Welcome Friends!
Stella M.
Arkansas
Birthdate - March 20, 2009
Main Diagnosis - Medulloblastoma
Biography
Stella Rose was born a healthy 8 pound precious baby girl. She has
been a very active and quite smart precocious girl from the start. School
started this year with a bang. She always looked forward to being with her
friends and teachers those two days a week.
Less than a week prior to her diagnosis, I noticed she was holding her head to
the side, like she had a crick in her neck. Automatically, I assumed this is
what we were dealing with until Thursday of that week when she began walking
funny, almost like she had been spinning in circles. I immediately took her to
our pediatrician where she was diagnosed with acute cerebellar ataxia, which is
a non-threatening illness that typically fixes itself. The next day she was much
worse and the doctor checked her again, recommending we go to the children's
hospital.
Then our world turned upside down. We were given the news that our daughter has
a medulloblastoma, which is a cancerous tumor and it had spread beyond the
primary tumor to areas surrounding the brain and along the spine. The tumor was
removed on Halloween a few days later. She then had as shunt put in when the
cancer grew over the healing time and caused hydrocephalus or water on the
brain. This has been followed by an intense round of chemo. Meanwhile she has
also had a port and a catheter put in to draw blood and collect stem cells.
To put it mildly, our baby girl has been put through the ringer. She has held
her bunny and used her pacifier to soothe her during these tough days. She also
has received quite a reputation and an unwilling guest to all the strange people
messing with her. She has even yelled at us.
We will be living in the hospital for around three months straight, battling the
effects of chemo and low blood counts. Fortunately we live fairly close to our
hospital, but we miss the comforts of our home in that small and often
disruptive hospital room. We will then continue treatments for the next three
months with about half that time being spent in the hospital.
Our Stella Rose is a fighter who has parents and a brother that love and need
her. She and her Bubba have a close relationship, defying the normal sibling
rivalries. He reads to her and tells her stories before bed. She allows him to
brush her teeth when no one else can. I cannot accept anything less than a
healthy child.
We feel with God guiding us , the power of prayer and the loving people caring
for her, our miracle of bringing home a healthy baby girl will happen. There is
no other option!
When you sign up to stitch for Love Quilts you will get a confirmation of your sign up. If your pattern is a duplicate you will be asked to pick another pattern.
We encourage you to join the LoveQuiltsUSA Yahoo group to check the pattern listing for duplications yourself before you sign up.
The lists of patterns already being stitched are posted on the database. LoveQuiltsUSA is an open group so you can sign up easily and view the patterns right away. Please follow this link to sign into the Love Quilts Yahoo Group...
Once there click on the link "database" on the right to view the children and their patterns. Once you find a pattern that you want to stitch and have confirmed it is not already being stitched you may return to the sign up form, fill it in and submit it. If you have any questions about the yahoo group please email Cyberfogie@aol.com, Vicki, for further instructions (yahoo groups email only!) Thanks!
THANK YOU
I want you to know we received the quilt and the picture has not done it justice. It is beautiful! Little Bear is one of her favorite shows. Thank you so much for all the hard work that went into this and all the projects your team of quilters puts into helping others needing smiles.
Much love
