re conducting more tests to try and determine the source of the infection as well as the sensitivity to be able to identify the right course of treatment.

While this is another frustrating speed bump, Chase’s rebound the last couple of times was very encouraging and we’re continuing to stay the course. We’ve recently begun working with another Naturopath who has given us some other ideas that we’re excited about trying, once we can overcome the infection. We also recently made contact with a leading doctor in stem cell research, who has some ideas about treatment options that might be helpful. As a stroke of divine intervention, we had stored Chase’s umbilical cord when he was born and so we have access to the stem cells for possible treatment. The research is very promising and has shown that infusing stem cells can accelerate healing with no known side effects. Of course, this is advanced research and not yet mainstream, so it’s costly and cumbersome; however, we have nothing to lose and we’re continuing to investigate the possibilities.

Due to the holiday weekend, we didn’t hold the normal monthly prayer service on the first Sunday this past weekend. We’re planning the next one for the first Sunday in October at 3 pm. We’re continuing to pray for strength, wisdom and guidance as well as the patience to support Chase in his recovery. We truly appreciate all the prayers and support – we know that miracles happen all the time and we’ve been witnessing this one in many ways...


God Bless!!

John & Carol Sammut
Chase & Barbara Ann