Just one more smile, one more opportunity to see the sunrise and sunset, one more time to play with his brother. Just one more day to spend with his mom and dad, one more opportunity to learn of God's grace and love, one more day to play and ride his bike, one more day to run through the grass, one more day of school, one more chance to see God at work. Please, Lord, just one more day.

One more day is what I asked God for in regards to Ismeal. Ismeal has had acute lymphocytic leukemia. He was diagnosed, tolerated his chemotherapy well, and seemed to be in remission. He was back in school, riding his bike, playing with his brother, enjoying the life of a 5 year old.

But his cancer came back in full force. I had no medicine to cure him at that point. So the options were either we don't try to fight the cancer and let him die, or we try to give him just one more day … week … month.

I wasn't prepared to have this discussion with Ismeal’s mom as I was walking to work one morning. I wasn't prepared not to fight, not to try, or to let him go. I cared for Ismeal for a year and grew to love the little guy. He went from looking like the Michelin Man after taking so much prednisone, to being a skinny little kid who broke his leg when he fell off his bike.

While Ismael was sitting up when I saw him one morning, he didn't look like he was ready to die. I told his mom the cancer had come back and she just looked at me in disbelief. I told her the medicine we had been using wasn't working and that eventually Ismael’s cancer was going to kill him, but I didn't know when.

She didn't say anything for a while and neither did I as I was looking at Ismeal and praying for one more day. I told her I could try the IV chemo again, and she quickly agreed. She, too, wasn't ready to say goodbye and hoped for one more day.

The reality of the situation—knowing I have nothing to cure him—isn't easy to swallow. This isn't true only for Ismeal, but for Nason, Buldung, Nathaniel, Simon, Cathy, and others. I’m going to lose the fight against cancer in most of these cases, but I am definitely not ready for it.

I still don't have the answers to all the “whys” that go through my head, but I do know that God is watching out for each of us and we can trust Him. Isaiah 55:8-9 says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God has a plan that I often don't understand, but I still need to trust Him.

Pray for sick children like Ismeal to enjoy each day and opportunity God gives them. Pray for the families while they wait. Pray for the doctors to have wisdom in caring for them, to have courage to face the hard times, and to trust God with their lives and the lives of all their patients.

Dr. Erin Meier, a graduate of the World Medical Mission Post-Residency Program, serves as a career medical missionary at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in Papua New Guinea.

Samaritan's Purse , Papua New Guinea , World Medical Mission , Just One More Day