Katy's Passing

With the deepest sadness, I regret to tell you that Katy had severe lung complications with her bone marrow transplant.

Two weeks ago, Katy's oxygen needs increased so drastically she was moved to the ICU at Huntsman Cancer Institute.  Two days later she had to be placed on a ventilator.  The doctors believe that she had Graft vs. Host Disease (or some other kind of rejection) in her lungs.  Or it could have been damage from the ablative chemotherapy.  Or a mixture of both.  The doctors tried to treat her with high dose steroids, but nothing could reverse the damage that was done.

Katy died yesterday afternoon, December 16, with Jim, Emily and I by her side, as well as her grandmother, Susan, and our very close friends, Bethany and her parents, Nancy and Phillip.

She will be so deeply missed by countless family, friends, medical personnel, teachers and others.  She was a ray of sunshine in our world for 18 years, and our lives will have an everlasting shadow with her gone.

I will post more information about the memorial service, etc. when it is finalized.  But know we are shooting for the end of this week.

Thank you for all your love and support.

Christina

Stem Cell Transplant Day!

Happy Day To Everyone!

Obviously, Katy has made it to Stem Cell Transplant (aka Bone Marrow Transplant).  After 3 rounds of Vidaza, Katy's leukemia cells fell to 1%, which is the best her doctors felt they were going to get.  She was strong and healthy overall, so the transplant team gave the green light for the transplant.

Last Friday, November 3, Katy had a triple lumen central line placed, got admitted to the hospital, and started an ablative chemo regimen (to kill off as much leukemia as possible, and her immune system as well).  She has received 6 days of chemo and today was the infusion of Emily's stem cells.  I'll post some pictures in the photo albums.

So it is a wait and see time.  Katy has been receiving IV tacrolimus and steroids for over a day now (an anti-rejection regimen).  It will take about 2 weeks for the stem cells to start building a new immune system, and even when that starts happening, it is an immature system.  It will be like a new born baby's immune system.  She is watched extremely closely for 100 days post transplant with 2-3 days a week appointments after discharge.  She cannot ever be left alone during that time, as fevers and infections can come on quickly.  Rejection in stem cell transplantation is called Graft vs. Host Disease (GVHD for short).  Katy's lungs will also need to be watched closely as the new immune system could reject her lungs as well.  These are the 3 biggest risks for Katy at the moment.

Before transplant, we were able to take a short trip to Zion National Park, Antelope Canyon, and the Grand Canyon during Emily's fall break.  We had a great 4 day weekend until the last evening.  We went to a lookout to see the sun setting over the Grand Canyon.  I stopped looking at the rocky steps I was going down, rolled my ankle, landed on it, and broke my fibula.  Needless to say, I had to slow down for a good week.  I'm almost 3 weeks out and am getting around much better now.  Luckily, it was my left foot so I can drive, and I can also weight bear.

I'll post some pictures of our Grand Canyon trip as well.

Thank you to everyone for your support of Light the Night fundraiser for Leukemia and Lymphoma.  And many thanks to those who are providing us meals and other support.  We could not do it without you.

Christina

Life's Been a Whirlwind... 09/21/17

Happy Autumn!

I thought my last entry was long overdue!  I can't believe it has been 5 months since I have written anything on this blog.

A lot has happened in those 5 months.  I don't want to overwhelm with too many details.  I think I will take it month by month and summarize the events that way.

In late April, we took our trip to Hawaii.  It was a great vacation that we ALL enjoyed immensely.  We swam, snorkeled, ate, drove, shopped, and generally relaxed.  The only downfall was the 4 trips we took to the hospital for Katy's platelet and blood transfusions.  The highlights of our trip included our hotel, snorkeling with wild dolphins, motorized hanggliding (Emily and Katy), and seeking out the best shrimp trucks.  It was a vacation we will not soon forget.  I will post a photo album of our trip on the blog.

We came home and I got busy with end of school stuff, Emily's physical therapy, and Katy's many appointments.  I also planned a surprise party for Katy (in lieu of a graduation party).  I compiled a book of letters from friends, family, teachers, medical personnel and others so Katy would have a better idea of how she has affected the world around her, and the impression she makes on so many people.  We continued going to see Katy's doctors and getting infusions 2-3 days a week.  During this time, Katy only received supportive care with no treatment.  However, we did tell Dr. Afify that Katy was interested in talking to doctors at Huntsman Cancer Institute about adult medical trials.  Like Primary Children's Hospital, Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) is on the University of Utah Campus.

