Sorry I didn't update yesterday but we were just enjoying not being in the hospital.  I think this is a record for us of number of days that we have gotten to stay home!!  Yesterday morning we went to have Kassidy's blood counts done and they actually turned out good!!  She did not need any blood or platelets!! God is good!! Her platelets are getting low but we go back on Monday to be checked again and I'm sure she will receive platelets then.  But her Red blood count (hemoglobin) was excellent!  We were so excited and thanking God all day!! We also went to VA Prosthetics and picked up Kassidy's leg again.  Rusty had been making some adjustments and the smile that was on Kassidy's face when she was walking at the office was PRICELESS!!  We haven't seen her smile that big in a long time.  That made our day so much better.  Then when we got home the Make-A-Wish person called and said that we are going to be flying out either the 8th or 9th, she had to make the final arrangements yet.  And Nurse Connie is going to be going with us.  So we called her and she had to make sure it was OK with work.  She called back singing "California here we come!"  Thanks to Leah on 10th floor at Community for allowing Connie to make this trip with us.  The nurses on 10 are great anyway and we feel like they are just part of the family!  But this will give Kassidy (and Danny) a peace of mind to enjoy ourselves while we are gone. We have finished painting Kassidy's room and spent yesterday trying to get the furniture back in order.  We are still waiting on the quilt set to come in from JCPenney but it should be here early next week and her room will be complete.  Then we have to start working on Courtney's room.  So we have been keeping busy.  Also last night Corrine Bookout (friend of ours, originally from gymnastics) brought an electric wheelchair  for Kassidy to use.  Hopefully we will be allowed to take this with us to California (on the airplane - I'l have to call to make sure because with security the way it is you never know) because that would be so nice for her to be able to just go where she wanted without having to get one of us to push her and it wouldn't tire her arms out either.  She hates to be dependent on everyone else and this will give her a little bit of control.  Plus she will have her leg but she gets very tired walking with it so I know she will need the wheelchair there also.  So, we have been having some busy days.  Kassidy has been feeling pretty good but gets blah feeling where she just doesn't feel right...probably her counts going down and she just doesn't feel her best.  But we still make the most of everyday!  We have no plans for today and are just going to enjoy our Saturday at HOME!!! 

Kassidy has been sleeping most of the day.  She came in to watch us painting her room for a little while but the rest of the day has been spent asleep.  Her teachers from last year, Mrs. Murphy and Ms. Aaron, came by to visit today.  Kassidy was asleep most of the time but woke up long enough to talk to them for a little while.  They brought her a scrapbook, with California stickers and other stickers , to keep track of her California trip.  We are looking forward to her trip, even though we are scared about how her health will be during that time.  Tonight we had to wake her up to give her medicine to her and she fought us a little on taking them!  We told her that she couldn't give up now!!  We were doing everything we could to help her but she has to help herself also by taking her medicine.  She has been hurting in her rt side today.  Dr. Fisher did the chest xray to check for anything going on there but nothing obvious to suggest any bony abnormalities but she does have some atelectasis....she is using a breathing apparatus to try to inflate her lungs more.  That should make the pain less in that area.  We laughed last night because she is like a newborn baby and has her days and nights mixed up....she sleeps during the day and then will be up several hours during the wee hours of the morning. And of course one or all of us is up with her.  But these are precious moments as well.  Kassidy hasn't felt like getting out and we know her counts are probably going down after the Chemo so that is understandable.  We pray that the Chemo is working and that she will feel better in the coming weeks to be able to go to California.  Kassidy is sitting here and wanted to thank everyone for all the cards, emails, and prayers and to let everyone know that she is continuing to fight! 

Kassidy asked me last night if we would get to go home today.  I told her there was nothing to keep us there...she was feeling pretty good and actually wanted to leave the hospital.  Most of the time she will tell us she is not ready to leave.  But this time she wanted to go home.  So Dr. Fisher came in this morning, wanted to know how she was doing, said her counts were great and we could go home.  Hallelujah!  Her counts actually were better today then yesterday..and that is after the Chemo! Right now she is in her recliner and sleeping peacefully.  We continue to cling to hope but also know that God is in control.  We rejoice in every moment we have together as a family.  We are waiting to hear from Make-A-Wish again for a final date.  We also are going to be taking a nurse with us on our trip...just in case we need it.  Danny is very nervous about going that far away from home right now but with Connie (the nurse) with us it gives us a little bit of peace of mind.  We continue to receive cards and well wishes and want to thank everyone for these.  It's amazing how supportive everyone has been.  Right now we need all the encouragement and prayers we can get. Again thank everyone for everything and we Praise God for everyday!!

