Prayer for John L. Parker Jr.

John L. Parker Jr., author of Once a Runner and Again to Carthage 

I received this request via email from a dear friend, and wanted to give it the widest possible circulation.  Thank you all in advance for your kind attention and prayer.
 
Dear Friends,

Last week the love of my sister Catherine’s life went into congestive heart failure.  Below is an update on his condition.  His situation is very grave.  It seems like her boyfriend is a believer…They are asking for widespread prayer.  Would you please pray for John L. Parker, Jr.?  His literary works on running have impacted multitudes, and his love has deeply impacted my beautiful sister.  Thanks so much.

Paula  www.caringbridge.org/visit/johnlparker 

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2007 08:51 PM, CDT

John’s condition this evening remains relatively unchanged. Catherine met with one of the cardiologist today and it is becoming clear that over the next couple of days John needs to show marked improvement or we are going to have to consider other treatment options. The progress that has been made over the last six days has kept all of John’s systems working well. Kidney, lungs and general circulation have been maintained at reasonable levels. The tandem heart assist device has a limited use cycle. It’s used primarily as short-term device to help output and pressures, which it has done. The longer the device is in place the risk of infections goes up. If they allow the tandem heart to stay in place t oo long and infection sets in we will eliminate most of our options for recovery. None of this is news to us on the front lines, we have been hoping and praying, that we could get where we want to be with the current course of treatment. And we are not saying we are not going to get there. There is still time left before more drastic (as if having an extra heart attached was not drastic enough) measures will have to be considered. There is a possibility that by mid next week some of us will be facing some very tough decisions. If you have been keeping positive thoughts and prayers, we need you to kick it up a notch. I know many will be attending a house of worship tomorrow, please share John’s story with everyone you can. He is a good man, whose big heart is in trouble.