Overcoming with Oaklyn Faith

02/13/2026

Wow! We have been home a month already!!!! Home sweet home!!

Oaklyn is doing SO GOOD! She loves being home!!!! She plays & plays & plays! She has stayed completely healthy! Praise the Lord!!! 🙌🏻 Everyone at home has been doing such a great job with washing hands and changing their clothes before coming in the house!

You would never know (aside from the short hair) of all this warrior has been through these last couple of months! She has more joy and energy than anyone else I know!!! She’s always happy and always rolling a million miles an hour!

We still have her appointments 1-2x a week, but they are actively weaning her off her steroids! & she is not flaring! She’s doing great! After nearly 5 mos of steroids she should be steroid-free by the end of this month! She will switch to hydrocort for a little while to let her body/adrenal glands catch up. Yeahhoo!!!! BEST SURPRISE: She slept through the night from 8PM until 7AM for the first time in 5 mos last night!!!!! YEAHHHOOO!!!! 🤩 I still had to wake up & give her midnight meds, but hey, we will take that win!!!! 🏆

They are talking of starting to wean her Tacro immune suppression/antirejection meds in March-be finished by end of March. When finished, this will allow her a lot more freedom! She will be able to come out of isolation! Yay!! Exciting things!!!

Its been so good to be home!

A funny Oaklyn quote today: She told me “see that mom” I said, “See what?” She points and says “my bruise”. “I said “ya” she says, “that’s where they poked me cause they have to get my BRAIN.” 😂 I said “you mean your vein?” “O yeah, my vein…” lol she cracks me up!! She’s such a tough girl! She amazes everyone at the doctors with no tears or flinches even with all the pokes. She is such a warrior.
Loving life!! 🩷

Thank you everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. We will never be able to say thank you enough. For everything. The blessings have been neverending and so so wonderful. We’ve all been blessed more than we could ever deserve or imagine.

Wishing you all the same overwhelming joy and extreme energy that overflows from Oaklyn!! ☀️🩷🙌🏻 We all need us some of that!!

01/27/2026

Sharing this awesome song “Miracle Child”. I can’t stop listening to.

We feel so incredibly blessed!
Blessed to be home. Blessed Oaklyn is doing so well. Blessed for all the love and support we have received.

She is our Miracle Child.

More than 15 pneumonias over three years, pleural effusion, respiratory failure, life-flight, bronch spasms, bronchiactasis, lung tube, life support, ICU stays, Stat One Gain-of-function, poor future prognosis, autoimmunity, third degree skin burns from infection, bone marrow transplant…everything she has been through…& well today with a new immune system & restored health! God heals and God saves. He’s a miracle worker. 🙌🏻🩷

There’s no limits. He’s a miracle God! 🎵

Official music video for my song "MIRACLE CHILD” from the album COAT OF MANY COLORS out now! Stream it here: https://BrandonLake.lnk.to/CoatOfManyColorsID►Li...

01/10/2026

We made it home! 🏠

We left Seattle after appointments at 4 on Thursday and we made it back last night by 7:30! Drove straight through.
Thank you thank you to PapaJerry and Grandma Marilyn for driving us home!! Thank you also to Melinda and Camry for watching Emmy for us until we got home!

Oaklyn and Emmy have been playing nonstop this AM! She is very happy to be home!!! & Emmy said her wish came true to have us all back together!

We are excited to rest and settle-in the next couple of days 💗

We are so thankful for all of the prayers, thoughts, well wishes, and outpouring of love throughout this whole journey. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

As I sit here I am enjoying a bowl of chilli brought by a friend while we were gone, looking out at the snow we got this morning. My heart is overflowing with gratitude. Thank you!!!
All praise and thanksgiving to God for His constant blessings and providing throughout our journey. We will rest in Him and His goodness as we weather this next chapter at home. 🙌🏻💗

01/06/2026

Day +110

Our final week here in Seattle!!!! YIPPEEE!!
We had our final regular appointment this morning and we have a closing conference meeting and pulmonologist appointment on Thursday and then we get to trek home! Woohoo!! 24 Hour+ drive with a two hour time change! 🤪🚙 We are excited trucker Papa Jerry and Grandma Marilyn are flying out tomorrow to drive us home! We’re hoping to truck straight through and get home late late Friday night!

