family illness, please pray

My uncle (by marriage) has Crohns Disease.  When he first married my aunt, he wasn't taking very good care of himself.  But, my aunt researched Crohns and talked to some specialists and started my uncle on a diet and supplement regimen that has helped him tremendously. Over the years, he has had his ups and downs.  For a few years, he was well enough to run his own electrician business, but about two years ago, Crohns came back with a vengeance.  He had to give up his business, he's lost a lot of weight, and he's been in and out of the hospital.  He was back in the hospital last week and will have to schedule surgery this week.  He has to have part of his lower intestine and colon removed.  He's 56 or 57 years old.
He's a wonderful man with a huge heart.  He has no children of his own, and he has treated my cousin (age 35), his step-son from my aunt's first marriage, like his own son --- better than most fathers treat their own sons, better than my cousin's father would ever dream of treating my cousin.  My uncle is a wonderful husband and father.  He has helped my cousin in every way and can and taught him every thing he can.  My cousin and his wife has a "gentleman's" farm next door to my aunt and uncle.  When my cousin and his wife are out of town, my aunt and uncle take care of their cows, exotic chickens, potbellied pig, mules, horses, Anatolian shepherd dogs, teacup poodle, and Savannah cat.
My uncle has an older cousin who, along with her husband are both disabled now.  So, my aunt and uncle talked the couple into moving into the house next door to them (the house that my uncle had used as an office for his electrician business), so that my aunt and uncle could help take care of them.  Last summer, the husband managed to get himself electrocuted.  My uncle saw the husband unconscious and slumped over in the back yard.  My uncle called 911 and began CPR on the man.  The EMTs and doctors will tell you that my uncle literally save the man's life.
My uncle's history with canines:          When I first met him, he was terrified of dogs.  He wouldn't even get out of the truck at my house unless I "contained" my dogs.  (I can't blame him, really.  At that time I had a half-chow-half-dalmatian that wouldn't let anyone near me or my daughter unless I said a special word!  Even then, he gave people the "evil eye".)  
1.  Then my cousin, who was 19 at the time, bought an akc Lab puppy, Maggie, that he'd intended to train to duck hunt.  My uncle fell in love with Maggie. My cousin found out that Maggie had hip dysplasia and shouldn't be hunting.  So, when my cousin married, the dog stayed with my aunt and uncle.  
2.  A couple of years later, a sick (bad infection from cuts on her front legs that had spread throughout her body) rottweiler, Sadie, was wandering around and starving in the horse pasture across the road from my aunt and uncle.  My uncle began feeding the dog.  He found out that Sadie belonged to a man down the road, and the man didn't want Sadie.  My uncle took the dog in and spent a fortune on surgery and medication to get the dog well. 
3.  When my cousin and his wife bought the farm next door to my aunt and uncle, they found another Sadie had been left in the basement of the farm house.   This Sadie was a 12 year-old Yorkie, and she had spent her whole life in the dark, cold basement.  Her owner didn't want her, so she was fed once a day and then left alone.  She hated people, and didn't know how to react to other animals.  Sadie would bite my cousin's wife, so the wife couldn't stand Sadie. My uncle took her in and spoiled her rotten.  When my uncle watched TV, Yorkie Sadie sat in his lap.
4.  My cousin bought another akc Lab, Lucy.  When my cousin and his wife had to go out of town, they would bring Lucy over to my aunt's and uncle's and have them "babysit" her.  Big mistake.  Lucy is now my uncle's dog. 
5.  About a  year and a half ago, my uncle was driving down the road on his way home from work.  He saw a shivering, boney, ragged beagle puppy in the ditch.  He went back to get the puppy.  Among other things, she had a severly broken leg -- bone showed through.   My uncle took her home and then to the vet.  Again, my aunt and uncle spent a fortune to get the dog healthy.  Her name is Katie.  Katie has a permanent limp and she is very small for her breed because of malnutrition, but she is spoiled rotten, too.   If you take her in your lap and start "singing", she'll "sing along" with you. They have to be very careful with Katie.  Last fall, she managed to eat one of my aunt's nylon dress socks and they had to have the sock surgically removed.
6.  In the winter of 2012, a couple found out that my uncle takes in "strays".   The couple had a young pit bull (Ginger) that they decided they didn't want because they had a toddler, so they gave her to my uncle.  Ginger was too aggressive around the other dogs, so my uncle found a home for her last Christmas where she will be the only dog.  The people who took Ginger promised to bring her back to my uncle if they changed their minds.
Maggie and Yorkie Sadie died of old age in November.  In spite of the fact that my aunt and uncle have a cat and 3 other dogs, Maggie and Sadie are sorely missed.  But they had it good because of my uncle, and he knows it.  Maggie was my uncle's "first love", so to speak.  There is a photograph in my aunt's china cabinet of Maggie helping my uncle unwrap one of his Christmas gifts, and I crocheted little doggie sweaters for Sadie.
I'm sure you can imagine the toll my uncle's illness takes on my aunt.  She has been determined and devoted to keep him as healthy as humanly possible. They are both good, self-sacrificing people who, in my opinion, deserve better.
I'm sorry this journal is so long.  But I beg you to pray for my aunt and uncle and I want you to know what kind of people for which I'm asking you to pray.
Please pray for them, and many thanks and hugs in advance.