Latest news and updates
December 30, 2008
Cody had a wonderful Christmas! It flew by too fast, as usual! Cody got a powerwheels from santa. I had to break the news to Daddy that he was too big to fit in it with Cody. lol. He got the new Elmo, and he thinks it is the REAL Elmo. It was so cute when he first began to play with it. No one else was allowed to touch it, Cody would say, "My Elmo!" He just sat a few inches away from it- in complete silence, with huge eyes staring at it! Cody also got a lot of coloring items!!! He sure does love his colors, so that seems to be the theme this Christmas. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Years!!!!
If by any chance you haven't seen the yahoo group yet, there is a ONH/SOD China Stemcells group for parents, families, etc. It is growing greatly in numbers, and it is really a great way to get info. Go to yahoo.com and then to the groups and type in "stemcellchina_onh_sod" - that is the name of the yahoo group. It is so great to read and respond to the postings! Finally, a way all us parent's can connect!!!!
Here is a link to David's video he made while in Qingdao, China. We met David there, and he is a true insperation to all!!! If you haven't seen it, you must watch this video.
http://www.vimeo.com/1273008
Love you all!
Jessie
December 9, 2008
Cody continues to amaze us! We put up our Christmas tree. Last year we had an issue with him running into the tree as he walks by. He would say "owie." Now this year, he hasn't ran into the tree AT ALL! He completly walks around it, never touching it or falling into it. He will reach out, touch the pine needles, and say, "hurt!" (Everything now is "hurt"). If I tell him to stop doing something, he says hurt. I have to remind him just because he doesn't like something, it's not "hurt"! lol.
We recently had to go to the doctors because Cody was sick. He was a little show off to Dr. Trotta. Cody said all the colors of what everything was. Dr. Trotta was so impressed with Cody!
This morning I was waking Cody up for school, and he said, "Mommy I tired." I said, "I know honey, Mommy's tired too!"lol. Then I told him what nice Spiderman PJ's he had on. He then said, "I Spiderman!" Oh it was too cute! Cody's Christmas Program at school is coming up on Friday. Of course like the whole family is going, and everyone is bringing cameras and videocameras...which Cody loves it all! :) (not sure where he gets that from..hehe).
Thank you to the Red Hat Society of Butler for inviting us to your Christmas dinner. We had a great time, and Cody loves him Sesame Street books! Thank you for your donation, once again, to Cody! It was great to finally put some faces with names, and to meet all the wonderful generous members! Looking forward to staying in touch with ya'll! Ginger (aka- Queen Bee), thank you for the great slideshow of pictures from the event! I forwarded them on to the whole family! :)
Thank you to the Blue Knights International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club in Pittsburgh for your doantion to Cody! That was very thoughtful, and we greatly appreciate your generosity!
Check out the link to the Stemcells China ONH/SOD support group! Carol Peterson first told me about it, and it is really great! Great info from parents about their kids, and any recent updates as well! Join and comment, or just stop by to say hello! :) SUPPORT GROUP FOR CHINA STEM CELL PATIENTS & FAMILIES
We are begining to get everything together for another trip. We are either going to Qingdao, China again- or to the new site in Thailand. We will know more after the holidays.
Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! :)
Love Always,
Jessie
November 12, 2008
Cody is doing very well at his preschool. He attends Western Pa School for Blind Children down in Oakland (Pittsburgh). He is talking so much more now, and he is begining to use words on his own. Grandma got him a toy flashlight, and he saw it and said, "light." He was spinning a wheel on his toy truck and said, "spin." I was like- Josh, did you hear that??? He is so smart, and finally he is starting to be able to tell us what he wants. He does very well listening to directions, thanks to his all his teachers/therapists at school! He is transitioning a lot better, which anyone that knows Cody is aware of his little moments. Cody is into wrestling. No matter what mood he is in, if you ask him if he wants to wrestle he will come and jump on you. Cody loves giving kisses. He'll wrestle with you, and then want to give you a kiss (he knows how to suck up to all the women...lol). Elmo is everywhere in our house! Elmo can fix anything! Only problem is the Elmo DVD's aren't long enough! Last Saturday night Josh and I went to Wal-mart and we were looking at a DVD to buy. Of course you know what we ended up with, "Potty Training With Elmo!" LOL! Cody loves it! He stood at the TV and watched the entire thing! Then, Josh asked him if he needed to use the potty. Don't you know that he walked straight into the bathroom, we put him on the potty, and HE WENT! We should've known all we needed this whole time was ELMO! lol.
September 19th, 2008
Cody continues to improve each day! This past week he started preschool at Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children down in Pittsburgh. Josh and I went down for the entire first day to show them Cody's "schedule." He just made himself at home. They are really great with Cody! We have a bus that picks him up and brings him home everyday...that is the only bad part for Cody is the 2 hour ride to and from the school. They are working with Cody so will be ready for kindergarden. We tried the public school preschool, but Cody needs daily therapy and a little more than he would be recieving there. So, now for the next 2 years he will attend W.P.S.B.C. and we are very excited. They are working directly with his eatting issues, speech, P.T., and overall interactions with other children.
We recently had Cody's vision tested and guess what...we are getting GLASSES!!! Before the China trip glasses were not even an option, but now his vision has improved to the point that glasses with help!!! His opthamologist said he is extremely near sighted, but that is great that we have that!!! We are so excited. His nystagmous (the shaking of his eyes due to a side-effect from the ONH) has 90% stopped since the stemcell injections. Cody's doctor at Children's Hospital Pittsburgh feels he can stop the rest of his nystagmous with surgery on the muscles of Cody's eyes. Also, the Dr. Hertle (Cody's Opthamologist a Children's) said he can straighten out his eyes as well. We are so excited! I find myself having to remind Cody to "use his eyes" since he is so used to having to feel everything with is hands.
Congrats to Paden Lane on becoming a big brother!!! Paden, we are so happy and excited for you! Cody sure does miss you! I am sure you will show your new little brother how all your toys work and all the batteries replaced daily. :) I hope your momma hasn't had to put the heavy on you lately.....I'm sure she hasn't. hehe. How do you like school this year? Cody's PopPop Red says hello and he is so excited to hear how well you are doing!
Also congrats to Hellen on the birth of her beautiful baby boy! Keep the pictures coming! Hellen was Cody's nurse the entire time we stayed at the hospital in Qingdao. She was the first to welcome us when we came to the hospital, and the last we said goodbye to when we left. She is an angel to all the children who she cares for and comforts daily.
Hope all is well with all our China Stemcell friends and their families. Looking forward to hearing how everyone is doing!
Love you all!
