Her HMO just approved her for a somewhat experimental transplant for which the family must travel to another city. An 11 year old child in the family is going to be the donor. The costs of traveling/lodging at the location etc are being covered by insurance. However, Cody's fans all wanted to help the girl in some way. Cody's mom decided to set up a fund, administered by the Doris Day Animal Foundation , in order to collect some money so something nice could be done for the child, to make her feel happy while she is undergoing treatment that may last as long as 6 weeks. The family is leaving for the other city on October 4th, so we are trying to raise some funds before the end of September.Anyone interested in making a small contribution should send it to:
The Doris Day Animal Foundation P.O.Box 673 Carmel, CA. 93921(If you have any questions about the legitimacy of the fund, please call the Foundation :831-624-4918) The donation should be marked for the purpose of 'Cody's girl'..
Anyone interested in becoming a bone marrow donor and giving the gift of life, PLEASE call 1-800-MARROW-2
Update 11/01/99Day 25 after transplant Posted by Nancy B at 19:17:11:
After days and days and days of "bad counts", Cody's Little Girl platelets AND her neutrophils are SLOWLY starting to climb today...Yay!!! She had a fever over the weekend, but negative labs for infection, and no fever today.
Overall, she's looking good, and WANTS TO GO HOME!!! But she can't just yet... This week should tell us whether the new marrow is up to the job we need it to do, and then we're in for another wait to see if she'll reject it or develop a chronic rejection syndrome (less likely than if she had had a conventional transplant, but not impossible.)
Update: 11/22/99
From email sent by Nancy B. at 5:28PM
Well, it looks like we got a successful engraftment of the marrow over the weekend! Your Little Girl's counts jumped from 0 to 3,000 and then to 10,000 this morning -- still need more, but these big jumps indicate that something great is happening, and it must be the brothers' marrow, because CDL never did this much neutrophil production in her lifetime.
We had given up on Friday and had scheduled a meeting with the family to tell them and discuss options...then BOOM! We sent the blood back twice to be sure this was not a lab error. She could still reject, but this is very very good news indeed for today.
Posted by Nancy B on February 18, 2000 at 14:53:26:
We are still hoping that Cody's Little Girl will be going in a few weeks for her next bone marrow transplant. If this can't be coordinated, then we're shooting for April. Her mother will be the donor this time, because they will be replacing a lot more of CLG's own marrow, and it is better to use an adult for this kind of major "harvest." This is much riskier than the first try--lots of harsh chemo before and after, she will be a lot sicker, and there is risk of fatality if her system rejects the new marrow. She will be away from us for up to three months. Without it, though, she will continue to live "on the edge" of death, with a severely restricted life, and will almost surely die eventually, probably sooner rather than later. We and her Mom left this up to her, and she wants to go for it.
She wrote Cody a note today, which said...
"Dear Cody, I am taking my medicine but am OK. I am Living for you. Will you live for me, too?"
Posted by Nancy B on March 17, 2000 at 18:34:17:
The bone marrow harvest went well, and they infused the marrow into Cody's Little Girl late this afternoon. She's still throwing up all the time, but is feeling a little better, and was able to draw and talk a little today.
She has Cody's picture with her, as well as many of the wonderful things you all sent ("the nice cat people", as she calls you!)
Thank you so much AGAIN for your support, your love, and your spiritual strength.
Cody's little girl is still battling her immune disease. She still spends too much time in the hospital and can not attend school. The bone marrow
donors were never better than a 50 percent match.
Still she has an unbeatable spirit and talks to Cody on the phone from time to time.
