Author Archives: pastorjfreeman

Toby Stewart Funeral – A few more details

Many have asked about seeing/visiting with Ben and Jeannie…tonight from 6pm-7pm there will be an open, but brief time of visitation with the family at the Wilson-Little funeral home in Newcastle, OK (Tri-City area behind Mazzios). There will, of course, not be a viewing, but rather just a time of encouragement and fellowship.

The family will have a private time together from 7pm-8pm.

Again, the funeral service will be this Saturday, June 15, 2013, at 1pm at First Baptist Church of Newcastle:
1650 N. Main St.
Newcastle, OK 73065
-a private family graveside service will immediately follow.

May God be glorified and Jesus lifted up high during these trying days. We love you!

Funeral Details for Toby

The funeral for Toby Robert Stewart will be at First Baptist Church of Newcastle this Saturday, June 15, 2013 at 1pm. There will be a private family graveside service at Newcastle Memorial Gardens immediately following the funeral service. Wilson-Little funeral home in Newcastle will be handling the funeral arrangements and I will be officiating the service.

Please be praying for our family, especially Ben and Jeannie Stewart, and their children. We hope you will be able to join for this difficult, but very special day as we celebrate Toby’s home going.

We love you!

Jeremy Freeman

In Christ Alone!

Our family Is going through the fire, and the struggles are no where near over. Emily’s mom and our son Trey are still fighting tremendous battles and we don’t know the outcomes of their earthly journeys yet…but we are trusting the Lord! Toby has gone on to be with Jesus, and while we grieve deeply, we also rejoice because we know he is with the Lord God Almighty! We will announce the funeral date and time this afternoon. It will be sometime Saturday at FBC Newcastle. While we grieve and wait and trust…we take solace in these words…these truths!

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me!
From life’s first cry, to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny!

No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand!
Till He returns, or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ, I stand!

Toby is with Jesus!

Update from Ben and Jeannie:

The Lord gave, and The Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of The Lord. Job 1:21

Despite our extensive efforts, God showed us today that His plan was to take Toby home to be with Him. Toby slept peacefully in his mother’s arms, and awoke in the arms of our Savior in heaven. Our hearts are broken, but our trust and faith in our sovereign God is not.

We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to the talented doctors, nurses, and technicians that helped Toby fight as hard as he could for as long as possible. And we are especially thankful to all of you who have lifted us to the Father in prayer, opened your home to our family, and brought meals while we walked this road. We could not have made it this far without
the strength that God provided as a result of your faithful prayer and support.

In John 16:33, Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” We rest in the fact that God created this world, and Jesus Christ overcame this world through His death, burial, and resurrection. As a result, we know beyond a shadow of doubt we will see Toby again. If you do not understand how we can say such things in the midst of such grief, I implore you to read 1 Peter chapter 1. As we suffer, we keep our hearts and minds fixed on the return of Jesus Christ when suffering will cease for all believers. And now we pray, Jesus come quickly. This word is the good news that has been preached to you.

– Ben & Jeannie, parents of Toby, whose name we chose because it means, “The Lord is good.” And He is good indeed. May you find that to be so as we have.

Difficult Day

Today is looking to be a difficult day from my brother in law and sister in law, Ben and Jeannie Stewart. All I can say at this point is that I would like you to pray for them. Pray for God’s strength, wisdom, and grace. Pray that the Lord will hold Toby close to His heart and that Ben and Jeannie will be comforted by that incredible reality. With the Stewart’s permission, and as I can, I will update later with more information.

My worship pastor, Dave Watson, reminded me of these words this morning:

“How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he gives;
But greater still the calm assurance:
This child can face uncertain days because He Lives!

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!”

Journey for Trey Video

Awesome turnout this morning for the Journey for Trey! Blessed is an understatement. Thanks to all who came out and a special thank you to Maddyx, Trey’s Kindergarten friend, for having this idea!!! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!

A true champion!

Here is a picture of Trey today! This is about a 9 hour process…he truly is a champ! So far so good. Again, we won’t know if this works for about 2 weeks! Keep praying.

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Big Day needing Big Prayer!

I met with one of our doctors this morning and we are moving forward with the photopheresis. He feels this is the best chance we have at getting the remaining part of Trey’s disease under control. As he said, “You can’t go on cruise control with this kind of a disease. You have to stay aggressive.” So…we are hoping the photopheresis will help take care of the rest of the abnormal cells that are in the skin. Trey is having intermittent fevers again and we have to assume it’s the abnormal cells…and we need to go after them.

Please pray that this process will work. Before we move to transplant, we need to get as much of the LGL disease under control as possible. Please ask of the Lord to help with this. If we can get the skin cleared up, we will be “all systems go” for the next transplant. We are asking God to use the photopheresis to finish off these bad cells.

We will do photopheresis today and tomorrow, and then again next Thursday and Friday. We hope to see some signs that it is working in two weeks. Please pray Trey handles it well and that there are little to no side effects. It is supposed to be a relatively easy process. They will basically take blood from Trey’s central line, put it through a machine, sort out what they need, treat those specific cells, and put them back into his body. It will take anywhere from 1.5-3 hours. It’s supposed to be a painless process for Trey…please pray it is.

Oh Lord…help us and heal Trey! We trust in You!

Trying Something New

Trey likes to keep life interesting! He began running a fever about 1am last night and then again around 7am this morning. He currently, as of 12:45pm, has a fever right now. He is also, once again, having some slight blood pressure issues. Trey is very suppressed right now and highly susceptible to sickness, so…he’s either picked something up or is having delayed reactions to the Campath. Either way, things are under control for the time being though. He’s on meds for infection and other stuff to help if it’s the Campath. He’s not in a dangerous situation by any means at the moment, we are just watching him closely.

Our doctors do want to hold off on Campath for a few days and see how Trey does, but we don’t want to hold off too long and give the abnormal cells any room to start causing problems again. Trey’s liver and spleen are looking good, and his platelets are holding their own…so we need to stay on top of all that.

We are going to begin using something called photopheresis. Even though this has been around for a while, there is a new and advanced machine being used to help provide better performance. Our hospital is one of like 20-30 hospitals in the US that have this new machine. Basically, by using photopheresis, some of Trey’s blood will be taken from his central line, put through this advanced machine, treated, and put back in his body. The purpose of using this is to hopefully help with Trey’s skin condition. They hope that by treating the blood, it will help aid the healing process in his skin. We will see. Please be praying about this. As with anything, there are some small side effects, but nothing too serious. Just pray it helps.

That’s all for now. Things to pray for are:
1. Trey’s fevers to go away;
2. Trey’s blood pressure to stay up; and
3. His skin to heal and that the photopheresis would help!

Thanks everyone!

Hear our prayer Lord!

“O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice… (Psalms 5:3a).”

Trey had Campath last night and did very well. He woke up early, but feeling good. He had a good breakfast and is in good spirits. His skin continues to struggle, but I honestly think it looks a little better today. Trey and I are praying and asking God to heal his skin. The doctor will be by later. They are trying to decide whether or not to use a process called photopheresis. Please pray for wisdom about this. We don’t want Trey to have to endure anything that will not be beneficial to him. So please keep praying about all this with us.

Today should be an easy day for Trey since it is a rest day from Campath. So…I’m hoping to get some sermon prep done and spend some time with my boy. Hope everyone has a great day! The Lord has great plans for His children…walk with and trust in Him!