Samantha Ross

Welcome to Samantha's web page. It was made to keep friends and family updated.
Samantha is 6 years old. She was diagnosed 7/23/03 in Atlanta GA at the Children's Hospital with JMML. It took them months to find out what was wrong with Samantha because they'd never had a case of JMML. Since they didn't have the protocol to treat JMML we were sent to the Children's Hospital in Birmingham Alabama, 6 hours away.
She had her first BMT 12/23/03. Then she got PTLD caused by the transplant. Then she got GVHD caused by all the tcells to stop the PTLD. She's finally home after ten long months and doing great thanks to her wonderful doctor and answered prayers.
You can click on the camera to see some pictures. You can click on the yahoo link under the address for more pictures of Samantha.

Please sign the guest book. It really brightens our day.
YOU CAN ALSO GO TO LINKS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE AND CHECK OUT A LOT MORE PICTURES. THE LATEST ARE CALLED HOME.
You can also see the virtual quilt made for Samantha. The link is at the bottom of the page under "Links".
There are many children who are fighting JMML. Please pray for all of our children.

Journal

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 8:03 AM CST

I can't believe its been almost a year since I last updated. I think this will be my last update. This is her five year anniversary. If there's anything you'd like to say please sign the guest book. I plan to print every thing off and make her a book with all the journal entries and guestbook notes.

We went for her six month check up and her yearly BMT check up the other week. She's grown two whole inches and gained two whole pounds. She's finally on the growth chart. I was so excited. That's one less medicine she'd have to take. Her bones are finally in the normal range except her bone density is low so they did put her on Oscal(sp?). Her heart, kidneys, and liver looked good. She'll have to stay on the Cytra for a long time because it's what's keeping her kidney functions looking so good. She came out avg. to below avg. range on her neurological testing. She still had the dying bone in her left leg but it hasn't gotten anyworse. There is no medicine that she can take to improve it. We did take her out of karate though. With her bones being so breakable, I gave her the choice of staying in. She'd rather stay at school with me and play with her friends. James is still in. We haven't been as often so he's still a green belt with a stripe. Samantha is in first grade, all A's and B's. She's loved and her teachers give lot of attention. It's an inclusion class, so there's three teachers in there. She gets along well with the other kids but a little on the bossy side. I can't imagine where she gets that from.

James is doing much better in school this year. His grades still aren't the greatest but he's making friends and getting along well with everyone. Every year he matures just a little more.

David is doing well. He's still in the JROTC and still thinking strongly about joining the army, especially since he scored so well on the test. I hope he gets a desk job, can't stand the thought of someone shooting at him.

Bill is working at Shoney's in Tifton GA. He makes good money but he earns every penny and then some. He works six days a week. He goes in at 3am and gets home at 4 or 5 pm. He's trying to quit smoking. I know it's hard for him. He works at a very stressfull job and the majority of his help smokes.

I'm still teaching first grade. I have an inclusion class this year and I love it. It's so cool seeing how far they've come. I've been quit smoking since March. I've gained 30 pounds so now I have to try and diet. If I quit smoking, I ought to be able to quit eating.

We're all still living with my mom and we all get along well. She's a huge help to me and I like to think I'm a big help to her. I know we're a lot of company.

We talk to Nancy a couple of times a week. She's having her hands full with Big Bill. He's having a lot of medical issues. Its hard to picture our parents getting older and leaving us behind.

Everyday I look at Samantha and think, "WOW!" She looks like anyother kid and acts like she's sixteen. Sometimes I think everything she, we went through is just a bad dream and we finally woke up. Then I get up in the morning and watch her get dressed for school and I see the long scar down her belly and the several small scars on her neck, and I line up her 4 medicines on the counter that she'll have to take for the rest of her life and I know it wasn't just a bad dream. I sure am glad that the ending is happy. Everyday I pray that it stays that way and I thanks God for one more day, one more week, one more month, one more year.......

God bless you all! and thank you all for the prayers, God def. hears you.

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