drawn. Over the span of those 14 years, it didn’t seem like we were getting any closer to a diagnosis; until one day, the phone rang. It was Dr. Gallin and he said, “We know the basis of Amanda’s problem”. My family then traveled to meet with Dr.Gallin and his team. IRAK 4…is my genetic mutation. We had been waiting 22 years for this diagnosis. Think about that. It wasn’t a few days, a week, or even a few weeks. We waited 22 years! Basically, we discovered is when my body is exposed to an infection, my white blood cells don’t receive the signal to fight it off. And because I don’t show normal symptoms to illness, like running a fever, by the time, my body does recognize the illness, I can already be critically ill. It is caused by a gene defect (actually two separate defects) that each of my parents carry. You might be wondering, what are the chances of this happening? Well my doctors say that I have won the medical lottery! Especially since, I’m the only person in the world with my exact genetic mutation. Pretty crazy huh?? The odds of my parents, who have these defective genes meeting, marrying and having children, were one in a million. The odds of me having the IRAK-4 gene mutation were astronomical.
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After reading a little about my life you might understand two things; 1. My diagnosis is pretty fitting, since my whole life is kinda crazy! 2. Why it’s so hard for me to simply answer the “what happened to your leg?” question. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares
the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you to give you hope and a future” Jeremiah 29:11
This is my life verse. The verse that helps my life make sense. Only God knew what life lay before me. He knew His plans for me. He made me and knew I could endure whatever obstacle he put before me and He knew He would only give me what I could handle. Never in my life have I ever thought that God was trying to harm me or do what was wrong for me. I always trusted and knew whatever He had me going through was going to make me a stronger person. Not until recently did I figure out it wasn’t only making me stronger it was also bringing me closer and making me more faithful to Him. I can’t do anything without Him but as Philippians 4:13 says, I can do all things with him! He
chose ME! He has given me a huge job to handle for Him.
Praise and Coffee | Winter 2012