Cache Valley Cancer Kids

After Erin was diagnosed with cancer we really wanted to find other families in our area who also had kids with cancer.  It took us awhile, but we are now in contact with several families in our valley who have kids that have had cancer.  It has been so therapeutic to have cancer friends close by.  We have started up Cache Valley Cancer Kids, a group of families that are teaming together to find a cure for cancer!

We put together a team for the 2nd annual CureSearch walk!  We did the walk last year and our Team Little Air Bear raised nearly $2000 dollars!  We are so excited to be teaming together with other families and are super excited to enjoy the cancer walk again.  The BEST part: 100% of ALL donations will go directly to childhood cancer research.

Feel free to check out our blog:
www.cachevalleycancerkids.blogspot.com

We have bios on some of the kids in our valley who have cancer as well as information about what we are trying to do.

Benefit Concert!!

I'm finally achieving my goal to put on a Benefit Concert for Childhood Cancer Research.  I am thrilled to share the news that several very talented musicians have agreed to donate a performance!

Mark your calendar and come if you can.  If you can't make it, please consider donating to childhood cancer research in honor of Erin.

Cache Valley audiences will recognize Vanessa Ballam in her recent role as Maria, in the Sound of Music.  She spent three years as a Resident Actor at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria and last year as a visiting professor of Theatre at Utah State University.  Vanessa currently serves as Education Director at UFMOT continuing the tradition of Arts Education in the lives of the youth of our Valley.  A former Miss Utah, Vanessa received the Bert Parks talent award while at the Miss America Pageant.

Pianist Brandon Lee has been thrilling audiences for well over 20 years.  Brandon has won first place in more than 40 state, regional, and national competitions.  He has soloed with the Utah Symphony three times and with orchestras in Colorado and California.  He has had the privilege of working with such artists as Leon Fleisher, Stephen Hough, and Olga Kern.

At the age of 8, Trenton Chang, won 1st place in the UMTA State Piano Concerto Competition.  In 2009 and 2011 Trenton was chosen to perform with the Utah Symphony in Abravanel Hall.  In May 2010 he was invited to perform the entire Mozart Concerto No. 23 in the Beverly Sorenson Young Artists.  This March, Trenton appeared on NPR's From the Top.  Trenton is enjoying 8th grade and loves to hike and travel.

Stefan Espinosa has appeared in theaters across the United States, from the central coast of California tothe Bayou's of Texas. Currently Stefan serves as the Conservatory Director for Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre where he also teaches acting and musical theatre classes.  This Summer Stefan will appear in leading roles in three OLRC shows including Huckleberry Finn from Big River.  

Sophie Spreier is in her second year studying Music Performance at Utah State University. Playing music has brought Sophie to audiences in Mexico, Canada, and multiple states with her favorite experience being a trip to New York City for a lesson with Yo-Yo Ma. Sophie aspires to become a freelance studio musician in the film industry.

Nicole Tolson began violin studies at age four and competed in her first National violin competition and was chosen to play at the Suzuki Association of America conference, five years later.  By age eleven, she was touring Poland, with a special performance in Prague and Poland. Throughout her teen years she performed in Florence, Rome, Siena, and Venice.  Nicole is a scholarship student at Utah State University majoring in violin performance and performed Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto as a soloist with the Utah State University Orchestra in 2011.

Azure Kline is honored to be asked to take part in the support of children's cancer research. She started playing the cello twelve years ago, and over the years her passion for music has grown and developed into a life long desire to bless those who hear her, and to share God's love with them. Apart from playing the cello, she loves spending time with her family, hiking, and learning about the american constitutional system. Azure is a senior at Sky View High School, and currently a student of Anne Francis Bayless.

Introducing Erin's First Pigtails!

First pigtails E-V-E-R!

(15 months in remission for AMLeukemia)

Erin is nearly 4 years old and we had to do a little photo shoot of her darling pigtails.  We never did them before cancer because her hair was so bad back then - she was anemic for over a year before being diagnosed with AML and that caused her hair to be brittle and dry so I rarely put elastics in it.  Now she has a head full of healthy, shinny, silky hair that can be nicely styled in pigtails.

Enjoy the pictures of Erin hamming it up!

I think it was funny that she choose to wear her Make-A-Wish shirt to preschool, it is the first time she's worn it anywhere besides a Make-A-Wish event.  Later in the afternoon the kids and I visited a few local pediatrician offices to get some HopeKids brochures passed around Cache Valley.  We love HopeKids and all that they have done for our family!  We are so proud to announce that HopeKids is coming to Cache Valley and will start holding activities for families here who have a child with cancer or other life threatening illness in this wonderful valley.

*****

Now a few pictures of my other cute kiddies...

Caleb got ready for preschool on Friday and decided to don his exploring outfit. He wore those binoculars around his neck until it was time for bed, occasionally using them to spot things in the house or yard.

And Cecily, all ready for school.

15 Month Clinic

I took Erin to our local hospital lab this morning for her 15 month follow-up blood test.  We have a little deal with Primary Children's that we take her to our local lab every other visit.  It's just pennies compared to the big bills we get from Primary Children's and we don't have to give up an entire day's time to just get a blood test.