The surprise party was a success.  Katy was genuinely surprised and appreciated all the effort put into the book.  Again, I will post an album of pictures here.

In June, we got news that Katy's AML was beginning to grow a bit faster.  It was still low, but we decided to meet with Dr. Shami at HCI.  We were surprised to learn that the bone marrow team at Huntsman was willing to consider a bone marrow transplant for Katy if we could lessen her leukemia with another round of chemo.  After spending 3 months recovering from her last hospital stay, which had many complications, and was her 3rd chemo round for AML, Katy decided to go for it.  She was admitted to HCI for 5 days to undergo this chemo (her 4th round).

Also, in June, I got word from my family that I might want to fly to California to visit my step-father, Brent.  He was also battling a different kind of cancer, and his health was becoming more fragile.  I decided to fly Emily and I out, on very short notice, over Father's Day weekend.  It was so nice to see Brent, my Mom, Deb, Amanda, etc.  We had a nice, albeit quick, trip.  Katy, due to her low blood counts could not travel.  The following week, Brent chose to stop treatment because his chest tumor was beginning to grow again.

In late June/July, we received news that Katy did not make it to bone marrow transplant.  They called off the transplant, but the team recommended, and Emily agreed, to harvest Emily's stem cells regardless, in order to freeze them, and hasten the transplant process in case Katy makes it to transplant in the future.  Katy decided to try an antibody therapy that the FDA only approves in last resort AML cases, called Mylotarg.  She started this treatment in July.  On July 17, I had Katy up at Huntsman receiving the all day treatment, while Emily was in the same infusion room having her bone marrow harvested.  Craziness to say the least.

Around July 24-25 Katy started getting a cold.  The night of July 27, Katy spiked a fever and we spent the night in the ER getting her admitted to Huntsman.  She received a bone marrow aspirate on Friday, July 28, as planned.  Katy got diagnosed with pneumonia which they started treating with antibiotics.  On Sunday morning, July 30, Brent died at home in California.  We also received the news that Katy's leukemia was up to 40% as calculated by the Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) test of her bone marrow.  The Mylotarg had done nothing.  Saying it was a rough day is an understatement.

Katy got released from the hospital, and we met with her medical team multiple times over the next week.  Katy decided to start a treatment called Vidaza.  Vidaza is used in older AML patients that cannot sustain the more difficult chemotherapies.  It is considered a maintenance drug to extend life, and improve quality of life, as it helps to sustain patients' blood counts, resulting in fewer transfusions.  It does work through a different mechanism than other AML chemotherapies, and we were told that there is an extremely small chance it could get Katy to transplant, but it is very unlikely at this point.  Also, Vidaza takes 2-4 monthly rounds to see the full effects from the treatment.

Katy started the treatment immediately.  She flew to California with me for Brent's Memorial.  We also went to see "The Book of Mormon" here in SLC.  Emily performed in her musical "Once on This Island", and all four of us went to Wyoming to see the eclipse.  Jim's brother, KC, and our sister-in-law Trudy, were our wonderful hosts in their beautiful home, which was in the totality zone.  (I'll post pictures of this as well).  Emily started her freshman year in high school.

After the first treatment of Vidaza, Katy went 6 days without a platelet transfusion, which hadn't happened in months.  She went through her second round of treatment with fewer side effects.  And her leukemia counts may be going down.

There are 4 ways to measure her leukemia load.  It includes 2 different counting tests, using 2 different samples, either blood or her bone marrow.  In one test the doctor counts the percentage of leukemia cells he/she can see under a microscope.  The second test is called Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) and uses a machine to count the percentage of leukemia  found in 10,000 cells.

Last Thursday, Dr. Shami told us he counted only 2% of blasts, under the microscope, from a blood sample of Katy's.  This was down from 11% the week before, and 15% the week before that.  This has given us a cautionary hope, that perhaps, Katy may still make it to bone marrow transplant.  We can never count Katy out.  She will have another bone marrow aspirate done at the end of next week, and we will receive the MRD results the first week of October.

Meanwhile, Katy has been feeling better, and more energetic, than I have seen her in a while.  She is pursuing her GED, working on art, seeing more of friends, and socializing with us more.  So for now, things are looking up and life is getting a somewhat normal rhythm to it again.  How long it lasts is anyone's guess.  But I will take it for now.

