Thank you, Ethan

Ethan Powell never learned to walk or probably to talk very much. He spent much of his 16 months of life in pain as his tiny body battled leukemia.

Yet, he was one of the most powerful evangelists this area has seen. The night of his diagnosis, Ethan's father, Ben, set up a website asking for prayers. Within weeks, it became a phenomenon as tens of thousands of people across the country checked in to read the daily progress reports from St. Jude Hospital in Memphis. Ethan's picture appeared around town at bone marrow drives and benefits. Throughout, the Powells kept reminding us that "Prayer Works!"

For whatever reason, the miracle of a cure was not realized for Ethan. It's tempting to say that we didn't pray enough or didn't have enough faith. But I would still consider him a miracle worker. It's a miracle his parents had such faith that they would share their story so openly. It's a miracle that leukemia has received renewed attention and people were willing to give their own bone marrow if it would help. It's a miracle that so many people came together to pray.

We are all still praying, for the family and for a cure.

Team Ethan

The pictures of the St. Jude patients along the way are what got me through the St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon last December. Who knew that a few months later I would be writing about and everyone in town would be talking about a new patient?

Ethan Powell, an infant leukemia patient from Shreveport, will have his own teams at this year's race. One group will do the 5K and another will do the Half Marathon (13.1 miles). With four months to go, y'all have plenty of time to train for the half. It's a well run race, and you can't beat the cause. If you want to learn more about Team Ethan, here's the link to the MySpace page.

And to paraphrase Ben's dad, prayer works for running!