Jessie
July 28th, 2008
Cody's vision continues to improve each day. He was in the shower the other day. I saw him looking up, just in a total gaze. It didn't take long for me to figure out what he was so fascinated with....the water! He was able to see the drops of water from the shower! I am sure it through him for a loop, trying to figure out what "clear" actually meant. Until that moment, I never tried to actually explain what "clear" was to a person that never saw it before. He loves to swim and loves water! I asked him if he wanted to go swimming in his pool, an he said "wa-wa" for the first time! Jolene, I know you'd love to hear this! :) The communication barrior is still huge, but with hard work we are slowly closing the gap. He now loves to play peek-a-boo, and thinks it is just hilarious! Cody continues to explore the house, and every place he's never got into before. He is fascinated by Daddy's tools, especially anything metal that he can throw on our kitchen floor to make a loud sound. Luckily I've been able to intercept most before he reaches the kitchen. He's able to pick out all his colors very well. We tell him to find us something in any color, and he is able to go get it or point to it. We are just so excited!
Thank you to the Red Hat Society from Butler for having the mystery dinner for Cody. :) That was really great of you guys to do that!
Also thank you to Kelly Vernon from the Independant Observer Newspaper in Scottdale for going above and beyond for Cody. The articles and pictures are so wonderful. Thank you for helping us to show the community how grateful we are for everyone's help, and for keeping everyone updated along the way!
Cody will be starting pre-school in the fall. He had a practice week last week, which he did great!
I've been contacted by several families looking for more info on the stemcell treatments possibly for their friend or family member. I say to anyone who is reading this and has questions....please don't hesitate to contact me. I will do my best at answering questions, and if I don't have an answer for you- I can put you in contact with someone who does. Here is my email- Jam29Isabel_sru@yahoo.com.
Keep checking for more updates!!
Love you all!
Jessie :)
July 2nd, 2008
There is a new support group that Carol Peterson put together (Cameron's grandma). Here is the link, and I will add it to Cody's link page as well.
SUPPORT GROUP FOR FAMILIES OF STEM CELL TREATMENTS IN CHINA
June 30th, 2008
CODY CAN SEE ALL HIS COLORS!!!
Well we've been back in the states for about a week, and I think we are almost all over our jetlag! Cody is like whole new kid! He is able to pick out ALL his colors! His eyes quit shaking, and his drooling is almost gone (thanks to Jason, our accupuncture doctor who did extremely well with Cody and his "moods")! We are so excited! Today grandma told Cody to go get his yellow truck out of his room...and he did! (the boy has about 10 different colored toy trucks). Anywhere we are, he can find where the sun is. I tell him to look at mommy, and he comes within 2 inches of my face and stares at me and smilies! No words can describe how great that feels to know that he sees us!
Cody was a little showoff to all his therapists this week! Since he turned 3 yesterday, we had just one week left with our early intervention therapists to see the progress so far. First he saw Becky (PT) and Kay came too. Becky had large colored disks that she scattered all over the living room, and then told him to find each color. And he did! He got up on her balace beam all by myself, something he would never do before. Then Angie (OT). amd Jolene (speech) came and Cody showed off again. He picked out all the different colors race cars and put them on the track. He talked more than he ever has for Jolene before! He is repeating all first syllables of words, and all his ABC's and 123's!!! His music has increased dramatically....he taps all the beats out to all his songs. He keeps the beat as well! The kid is a future musician, we've already accepted that! :) Then Christie (his vision therapist) came, and he did so well. She kept saying what an improvement he is, and we only wished we had longer with all our therapists! Becky especially has done wonders for Cody. Becky was our first therapist, and she came when he couldn't roll over by himself at 6 months old.....to now he climbs all over the furniture and gets into everything! All the therapists were a joy to have in our lives, and we are sad to see them go. But I guess now we start a whole new chapter in our lives, Cody going to preschool in the fall. We have a practice week in July, and one in Aug. I think mommy is going to have the roughest time adjusting to having to leave the house for therapy. We were very blessed to have all the therapists previously coming to our house for the sessions.
We wanted to thank the Auer family for donating the proceeds from their golf outting to Cody this year. We had a wonderful time at the outting, and we are so blessed to have such wonderful friends in our lives. We are in the process of purchasing an hyperbaric oxygen chamber for Cody, and that will greatly help out on the cost! Thanks so much again! :)
Love you all!
Jessie :)
June 20, 2008 (10pm Friday)
Well our time here in Qingdao is slowly coming to and end. Cody has improved in so many ways. Not only does he now have all his colors and can pick them out, last night we were sitting at the labtop looking a pictures together! He is like a whole new kid! Everytime he does something that he'd never done before, we're all like, "did you see that? I saw that, did you see what I saw? Get the camera!" And before you know it we have our camera, video camera, and we're calling grandma and pap-pap (in the middle of the night usually in the US) to celebrate another milestone! He is putting more sounds together, and repeating so much more. Today he was immiating playing the drums almost all day, although I think Paden might have had a little hand in that one too...lol. Cody is walking everywhere holding our hands, and he is begining to try to run all by himself! Now we just have to work on him going straight. He got so excited he was going fast that he forgot to look up to see where he was going, and he kept running into objects. Pup-pup and Cody help to pass the time by walking up and down the hall and practice on the stairs. There are a good number of young kids here with different disabilities, who have all received stemcells. Everyday the parents can't wait to share the newest achievement of the day. Whether it's their child taking their first steps ever without leg braces on during PT or another child smiling for the first time...no words can describe the miracles in progress here. We are so lucky to have been a part of all this.
Ok, so I have another funny food story...
We found a new restaurant that is close. We ate at it once, and it was great. So we got take-out the next day. Josh, Donna, Gary, and I all ordered hamburgers. Gary and Donna went and picked them up. So we were all excited to finally have a hamburger that looked and smelled great! We all began to eat and there was a silence. No one said anything, just continued to eat their burger. Josh couldn't take it anymore and said, "I don't think it's beef!" That was all it took. I was finished. I put my burger down, looked over at Donna and Gary, and their's were already gone! Donna said she kept telling herself, "it's beef, just eat it." Gary said he couldn't look at it because it was raw in the middle. I was beyond done! I couldn't even eat the bun. We were all thinking it, but Josh just had to say it. We were all like, "JOSH!!!" LOL! (Josh and I are writing this now laughing about it still)!
Oh, the memories we have and the stories to tell! :)
June 15, 2008 (Sunday 6pm)
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD! :)
I was going to call now, but I'll be nice and wait until at least 9pm here (9am US). hehe.
Cody did well with his injections yesterday. He laid for the 6 hours after like such a big boy! He sure was hungry after the 6 hours! Today he ate 4 times! He was sluggish today, and we cuddled a lot.
Josh, Donna, and Gary went to the city to the Tsingdao Brewery and beer museum. They got some good pictures and gifts for back home. Then Josh found a McDonalds- and he was a happy man! It actually tasted semi-like the McDonalds in the US...but it was close enough.
We are very excited to come home. We're slowly getting there.
