Prayer Requests

Daniel Mitsui writes:

Dear Friends, Patrons and Benefactors:

As many of you know already, my wife Michelle and I are expecting our third child. This is the 23rd week of the pregnancy plus 6 days. On Monday morning, around 3 o’clock, Michelle had a massive outpouring of blood and fluid. At the hospital, an ultrasound revealed that the amniotic sac had ruptured. Michelle is at the hospital now, and will remain there on bed rest until the baby is delivered. The baby is alive and moving.

Any prayers that you are able to offer will be much appreciated. At this stage of development, the baby is at the edge of viability. Were the baby delivered now, his or her survival would be possible but unlikely. The likelihood of the baby’s survival increases with every passing day and week of gestation.

In the best scenario that we can imagine, the baby will remain in utero for some time, be delivered without surgery, receive baptism shortly after birth, survive and grow healthily. This particular hospital has made high-risk pregnancies one of their specialties, and has one of the best reputed neonatal intensive care units in the area. I am confident that the best possible care is being given to my wife and child, but things are still very dangerous at this time.

The encouraging things are that the placenta appears to be functioning, there are no signs of infection, and Michelle’s blood levels are stable. The discouarging things are that there is little if any fluid around the baby, and Michelle bled a lot on Monday. The bleeding has tapered off, but if it starts again at the same rate, the doctors will need to induce labor.

We do not know the child’s gender yet. If a boy, his name will be Sylvester. If a girl, her name will be Alma.

I am currently dividing my time between visiting Michelle at the hospital and taking care of my sons Benedict and Victor. I am getting help from family and friends, and will almost certainly need more in the coming days and weeks and months.

For those of you who are family members or personal friends: please let me know if you are able to offer help, or if you want to visit Michelle. Michelle has wifi and her cell phone in the hospital room, and will appreciate e-mails and phone calls to help pass the time.

For those of you who are my art patrons: If I am working on one of your commissions now, please accept my apologies; it almost certainly will not be finshed on schedule. I will try to get some drawing done at the hospital and at home whenever I can find a babysitter. However, it probably will be some time before I am able to work my usual hours. Be assured that I will finish all of my commissioned drawings as soon as I am able.

I have a private health insurance plan that includes maternity coverage, so I hope that the medical costs will not be too burdensome, but I really have no idea what they will be and have not been giving them much thought yet. The loss of work time is, in the short term, more concerning for me, as I am the provider for my family, I am self-employed, and about two-thirds of my income comes from commissioned original drawings that I will not be able to finish on time. Any orders for prints, cards or existing drawings, or advance payments for commissions to be completed next year, will be very helpful to me, so that I can continue to pay my bills while dealing with all of this.

Thank you all. Please pray for my wife and my child. Please pray also for my father and my maternal grandfather, who too have had medical emergencies in this past month.

Kindly,

Daniel Mitsui

Father, hear our prayer for a safe and healthy delivery and for financial provision for this family.  Mother Mary, St. Luke, and St. Joseph, pray for them.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Another reader writes:

Dear healing angels and Archangel Raphael:
I call upon you to bring healing and restoration to my physical body. I have been burdened with the affliction of cancer and I am asking you to deliver me from this ailment. I trust in the love of heaven and in the willingness of God to raise me up from this place of illness and pain. I have faith and open myself up to the angelic energies as I invite them to pour over and through my body, cleansing away all toxins, illness and its symptoms. I give myself to the care of the healing angels and ask them to enfold me in their love and restore me to perfect health…AMEN

Father, hear our prayer through your Son Jesus Christ.  Mother Mary, St. Raphael, and St. Luke, pray for this man’s healing!