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~ OUR ANGEL MAXIE ~
April 3, 1993 ~ March 27, 2004
Maxie Lee Lagourney, what a mouth full. He was born in Dallas, TX April 3, 1993. From the minute he was born he wanted to sleep next to someone. After he started walking and talking I do not remember him being anything but very happy, very smart and all boy. He was always smiling! "Turtle" was the kind of child that other children and even most adults wanted to be around. He was so smart and his mind was so fast. He never stopped learning from the second he opened his eyes each day. He even learned to ride a bike at 4 years old, the first day. He taught himself to type and even the last few weeks of his life and very sick he would still be nice to friends when they IM'ed him on line. He was so special.
He had the biggest, purest heart of any person I ever met. If he loved you, he loved you completely, no questions ask no judgement. He was so proud of his little brother Robert. From the minute Robert was born they were together like glue most of the time. Robert always wanted to be with Maxie and Maxie did not care one bit. If he had a friend at school, boy or girl they were his friend forever, not just this week but from them on. His friend Shawntae told us how he would run around the lunch room and take everyone's cucumbers. He loved cucumbers. NO.. he loved all food.
Most of all ... he was happy ... and he was very loved and is very missed.
*************MAXIE'S CANCER HISTORY*************
This chapter in our life started July 23, 2003. Maxie had not been feeling well for about a week. He had an upset stomach and he looked a little yellow. Christy, Maxie's Mom, took him to see Dr. Sandlin our family doctor. When they walked in Dr. Sandlin told the nurse she had never seen Maxie sick;EVER! After a short exam, Dr. Sandlin turned to Christy and handed her a small pack of Kleenex. “You are going to need this, it is serious! He needs to go to the emergency room now! I will call ahead.”
We were both hoping it was not what we were both thinking. Trying hard not to say the word. A few hours later with tubes in his nose, down to his stomach, IV’s running and a lot of X-rays and cat scans, we were told. The doctor, with tears in her eyes, told us she thought it was a cancer and that she wanted us to go to another hospital were they do cancer on children all the time. That night at midnight we were taken across town to MCV Hospital, in Richmond, Va.
The next few days are a blur. Tests, tests and more tests. Finally they said they need to do surgery to see if they could take out the tumor and what kind it was. They found it was attached to his bile duct and on his liver. It has a lot of veins and arteries running through it so it could not be removed. They did a biopsy on the tumor, liver and bone. The bile duct was blocked so they had to put a drain back and a tube in his side so they could drain his bile. He was jaundice so chemo could not be started at this time. A few days later the test were back. IT WAS CANCER, A VERY RARE, HARD TO TREAT KIND AND EVEN MORE RARE WHERE HIS WAS!
ALVEOLAR RHABDOMYOSARCOMA
STAGE III
The suggested treatment was surgery but without that option, massive chemotherapy and radiation is next.
56 LONG HARD WEEKS OF TREATMENT AHEAD!
He has had trouble with high blood pressure and had some seizures or strokes. His weight has dropped to the point he has to have nourishment administered through his port 18 hours a day for weeks.
Around Thanksgiving he got the flu with zero white count. They gave him massive doses of antibiotics and saved him. He is still taking his chemo once a week and a big dose overnight every 3 weeks in the hospital. He was also given 6 weeks of radiation. We were told the radiation damaged his spleen badly and his liver some.
In Jan. he had 2 weeks off with no treatments. Then test were run to see how the tumor was doing. (The last report back in November said it had gone from the size of two big fists to the size of a lemon,
but has fingers going into his bile duct.)
Ever since he had radiation his body has gone down hill. In Feb. an MRI was done and the tumor looks the same size but dead on the scans. I think the treatments might have been too much. As his tumor shrank and died, it blocked off his digestive track. The main blood supply to the liver is running through the shrinking tumor was killing his liver. The word transplant has now been said! His last CT scan of his head was GREAT! Food at this time would not go through him and he was in the hospital and in a lot of pain. He had another MRI this week, it is very bad news. The tumor is thicker and bigger? They put in a stent so his billiruben will drain. They were going to do a bypass between his stomach and small intestine so he could eat again, but he never got to eat again!.
Sunday, March, 21st he got a very high fever and a yeast infection in his port that was changed during his surgery!! Oh how I wish we had waited to change his port when he came out like normal. He had a very bad reaction from the antibiotic and we almost lost him. They put him in ICU. He went down hill fast after that. The infection spread. His lungs filled with fluid. He did not want to talk and soon could not breath. Thursday, the 25th, they put him on a respirator to help him breath.
His last words were,
"MOM, I AM SCARED! DO NOT LEAVE ME!"
Two very long days later, with family, friends and nurses that and came to love him... on Saturday, March 27th, after 7 long weeks this trip in the hospital, we choose to turn the lung machine off and take out the 16 IV's and tubes that he had. As we held that still beautiful baby in our arms and he passed away a few minutes later at 5:40.
PLEASE KEEP OUR FAMILY IN YOUR PRAYERS AND ALL THE OTHER CHILDREN ON THE CARINGBRIDGE WEB SIGHT.
"The mention of my child's name may bring tears to my eyes, but never fails to bring music to my ears. If you are really my friend, let me hear the beautiful music of his name. It soothes my broken heart
and sings to my soul." (Author Unknown)
THANK YOU,
THE LAGOURNEY FAMILY
Chris, Julie, Christy,
and Robert
9911 Knobs Hill Lane
Amelia, VA 23002
MAXIE WE WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER...
 
THESE ARE SOME SONGS MAXIE LIKED or WE THINK HE WOULD HAVE LIKED!
      
Journal
Sunday, May 31, 2009
This new version of the 'footprints' story really caught me off guard at the end...What a blessing.
FOOTPRINTS...A New Version
Imagine you and the Lord Jesus are walking down the road together. For much of the way, the Lord's footprints go along steadily, consistently, rarely varying the pace.
But your footprints are a disorganized stream of zigzags, starts, stops, turnarounds, circles, departures, and returns.
For much of the way, it seems to go like this, but gradually your footprints come more in line with the Lord's, soon paralleling, His consistently.
You and Jesus are walking as true friends!
This seems perfect, but then an interesting thing happens: Your footprints that once etched the sand next to Jesus' are now walking precisely in His steps.
Inside His larger footprints are your smaller ones, you and Jesus are becoming one. This goes on for many miles, but gradually you notice another change. The footprints inside the large footprints seem to grow larger.
Eventually they disappear altogether. There is only one set of footprints. They have become one. This goes on for a long time, but suddenly the second set of footprints is back. This time it seems even worse! Zigzags all over the place. Stops. Starts. Gashes in the sand. A variable mess of prints.
You are amazed and shocked. Your dream ends. Now you pray:
'Lord, I understand the first scene, with zigzags and fits. I was a new Christian; I was just learning. But You walked on through the storm and helped me learn to walk with You.'
'That is correct.'
'And when the smaller footprints were inside of Yours, I was actually learning to walk in Your steps, following You very closely.'
'Very good.. You have understood everything so far.'
When the smaller footprints grew and filled in Yours, I suppose that I was becoming like You in every way.'
'Precisely.'
'So, Lord, was there a regression or something? The footprints separated, and this time it was worse than at first.'
There is a pause as the Lord answers, with a smile in His voice.
'You didn't know? It was then that we danced!'
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