Cody has his last spinal injection this week. We are required to stay so many days after though to make sure he has no negative reactions, and for final bloodwork and tests. Can't wait to see everyone!
Love you all! :)
June 12, 2008 (thurs. 2pm)
Mom and dad arrived home safely. They said they miss us, but they are glad to be back in the states. Donna and Gary joined us over the weekend. We've had a down week, Cody has his 4th stemcell treatment on Friday. One more to go after that! Cody has accupuncture in the mornings, and we work on colors throughout the day. There have been a lot of new families to join us. Every room is full, but it makes it nice to meet everyone here for the stemcells. Cody is doing well vocalizing more sounds and partly immitating our words. He is able to give everyone kisses now, and hugs too. We are working on him closing his mouth when giving kisses. His drooling is a lot better! Sometimes when he starts to drool I tell him to close his lips and swallow, and he does! FINALLY! He hates the doctors and nurses. When he hears them he cries and tries to get away (because usually with those voices comes sticks, pokes, evaluations, etc.). I would probably be the same way. They all know "CO-TY" and his moods. Jason, his accupuncture doctor, has learned not to talk. He and Cody communicate through play and hugs. Cody is tolerable of that until is comes times for the actual needles, then it's holding him until they (2) are in. Then Cody is fine. Jason has learned to play with Cody to distract him when he needs to pull them out. Today Cody did not even cry when Jason took them out. The nurses and doctors try so hard to get Cody to warm up to them, but I think it's a lost cause. We don't have to completly restrain him when they take his temp in his ear. He still cries, but he'll lay there and let the nurse take it. Tonight we are having a potluck dinner for Paden and his family, the New Zeleand family, and Joe and Matt. Also to get everyone together to meet. Seva and his little boy Vinnie left yesterday morning. We look forward to keeping in touch with everyone to see their progress. Paden is still making sure all the toys have working batteries. He is the "playroom monitor." Cody and Paden play very well together (I think Paden has the fear of getting "the heavy" put on him by momma, so he behaves. No more hair pulling incidents of little girls.) lol. We got Cody some Chinese pj's that are just too cute. I'll put the pic up on here. Every evening there is the usual poker game out in the gathering area. Dad, Roger said he'll deal you in! :) Everyone is hooked on the local famous beer- Tsingdao...which we've learned to pronouce right so we can order it when we are out. We've learned you have to request your drink cold (which comes more like chilled) or they bring your drink warm. yumyum. Well, I am going to go cut up some fruit for the party this evening. There's no place like home, that's for sure!
Love you all! :)
June 7, 2008 (sat 11pm)
Well we were proven wrong once again about the "steak." We ended up in the restaraunt in the bottom part of mom and dad's hotel. It was a very fancy place, but it was still China food. We picked out everything we wanted before we sat down (somethings were alive, others already sliced on a plate). I was so disapointed from not getting the steak we thought we were going for, that everything looked even more gross than usual. But...I did find a head of broccolli that I was able to tell them that is what I wanted to eat- cooked. They weren't understanding that I didn't want the shushi or grub worms that came with it, I just wanted broccolli. (it was another one of those moments I just had to get my camera out to accutally show everyone back home what I was seeing in front of me! lol.) So, I did get cooked broccolli that was good, and the shrimp dad ordered was good too. Oh, so was the rice. But the rest, well let me just say we left a lot on the table when we were done.
Later that night, Josh's parents Donna and Gary arrived in Qingdao. Josh picked them up at the airport. There was a little conflict with the luggage that was left behind in Beijiang, but they just had to go back later and pick it up. So, that is where they are all at now- back at the airport hopefully picking up Donna and Gary's luggage (Pittsburgh informed them they were to pick up their luggage in Qingdao, but something got screwed up. The only reason we picked up our luggage when we flew through Beijiang was because a Chinese-American fellow passenger told us we had to, or the samething would have happened). But they are here safe and sound. We all met in mom and dad's hotel room, and got Donna and Gary checked into their room. Mom and Dad fly out tomorrow morning. I am sad they are leaving. Two more weeks and we will all be home.
Good Night! :)
June 7, 2008 (sat 10am),
Well Donna and Gary should be over the North Pole by now. Josh is picking them up from the airport this evening. Mom and Dad are flying out tomorrow. We are sad to see them go. I think they've had enough China. lol. Cody had his 3rd injection yesterday. He is doing fine. He's throwing all his toys around the room like usual. Cody was such a big-boy yesterday! He laid flat for the 6 hours he needed to after his spinal, with little assistance from us. At the end of the 6 hours, he could get up and he just laid there. He didn't want to get up. He slept good last night, and we woke to "Old McDonald Had a Farm" and some chinese toy that sings a song that we have no idea what it says.
We had a going away party for several families that are leaving soon, including mom and dad. It was at potluck. We had everything including pizza, to Chinese, clams, fruit, and pop with ice! A few new families came. A young man and his Dad from Dallas, a family with a 2 year old little boy from LA, and a husband and wife from Brooklyn. All with different circumstances, but all here for stemcell injections.
We are getting tired of pizza everyday, so we decided to venture out to a restaurant for mom and dad's last night here. We think we found a place that has steak....although we have been proven wrong before. :)
Love you all! :)
June 4, 2008 (Wed. 11am)
Cody did well with his IV stemcell injection on Monday. He wasn't feeling to swift yesterday. Grandma took care of him. The day after his injections, he just likes to cuddle. He hasn't had a temp so far, which is good. Cody just got done with his accupuncture for the day. They come in the mornings. We have to hold him down while the doctor puts them in, but then he is fine.We just have to sit behind him to make sure he doesn't bump the needles, or try to pull them out of his forehead. Usually a bottle, and a few toys can distract him for the 30minutes. His next spinal injection is on Friday.
There is no vision therapists here, so we are doing his "vision" play. We brought a bag of toys to work with colors, and we brought cups that are working well too. He learned purple and yellow. He is picking up color out of his left side!!! We are excited! :) Kirshner bought a bunch of toys for the low-vision kids, and she made a play room for them. They all make noise, and have flashy lights. We have a lot of downtime between treatments and therapy, and the kids espcially get bored quickly.
