To Ruthi with Love

08/17/2026

❤️‍🩹 Ruthi’s Surgery Day 🤕

Today is a BIG day for our sweet Ruthi. 🙏🏻

She will be going into surgery to remove her external brain drain and replace it with a complete new shunt drainage system. The surgeons will go in through her skull and also through her stomach to place the new system.

This will be Ruthi’s third brain surgery in just one month. It’s been an incredibly long and difficult road, but she continues to amaze me and everyone with her strength and courage.

Ruthi and I would be so grateful for your prayers today—for God’s Presence and Shalom in the operating room, Ruthi’s safety, the surgeons’ hands and wisdom, a successful surgery, no complications, and a smooth recovery. Most of all, please pray that this new system will work perfectly, no infection and finally allow Ruthi to begin healing. ❤️‍🩹🤕

Thank you for continuing to love, pray for, and support Ruthi and our little family. Your generosity and encouragement have carried us through so much. We feel every prayer. 🙏🏻

https://gofund.me/ef22aa7fb

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me.”
— Psalm 28:7

08/15/2026

So brave! CT scan today. When she was little, she used to need sedation for these. Now she’s happy to comply. 🤩

08/15/2026

A little update on Ruthi ❤️‍🩹

We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the incredible generosity, love, and support you have shown Ruthi and our family. Every gift, message, prayer, and act of kindness has meant more than we can put into words. Thank you for standing with us through this journey.

Ruthi loves to draw. 🎨❤️ And in many ways, what she can’t express with words, she expresses through her drawings. It’s such a beautiful window into her heart—a glimpse of how she is processing the people, experiences, emotions, and changes happening all around her. Her drawings often say things she simply doesn’t know how to say. (I like my hat in her drawing 🤣🥰)

Next week is a BIG week for Ruthi. We are holding onto hope and trusting God one day at a time. We cherish your love, support, and especially your prayers more than you know.

Please keep praying for Ruthi’s physical healing, emotional and mental well-being, peace, strength, and deep soul rest. Pray that she feels safe, comforted, and surrounded by God’s presence as she continues through this difficult chapter.

Thank you for loving my girl. Thank you for believing with us. And thank you for helping carry us through. ❤️

https://gofund.me/2fb703465

Psalm 68:5
“A Father of the fatherless and a Judge for the widows is God in His holy habitation.”

08/14/2026

Even at 15, she’s still my baby girl.
Love watching her sleep.
Day 12 in the hospital
Day 28 since the journey began.

Please keep your prayers coming!
JESUS IS OUR HEALER!

Thank you THANK YOU 😭🙌🏼 to each and everyone of you for being with us in this season!
Much love from Ruthi and me.

https://gofund.me/3058c16b6

08/13/2026

This picture truly speaks a thousand words. I share it to give you a glimpse into what Ruthi is experiencing right now—and to ask you to pray for her heart. ❤️🙏🏻 One of the hardest parts of this hospital journey has been the emotional side of it all.

One of the hardest things is that Ruthi has a very difficult time understanding why she can’t go home. She doesn’t understand why it can’t be today. Why it can’t be tomorrow.

Ruthi is not only dealing with physical pain, lack of sleep, impaired mobility, medications, and everything her body has been through—she’s also away from home, away from her routine, and away from the things that bring her joy and comfort.

She hasn’t been able to do the things she loves in her room or playroom. She missed the first day of 9th grade. She missed meeting her teachers at her school meet and greet. She missed seeing friends. She misses her dogs. 🐾 She misses sleeping in her own bed. She misses picking out her clothes every morning. She misses home.

We know she WILL get out of this hospital. We know she WILL come home. We know there WILL be a day when she is back in her room, playing with her toys, loving on her dogs, seeing her friends, and doing all the little things she misses so much.

But right now, she doesn’t understand that. She just knows she wants to go home.

So please pray for Ruthi’s emotional well-being as much as you pray for her physical healing. Pray for deep soul rest from the trauma she has experienced since her surgery on July 18. Pray that God would surround her with His peace and comfort, give her understanding when she can’t make sense of what is happening, and fill her with hope when she can’t see the end of this journey. 🙏🏻❤️

And we are believing God for restoration—more than what has been lost. 🙏🏻

We’re believing for physical healing, emotional healing, and even greater cognitive healing to come out of all of this.

And when Ruthi finally gets to come home, we are believing she will step into 9th grade better than ever! ❤️

Thank you for continuing to pray, give, encourage, visit, message, and stand with our family. Your love and support have carried us through so much. We are deeply, deeply grateful. 🙏🏻❤️

https://gofund.me/48e5d3319

08/03/2026

https://gofund.me/6b9d242a7

My name is Shannon Henderson, and it is an honor to organize t… Shannon Henderson needs your support for Help Jennifer Stay by Ruthi's Side During This Battle

02/23/2026

Someone got a big girl haircut! She went from looking 15 to 25 within minutes! They grow up so fast!!! 🤩

02/20/2026

Happy 15th birthday to this beautiful jewel! 🥳🥰
Love you Ruthi!! You have grown into such a beautiful, tender, caring, nurturing, hilarious, spunky, beautiful young lady! I pray that this year is going to be one of your best yet! It’s such an honor to be your mom!

02/01/2026

It is hard to believe that Ruthi will be celebrating her 15th birthday in mid-February!!! WOW!

10/11/2025

Ruthi update! Ru had her routine MRI on Monday. We have to do this every 2 years to make sure her shunt system in her head is working properly. When we first adopted Ruthi, she had shunt replacements almost every year. Many of you remember the journey! Anyway, since she’s had this shunt replacement in Boston in 2016… We have had zero problems with the mechanism! And I’m pleased to report that things are still working well! Thank you, God!!!
And Ruthi did great with the MRI and times passed we’ve had to sedate her because of the trauma behind her past surgeries. But this time she was able to do it without sedation and only with a couple tears. 🥰🥳🙌🏼🙏🏼