Last Saturday night, the 4 of us went to a lantern festival.  We had a nice time and made wishes as we let the lanterns go.  I'll post pictures of that as well.  Also, Jim's coworker, started a Pacificorp team for the fundraising event, Light the Night.  This event supports the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  We are participating and fundraising for the team. Follow the link to our fundraising page:
http://pages.lightthenight.org/ut/saltlake17/JDoak
Any donation amount will be appreciated!

Thank you to everyone for your continued support.  Thank you so much to our neighbors, for the continued support in meals, every other Monday.  It always seems to come on the most needed day.

Love to you all,
Christina

A long overdue update... 04/13/17

It has been a long time since I posted.  And a lot has happened.  So here goes....

Katy got discharged from the hospital on March 2, which was also her 18th Birthday.  It was a crazy day!  There is always a lot of activity on discharge day, plus,  I was trying to have a little party at the hospital, as a surprise to Katy.  Also, Emily had seriously injured her knee at dance class the night before.  So we were also juggling an ER visit and MRI.  (I'll explain more about all that later in this update).  But we finally got it all done and Katy came home by dinner.  We ate and opened gifts and it was time for bed.

The bone marrow aspirate Katy received the day before discharge came back as 0.09% leukemia.  This may seem like very little, but it was not enough to get her to bone marrow transplant.  The plan became one of maintaining her blood infusion needs with the hope that she could start maintenance chemotherapy to prolong her life.  We hoped that we could check off some things on Katy's bucket list, including going to Europe.  But as life has unfolded in the past 5 weeks, things have changed.

As we approached the time Katy might start maintenance chemo, Katy requested she get her double lumen broviac changed to a port.  Dr. Afify decided to have another aspirate, as well as a bone marrow biopsy, to see where things stand with the leukemia, so we would have a starting number.  After two canceled tries to get the aspirate, it was finally performed on April 3.  We finally got the full scope of results last Friday.

Katy's levels of leukemia in her bone marrow are 0.28%.  Dr. Afify is not really concerned with this increase due to several complicated factors.  What is more concerning is the low cellularity counts in Katy's bone marrow.  This number measures the percentage of blood her bone marrow is producing.  The normal range varies with age, but Katy's should be at least 70%.  It was 20%.  Which explains why Katy has continued to be platelet and blood dependent.  She has even been on Neupogen, which stimulates her bone marrow to grow white blood cells.  Due to this low cellularity, Katy is not a candidate for maintenance chemo, as it will cause further suppression of her bone marrow production.

So what have we been doing with our time?  When Katy first got discharged, she had to come up to the hospital every day for platelets.   Then every other day, and now every 3-4 days.  However, we often seem to have other reasons for coming.  So, most weeks, I am at Primary Children's 3-4 times a week.  Emily also tore her Medial Patella Femoral Ligament, and took of a bone fragment and cartilage from the back of her Patella.  So Emily had surgery on March 17 for that.  She was on crutches for about 4 weeks.  Now she is receiving Physical Therapy 2 times a week.  Mostly, my time is spent as chauffeur to appointments.

We've been able to have some fun too.  Katy wanted to go to La Caille for her 18th birthday, so we dressed up one night and had a fancy dinner.  We've seen some movies, gone to an art show, and visited the Leonardo (a museum here in Utah) briefly.  Katy has renewed her painting lessons.  We've spent time with friends, and as a family.  And Katy has crossed off one bucket list item by getting a tattoo.  Her long time friend Bethany got the same tattoo, of two birds flying together.  Finally, we have planned a last minute, 10 day trip to Hawaii.  We are going to Oahu, as Katy needs to be near medical facilities for her transfusions.  But the resort looks amazing and we are excited.  Katy wanted to go to Paris, but her oncology team highly recommended that we not travel to Europe.  So, second best is Hawaii!

I'll be honest, it has been a really emotional 5 weeks at home.  And the 7 week hospitalization before that was incredibly difficult.  We do not know how much time Katy has.  As usual she is a medical mystery.  Dr. Afify would have expected the leukemia to have returned by now, without treatment.  So it's hard to say how long Katy will ward off the inevitable.  Katy has decided against getting a second opinion in regards to a bone marrow transplant.  However, since she is 18, she can be considered at the Huntsman Cancer Institute for adult medication trials, once her leukemia begins to return more aggressively.  This is an option she most likely will consider.