Yesterday Dad, Josh, and I ventured into the city with Paden and his family. We went to the "Gmo-mart" (aka- underground market). Once we got there, we were like--OH, it's REALLY under the ground! lol. We bought some gifts for back home, and then went to eat. We found a restaurant on main street that looked nice. We have to guess what we are ordering from pictures, and no one there spoke English. We pointed at what looked like general tso's, some kind of sliced fried pork, and something else we didn't know what it was but looked like dumplings (homemade dumplings with meat are very popular). When we asked what was in the dumplings when ordering, we said "MOO" (hoping for beef), and the waiter said yes. So we ordered. We should have known something was wrong when the workers were all laughing when our waiter showed them our order. The general tso's turned out to be breaded "chicken" ground up, bones and all. The sliced "pork" was ok, but had bones as well (but big enough we could pick most out). The rice we all chowed down on. Toward the end we looked closely at the rice to come to the conclusion there was fish scales mixed in it. The dumplings were the best of all. The meat inside tasted like pork, and the dumplings were good enough to eat. They did have the Tsingtao beer the guys wanted. We got back to the hospital and talked to a man that spoke Chinese. He said that MOO meant MEOW!!! The dumplings had cat meat inside!! We were all laughing so hard and grossed out at the sametime (the sad part was that the dumplings and meat were the best thing we ate).That was enough for us. We had peanut-butter and jelly for breakfast, and pizza for lunch. I am thinking grilled-cheese and tomato soup or spaghetti for dinner....cooked by us. I can not wait to have American Chinese food! lol.
While in the city we saw a lady with a few bowls sitting on the ground. We looked down to see scorpions! She was selling them to eat! Then woman comes up and began to pick one up with chopsticks. Dad said, "If she eats that I'm going to throw up!" (she put it in a bag).
June 2, 2008 (Monday 1pm)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JENNA! :) Can't wait to see you!
Cody has his 2nd stemcell treatment this afternoon through IV, which is easier on both Cody and us! It takes about a half an hour, and they'll give it to him right in the room. He had accupuncture this morning which was the best one yet. Yesterday we went to Ocean World. Cody was so cute. We asked him where the big fish are, and he tapped the glass on the aquarium. The big fish, sharks, dolphins, etc would swim by and he got all excited and wide-eyed! Numerous times we were asked to get our pictures taken with the Chinese people...it's kinda weird and funny at the same time. They all love Cody. Children over here are especially sacred, everyone just loves them. The little kids wear pants with open holes in the crotch and nothing underneath, and when they have to go- they go! Anywhere. It's different. No one even blinks an eye. At restaurants, any kids there will all get together and play while the parents eat. We experienced that yesterday. Kirshner took us to a great restaurant in the city. It was the best Chinese food yet. The kids all wanted Cody to go play with them, but of course he was in one of his moods. They liked his song toy we had with us, and all they Chinese people in the restaurant wanted pics with the Americans. We passed the Olympic center in Qingdao, where the sailing part of the Olympics will be held. The whole city is Olympic crazy! It's neat to be part of all that, even if we won't be here for the actual events.
Today Mitzie and her mother left. Mitzie is a young woman with MS. They are from Baton Rouge, Louisiania. Talking with her is so hopeful. She said she had three goals when she came. (1). To run (2). To jump (3). To be able to stand on one leg for 30 seconds. She told me today that she progressed to the point that she was well beyond her goals. She said not only could she jump, she was also jumping over objects. She was able to walk to a night club the other night a group of the patients and their families went to down the road. We had a party for her last night, it was a lot of fun. It was great getting to know her and her mother.
Cody last night began to run. He never really "ran" before, always just walked fast. I went to turn him around from where he was venturing off to, and he grabbed my hands and took off. I could hardly keep up to him. It's the little things that make our day! :)
There's still no place like home.
Love you all!
May 31st, 2008 (Sat morning)
Good morning! (evening more like it back in the states). Things are going well. Cody is doing great! Everyone is so great to us here! The doctors, nurses, translaters, and Chinese people in general are all are so sweet and caring. Everyone is just so nice and helpful with everything. I was at the store the other day looking for syrup, and the lady was not understanding me. A young Chinese woman came over and knew English. She was so helpful, we thought she worked there-until she walked away. We are learning a few Chinese words from the staff, and we teach them as well. Everywhere we go people stare at us, especially Dad, me, and Cody. The first thing Cody's nurse did was she touched my arm and put hers to mine. She said she loved my skin. The doctors all love Cody's eyelashes...when he came out of surgery and was still asleep, the doctors were touching his hair & eyelashes. They kept saying "pretty."
Well we are heading off to breakfast. Oh, Anna- don't worry about little girl kitty, she runs for a few days sometimes. She will come back. One time she left for 2 weeks, and I thought she was gone. One night there she is, in the window. Hope Haley isn't too much for you. Thanks so much for holding down the fort for us! :)
Today's the dinner/dance at the American Legion in East Brady. Thanks to everyone who put it all together for us! So wish we could be there for the fun time! Donna, call me from the event so we can say "Nee-how" (hello) from China! :)
Love u all! :)
May 30, 2008 (Fri. 10am)
We have the internet back...yay! :)
Cody did very well with his first stemcell injection. When he came out of surgery, he had to lay flat for 6 hours to prevent a spinal headache. He slept mostly the whole time...which was a huge relief! He only semi woke up a few times, and we had to hold him down- then he drifted back off to sleep. He just laid around all day yesterday. Didn't have a temp or anything. Cody had a port in his hand from surgery, and they removed it yesteday afternoon. Cody did very well at leaving it alone. He is doing fine today. He didn't eat much yesterday, but he had had 2 bowls of cereal and a chocolate pudding for breakfast.
We can receive calls and text messages on my cell, just can't send or call out. We got a calling card to call home, and also between mom and dad's hotel and hospital. The food is still yet to be desired. Miss the food from home. Our Chinese food is still better in the states. lol.
Cody's drooling is almost gone. Don't know if it's from the accupuncture around his mouth, stemcells, or maybe both. Something worked, which we are very excited about! Our room is very bright from all the windows, which also helps Cody to see. The morning after is treatments, I woke up and looked over to see him just sitting indian style on his bed. He was just looking from one direction to another, taking it all in. If only he could talk to tell us exactly what he can see.
There has been some great progress with our friends that we met here. Casey, a little girl with ONH, is begining to see colors for the first time. She's had a few treatments so far. Paden, a little boy with ONH here, has become friends with Cody (I think Cody's toys helped a little in that too- lol). Paden and Cody are a lot alike in behaviors, and it is nice to see an older boy with ONH that gets around and communicates so well. Casey is from Arkansas, and Paden is from Texas. Cody is the youngest patient here so far. David, a man from Flordia that was paralysed from a boating accident, has had great success it the stemcell treatments. The stories here are amazing of how far patients have come thanks to stemcells! I will put a link to Paden's website and David's as well. David was in the movie "Super-Cells" that won numerous awards worldwide. I watched it last night and cried, it was just so amazing. Seeing such great progress first hand, is such hope in itself! We're all kinda like one large family, that is there for each other on the good days and bad. There are families here from Boston, Flordia, Tennessee, Utah, New Zealand, Romania, and more. We are all on the same floor, which makes it nice to talk to everyone who is going through the same treatments. We all share a kitchen and sitting area.
