The miracles began for Austin even before he was born. Problems arose right away and we soon learned that Austin was a twin and we had lost one early on. Later we were told our baby was incompatible with life. At only 14 weeks along we decided to take each day at a time. We asked God to help us.

Before the age of six, Austin had four surgeries to rid him of the constant ear infections. Again miracles were shown to us in our beautiful boy as he began to sing. As little as three, Austin began to memorize nursery rhymes and would spend hours on the computer singing them. Finally after 6 years of struggle everything slowed down, maybe to give us a break for what was to come. On January 5 2005, at age 8 Austin was diagnosed with cancer (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia). How were we to explain this horrible disease to our beautiful little boy? The cancer had ripped through his frail little body causing extreme pain, and new challenges arrived each day.
Life would never be the same for our entire family as we spent a lot of time in the hospitals and alone, away from any possible germs. We saw every day as a miracle as we watched all the brave children battle for life with smiles on their faces. Austin constantly amazed us as he challenged himself, 2 months after being diagnosed he sang the National Anthem at a Green Bay Gamblers game and then again at a Green Bay Packer game for 67,000 people. He has helped to raise thousands of dollars for charities with the sale of his cd and had won a national singing competition in Las Vegas. Again God had helped us to see miracles. After a dream, one night upset and confused Austin awoke. He explained in great detail:  He said, my grandpa was reading to me and he told me it would get very scary (Austin’s grandpa died before he was born) Austin was told to hold his hand tight. Together they were thrown on the tail of a large colorful dragon. I was so scared Austin said, but held on tight. The dragon threw us to the bottom of the ocean and my grandpa died down there, and I thought I was alone. Then a bright light shown down through the water and a beautiful white dove came and said, grab on to my wing and I will save you. I was scared but held on to his beautiful wing, because I wanted to live. God was there with me and the fear was gone. The next day Austin talked about sharing his inspirational dream with the world in a song. Singing is a great release for him and has helped to bring him through a lot of difficult times. It has been almost 2 years now and we are not sure why God has chosen this path for us, but we believe if we hold on to hope and gather strength from God and all the beautiful people we have met along the way, we can endure anything. We will never stop searching for all the miracles in life. We hope Austin’s story will send a message of hope and love. Each of us has struggles in life and we need to look a little harder and we will all find miracles.


God Bless,
Austin DeGroot and family

Well, where to begin, so much has happened! Austin has finished his two and a half year treatment plan of chemotherapy, spinal taps and bone marrow aspirations. We know that cancer doesn't disappear with the end of treatment and we will continue our fight, just in a different way.We have so many questions, how do you destroy what you can't even see or understand? We are told it is difficult to come off such a intense course of medicine, to lose the security blanket that all the protocol provides, yes it is scary and yet we are so thankful. We have been given a second chance, and we are making the most of each day! We placed Austin on a long list of natural medicines to help his body repair and feel confident about each one.It has taken so long, but we are finally starting to feel that we may overcome cancer. For now Austin is feeling great and becoming stronger every day.Our family is staying in Hilton Head South Carolina to escape the horrible cold weather in Wisconsin. The sun has been so healing and we can see the benefit every day. Austin and Breanna have started school here and enjoying all the wonderful people. We have spent a lot of time on the beach and in our beautiful home. God is so good and has brought so many wonderful people into our lives. We would like to extend a special thank you to everyone who has been so supportive and helped us along this journey, it continues to be frightening but we know that we are not alone.