I’ve been struggling this week with all the emotions! We are so so so excited to go home!!! But this change makes me so anxious also all the same!!! We have been so blessed in our time here! How lucky are we that God provided comfort in a place far from home that makes it so hard to leave! We have been in such an isolated bubble from the real world. Oaklyn still can’t go in public places, be around people unless they are healthy, has several med alarms ⏰ a day, all kinds of cleaning guidelines, and has several other restrictions. We’ve got into a good routine here and the change up is a bit scary for me! How to ensure we keep her safe and healthy at home during high viral season with new exposures and big sisters and dad bringing germs in from the outside world that she’s been so protected from. It will be new learning for us all! With lots of hand-washing and clothing changes 🦠 lol Oaklyn still has very little TCells and lymphosites so not much of an immune system yet. Less than a newborn still as newborns have inherent immunity from their moms. She does not. She also still has bronchiactasis and inflammation in her airways and lungs yet. & we are still struggling with GVHD as they try to wean her Steroids down.

I have so many questions as to all the dos and donts for her. & what changes we all need to make to limit the exposures at home coming in from big sisters too while not restricting their normal lives too much. I also have been struggling a bit with going back to “normal” without things being “normal”. I know all these restrictions are needed and necessary, but I think naturally we like to think/hope that going back home is back to our normal! However I think that is likely going to take quite a bit more time while still on the immune suppression and isolation protocol. Then I have the concerns about processing through all the emotions and changes at home. We’ve all spent a lot of time apart. Nearly 6 months 😢 what kind of emotions we will deal with being all back together again and navigating/relearning how to mesh all our schedules together. & getting back in a good groove for all of us at home! Change is always hard. Especially for us creatures of habit!
I know Oaklyn has been feeling this all too as she is so excited to go home, but she will also miss this place too. I wanted to share some transparency into all the feelings/emotions.

However I don’t want to undercut our excitement! We are also so excited to be home!! We can’t wait to get to snuggle with our whole family! Can’t wait to sleep in our own beds! & take a bath in our bath! & cook and eat the foods we usually have at home! Also excited to hopefully see some familiar faces! Even if it may be from afar or outside! Or with masks on 😝😷
We are ready to rip the bandaid off and get it over with and get home!!

The new year always brings time for extra reflection. We have been so blessed throughout this past year. Although this year has been one of the most trying, it has also been one full of tremendous blessing. How lucky are we to be able to have an opportunity to put Oaklyn’s health troubles hopefully behind her permanently! I’ve tried to focus throughout this journey as to what God has been trying to show us and teach us throughout this all. & several things come to mind. First, we can do hard things! & hard things are SO MUCH easier with the right mindset. I’ve found that starting our days with Praise (we jam to our fav Christian tunes) and devotion time in God’s word helps us have a lot better days! We try Filling our cup first with Jesus before the world starts attacking from all angles lol
I also enjoy listening to Ed Mylett (motivational speaker) & he talks of how we can make hard things easy and get good at doing hard things. Truthfully, I feel we have gotten rather good at doing hard things! Even when big battles or obstacles come, it seems to not rock the boat and our peace too much. I feel like we got really good at doing hard things after Oakie’s first year of life. I can honestly say nothing in this transplant journey, nor being away from home ever compared with the fear and obstacles of that first year. I think because we were mentally prepared for it and bc hard things get easier to handle!! Ed Mylett describes it like jumping in a pool. When ur 4ish years old and you jump in a pool the very first time it is beyond scary and really hard. Then the second time you are less scared and more prepared. And by the third and fourth time you’ve got it figured out, no problem! We can do hard things! & we can get good at managing hard things!! & another big part of that is for things we don’t feel like we can manage, letting Go and Letting God! We can’t navigate on our own, or I sure wouldn’t want to! We are meant to lean on the Ultimate Counselor and our Loving Father. In Him, we do find peace and comfort.

I think another big thing we have learned from our time here is eliminating outside distractions and focusing more on what matters. It has been so nice to not have all the busy-ness of life constantly (birthday parties, have to be here again this time, here at this time, this meeting, this appointment, this playdate, this gathering, this event, etc etc.) our lives are normally so busy and it has been such a welcomed break to leave all of that behind for the last 6-ish months. My goal is to continue to be more intentional about saying No and doing less “busy-ness”. We have found we so much more enjoy our time outdoors just walking and soaking in the beauty of nature or playing board games at home. I am praying that even in returning home I can set better boundaries of all our time to continue to focus on the beauty around us and enjoy the present rather than juggling so much chaotic busy-ness!

I am so thankful for this journey and all it has taught me. I believe it has really changed us. & I do believe that was God’s intention in it all all along. Sometimes we have to be removed from our “comfort” to get close to our ultimate Comforter and Healer. We are so thankful for all the many blessings and prayers that have been sent our way. We pray we can continue to bless others and that hopefully in sharing all of these things & emotions we can help others as well.

