Prayers for Baby Luke

I have a huge favor to ask of any and all of you who read this blog. This is sweet Luke Jones- his mommy Melissa and I are great friends and we live only 3 streets away. All of my girlfriends and I have had babies within months of each other and Luke was the last one to join the group of new babies. After a rough start in her pregnancy, Melissa was told everything looked perfect with her and the baby and 9 months went on. Luke was born on September 6th after a long, hard and rough labor for both he and Melissa. He has now been diagnosed with a life-long skin condition with a lot of unknowns and future possibilities. Here is what Melissa wrote on her blog about his diagnosis:


"On about day 4 of life we discovered a blister that had popped on Luke's heal. We thought it was possibly from the heal prick they do in the hospital, and that it had just blistered. Within about 24 hours, we started noticing blisters pop up rapidly on his hands and toes. After 3 pediatrician visits and 3 dermatologist visits, Luke has been diagnosed with Epidermalysis Bullosa (EB). It is a skin disease that he will have for the remainder of his life. You can google it if you want, but in a nutshell there are 3 types of EB ranging from mild to severe and Luke's is most likely somewhere in the middle. His body was not formed with the "bonding agent" to hold the layers of skin together like most people have. How did he get it? Either Greg and I carry the recessive gene (that we don't know of) or it was by chance that a cell mutated in the womb and left that certain gene out. If this is the case...the chances were about 1 in 100,000. God has a plan...He has to. Greg and I will be doing genetic testing to see if we carry it. If so, Luke will most likely be an only child as we would not want to put future children through this. This is a lot to digest at the moment. Luke will be a special needs baby...anything that causes friction to his skin can cause a blister. (playing sports, instruments, crawling, etc) As of now, the blisters do not cause him pain unless they pop and raw skin is exposed and rubs on something. It is hard to keep a newborn 'still' :) Greg and I are learning how to care for the blisters...keeping them wrapped up and covered. (thank goodness cool weather is coming!) He also has a few in his mouth and throat but they don't seem to bother him. (the feeding issues are coming from tummy pains)"

This is from Melissa's blog- PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE lift this family and this sweet little baby up in your prayers. Luke was admitted to Texas Childrens Hospital on Friday due to failure to thrive. He has severe reflux issues and was not eating or gaining weight. We visited them today and they are all in great spirits. Luke was such a sweetie too! Please pray for their strength each day and for Luke eat better, gain weight and feel no pain from his blisters. Greg and Melissa's faith and assurance astound me and I know that I would not be handling this as well as they are. They are a sweet, sweet family and very dear friends of ours. Like Melissa says, I know God has a plan for little Luke!!!