Forging ahead...

Since the dodgeball tournament, we have been preparing for our next event at the Sierra Tap House this coming Thursday evening.  I have not had the time to update the blog until now...so sorry.

There are many steps we are taking to get Lila to her treatment.  We are currently filling out paperwork to get her a passport, and update ours, as well as collecting the proper information from LabCorp in order to complete the testing on Nora, Lila, and myself.  Lila and Nora need to be an HLA match (3 of 6 components) and blood type match for us to be able to use Nora's cord blood.  Please keep praying, and make the prayers specific...hahaha! We don't want the big guy above to get confused :-)   It will take two to three weeks to get the results of these tests, and then we can move forward with knowing which doctor to use and select a final date.  As for a date, we are hoping to make this happen one of the last two weeks of June, 2011.

Another therapy we hope to offer Lila through our fund-raising is a three week physical therapy program in Michigan.  This program is run through the Pediatric Fitness Center, and focuses solely on kids who have ambulatory issues.  They have been known to have kids walk in the door with a walker, and out the door without a walker!  The program is three weeks long, in which Lila would do physical therapy three hours a day, 5-days a week.  This, too, is a program that insurance does not cover at all, and is between $6000 and $7000 (depending on travel expenses).

Our reasoning behind wanting Lila to go to this program is that we want the stem cells to work at their optimal level.  The more Lila is moving and active, the better her circulation. This in turn means that there is a higher level of oxygen running through the body to feed those stem cells.  The more oxygen coming into the body, and brain in particular, the better results we will see from the stem cell treatment.  Why Michigan?  We are in constant communication with parents who have been to this program multiple times and have seen amazing results.  There is only one program here on the West Coast that we have found, and don't know any parents that have used it.  We would rather take Lila to an intensive therapy session that is "tried and true", than go to a therapy center closer to home and not see any results.  So, as we get closer to our $20,000 goal, we intend to move forward with our fund-raising and afford Lila all of the opportunities we can!  Thanks to you all, Lila will be given a gift that most children with disabilities will never see!