MRI UPDATE – May 7, 2006

Emily had an MRI on Friday May 5 at UNC. The MRI showed that Emily’s tumor is stable and seems to be a little less defined around one of it’s margins, which is good. She saw all of her doctors and nurses, for whom we are so grateful for their care and knowledge. We visited our 5th Floor family at UNC Children’s Hospital and gave out alot of hugs. We also got to see Linda Mansman who worked so closely with us and Dr. Gold the first few days of Emily’s diagnosis in Chapel Hill. Linda jumped hoops to help Emily’s mom and dad sort through paperwork and taught them the basics in caring for Emily after she left the hospital. Dr. Morris, Emily’s radiologist, took time to compare previous MRI images with us and show us the significant decrease of the tumorous lesion since Oct. 1, 2005. It was reassuring to see the improvement. Thanks to everyone who cared for us Friday at UNC! For now, we will continue with her monthly chemo. routine and bimonthly MRI’s. Emily’s Godparents took care of Jake Thursday evening and Friday while we were in Chapel Hill. We made a last minute decision to leave Thursday night for our Friday appointment as some of the appointment times were changed earlier than originally planned. Once again, Jane and Stan to the rescue! Thanks! Emily became a local “celebrity” Thursday evening on the local NBC news channel (WECT). She was interviewed for the upcoming Relay for Life. Emily will be one of the children to lead the Survivor’s Walk Friday, May 19. She and her friend, Sarah Price, will be cutting the ribbon to start the walk that night, also. Em did a great job and had fun being on TV. Emily attended a Cancer Survivor’s Reception this afternoon sponsored by the Relay for Life Team. We had a nice time and appreciate one of our nurses, Wanda Bass, for including Emily in this year’s event. Emily is making progress with speech and physical therapies. New Hanover County has provided us with a remarkable team of very dedicated specialists. We are grateful for their time and energy. Emily has two more weeks of Kindergarten preschool. She will “graduate” on Saturday, May 20. Please continue to pray for Emily, her family and her physicians. We ask that God continues to grant us the miracle of healing, and that we also might have strength and courage to face our “new normal” one day at a time.