Meanwhile, we will continue to enjoy all the time we can together, and with family and friends.  Katy may start to study for her GED.  And, as always, life will continue its rhythm until another event changes it.  It is like waves in an ocean, ups and downs, with the occasional rogue wave taking you off course.

I will post some photos of the last few weeks in a day or two.  Look for an album along the side bar on the right.

Love to you all,

Christina

Update 02/12/17

Hi Everyone,

I am happy to report that Katy has not used up all her 9 lives yet.  Per Katy's standard of defying odds, she has improved drastically from a pulmonary standpoint.  There is question now as to whether Katy ever had an infection or whether her lungs had were overloaded with fluid.  It may never be clear.  As of today, Katy is on 1-3 liters of oxygen, and that may be only because she is still bedridden and not up moving to improve those lungs.

As Katy was significantly improving from a pulmonary standpoint, she has had some setbacks in other areas.  She has something called the BK Virus in her urinary tract as well as her blood.  The doctors have known that Katy has this virus for weeks now, but did not treat it at first, as Katy had no concerning symptoms.  The treatment for this virus is very hard on the kidneys.  So they take a watch and wait approach to treatment.  Unfortunately, as Katy was recovering from the lung problems, this virus reared its ugly head.  She started to severely bleed in her urinary tract.  For Katy's sake, I will not go into great details of the treatment protocol, but lets just say it has been miserable.  We have been treating it for at least 12 days now.

Yesterday and today, we are finally beginning to see some improvement.  I believe it will still be at least a week before we can get Katy out of this hospital, but we are hoping we are beginning to turn a corner.

At this point, the doctors have not performed a bone marrow aspirate on Katy.  We need to get her recovered from this BK Virus.  I do not know the fate of a potential bone marrow transplant at this point.  I can tell you that all the hardships that Katy has had this round of chemotherapy gives both her doctors, and us, pause in thinking of putting her through these, or potentially other medical hardships in the future.  It is a fine line that one walks in dealing with quantity versus quality of life.  Many potentially hard decisions will lay before us in the coming weeks.

A day or two before Valentine's Day, a friend from our PH community sent Katy a care package.  It was a surprise to us.  There were Valentine's Day decorations included so we got to further decorate Katy's room.  Many thanks to Tiffani Frandsen and her family!  Our neighbor, Ali Thackeray, and her cute girls, gave our door a heart attack before Valentine's Day, as well.  (See all the pics below).  Also, a big shoutout to Deb and Amanda, who fly out to help us on a regular basis.  We couldn't do it without you!  Finally, continued thank you's to our friend's, neighbors and family.  It was overwhelming to have the love and support of everyone as Katy was on the brink.  We appreciate all of you.

Katy's 18th Birthday is March 2.  Please send Katy a shoutout on here, Facebook, Instagram, text or card.  This special day may be spent in the hospital, or at home, but in no shape for a large celebration.  Let's give her a big shoutout for reaching such a significant milestone.  We love our Katy!

Christina

Update 02/07/17

Time flies by when you are fighting cancer and in the hospital.  Time blends together and you begin to be confused on which days things happened.  Katy and I have a name for it.  We call it hospital time.

Katy has been in the hospital for her 3rd round of chemotherapy since January 12.  She started with 5 days of chemo drugs and, for the first 2 weeks, was bored while we waited for count recovery.  On the 14th day into the chemotherapy cycle things changed.  It has been crazy ever since.  Katy has had 2 blood bacterial infections, fevers, GI bleeding, a urinary tract infection called BK Virus, and a severe lung infection that has her needing C-Pap and high flow oxygen with a mask.

In the last two weeks, she has had to endure 4 peripheral IV's on top of a double lumen central line, 3 CT Scans, chest x-rays, echocardiograms, EKG's, IV antibiotics and anti-fungal medications, medications to stop the GI bleeds, countless platelet and blood transfusions, serious diuresis, pokes, prods and multiple other indignities.

On Wednesday, Feb. 1, Katy's team of doctors told us that they believe she has a significant fungal lung infection, in which they doubt she can recover from.  Even if she does recover, and it is truly a fungal infection, she will not be able to proceed with bone marrow transplantation.  They asked Katy if she wanted life saving measures, such as intubation and heart resuscitation, to which Katy replied "no."  They suggested she spend time with family and friends and allowed our bird, Basil, to visit her in the hospital.

