From Emo:

Eliana Update — Praises and Prayer Requests

Before sharing today’s update, we want to be honest about where we are.

We are deeply grateful for what God has done so far. On Sunday, we didn’t know if she would still be here with us—and she is still here, fighting. It is unmistakable that He has sustained Eliana and our family.

At the same time, we explicitly have not reconciled why our little girl and our family were chosen for this battle. It’s one we were not equipped for and one we feel among the least qualified to fight. We are still walking through profound fear, anxiety, sadness, frustration, and moments of darkness and isolation. This is truly a minute-by-minute battle for our hearts and minds.

Yet, amidst all of those realities, we know Jesus is here with us in this place.

Never in our lives has prayer felt so palpable. We can feel the army of people praying for our baby girl, and those prayers are helping sustain us when we struggle to sustain ourselves—which, right now, is often.

Thank you. Please keep praying.

Good things:

• Another stable night. Eliana had a relatively stable night, giving us two more stable nights in a row after an incredibly difficult period.

• 72 hours seizure-free. She has now gone approximately 72 hours without a seizure or another adverse neurological event, including after being weaned completely off her anti-seizure medication. We are stoked about this.

• Her lungs are improving. They are much clearer, although there are still things being watched closely. Her ventilator numbers have been encouraging enough that the team is considering a breathing/pressure-support trial to see how she handles doing more of the breathing on her own. This is an important gate toward removing the breathing tube.

• Her heart continues to do well. Cardiovascularly, her heart remains strong, and we are deeply grateful for that.

• Her chest tubes are producing very little fluid. Today they plan to stop the active suction and watch closely to see whether fluid reaccumulates. If it does not, the hope is that the chest tubes could potentially be removed as soon as tomorrow.

What we are praying for:

Neurologically: Please pray that Eliana remains completely seizure-free without anti-seizure medication. The neurological team wants to see her begin responding to simple commands—even while she remains sedated—such as squeezing a hand or moving purposefully when asked. If she continues seizure-free and demonstrates neurological responsiveness, they may be able to remove the EEG from her head.

She will also need an MRI to give the doctors a clearer picture of any neurological injury and what that could mean in the short, intermediate, and long term. Please pray for stability that allows this testing to happen safely and, ultimately, for healing and restoration of her brain. It would be great if they could get the MRI done tomorrow between circuit changes in the dialysis.

Respiratory: Please pray for a successful breathing trial. If she demonstrates that she can breathe sufficiently on her own, it brings her another significant step closer to having the breathing tube removed and coming off the ventilator.

This is especially important because getting the breathing tube out would allow the team to significantly reduce her sedation. Less sedation would then allow us and the doctors to see much more clearly what Eliana’s neurological function truly looks like.

Abdomen: Her abdomen is more distended today, although it remains soft, which is important. Imaging has not shown bleeding, and the current thinking is that inflammation and/or fluid may be contributing. Additional cultures have been taken to rule out infection, and an ultrasound has been ordered by the Infectious Disease doctor.

Please pray that the distention decreases, that there is no infection or other complication, and that no additional intervention is necessary.

Blood pressure: She continues to require blood-pressure medication, and her pressure remains sensitive to several factors, including HUS and the amount of fluid being removed through dialysis. Please pray for stability as the team continues trying to remove the fluid her body needs to lose.

Kidneys: Eliana is still not producing urine and remains on continuous dialysis. Please pray specifically that her kidneys begin to wake up and heal—that we see urine production and evidence of returning kidney function.

Chest tubes: Please pray that no fluid accumulates after suction is stopped today and that both chest tubes can safely be removed, hopefully as soon as tomorrow. Every tube and line that can safely come out is another step forward and removes another potential source of infection.

And above all these individual requests, please pray that HUS would simply leave Eliana’s body. Pray that it causes no further complications, that no additional organs or systems are affected, and that the damage already caused begins to heal.

Beyond all of these specific medical prayers, there are prayers that speak to the deepest desires of our hearts. There are even the prayers that we don’t know how to speak.

We pray for the moment Eliana opens her eyes and knows us.

We pray that she looks at Mom and Dad and recognizes us. That she knows she is safe. That she knows, deep within her, that she is loved beyond words and that an army of people has been fighting for her and praying for her.

We pray that regardless of the sedation, regardless of what HUS has done, and regardless of what she has endured neurologically, our little girl is still there.

We pray that she can communicate with us and that we can communicate with her—that together we can speak life, hope, courage, and recovery over what comes next.

And more than anything, we pray that Jesus has been right there with her through all of this—that in the moments when we could not reach her, He could. That He has been near her, comforting her, strengthening her, and reminding our seven-year-old girl that she is never alone.

We pray that she is awake. That she knows who she is and recognizes where she is. That she is breathing on her own. That she is moving. That continuous dialysis can become intermittent dialysis. That we begin talking not simply about surviving this crisis, but about recovery and eventually leaving the ICU.

We know we cannot dictate that timeline. But these are the bold desires of our hearts, and we are asking our army of prayer warriors to bring them before God with us.

And finally, today is the first day of school.

Eliana isn’t there.

It’s painful and devastating.

But we believe she still has a first day of school ahead of her.

We pray for the day when she walks back into school—not simply returning to the same old life, but stepping into a beautiful new chapter of it.

We pray that even at seven years old, she will somehow know and embody the goodness of God—that she will know what it means to have been sustained through immense darkness and brought into the light.

Psalm 40:2–3

He drew me up from the pit of destruction,

out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock,

making my steps secure.

He put a new song in my mouth,

a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear,

and put their trust in the LORD.

We believe we are living the beginning of Eliana’s new song.

We don’t know all the verses of this new song. But we will continue to praise God for what He has already done while boldly asking Him for what we desperately desire Him to do next.

I have told the glad news of deliverance

in the great congregation;

behold, I have not restrained my lips,

as you know, O LORD.

I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;

I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;

I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness

from the great congregation.

We know how busy each of you are—with your families, your careers, your aspirations, and all the things that come with lives meant to be flourishing. Therefore, we are profoundly thankful when you sacrifice your time and energy to contend for our daughter in prayer.

None of it is lost on us.

Thank you for carrying Eliana with us.