Today is the first sunny day we've seen (the smog is so bad there is rarely sun). It bother's mom's and Cody's sinuses, so we try to keep the window closed as much as possible. But since there is no AC, it sometimes gets to the point we have to let a breeze in.
Happy early birthday to Jenna, just incase the internet goes out again. Call my cell when you get a chance. :)
Donna, we have a list for you for when you come over...lol. The main things are spaghetti #3 babyfood, and individual applesauces, and puddings. Also if you can check the "Cody's Crew" shirts for a small one to bring for Paden. He gave Cody one of his shirts. Dad and mom got an extra padding for their bed, so you don't have to bring an extra cushion. Also bring as many battery items as possible, verses plug in. Our converters are good for one plug.
Thanks so much! :)
Love you all! :)
May 27, 2008 (Tues. 4pm)
Cody did not sleep at all last night. We all went to bed, then about an hour later I woke up to Cody unloading all his toys from his suitcase. He played all night long. We all are slowly getting used to the time change. Yesterday Josh went with our patient rep to the market and got some groceries. We have a community kitchen here on our floor, which is nice. There's a dining room and living room/meeting area as well. It is has skylights, which lights everything up well for Cody. I made scrambled eggs with American cheese, and the best bread I've ever tasted! It just melts in your mouth!
The doctors come around every moring. Today we had his first accupuncture (sp??), which went exactly how we thought. Total screaming/kicking fight from Cody. It took Dad, Josh, and I to hold him the whole time. They put needles one about each eye on his forehead, and the one in each corner of his mouth (to help control his drool). Well we decided that we are going to stick with the forehead ones for his eyes, but the ones on the mouth was just too much. It isn't painful for Cody, but he screams when we have to hold him down so he won't bump the needles at all. So we are through all that now. (for today anyways).
Earlier in the day all of us ventured out to the RT MART (local mall/wal-mart/food store all in one). It would be like if you took Wal-mart, Giant Eagle, Mall, Grove City Outlets, and all food places- and combined them all. It is a couple of stories high, and a few blocks from here. Everything here is so cheap we can't believe it! We went into the food section, which no words can describe. Somethings looked so awesome and delicious, but most we didn't know what was in the items of food. They had some things that I just had to get the camera out for. The Chinese workers were lauging at us, which we expected (when we returned we found out we weren't allowed to take pictures...oops! LOL)! Dad said he didn't know if we were in a pet store or a food store...we never saw so many things still alive in a food store! Where are all the cats?? lol. We had to buy a cushion for our bed due to the "rock" we are sleeping on. Dr. David told us that it is healthy to sleep on a hard bed, but our backs beg to differ.
We have so many wild stories of the culture shock here, we just laugh. The driving is crazy. Mom and Dad always have fun stories to tell us when they arrive in the morning from their taxi rides from their hotel. Looking out our window, we witnessed large trailors carring huge statues of the Olympic rings, and what looked like where the Olympic flame is going to be lit. There is Olympic stuff everywhere, I almost wish we were here during all of that. Almost. lol. I had a dream that we ran into the US Olympic softball team....never know. lol.
Ice is rare here, drinks are served semi-chilled...no ice. We bought extra ice trays for our small freezer in our room. No air conitioners...even the mall. Since we are close to the coast, we have a great breeze up on the 8th floor of the hospital. A family is leaving this evening, so they have a party for them whenever they leave. We've met so many wonderful people! The nurses and doctors are all so caring and friendly! Everyone knows Cody- they pronounce his name CO-TY....it's cute. The other familes are from all over the world....most speak English, and are from the US. To see some other patients that have it a lot worse than Cody, it gives us a little reality check that it can always be worse than just being blind.
May 26, 2008- PM
Met with all the doctors. Cody is having his first stemcell injections on Wed. He is also having accupuncture therapy tomorrow, so we will see how that goes if we want to do anymore. We have met several other US families that are over here for treatments. Another little boy that is from Texas, he is 6 with ONH. To see him is very promising. :) We figured out you can call us, we just can't call out on our cell for some reason. So call my cell, or LMSL (means "Leave me some love" LOL for grandma)...hehe. :)
May 26, 2008- Early AM
WE'RE HERE! We arrived at the hospital in Qingdao last night at 9pm (Sunday). We flew out of Pittsburgh Saturday morning at 8am to New Jersey on a connecting flight, which was very tiny. We then took an "airbus" 777 (much nicer and very large plane) over Greenland, up over the North Pole, back down over Russia, and then into China. It was amazing to see! In Bejiang, we had a little hang up with plane tickets- which we ended up just purchasing new tickets. BUT...we are here now (Donna and Gary, call Travelocity and double check about your connecting flight from Bejiang to Qingdao, supposily Travelocity never booked our connecting flight). Anyways, Qingdao is beautiful! Very modern, and new! Olympic signs and buidlings being finished everywhere! We are still working on getting our cell phones to work, which Verizon said they would- so we'll see. So grandma don't panic on why we haven't called. :) The sunsets and rises all a lot earlier than ours, and everything starts a lot earlier as well! There were patient represenatives that met us at Qingdao airport and took us to the hospital, and mom and dad then to their hotel. I have yet to see them this morning to see how their experience went last night. Coming over here we gained 12 hours, which was nice not to have to reset our watches. The plane from Bejiang to Qingdao was bigger than we expected, but by that point we were all so tired that Dad and I were asleep before we even took off! (Cody was too, with a little help from another dose of Benodryl in the airport during our ticket situation). Cody slept great last night, as did Josh and I! The beds are really hard, Donna and Gary you might want to bring an egg create or 2- it would be worth it!! Also customs in Bejiang were extremly strict with carry-ons...no liquids of any kind- so we just transfered all of his babyfood, juice, etc. to luggage to go under the plane. We'll I am going to go see if Cody and Josh are awake yet, they came in this morning early to take blood, weight, and check Cody's temp. (which was all good). Keep checking back, I will updated every chance I get. :) Love you all, and Donna and Gary can't wait for ya'll to come too! :) Anna, how was our "babies" for you? Give them all a big kiss for me! :)
April 23, 2008
Well our date is getting closer and closer. We fly out on May 24th, and we are excited and nervous at the same time.
I wanted to thank Dave Malarky for have me and the Lions Club on the Butler Radio last week.
We are still selling the Longaberger ticket for $10 each. Email me or leave me a message on here if you want one, or think you might be able to help us sell a few. It goes off the entire month of July, so you have 31 chance to win! Also in those 31, there are 6 large baskets that are filled with summer themed items (as well as lottery tickets, mom's day out stuff, etc).
April 6, 2008
Well I can't believe it, but we will be going to CHINA next month! So excited! We have a lot of upcoming benefits, so keep checking back for updates!
March 25, 2008,
HAPPY EASTER! Hope everyone had a very Happy Easter! You can probably guess the theme of this Easter- traveling stuff for Cody! :)
WE HAVE OUR DATES!
