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Some of the people Some of the people I met in Gainsville were just awesome. I will briefly share some of that here. The first person, Denise, whom I truly felt was of a kindred spirit. She is in her 30's as well. She is a Mom of 3 boys. Her first son was born with CF. His name is Chad. He needs a double lung transplant and fast or he will die. Denise is this amazingly strong woman, who has dealt with a terminally ill child since his birth 16 years ago. One day there things were just stressful so we ran away together in search of a Starbucks, which we found and ordered 2 really good lattes. We took our java delights outside and sat to talk for a couple of hours. It was very nice and we found things to laugh about in spite of the turmoil in our lives. You've got to love a person who can still laugh under those circumstances. Then there is Ginger. She is 23 yrs old, married to Rusty , whom she doesn't like much, but is also in my opinion nice. She had a very premature baby. In her 26th week, she was at home, her water broke and Andrew appeared so quickly she hadn't time to get up off the couch (ewww). He only weighed 2 pounds. He is a sweet baby and has some problems but will be fine. Ginger is very independent and has befriended Amy. Ofcourse Jamie doesn't like her, mostly because Ginger takes great pleasure in pointing out the fact to Jamie that he is a moron. I like this girls style! Moving right along to Holly. Holly lives in Daytona Beach and I think only because of bike week there. She is about 25 I think. She had a baby boy that has some problems, he was on a ecmo machine for 33 days and I am proud to report that (his name is cooper)he is doing very well. Holly is a riot. Very smart and one of a few people I have ever met that after 7 years of marriage is still deeply in love with her husband. Then there is Cherie, Jeff and their 2 sons Nick (2) and Donavon (0). Donavon will be on the March of Dimes posters starting in November. He was born prematurely but is doing well. Nick is a terror but I had fun with him. It is always nice to spoil other peoples children and give them back. One of the funniest moments was when Nick was tired and leaning into Jeffs lap, Jeff paid him no attention so Nick bit him... yes right there in his lap.. yes right where a bite would really not be the most appreciated thing in the world unless you were some crazed maniac that is really into sudden pain in the genatalia. Byron and I call Jeff the stalker guy. Reason being is he attached himself to me there. Would follow me around constantly while his wife was at the hospital. Although I thought it was innocent enough, others at the house noticed it and began teasing me about it. He did cook me a excellent dinner though one night there. That man can cook! Good trait but not good enough to justify how much he has actually called me since I have been home. Last night Amy told me that she had a word with him about leaving her Mother alone and to stop calling! It seems to have worked even though I think Amy over reacts. Now there is Mike, who has been in the Navy for 15 years. He was ailing with a cold/flu in bed, when his wife came home and made him a large bowl of chicken soup. It was so damn hot though she had to set it on the counter to cool becuase the actual bowl itself was too hot to carry. She turned her back for a moment and their 3 year old daughter, Sara decided she wanted to bring Daddy his soup. She reached up to get the bowl and ended up tipping it. It spilled over her head , neck, chest and arms. It gave her severe 2nd and 3rd degree burns. The child was life flighted to Shands and taken into surgery. When I met Mike, he was in tears actually sobbing. So I stopped and talked to him. It was a long emotional talk but I promised him when they took off her bandages it would not be nearly as awful as he imagined. And thankfully, I was right. Cus a few days later he came back to the house to find me, he wanted to take me out to a celebration lunch and to say thank you. I could not go with him, but truly appreciated the offer. I was really happy for him and his family that all was turning out well. I only met his wife once, she is also in the Navy, she was very quiet and sweet. She spent most her time at the hospital with Sara. I sent some little toys up to Sara that she could play with in her hands without much movement to help keep her amused. They reported it entertained her for a couple of hours, which was basically the point. I wish them all the best. The next family is really hard for me to talk about. The Mother is Rhonda, Father is Richard, kids are Shelby(10) and Chelsea(11). Shelby is dying of spinal and brain cancer. They discovered her cancer just after Christmas last year. She is now confined to a wheelchair and is bald. She is a very nice little girl. The Dr.'s were only able to harvest enough stem cells for one more round of treatments and her cancer is growing at a high rate of speed. So they are hoping this last round buys her a couple of months more of life. Talking to her Mother, she broke down one night and was confiding in me how hard working the details out of Shelbys funeral has been. Neither of us slept that night. Shelby gave me her two little turtles before I left to give to Heather and Joshua. She wanted them to go to a good home with healthy children that could take good care of them. (makes me cry thinking about it). What do you say to a child that sick? It is hard, but you have to pretend like they are just fine and treat them normally. Even though she is fully aware of how sick she is, she wants to have the same respect every other child her age has and not be treated differently. I tried to spend as much time as possible playing games with her and her sister as I could. I am positive I will never forget how brave and wonderful that little girl is. Then there is another family there, CJ, Sabrina, and Easton(2). Sabrina had a premature baby girl, named Hope Angel. She was just over a pound when she was born. She is adorable and so tiny. CJ is huge, like 450-500 lbs and stands about 6'3 or so. He and Sabrina make such a great couple. Sabrina is nice and quiet mostly.. and CJ is outgoing, funny and a redneck to the highest degree. To look at him, ones first impression is omg.. run for your life. But after you get past that initial fear, you find a big teddy bear that has a heart of gold. He even offered to "break that fucker in two" when it came to Jamie. I told him to go right on ahead, wouldn't bother me a bit, but it wouldnt help his situation much considering I doubted the RM house would allow such violence. He saw my point but offerred as soon as his baby could go home to be allowed to put a hurt on that boy like he had never known! It was very funny. There is a few more people to remember here but I am short on time at the moment and long on things that must be accomplished. |