The Catholic Sun :: Phoenix Diocesan Newspaper

“We were open to life to begin with,” he said. “Then when you’ve got the life, you’ve got to be open to what you get with the life because having the baby is just the beginning. You don’t know where it’s going to take you.”

For the Wrens, Brigid’s birth has been a painful and joyous journey that has deepened their faith and helped them discover a community of support in the most unlikely ways.

At 18 months, their little girl — who is named after St. Brigid of Ireland, patron saint of babies — was diagnosed with leukemia.

“She just started to walk around like this arthritic old woman, just stiff and hurting,” Joan said. “She was never a happy baby.”

While her doctors initially suspected a bone disease, a parishioner at St. Anne in Gilbert observed Brigid every Sunday and knew something more serious ailed the frail toddler. The parishioner — a pediatrician — approached the Wrens after Mass and inquired if they needed a doctor.

He introduced the Wrens to a pediatric hematologist and oncologist who eventually confirmed their daughter had leukemia.

“Nobody wanted to do the bone marrow test because it’s a gruesome, painful procedure,” Tim said. After the lab work proved positive, Brigid started treatment immediately.

“It’s been hard on them,” Tim said, referring to his older sons, 16-year-old Mike and 12-year-old Nick, who have had to rely on friends to get to their classes at Brophy College Preparatory and Christ the King.

“Chemo has different stages. So the induction phase was very, very difficult and there were about six or eight months of going into the hospital once or twice a month and staying there while she got treatment,” he said. “And the drugs are powerful, nasty drugs. Some of them are hazardous materials. You can’t transport them.”

A child shall lead them

It has been difficult for the Wrens to watch the drugs sap Brigid’s youthful spirit. She lost weight, threw up often and suffered partial nerve damage in her legs, briefly disabling her walking ability. As a result, playing with friends wasn’t always possible.

For Joan, that meant leaving the house was a rarity.

“For the first year, I don’t think I cooked a meal. I couldn’t and I love to cook,” she said. “I just didn’t have the chance to do that with her. She clung to me. She was almost like an appendage.

“Most of the time I just sat like this,” Joan said, as she sat in the family living room while Brigid, one hand resting on her mother’s neck, slept in her arms.

So the community rallied behind the family. Parishioners of Christ the King in Mesa and St. Anne brought the family meals and drove the Wren children to school.

One woman, who was battling cancer herself, assisted them twice a week with laundry.

Son Mike’s carpool mom Barbara Lucas, an occupational nurse, has become a family friend and was instrumental in helping the Wrens turn the disease into something positive.

Lucas helped the Wrens launch Brigid’s Brigade, a ministry that goes throughout the community hosting bone marrow drives and fundraisers for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, one of the largest voluntary health organizations funding blood cancer research.

“And a little child shall lead them,” Joan said. “This little child has rallied people. She has awakened our community from their slumber and they have just rallied around us. They are praying fervently for us.”

Even churches with Brigid’s namesake in the Emerald Isle have been praying for the rambunctious 4-year-old who isn’t afraid to punch her doctor in the nose if she suspects he’s going to stick another needle in her.

“She’s more of a Teresa of Avila than a Therese of Lisieux,” said Tim of Brigid, who loves to recite the rosary with her mother and pray to Padre Pio.

It’s this fighting spirit that led to some welcome news — Brigid’s leukemia is in remission. While this is what they’ve waited to hear, it’s difficult for the Wrens to trust that the chemo has done its work and that their routine can return to some sense of normalcy.

“You just have to trust God, because none of us get a free pass,” Tim said.

Claudia I. Provencio/CATHOLIC SUN

Joan Wren and her 4-year-old daughter Brigid have much to celebrate these days. Brigid’s leukemia is in remission after years of battling the disease. The family credits the prayers and support from their parish community.