We called family and had many visitors over this last weekend.  As of today, surprisingly, but in true Katy fashion, Katy has remained stable, if not slightly better, from a pulmonary standpoint.  She started having some GI bleeding problems again yesterday morning.  But even that seems under control today.

To summarize, Katy is in a very fragile, but currently, stable place in terms of her lung infection.  She is on antibiotic and anti-fungal treatments.  We are treating the current GI bleed.  We are anxiously awaiting for her white blood cell count to rise, in order to see how she will respond to this lung infection.  We have been told that Katy will most likely get worse as her white blood cell counts rise because they create an inflammatory response in her lungs.  We are hoping she can manage with the pulmonary support she is currently receiving.  Until we believe treatment can no longer help her, or until she gets better, she will remain in the hospital.

Before Katy got sick, she was creating some beautiful art.  I've included some pics below.

I will try to keep the blog updated every couple of days with brief updates, as we go through this process.  Thanks to everyone for visiting, providing food, and keeping our spirits up.  Thanks so much the Ali Thackeray and her cute girls for giving our front door a heart attack last night.  See pics below.  It takes a village and we feel truly supported.

Love,

Christina

   

 

Update 01/04/2017

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful holiday break.  Katy was out of the hospital for Christmas and New Years.  In fact, she is still home with us now.  We tried to spend as much time together, in enjoyment, as we could.  Katy had some things she wanted to do while home so we have been checking them off the list.

Christmas was wonderful.  On Christmas Eve, we went out to eat and then drove to Kearns in order to drive through Christmas in Color, which is a Christmas light display set to music.  Katy didn't have the energy to walk around downtown to see the lights, so this is what we did instead.  We came home and opened a couple of gifts.  Everyone went to be pretty early except me.

Christmas Day was great too.  We had a wonderful morning of opening presents, eating brunch and enjoying each other.  A huge thank you to the Santa Hat Society for providing us with lots of beautiful gifts.  We are so lucky to have been the recipients of such a wonderful organization.  It truly helped make our day special.  Katy and I hung out in the afternoon, while Jim and Emily went to see Moana.  For dinner, the Moos Family joined us to celebrate Christmas in the company of good friends.

As a Christmas present for Jim, Katy and Emily, I gathered all our old holiday photos together and put them in iMovie.  I set them to music and gave them the DVD.  It included shots from when Jim and I were kids, all the way through Thanksgiving of this year.  The DVD includes Thanksgivings, Nutcrackers, Christmas and New Year Photos.  You can view it by following the link on the right.  A warning though - it is 17 minutes long, so not all of you may be interested in watching it.

New Year's was quiet.  Emily went to a friend's house for the Eve.  Katy, Jim and I did have a great home made dinner of crab and shrimp spaghetti.  Afterward, Jim and I watched a movie.  Katy was tired so went to bed early.

I made a photo album which includes lots of fun photos from this Holiday Season  (click on it on the right sidebar).   Hope you enjoy seeing some of the fun we had.  Also, I posted our Christmas Letter right before this post, so you can peruse that as well, if you like.

Now onto some health news.  Katy had an aspirate last Wednesday.  We received the final results yesterday. The 2nd round of chemo did decrease the leukemia significantly, however, it did not decrease it enough to move forward with bone marrow transplant.  When Katy was diagnosed, she had 19% leukemia cells in her bone marrow.  After the first chemo treatment that number decreased to 9%.  Now, after the 2nd chemo treatment the percentage has decreased to 0.5%.  In order for the bone marrow transplant to have the best chance of success, she needs less than 0.1% leukemia in her bone marrow.  The risk of the leukemia returning is just too high with any higher percentage.

So, Katy only has two options.  Supportive care or trying to decrease the leukemia again, with a 3rd round of chemotherapy.  She has chosen the latter.  She will start chemotherapy on Monday, January 9.  I know it should seem easy to decrease the leukemia by only 0.4%, but with each round of chemo, the risk of the leukemia becoming resistant to treatment increases.  There is also serious inherent risk with each round of chemo, including life threatening infections and complications arising due to damage to her organs.  However, we still have hope that she can beat this cancer.

So we are hoping that 2017 is the opposite of 2016.  Beginning with a lot of challenges, but ending with happiness, health and some normalcy in our lives.

Here's hoping your 2017 is filled with love, peace and good health.  Hug and kiss those closest to you.  Cherish all your moments.  Sending love to all.