Erin was seriously amazing when they drew her blood, better than she has ever been.  She hardly cried.  She only whimpered a bit when they stuck her.  I held her on my lap, but I didn't have to restrain her from pulling her arm back.  We held hands and she told me she was brave and strong.  She got some sparkly princess stickers for being so good.

She is doing better today, she is still sore from both of her infections and I kept her home from preschool today to give her a rest.  She is having a nap right now and I'm sure the extra sleep is helping her little body heal.  Her blood counts look good, it's always so wonderful to get results that ease our minds about her cancer returning.

Labs from 15 Month Clinic

White Blood Count 9.2 (normal 6.0-17.0)

Hematocrit 43.6 (normal 34.0-40.0)

Platelets 317 (normal 150-400)

ANC 4200 (normal 1500-8500)



Previous Labs from 12 Month Clinic

White Blood Count 8.6

Hematocrit 41.6

Platelets 258

ANC 3600

Double Infections

This blog has really had blogpost-famine.  Until today, when I actually decide to post not just one, but two entries.  I guess I'm just feeling the documentation itch.

The second week of february we had Erin at InstaCare for a serious ear infection which we got all fixed up before our Disneyland trip with some extra-days-on-top-of-the-normal-dosed-days of antibiotics becuase she had finished some antibiotics in January for a sinus infection and we really wanted to just kill all infections in her little body.

After some serious screaming while going pee tonight we had Erin back at InstaCare for what I thought was a bladder infection.  Turns out she's got a yeast infection, ANOTHER ear infection and a fever!  Can't this little girl have a rest? 

And did I mention, today is my birthday.  Happy birthday to me.....when I blew out my candels tonight I totally wished for a trip to InstaCare.  Um, no.  I wished for health for Erin. 

Ok.  I'll be alright.  I'm done with my little vent.  Erin is going to be fine and today is just another day for me to grow older.  I'm going to go relax and do a crossword puzzle.  I have much to be thankful for.  There isn't anything more beautiful than seeing three little kids grinning ear to ear and telling each other not to tell mommy what's in her wrapped presents.

Cooooolds

We've all been a little sick over the last week.  Erin brought home a nasty cold/cough from preschool.  She was the first to get it in our family, and even though it's been through most of us and we're on the mend, she is still in the full swing of runny nose, goopy eyes, nasty cough, etc.  It's not fair that it takes her body soooooooo long to get over things.  She's a good sport through it (most of the time) and she is always telling us that she's sick and that she had to go in the "big O" (CT Scanner) to get pictures taken of the insides of her body. 

I'm a little melancholy thinking about Erin getting sick and having long lasting symptoms.  Mostly I keep cancer thoughts pretty far from my mind, but just last week a dear little 3 year old boy in Utah died of AML.  He was diagnosed only 2 months before Erin, and relapsed when he was 14 months off of treatment.  This week, Erin hits 15 months off of treatment.  To have a little cancer friend die so quickly was a shock, he was only 1 day away from his Bone Marrow Transplant too.  It's just so close to home.  I don't mean to be so down, it's just too real for us.  I try my best not to think about it and really I have done a good job, you'd be proud of me for not dwelling on the bad side of cancer.

I have much to be thankful for and I'm thankful for all of the wonderful months we've had a cancer-free Erin around.  She is so much fun, she loves to tell us all what to do, and she's spoiled sooooo much.  This week we'll be taking Erin in for her blood test.  Lots of prayers for Erin to stay cancer free!

Pictures, Disneyland, and a Piano Lesson

Erin in March 2012!

Doesn't she just look wonderful?  I couldn't be happier with how healthy she has been.  She still catches just about anything she's exposed to since her immune system was battered to death 5 times, but she is really doing remarkably well.  She has her 15 month follow-up blood test at the end of this month.

*****

This afternoon 5 year old Caleb gave 3 year old Erin a piano lesson.

He got the pencil out and was very serious about her doing it correctly.  All fun and games ended with tears when Erin declared that it was "just too hard."

*****

Last month my family held a family reunion at Disneyland.  All 30 of us got together for some great fun and lots of bonding (and there were only 2 cases of strep, one case of the stomach flu, and lots of shared colds that went around!)  It isn't often my family gets together since we all come from Utah, Oregon, New York, and Missouri to be together.

This is Erin with her cousins at Bear Lake in August 2010.  She was between chemo rounds and is the bald-chemo-masked-beauty on the far left.

This is Erin with her cousins at Disneyland in February 2012.

It makes me laugh that she's totally bawling in this picture, she was throwing the biggest fit and we couldn't get all the grandkids to look at the camera, she was much happier once we got to Fantasyland.  (She is on the far right in the purple coat)

Erin and her cousin loving the tea cups.

The girl cousins all dolled up in Ariel's Grotto.

Belle and the girl cousins.

The kids in Dumbo.

John and Erin on the carousel.

Erin and I waiting in line for the tea cups, again.

Waiting out the rain in the Tiki Room.

Harry Potter and Hagrid (made of legos) at Legoland.

Driving her own lego car.

Erin and Bob the Builder (made of legos)

The family at the L.A. Arboretum.