We were discharged from the hospital late yesterday evening.  Kassidy has not ran a fever since we have been home!  She is hurting more these days, but we can control the pain with medicine we have here.  We are scheduled to go back for outpatient chemo again on Monday.  We know we will be back in the hospital by the end of the week because her counts will be low and will probably need blood and platelets.  Then hopefully when we get out of the hospital we will be scheduled for our California trip.  We are still waiting to here from the Make-A-Wish people for a definite date.  We got Kassidy's prosthetic, but it is going to take lots of practice..and we might still need some modifications to be made for it to be comfortable.  We hope to get out some this weekend, hoping Kassidy feels like it.

It seems that both kids on samefight are struggling right now.  I know they are in everyone's prayers and they need prayer more than ever right now.  Continue to pray for Chance and Kassidy, for continued healing and favor, understanding, strength and peace. 

Well, we have been having some great days!!   Kassidy has been feeling good so we have been out and about the past few days. Saturday we went to the motorcycle ride/car show/Kevin Sharp concert.  Kassidy got to meet and talk with Kevin and that was great!!   We didn't get to stay long because the girls had a birthday party to go to for their friend that moved today to JAPAN!!  So that was fun but sad as well, because we will miss them ALOT!!  Katie took Kassidy around the skating rink in her wheelchair.  She had so much fun but got really tired from being gone all day.  Then on Sunday, we went with Aunt Cathy, Uncle Paul,Sarah,Nichole,Grandma and PaPa to Smith Mountain Lake to go out on the boat.  Kassidy had so much fun being with her cousins, dancing and enjoying the boat ride.  But again she got very tired from being out all day!  Today (Mon) we went to Roanoke to Va Prosthetics to be fitted for her prosthetic.  Kassidy was excited but she got very disappointed that the fit was not exactly right so we could not leave with the leg today.  The prosthetist, Rusty, has been great.  Kassidy enjoys giving him a hard time...he makes her smile!!  We want to thank him for all that he has done and continues to do to see Kassidy walk!!  Everyone at Va Prosthetics has been so nice and helpful!!   We hope that after Kassidy's chemo treatment tomorrow that we can go back and her leg will be ready, but we will have to wait and see.  The Make-A-Wish foundation called today to talk about Kassidy's wish and we may be going to California around the week of July 8th, that's not definite yet, we still have to wait for the final date.  Kassidy is really excited that she will have her leg and be walking by then so that she can enjoy it more!  Please continue to pray that the chemo stops the cancer cells from spreading and Kassidy's healing continues.  Pray for peace and understanding and strength through these difficult times.

We finally got out of the hospital on Friday.  Kassidy just has not been feeling very well.  But we were finally ready to come home.  She must have been feeling better when we left because she wanted to go to the mall shopping!!  So we did. Then last night we went to the gym for the Laua party and sleep over.  Courtney stayed all night but Kassidy just went to visit for a while.  She enjoyed talking to all her friends!!  Today we are going to go to the Kevin Sharp concert and then we have a birthday party to go to in Christiansburg.  Hopefully Kassidy will not get too tired.

We have been talking to the make-a-wish coordinator and I think we have it nailed down to what Kassidy wants to do.  She wants to go to California and be taken in a limo to go SHOPPING!  We think the trip will be 4 days and 3 night in California and then the plane ride out and back.  So one day will be spent shopping and then the other 2 days we can decide what else we want to do...maybe go to the San Diego Zoo or something!  We are very excited and Kassidy was just smiling when she was talking to the make-a-wish people!  These will be memories that we will treasure forever!

On Monday, hopefully we will be going to Virginia Prosthetics for Kassidy to be fitted for her leg.  How exciting!!  Hopefully everything works and fits well...if so she can walk out on her own...if not it will be ready by Tues or Wed.  It will be great to see Kassidy up and mobile again!!