We are going to Qing-tao, China May 25th- June 21st. The city we are going to is know for it's seafood, beaches, resorts, and beer (annual beer festival-lol). It is also the sight of the sailing part of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Josh and I will be staying in the hospital on the family floor with Cody. Mom and Dad are coming over with us and staying for two weeks. Then Josh's parents will come over for the last two weeks and fly home with us. We are very excited for the trip, but more importantly for Cody to receive the stemcell treatments.
We will be selling Longaberger month long tickets for $10.00 a piece. Everyday of the month you'll have a chance to win! On the ticket will also be summer themed baskets for certain days. (themes are lottery, scrapbooking, Americana, vacations, camping, swimming, Just for Mom, etc.) If you would like a ticket, email me and I'll get one out to you! Jam29Isabel_sru@yahoo.com.
March 15, 2008....again...lol,
Today at the mall we were selling raffle tickets for the baskets. We met a man that was telling us about his friend's little girl from Canada. She is paralized from a horse riding accident. He said she's received 3 stemcell treatments from China, and now can feel the back of her legs and her backside. It is so good to hear of all the great success stories from people that already had done what Cody is soon to be going through. :)
March 15, 2008
Thanks to Liz from Slippery Rock University, the newspaper (THE ROCKET), for doing a story on Cody. What a wonderful article and great colored pictures! Also thanks for the front page pic headline, too.
Thanks again to the Independant Observer in Scottdale for doing another great article/follow-up on Cody and our fundraising!
Thanks to the South Butler Firehall for giving us a very nice donation, and also allowing us to set up every Friday at the lent fish dinners to sell the basket tickets. We are really having great success selling the tickets/candybars/donations at the dinners...plus, it's a good excuse to have a great fish dinner there too!!!! :)
Thanks to Dan at BOSCOVS Dept. Store in Clearview Mall for allowing us to set up to sell the Steeler/Penguin basket raffle tickets. We did way better than we ever expected! :)
Feb. 27, 2008
Sending a HUGE hug and thank you to The Vies Family for giving Cody a spaghetti dinner benefit this past Sunday (Aunt Janine, Uncle John, Jenna, Jean, Jennifer, Jason & Amy, and Julie & David). Thank you to Scottdale Elks for giving us their hall, Wise's Resteraunt for donating 5 sheet cakes, Standard Bank for making a raffle basket, and everyone from Fox's Pizza for helping with everything!!! Thank you to the Lemley family for making several raffle blaskets! Thanks to all the volunteers for helping us hold such a successful benefit! From the dinner, raffles, 50/50, and donations we raised $7500.00!!!! I usually don't like to put an actual number on here, but OMG I HAD to put this one for everyone to see! That put us over the half way mark and more!!! YAYAYA!!!!
Feb. 16, 2008
Thanks to employees at the Butler Hospital IDL Building for a successful Valentine's Day bakesale! We couldn't believe how much we made!!! Thanks to everyone that made the items to sell as well!!
We are selling candybars now. If you are interested in buying some, or helping to sell- let me know! :)
Also we are taking orders for Pampered Chef up until March 1st. You can check out the main website online, and let me know what you want. www.pamperedchef.com
Thanks to the Scottdale Independant Observer for doing such a wonderful updated article on Cody and all our fundraising. I never expected to be on the front page, let alone the headline story! Thanks Kelly and Bernadette for helping us out so much!
Feb. 11. 2008
Thank you so much to Mark IV (in Scottdale) for hosting a bakesale on Friday for Cody! It was well above what anyone could have expected to make that day!! It was great to finally get to meet everyone there too!
Second, thanks to everyone who came out to T.J.'s Hideaway on Sat for the country music benfit! We had another very successful night! It was a lot of fun too! :)
Looking forward to the Valentine's Day bakesale at the Butler Hospital IDL Building in East Butler from 11:00am-1:00pm in the cafeteria. Thanks to the ladies from BMH for doing this for Cody!
We are selling Pampered Chef for the month of Feb. Orders will go in on March 1st, so just let me know if you are interested in placing an order. I can also get a book out to you if need be, or you can check out their website at www.pamperedchef.com.
We are also selling raffle tickets for 12 different themed baskets. The tickets are $1.00 a piece, and 12 different winners will be pulled on Good Friday. Let me know if you want any tickets!! :)
Feb. 5, 2008
The Elks and Fox's Pizza in Scottdale are selling hearts and shamrock's for Cody. There will also be a spaghetti dinner at the Elks on Sunday, Feb. 24th from 11:00am-3:00pm. It'll be $6.00 at the door for the dinner, and we'll also be selling 50/50 and a longerberger basket tickets too. Can't wait! :)
Feb. 3, 2008
We have a busy upcoming week!
On Friday, there is a bakesale at Mark IV Office Supply in Scottdale. It is located on the same side as Graft's Car Garage and NAPA Autoparts. They've also been selling snowflakes for Cody, and they are hanging in their front window! :)
In Butler, Friday starts our basket ticket raffle during the fish dinners at South Butler Firehall. We will be there every Friday during Lent. We are having twelve different baskets, so you will have 12 chances to win! The winning tickets will be pulled on Good Friday. If you want tickets and aren't able stop out, let me know!
Then on Saturday, we are having our big benefit country rock concert at T.J.'s Hideaway in Evans City. It's $10.00 donation at the door, and the first band comes on at 9:00pm. We'll also be having a 50/50 there too. Come out and have a good time with us!
Jan. 27, 2008
Well we are 1/3 of the way to our goal! YAY!
I got in the mail 2 DVD copies of the news story that was on WealthTV about the Stemcells China- if you want to borrow it to watch lemmie know! We are attempting to pass it around so everyone can see exactly what we are raising money for and it's very informative as well! I actually couldn't believe what I was watching the first time I saw it! It talks about families with children that have ONH that have either already went to China, or that are currently raising money to go for the stemcell treamtents. Give me a heads up if you would like to borrow it. :)
Jan. 26, 2008
First off, thank you so much for everyone that came to Cody's Benefit Bingo last Sunday in Emlenton! We raised well above what we were expecting! We pulled the 50/50 raffle ticket there as well, and Denny Burns from Grove City won--- and guess what-- he donated the entire winnings back to Cody! There wasn't a dry eye in the place! Thanks to Buster for letting us have the benefit at his Bingo Hall. Also thanks to all the family members that busted their behinds organizing and helping out at the bingo! Much appriciated! :) Grandma Betsy's meatball hoagies were a great hit, as we knew they would be! :) Also, thanks to everyone who donated items for the Chinese auction- that went very well too! :)
Jan. 15, 2008
We are having a benefit concert on Saturday, Feb. 9th for Cody at T.J.'s Hideaway on 68 between Butler and Evans City. The country band, "The Stickers", are donating all their proceeds made that night to Cody! It'll be a cover charge at the door, and we'll have 50/50 and possibly a few raffles as well throughout the night. We are just so excited!!! It'll be one heck of a time too! :) Can't wait!!! :)
Dec. 27, 2007
We are working hard on the upcoming benefit bingo on Jan. 20 at Emlenton Firehall. We are having a chinese auction as well. For the chinese auction, we have a few items but we need more. Let me know if you are interested in donating items, gift certificates, etc. by emailing me at Jam29Isabel_sru@yahoo.com. At the bingo, we are going to be selling meatballs hoagies that Grandma is making for us as well!
