Saturday, September 22, 2007

Praises for Jillian!

I'm not sure if I'd shared Jillian here so I'm going to give a little history of how I know her and her family! When Jordyn was dx and we moved back to the states for Jordyn to be treated (tx) at Walter Reed we were living at the Ronald McDonald House. There Barbara the house manager told me about listserv which has group after group of different support groups online for those battling cancers of all sorts (and many other diseases). On one of them I believe it was the AML board I met Jessica. Mom of twin girls (and a son) who both had AML leukemia. Jillian was in remission when we met and Jade was fighting like Jordyn. Jordyn and Jade had their BMT's just a day apart. Jade relapsed quickly after her BMT and Feb 4, 2000 went home to Heaven. When I called Jessica because Jordyn had relapsed I didn't know Jade had died. Jessica let me cry, share my fears, etc even in her own grief. Jillian did relapse, had a BMT (bone marrow transplant), relapsed again....and then a few months ago she was dx with a whole other cancer, osteosarcoma, which is a cancer in her leg. The Osteo is a whole other diagnosis, it's a completely seperate cancer...so they still count her bone marrow transplant as a success and they just found out that she's still 100% donor, which is FABULOUS news!! One of these days our families will meet in person.

In the mean time I keep up with them online, pray for them, love them. I hope you'll go and visit Jillian and pray for her, celebrate the victories, etc.
www.caringbridge.org/visit/joyfuljillian

1 comments:

Kelly said...

It always amazes me how unfair this whole cancer thing is. She must be quite an amazing little girl. And her mommy must be exhausted.