Pray for a good day today and continued healing! God Bless You!

No fevers! YEAH!!  Kassidy is doing OK.  She still complains that her body does not feel right but right now all her labs are coming back good.  I think that she is just tired but if she gets out and about she will hopefully feel better.  We did get some reports from her scans and I think that she is a little upset that things had not improved like she thought they would.  But stable is good...especially in her chest and lungs...the tumors have not grown any more but are still there.  Her left knee has improved and shows signs of new bone forming...that's good.  But on the flip side there are two new lesions ...very small...on her rt shoulder and left wrist.  She is definately worried about them but we have to keep believing that the Chemo will get rid of them and nothing can heal better than the power of GOD!!  Please keep praying that the Chemo will continue to stop the spread and start to heal and get rid of the cancer that is in her body! 

One good news is the next round of Chemo will be outpatient...we will go in to the clinic, have the Chemo(3-4 hours) and go home.  We will return a week later for the next round the same way.  Her counts are not suppose to go down until after the second round, so maybe we will get to spend some time at home!!  That would be great!

Thanks for all the continued thoughts and prayers!  And thanks to Ocean Tumblers Gymnastics for the great blanket signed by the team!!  Kassidy loved it!!  You all ROCK!!

Kassidy has continued to spike fevers so we are still in the hospital.  Her white count went down again today so we are watching that again and she is still getting antibiotics.  She is just really tired and says she doesn't feel right.  Dr. Fisher came in today and wanted to get xrays to compare with the ones done at MCV, so we spent time today down in Radiology getting xrays of all her bones.   We still do not have all the results from her scans yesterday, but hope to have some reports tomorrow. 

This morning I attended the Chance Crawford Scholarship presentations.  It was very emotional for me, to be able to share Kassidy's story and hear about the other families situations, and know what a blessing it was to be included in receiving this for Kassidy.  Travis and Laura Cantrell and Alan Harmen was there as well, along with our new friend Kaley, who has leukemia.  Even the people who I had never met came up to offer support and a shoulder to lean on.  What a great thing this is, not for finiancial support but for the emotional support from others that know what you are going through.  I thank everyone involved and to Chance Crawford for keeping this event going all these years.  You all are a blessing to us and our communities.

Again, today I just want to say that you never know when your life will change and you never expect it.  Praise God everyday for everything. And make sure to hug your kids/family/loved ones,etc. an extra time today!

God Bless!

Danny, Tammy, Kassidy, and Courtney

We are still in the hospital.  Today Kassidy's white blood count is going up which is great!!  Her hemoglobin and platelets are going down though so she is going to get a unit of blood and  platelets today.  Hopefully we will be discharged tomorrow.  In the morning we were scheduled to have our scans here at Comm. Hosp. anyway so we will get those done and then hopefully be discharged and go to Crystal Spring for the MRI tomorrow afternoon.  After that if Kassidy feels OK we will be going to Va Prosthetics for her to be fitted for her prosthetic leg!!  And her leg might be ready in about a week.  She can't wait to be able to walk again!!  Something so simple as balance and walking we don't even think about but when you don't have that ability it certainly affects your whole life and everyone around you!  Be thankful for everything that you can do and have, you never know when it will be taken away.  That's God's plan and we have grown stronger in our journey and learned to appreciate even the littlest things in life!  Kassidy is doing well and has even been on the computer.  Luckily, she is old enough to know when things are different with her body.  She said she still doesn't feel like things are right and I hope that the blood and platelets will help today.  Then maybe her body will be more balanced and she will be able to tell the difference by feeling better.  Again, please continue to pray for good scans tomorrow and healing.

Thanks to everyone that came out to the walk for Kassidy at the High School Friday night.  We were told it was a big success.  We want to thank everyone who organized this event, walked or donated.  Thank you all so very much!

Yesterday was a good day. Kassidy played at home with Courtney, made brownies, and played the Wii. Then, around 9:30pm she started running a fever. She was admitted around 11:30pm last night and recieved fluid and antibiotics. Today she is doing well. No fevers until about 3pm and it was 101.6 so they did blood cultures and she is getting a unit of blood. We hope the fever goes away and this will be a short hospital stay. We got good news today that Kassidy is ready to be fitted for her prosthetic. She is so excited that she will be able to walk again soon!!! Continue to pray for no fever and healing.

