| PLEASE BEAR WITH ME WHILE THIS PAGE IN UNDER CONSTRUCTION. I AM IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING A NEW GUESTBOOK AND HOPE TO HAVE IT SOON. THANKS! When I first started this page, I was a teacher's assistant in preschool which I loved, but I was assigned to the first grade classroom in 1999 and I loved it too! |
| I wanted to do this page because two of my children had rare medical problems and if I can help a parent to face these types of problems I want to do that. |
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My first child, a son named Zackary, was born on his half-sister Christy's 20th birthday. He was a hefty 9 lbs. and 10 oz. I had no pain, the labor and delivery was a breeze. He seemed to be the perfect child. All of that changed at his 3-month checkup when our doctor discovered that his liver was enlarged and sent us to Lebonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, TN. After extensive testing, he was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma, a rare liver cancer. He was only 3 months old! We were then sent to St. Jude's Children's Research Center where he began chemotherapy immediately. We were in and out of the hospital (mostly in) for 2 months when his doctors told us that the chemo wasn't working and that they would need to do surgery. He was then sent back to LeBonheur for the surgery, and although he fought the good fight, his little body just couldn't handle it. They had removed a large portion of his liver and his other organs just began to fail. On November 12, 1990 my son, my first-born child died in my arms. It it really hard for me to think about, even now, but I really would like for everyone to know what wonderful people work at St. Jude and LeBonheur and if I can help anyone who is facing a terrible disease like childhood cancer please e-mail me and let me know. It is the most terrible thing for a parent to face and I know for a fact that it helps to talk to someone who has been there. Please visit Zack's page and please feel free to e-mail me anytime. Our second child, a daughter named Aja, was born on New Year's Eve, 1991. Again, the labor and delivery was a breeze. (Most women hate me for saying that, but in my case it was true!) She weighed 7 lbs., 9 ozs. and she was, (and still is), beautiful. She is 9 years old now,in the third grade, and also in gifted classes. We are very proud of her! She is very smart, and (thankfully) has no health problems. She knows that her big brother died before she was born and even though she never met him, she still gets sad when she thinks about him. She says "Mama, I wish I could have seen him and talked to him." She also knows that her little sister has health problems, and she is such a big girl about it! She even learned how to give her the growth hormone shots while they visited my Mom in another state! Please visit her page and sign her guestbook so she will know you were here! Our other daughter Cassidy, was born in 1993. She came after a very traumatic delivery because I had placenta previa. I bled profusely before I got to the hospital and almost went into shock. I had to have an emergency c-section and when I woke up my baby was not in the room with me. They had whisked her off to neonatal intensive care and she was not doing well at all, but they weren't sure what was wrong with her. It was only after her heart started acting up that they sent her to another hospital and she was diagnosed with a coarctation of the aorta, and Turner's Syndrome. TS is a chromosome abnormality that causes a lot of strange symptoms, one of them being the coarctation of the aorta. She had heart surgery when she was 11 days old. She has had a variety of medical problems since then but she is really a little trooper. She is now 7 years old and in the first grade. She made the A honor roll the last nine weeks and we are very proud of her! We hope you will visit the Turner's Syndrome link on this page to learn more about this syndrome. Please visit her page also, to find out more about her! |
| I must not close this page without mentioning 3 other people. The first one is my husband Tony. He is a wonderful husband and father. He likes playing guitar, working on our web pages, and riding his Harley. The other 2 people I want to mention are my step-daughter Christy and her husband Scott. They are a great couple and they are so sweet to her dad's "other family". She loves her half-sisters and they love her dearly. |
| So that is my family! If there is anyone out there who is dealing with hepatoblastoma or Turners Syndrome, please feel free to e-mail me. I would love to help you if I can. Even if I can't answer a particular question, maybe I can point you in the right direction. Or, if you just want to chat, I love to chat so send me a note and I will do my best to write back!!
Just a note about the background on this page. I told a friend that I regretted that my girls never got to meet their big brother and that I wished I had at least one picture of all three of them together. She suggested that I get a friend who is a wonderful artist to draw one from three separate pictures. That is what I did and I couldn't be more pleased. This picture is one of my most treasured possesions! |
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| I have gotten most of my graphics from the internet and tried to give credit for all of them but if you see a graphic that I need to give credit for please email and let me know and I will be glad to give you a link. |
