TEXARKANA MAGAZINE
The Frank family in November 2025 Turner, Jeff, Bridger, Faith, and Baker
T his Christmas, the Frank family understands what the greatest gift truly is. It is not wrapped. It cannot be placed under a tree. It is life itself, restored through healing and faith tested in the fire. For Jeff and Faith Frank, the past eleven months stripped away nearly everything they owned. Their savings vanished. They lost their home. Plans to build were dissolved. What they gained instead cannot be measured in dollars or square footage. Their two-year-old son, Bridger, became the center of everything they lost and everything they would fight to keep. “It was December 2024,” Faith said. “I had just had our third baby, Baker, and was alone in my car singing when a song I had not heard in years came to mind. It is called ‘Blessings’ by Laura Story. The song talks about how God uses trials as blessings. I felt the Lord say to me that something was coming. I immediately knew it was not a good thing. I begged Him not to allow it.” Less than a month later, her mother’s intuition knew the truth she did not want to face. On January 27, 2025, one day after their oldest son Turner’s fifth birthday celebration, Bridger was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia with central nervous system involvement. What Faith had sensed in that car was now undeniably real. Bridger had battled the flu for ten days, and preliminary blood work indicated something was terribly wrong. “I remember asking
our pediatrician, Dr. Rachel King, if it could be cancer,” Faith said. “She did not answer right away. She was kind and wise enough to shelter me from the inevitable, but I could tell she knew. Later, when she called and told me to get to Arkansas Children’s Hospital immediately, I knew what we were facing.” Jeff rushed home, they threw some clothes in the car, and drove to Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Upon arriving, they re-ran the blood work and told them it was likely leukemia, a parent’s worst nightmare. Jeff and Faith met with the oncology team, where they learned treatment would last two and a half to three years. The induction phase began—the first 28 days of intensive treatment. Bridger had steroids, two chemo treatments a week, and a spinal tap every week that month. He gained a lot of weight, and he was so weak he could not navigate a four-inch step or get on the couch without assistance. He slept most of the time and ate uncontrollably. Unfortunately, after that 28-day phase, he was not cancer-free, but his cancer load had reduced significantly. “When he was diagnosed, 90% of his bone marrow was cancer, and cancer was detectable in free blood samples,” Faith said. “After 28 days, only 0.006% cancer was left.” Bridger then entered the second phase, known as the consolidation phase, which, in many ways, was harder than the induction phase. It lasted eight weeks. “The doctors told us they
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LIFE & STYLE
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