Tammy, Danny, Kassidy,and Courtney

We had a good day yesterday.  Kassidy didn't feel real well yesterday morning but we had to go get blood counts anyway so we went to Roanoke to the Hem/Onc Clinic.  Her counts were OK, except her white blood count being down which is normal.  She just needs to wear a mask when she goes out.  They did give her 2 liters of fluid and she perked up, apparently she was a little dehydrated and the fluids made a big difference.  When we left there we went and picked up her wig!!  So exciting for her that she feels like she fits in when she goes out now...she was so excited that she could pick it up before the fundraiser event at Copper HIll Daycare last night!!  We then went to the event and at first Kassidy did not want to get out of the van...people were coming up talking to her and lots of  her school mates came by...she talked to everyone and eventually decided to get out in her wheelchair.  She stayed the entire time and got to watch the tug-of-war between the fire departments...she even handed out the trophys at the end.  She said last night that she "had a blast".  It was good to see her out and so excited!  She had a good night last night and we are still praying that the fevers stay away.  If she does not get a fever then we will actually get to stay home till Monday when she goes to have scans done. Then she won't have to go back for Chemo till the following Monday (18th).  Pray that we can stay at home that long!  Continue to pray for good results for the scans on Monday.  Thanks to everyone at Copper Hill Daycare for making that event such a success and fun evening for Kassidy!  God BLess All of You!

Our condolences go out to the Patricia Sawyers family of Rocky Mount.  She was Danny's teacher in High School and lost her battle with cancer on Tues.  The family has asked in lieu of flowers that donations be made to Kassidy at Medical Charities. It's amazing to us how people from our past, and really don't know our family now, would make such a gesture and think of Kassidy  at their time of loss.  God Bless this family and our prayers are with them! Thank You!

Kassidy is still doing good.  She has complained about some blurry vision and some shaking in her arms.  The doctor came in this morning and looked up her medicines and those are all common effects from these two Chemo drugs, but hopefully that should be going away soon.  She gets her last treatment for this cycle this morning at 10am.  We will be finished by tonight and if all stays well we will be discharged in the morning.  Kassidy has decided that when we leave she wants to go to the Science Museum downtown.  So that's our plan.  We have to do whatever we can these first two days before her counts drop.  She is sitting up on the couch with me right now and doing well!  Again, we thank God for every day!

Kassidy had a surprise visitor last night...gymnastics olympian Dominique Dawes!!!  I'll send pictures soon!!  Kassidy was very excited and Dominique was very nice.  Thanks to Pete Lampman and Amy Morrow from Virginia Amateur Sports for setting this visit up!  Dominique hugged Kassidy and talked with her, very nice, loving and caring person.  Thanks again to everyone for arranging this and also to Dominique for taking the time to come and see Kassidy.  That was a moment she will never forget!

Kassidy had a good night last night.  She had Chemo yesterday afternoon and again did great with that.  She sleeps most of the time that the Chemo is running but then wakes up in a good mood.  She says that most of the time she doesn't even realize she's getting the Chemo.  I'm so thankful that these drugs are not making her sick.  She slept well last night and woke up this morning, ate breakfast and is feeling good. Thank God for all the answered prayers to take away the nausea and sickness.  Please continue to pray that the Chemo is working.  We go on the 11th to have more scans to compare with the ones from MCV.  Please keep us in your prayers that those tests will show improvement of the cancer cells that have spread. We praise God everyday for the all the things he has done and continues to do.

Yesterday we had a good day.  Kassidy went to the playroom and did crafts with the Child Life Specialist (Jill). She also rode around the hospital in her wheelchair.  Physical Therapy came and worked with her to strengthen her legs and arms.  She did good during her Chemo, still no sickness, still eating well and actually has gained weight!! That's wonderful! Today has been another good day with Kassidy wanting to go ride around, go to the computer (she's sitting right here beside me) and now wants to go outside.  She starts her next Chemo at 2pm so we better go outside now while we can and we will write again later! Thanks for all the prayers!!