See you soon NE/SD! 🤩💗

12/23/2025

Day +97

We are excited for dad and Gracelyn and Emmy to come out for Christmas today!!! Wooooohoooo!!!

We are at clinic quick this AM for labs and then will be headed to get them from the airport later today!!

Oaklyn is doing GREAT! She got her central line out last week! Which has been a Huge excitement and relief! Although it does mean she gets shots twice a week now instead, but she’s a champion at this!

We are so close to day 100!!! Which is a big milestone!! On Friday Oaklyn gets all of her 100 day testing done including anesthesia for a CT with contrast, EKG, and Echo to make sure everything is in tip top shape post transplant! Her chimerism results have been looking GREAT also with 87% Emmy blood cells! And only 13% Oaklyn blood cells! Her graft-versus-host has also improved significantly and we are weaning steroids! Perhaps the small thing I was most excited about last week is her dental check up SHOWED ZERO INFLAMMATION! In her mouth! Her mouth has always been so swollen and inflamed her whole life and for her to have no inflammation is such a great sign her Stat One GOF disease is gone and behind her!!! Her CXCL9 weekly tests also have all shown NORMAL inflammation since transplant. Prior to transplant these were never in the normal range in her system on their own. These are all great signs that the transplant has been successful!

We are so incredibly grateful and full of praise that she has had this opportunity to eliminate the disease and change the course of her life! Her prior trajectory for years of medical harships, autoimmunity, organ damage, and a short life are hopefully now all behind her! A mere 2-3 years ago this option did not even exist for the few with her disease and she is only number 7 in this trial to have a successful transplant on the new protocol that boasts success! What an incredible blessing this is!!! All praise to God for His blessings and guidance!

Our days are numbered here in Seattle and we will be home in less than 3 weeks!!! WOOOHOOOOO!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Wishing you all a season full of joy and blessings celebrating the birth of our Savior! 🌟

12/13/2025

🌟 A Special Thank You 🌟
To the village, and there is so many of you, who have went above and beyond to help at home. From Christmas Concert, helping to get the girls ready, taking pics and videos and sending them to Oaks and I to feel like we’re present, fun Christmas celebrations, taking care of our dogs when Jordans away, helping get the girls ready for the daddy daughter dance, picking up from school several days a week, fixing broken TVs lol, friends from church making meals, cookies from the neighbors, fun weekend memories made with the girls, continued surprises and blessings in the mail, coworkers handling extra tasks, decorating our house for Christmas, the list goes on and on. We have so much gratitude and can’t say Thank you enough to the incredible village supporting us all around that have went above and beyond.
You mean the world to us 🌎❤️ and our hearts are overflowing with gratitude.
🌟THANK YOU 🌟

12/13/2025

Day +87

We are so thankful for such a sweet visit with Jackie this week! ❤️ We enjoyed our time! Oaks was over the moon to see “her Jackie”! She was 100mph when Jackie came she was so excited! Thank you Jackie for coming out and spending a few days with us! 🙌🏻

We are gearing up for a big week this week! We are incredibly excited and thankful for a local BMT friend who shared a great connection at home of a Sioux Falls hematology/oncology provider they have worked with for post-BMT care/follow-up! Our docs here met with the provider last week and have developed a great plan we are all very excited about to get us home!! We will be able to get home mid January around +115 days and follow up with BMT clinic in Sioux Falls with the team here still overseeing care and working closely with the local provider! We cannot wait to be HOME!! Life will still be quite a bit different for some time as Oaklyn will still be isolated and will need to be extra careful at home to prevent infections with the continued anti rejection and immunosuppressant meds. No public settings/visitors/gatherings for her for quite some time yet. However despite continued isolation, we will be thrilled to be home with our big girls and daddy!!

Now that we have a plan to return home, it has kicked our to dos and appointments here into a new kind of crazy! 😝 we had got accustomed to the follow ups twice a week, but the next couple of weeks have several appointments/treatments/tests scheduled 4-5 days a week! Woofta! Exciting things! We were able to kick her feeding tube roughly 2 weeks ago! A huge feat! Docs said they have never seen a 3yo take this many meds by mouth without a tube, but Oaks is a warrior! We’re making it happen!! 💪🏻 Mon she gets a profilactic antibiotic infusion as we found her Bactrum med was causing an allergic reaction that was revving up her Graft-versus-host break outs. Tuesday she has surgery to GET HER CENTRAL LINE REMOVED!!!!! Woohoo!! I asked to get this scheduled early as we’re excited to get that dang thing out! That will mean she will go back to getting pricks a couple of times a week for bloodwork, but no more daily flushes, dressing changes, and eliminates infection risk. One step closer to normal!! A bunch more 80 day testing next week like CT, heart Echo, chimerism etc. checking how everything compares post transplant to pre transplant. We’ll take prayers as all these final to dos and flood of appointments are a bit overwhelming, but we are excited nonetheless as its getting us closer to home!!! & our final countdown here in Seattle is on!