Christina

Holiday Card and Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

I can’t believe it’s that time again.  Time flies by and the years creep up on us.  Our children grow and change, we have both good and bad experiences, but life just keeps moving forward.  And thus, it is time to wish you all Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays in 2016!

Our year started off to be the most normal year we’ve had in a long time.  Both girls were in school, our days took on a regular rhythm and, for the most part we were mostly concerned with regular things like schedules, taxes, home improvements, etc.  We made a quick trip up to KC and Trudy’s cabin, north of Pinedale, WY, and had a fun weekend snowmobiling, relaxing, and hanging out with family.  

Unfortunately, Katy and Emily had separate spring breaks, so it was hard to take a trip together.  For Katy’s spring break, she and Jim went to Southern Utah (Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon), Katy felt so good she was able to hike almost to the top of Angel’s Point (just not the last part with the chains).  Much to Emily’s chagrin, we went to California for Katy’s checkups during Emily’s spring break.  We did try to fit in a few fun things too, like a trip into SF, and seeing the Winchester Mystery House.  The rest of the spring, Emily was busy with dance competitions, and Katy won the purchase award at Paradigm High School’s art show.  Katy went to Prom, and finished the year getting straight A’s.  

The summer was upon us quickly.  Emily promptly cut her hair into a Pixie cut after her ballet recital.  She got several ensemble parts in a summer production of “Seussical” and took a break from dance.  With cutting her hair, she thought she would pass on performing in the Nutcracker this year.  That was short lived as by the end of the summer she really missed dance.  Katy spent the summer hiking, reading, and getting her driver’s license.  Both girls hung out with friends, but especially Emily, who is my social butterfly.

So it ended up that all our summer trips and visiting got squished into a 3-4 week period.  The girls and I took a trip to CA via 2 nights in Las Vegas.  We saw some Las Vegas attractions, went swimming under the “Eiffel Tower” and saw a Cirque du Soleil show.  We then met our cousins in the LA area and spent 4 days going to Universal (Harry Potter World), the Griffith Observatory, the Getty Museum, UCLA, and a trip into Santa Monica.  Then northwards to the Bay Area for a quick visit with Brent and Mom and for appointments.  Katy got a clean bill of health except for a continuing concern about her platelet count dropping.  Upon arrival home, Jim and I took a 2 night trip with our other Cobra fanatics up to Alpine, Wyoming.  It was cold but fun as usual.  No sooner were we done with that trip and our friends, the Steele family came on vacation to Park City.  It was so fun to have Katy and Cullen hanging out together again.  

Katy (17) and Emily (13) started school in late August.  Emily changed schools this year and really likes it much better, although I’m not sure she’s any better at turning in homework. Katy’s platelet levels continued to fall so we went to see her local Hematologist.  Long story short, for those of you who don’t know, Katy was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  It is so hard to believe that our brave daughter has been diagnosed, yet again, with another life threatening illness.  This leukemia is resistant to treatment so a bone marrow transplant is her best chance.  Emily is the perfect bone marrow match for Katy, which is a huge relief.  

So, in late September, upon Katy’s request, we took a 5 day trip to Hotel del Coronado.  It was a wonderful beach vacation that was a splurge.  We relaxed, swam, ate and enjoyed each other’s company.  The girls got to take a surfing lesson for the first time.  We even had our own hot tub.  Although, bittersweet, this was the highlight of our year.  

Our world has been a whirlwind since then.  Katy’s care is fraught with multiple complications, but she has just finished her second chemotherapy treatment.  Overall, she is handling the treatments remarkably well.  Please hope with us, that this 2nd treatment kills enough leukemia to allow Katy to move forward with the bone marrow transplant.  She is being treated in Salt Lake City at Primary Children’s Hospital this time.  Katy is an amazing fighter and her determination has helped her overcome incredible odds in the past.  For updates go to http://katydoaksjourney.blogspot.com.  Feel free to drop any of us a line.  We all text message.  

I’m sorry to end this letter with sad news, but I also felt like I wanted everyone to hear the wonderful things we were able to do this year, before hearing the bad news.  We are grateful for the normalcy we had, while it lasted.  Hold your family and friends close, take some moments everyday to be thankful, and love with all your heart.  Life is so fragile.  From our family to yours... Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

XXXOOO,

Christina, Jim, Katy and Emily