The Power Of Prayer And Community Comes Together For One Of It’s Own
Oskaloosa comes out to pray for Nicholas Moore on August 31, 2011
Oskaloosa, Iowa – In what can only be best described as breathtaking to see, the community of Oskaloosa came together and joined hands to pray for one of it’s own. Bob Morris lead the nearly 250 or more residents in prayer and then had the crowd move out to the perimeter of the square, join hands and pray silently in their own way for Nicholas Moore. A song titled ‘He’s My Son’ was played during the time, which has become a special song for Nick’s mother.
Nicholas is the son of Matt and Elizabeth Moore, and grandson of Oskaloosa City Councilwoman Scottie Moore. Nicholas was born with an inherited skin disorder called Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa or RDEB. RDEB is an extremely painful disease and Nicholas recently underwent a stem cell treatment and is currently at Amplatz Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota; where he has been since the end of January. The treatment will help with the pain, but isn’t considered a cure. In March of this year, his older brother Jack donated the bone marrow used for the treatment; a brave and admirable gesture for such a young man. Nicholas is now 170+ days post transplant.
During this time, the family is separated. Mom is at the hospital with Nick, while Jack is now back home in Oskaloosa and is currently a 7th grader at Oskaloosa Middle School.
Betsie Fink, who helped to coordinate and spread the word about the prayer vigil for Nicholas, said his kidneys had shut down because of all the medication and that he is still doing dialysis 5 days a week. The transplant they think went well, but he’s been having to fight more because of his body dealing with all the medication they have been having to give him.
Fink says, “It’s hard to see a kid suffer like that, he’s such a shining star. He needs to get better and we hope we can help him here in this effort.”
Fink said that a conversation had started on Nick’s Caring Bridge page, and so Betsie set the time and place for everyone to gather. Once again the power of the internet proved itself, and with that came the power of prayer. The event had only started to be planned on Sunday, and by Wednesday the turnout was fabulous.
“We wanted to call some people together and show our support in town”, says Vicky Collette.
Sign up and sign Nicholas’s guestbook and CaringBridge page HERE. Besides all the friends and family ready to welcome Nicholas home, his pets that include a cat, 2 dogs and a miniature horse all await his return.
More pictures from the prayer time are available HERE.