Sending lots of love 💗

11/18/2025

We’ve made it to Day +62

We are back at our regular biweekly clinic visit today. Oaks is doing very well! She is still being monitored closely. We’re mainly watching her Graft-versus-host disease and ensuring that stays in check. She’s on oral steroids through mid January. They had cleared it up completely, but now we are seeing it again. So still watching that it stays in check! They increased oral steroid dose today.

Also watching blood pressure as all her medicines (mainly the tacro antirejection meds and steroids) are causing high blood pressure so they keep debating on if they will need to add blood pressure meds also. For now they provided us a blood pressure machine to record blood pressures now at home. I anticipate they will start her on blood pessure meds next week.

We’ve been pretty homesick lately. It’s starting to wear on Gracelyn and Emersyn and Jordan too and there’s nothing worse on a mama’s heart than when her girls are hurting!

They have said that the GvHD has pushed our stay here back a bit. They are saying we can shoot to go home now around day 120 which is end of Jan so long as there’s no additional complications. We are anxious to get home!!

It is rainy season here now so rains daily and is dark by 4PM. 🤯
The highlight of our week was a fellow BMT friend we met here, Evie, and her dad stopped by for a visit with us after her BMT appointment follow up. She is 300 days out. Her and her dad have been so helpful and supportive on this journey. It was fun to hang out with them!

Jordan and Girls come back out this Saturday for a week for Thanksgiving! We cannot wait!!!

Anxious for time to fly and this to all be but a memory. 💛🧡🤎
Thank you for the continued prayers. Sending lots of love!

11/08/2025

Day +52

We enjoyed the last week with Grandma and Grandpa Nelson! They came to visit and survived the flight!! ✈️ it was a bit of a rainy week here, but we enjoyed and made the most of the sunshine days!! ☀️ We got to give them the grand Seattle tour! We drove to Snoqualamie Falls, Pikes Place Market (Grandma and Oaks stayed in the car so I could show Papa), drove through Chinatown (probably not my best idea…Scary lol), Alkai Beach, Seward Park, Bellevue, Edmonds Pier, and more! We did a bunch of drive-bys to see it all! & we had lots of time and days in the apartment sunggling too 💞

Oaks has come a long ways in the last week! When they first got here, Oaklyn had been sleeping 18-20 hours a day. The Graft-versus-host disease and fevers really had her wore down and tired, but now the last couple of days she is back to her normal self and schedule! Feeling so much better!!! Her Gvhd is all cleared up with the steroids! They have worked wonders!! & on top of that her lungs sound so so so much better! The steroids have really made a big difference for her!

Yesterday Papa Jerry came with us to our four doctor’s appointments at clinic plus xray! We met a new pulmonologist that did a deep dive into her lung issues and he was awesome!!! They’ve got her taking inhalers 8puffs a day and working with teaching me cupping and massaging techniques for clearing mucus. Between all that and the steroids we are very hopeful we can get her lungs strong and he’s hopeful she may even be able to overcome and reverse some of her broncheactasis! Best news I’ve heard!!! They have such a great team here!!!! & we have met so many amazing doctors! This pulmonologist, blew me away…..Its so comforting to know you have someone so invested in the utmost health and wellbeing for your child.

& we are STOKED that the steroids have also brought back her hunger and as of yesterday we no longer have to have her hooked up 12 hours a night for feeds!!!! No more tube feeds! Yippeee!!! They are still watching her liquid intake closely and I may have to run some liquids through the tube yet to make sure she gets 32oz a day in! But no more formula! 🎉 She does still have IVs that I hook to her central line each night for 10 hours and they said those will continue at least another month at minimum. But one pump down, one to go! Lol

We have a pretty chill next two weeks! Just clinic appointments and chilling until our lil family returns for Thanksgiving!! Counting down the days! T-2 Weeks!!!

I can’t believe I am seeing snow at home today!!! ❄️☃️ Enjoy!!! Sending lots of love! 💗 Happy Saturday!!