We often speak of the rarity of a precious human rebirth, but four-year old Asia Claus’ is rarer than most – her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother are all American-born Buddhists, the latter two practicing as nuns. Under their Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo’s guidance, (their Lama) Asia’s parents secured her a place at one of the finest facilities in the country, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee (Jetsunma told them, “A miracle is waiting for you there.”), and the greater Sangha vowed to accumulate five million Seven Line Prayers dedicated to her recovery. Asia’s condition was quite serious. A Wilm’s tumor, that earlier had necessitated the removal of a kidney, recurred as a nodule on each of Asia’s lungs. This bitter development radically decreased her odds for survival.
Let’s let Asia’s mom, Laura, tell the rest:
“[Asia] had the tumor on her right lung removed in Phoenix in November, then we
transferred her care to St. Jude with Jetsunma’s blessing…She started chemo and radiation right away and when her next CT was done, we had seen that the nodule in her left lung had shrunk by two thirds. We continued on for another few weeks with chemo. Then it was time for another CT, which showed that the nodule had stopped shrinking. So the doctors wanted to take it out.

“This is the interesting part. The surgery was needle-guided, meaning they put Asia out, and gave her a CT. During the CT they could see the nodule and inserted a needle into her that showed them exactly where the nodule was. Then they took her up to surgery, took out that part of the lung and a bit of surrounding area. At this point the surgeon says he felt around that part of the lung and didn’t feel anything abnormal. When the biopsy of the lung came back, all that was found was normal healthy lung.

“We had to wait five more weeks to do a checkup CT, and our doctor had told us there was a small chance that the surgeon had missed the nodule, but that it was unlikely because it was a needle/CT guided surgery. Then when the checkup CT was finally done, it was all clear!”

Twenty-one years of ceaseless prayer! KPC celebrates an unbroken chain of hours of prayer to end suffering for all beings. We invite all who have participated by praying or requesting prayers for others to share their experience here.