Dec. 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!!!
Our story was in the Butler Eagle on Monday. It was a really nice picture, and article. There were a few facts that were wrong, though. The main one was the stemcells are not embryotic stemcells, they are umbilical stemcells. Big difference! The stemcells Cody and Lexi are getting are from donated umbilical cord blood, no fetus's are harmed in anyway! Also the address was wrong where to send the donations- it is:
The Cody Fend Fund
P.O. Box 107
East Butler, Pa 16029
(Anyone who has already sent donations, we contacted the Post Office and they are aware of the mistake.)
Dec. 20, 2007
I wanted to give a huge thank you to the Southmoreland High School Band and Choir! What a wonderful gift to Cody! Thank you to everyone who donated at the concert as well!
Dec. 19, 2007
The news story on ONH on the WealthTV was great! I couldn't believe what I was watching! I am looking to get a copy of the report to be able to show everyone exactly what we are doing, and to be able to put faces with names! :)
Dec. 13, 2007
The radio interview went very well! Thanks to Dave for inviting us on the radio with him! The Butler Eagle contacted us and look for us in the paper sometime next week!
Dec. 8, 2007
We are putting together a chinese auction for the benefit bingo on Jan. 20 at Emlenton Firehall. We've got some great items, but we need more. If you have any ideas or want to help let me know! Jam29Isabel_sru@yahoo.com
Dec. 7, 2007
We are going to be on the Butler radio station on Monday, Dec. 10 from 1-2pm. It is going to be live.
Dec. 6, 2007
To everyone that has sent us donations, thank you so much! We are receiving donations from all over, from people we don't even know sending money to help Cody. There's really a lot of good in the world, and we're seeing it in every envelope we open. Words can not express how grateful we are for everyone's help!
Dec. 1, 2007
Cody story was in the Connellsville Courier, Tribune-Review Greensburg, and the Valley Dispatch today! We are so excited to get Cody's story out! If it was in any other newspapers that aren't listed, please let me know! Thank you to all the reporters who passed the story along as well! Much appriciated! We are still working on our own newspaper to do a story on Cody.
Nov. 29, 2007
Today Cody's story is in the Independant Observer in Scottdale. I have yet to see it, but my mom said it is a great article and picture. Also check out the Connellsville Courier in the next few days!! Still working hard to set up some benefits! Thanks to so many people who are donating their time, energey, and money to setting up the fundraising "projects." We know we couldn't have done this alone! Words can't express how grateful we are to everyone!
Nov. 25, 2007
We were informed today that family members are putting together a benefit bingo. It will be Jan. 20, at the Emlenton Firehall. We are also looking to put together a chinese action to have at the benefit as well.
Nov. 23, 2007
The Butler parade was today and it turned out great! We had about 20 family members and friends join us in the parade. Half road the float we made, and the other half walked beside the float passing out fliers. We passed out over 2000 fliers- which was a lot more than we expected! GREAT! Thanks to everyone who bundled up and helped us! Cody was great, we put his bouncy horse on the float. He jumped on the horse the entire parade! We had a flat tire on the float in the begining, but of course it was fixed quickly by the Fend "pitcrew!" hehe.
Cody had a wonderful Christmas! It flew by too fast, as usual! Cody got a powerwheels from santa. I had to break the news to Daddy that he was too big to fit in it with Cody. lol. He got the new Elmo, and he thinks it is the REAL Elmo. It was so cute when he first began to play with it. No one else was allowed to touch it, Cody would say, "My Elmo!" He just sat a few inches away from it- in complete silence, with huge eyes staring at it! Cody also got a lot of coloring items!!! He sure does love his colors, so that seems to be the theme this Christmas. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Years!!!!
If by any chance you haven't seen the yahoo group yet, there is a ONH/SOD China Stemcells group for parents, families, etc. It is growing greatly in numbers, and it is really a great way to get info. Go to yahoo.com and then to the groups and type in "stemcellchina_onh_sod" - that is the name of the yahoo group. It is so great to read and respond to the postings! Finally, a way all us parent's can connect!!!!
Here is a link to David's video he made while in Qingdao, China. We met David there, and he is a true insperation to all!!! If you haven't seen it, you must watch this video.
http://www.vimeo.com/1273008
Love you all!
Jessie
December 9, 2008
Cody continues to amaze us! We put up our Christmas tree. Last year we had an issue with him running into the tree as he walks by. He would say "owie." Now this year, he hasn't ran into the tree AT ALL! He completly walks around it, never touching it or falling into it. He will reach out, touch the pine needles, and say, "hurt!" (Everything now is "hurt"). If I tell him to stop doing something, he says hurt. I have to remind him just because he doesn't like something, it's not "hurt"! lol.
We recently had to go to the doctors because Cody was sick. He was a little show off to Dr. Trotta. Cody said all the colors of what everything was. Dr. Trotta was so impressed with Cody!
This morning I was waking Cody up for school, and he said, "Mommy I tired." I said, "I know honey, Mommy's tired too!"lol. Then I told him what nice Spiderman PJ's he had on. He then said, "I Spiderman!" Oh it was too cute! Cody's Christmas Program at school is coming up on Friday. Of course like the whole family is going, and everyone is bringing cameras and videocameras...which Cody loves it all! :) (not sure where he gets that from..hehe).
Thank you to the Red Hat Society of Butler for inviting us to your Christmas dinner. We had a great time, and Cody loves him Sesame Street books! Thank you for your donation, once again, to Cody! It was great to finally put some faces with names, and to meet all the wonderful generous members! Looking forward to staying in touch with ya'll! Ginger (aka- Queen Bee), thank you for the great slideshow of pictures from the event! I forwarded them on to the whole family! :)
Thank you to the Blue Knights International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club in Pittsburgh for your doantion to Cody! That was very thoughtful, and we greatly appreciate your generosity!
Check out the link to the Stemcells China ONH/SOD support group! Carol Peterson first told me about it, and it is really great! Great info from parents about their kids, and any recent updates as well! Join and comment, or just stop by to say hello! :) SUPPORT GROUP FOR CHINA STEM CELL PATIENTS & FAMILIES
We are begining to get everything together for another trip. We are either going to Qingdao, China again- or to the new site in Thailand. We will know more after the holidays.
Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! :)
Love Always,
Jessie
November 12, 2008
Cody is doing very well at his preschool. He attends Western Pa School for Blind Children down in Oakland (Pittsburgh). He is talking so much more now, and he is begining to use words on his own. Grandma got him a toy flashlight, and he saw it and said, "light." He was spinning a wheel on his toy truck and said, "spin." I was like- Josh, did you hear that??? He is so smart, and finally he is starting to be able to tell us what he wants. He does very well listening to directions, thanks to his all his teachers/therapists at school! He is transitioning a lot better, which anyone that knows Cody is aware of his little moments. Cody is into wrestling. No matter what mood he is in, if you ask him if he wants to wrestle he will come and jump on you. Cody loves giving kisses. He'll wrestle with you, and then want to give you a kiss (he knows how to suck up to all the women...lol). Elmo is everywhere in our house! Elmo can fix anything! Only problem is the Elmo DVD's aren't long enough! Last Saturday night Josh and I went to Wal-mart and we were looking at a DVD to buy. Of course you know what we ended up with, "Potty Training With Elmo!" LOL! Cody loves it! He stood at the TV and watched the entire thing! Then, Josh asked him if he needed to use the potty. Don't you know that he walked straight into the bathroom, we put him on the potty, and HE WENT! We should've known all we needed this whole time was ELMO! lol.
September 19th, 2008
Cody continues to improve each day! This past week he started preschool at Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children down in Pittsburgh. Josh and I went down for the entire first day to show them Cody's "schedule." He just made himself at home. They are really great with Cody! We have a bus that picks him up and brings him home everyday...that is the only bad part for Cody is the 2 hour ride to and from the school. They are working with Cody so will be ready for kindergarden. We tried the public school preschool, but Cody needs daily therapy and a little more than he would be recieving there. So, now for the next 2 years he will attend W.P.S.B.C. and we are very excited. They are working directly with his eatting issues, speech, P.T., and overall interactions with other children.
We recently had Cody's vision tested and guess what...we are getting GLASSES!!! Before the China trip glasses were not even an option, but now his vision has improved to the point that glasses with help!!! His opthamologist said he is extremely near sighted, but that is great that we have that!!! We are so excited. His nystagmous (the shaking of his eyes due to a side-effect from the ONH) has 90% stopped since the stemcell injections. Cody's doctor at Children's Hospital Pittsburgh feels he can stop the rest of his nystagmous with surgery on the muscles of Cody's eyes. Also, the Dr. Hertle (Cody's Opthamologist a Children's) said he can straighten out his eyes as well. We are so excited! I find myself having to remind Cody to "use his eyes" since he is so used to having to feel everything with is hands.
Congrats to Paden Lane on becoming a big brother!!! Paden, we are so happy and excited for you! Cody sure does miss you! I am sure you will show your new little brother how all your toys work and all the batteries replaced daily. :) I hope your momma hasn't had to put the heavy on you lately.....I'm sure she hasn't. hehe. How do you like school this year? Cody's PopPop Red says hello and he is so excited to hear how well you are doing!
Also congrats to Hellen on the birth of her beautiful baby boy! Keep the pictures coming! Hellen was Cody's nurse the entire time we stayed at the hospital in Qingdao. She was the first to welcome us when we came to the hospital, and the last we said goodbye to when we left. She is an angel to all the children who she cares for and comforts daily.
Hope all is well with all our China Stemcell friends and their families. Looking forward to hearing how everyone is doing!
Love you all!
Jessie
July 28th, 2008
Cody's vision continues to improve each day. He was in the shower the other day. I saw him looking up, just in a total gaze. It didn't take long for me to figure out what he was so fascinated with....the water! He was able to see the drops of water from the shower! I am sure it through him for a loop, trying to figure out what "clear" actually meant. Until that moment, I never tried to actually explain what "clear" was to a person that never saw it before. He loves to swim and loves water! I asked him if he wanted to go swimming in his pool, an he said "wa-wa" for the first time! Jolene, I know you'd love to hear this! :) The communication barrior is still huge, but with hard work we are slowly closing the gap. He now loves to play peek-a-boo, and thinks it is just hilarious! Cody continues to explore the house, and every place he's never got into before. He is fascinated by Daddy's tools, especially anything metal that he can throw on our kitchen floor to make a loud sound. Luckily I've been able to intercept most before he reaches the kitchen. He's able to pick out all his colors very well. We tell him to find us something in any color, and he is able to go get it or point to it. We are just so excited!
Thank you to the Red Hat Society from Butler for having the mystery dinner for Cody. :) That was really great of you guys to do that!
Also thank you to Kelly Vernon from the Independant Observer Newspaper in Scottdale for going above and beyond for Cody. The articles and pictures are so wonderful. Thank you for helping us to show the community how grateful we are for everyone's help, and for keeping everyone updated along the way!
Cody will be starting pre-school in the fall. He had a practice week last week, which he did great!
I've been contacted by several families looking for more info on the stemcell treatments possibly for their friend or family member. I say to anyone who is reading this and has questions....please don't hesitate to contact me. I will do my best at answering questions, and if I don't have an answer for you- I can put you in contact with someone who does. Here is my email- Jam29Isabel_sru@yahoo.com.
Keep checking for more updates!!
Love you all!
Jessie :)
July 2nd, 2008
There is a new support group that Carol Peterson put together (Cameron's grandma). Here is the link, and I will add it to Cody's link page as well.
SUPPORT GROUP FOR FAMILIES OF STEM CELL TREATMENTS IN CHINA
June 30th, 2008
CODY CAN SEE ALL HIS COLORS!!!
Well we've been back in the states for about a week, and I think we are almost all over our jetlag! Cody is like whole new kid! He is able to pick out ALL his colors! His eyes quit shaking, and his drooling is almost gone (thanks to Jason, our accupuncture doctor who did extremely well with Cody and his "moods")! We are so excited! Today grandma told Cody to go get his yellow truck out of his room...and he did! (the boy has about 10 different colored toy trucks). Anywhere we are, he can find where the sun is. I tell him to look at mommy, and he comes within 2 inches of my face and stares at me and smilies! No words can describe how great that feels to know that he sees us!
Cody was a little showoff to all his therapists this week! Since he turned 3 yesterday, we had just one week left with our early intervention therapists to see the progress so far. First he saw Becky (PT) and Kay came too. Becky had large colored disks that she scattered all over the living room, and then told him to find each color. And he did! He got up on her balace beam all by myself, something he would never do before. Then Angie (OT). amd Jolene (speech) came and Cody showed off again. He picked out all the different colors race cars and put them on the track. He talked more than he ever has for Jolene before! He is repeating all first syllables of words, and all his ABC's and 123's!!! His music has increased dramatically....he taps all the beats out to all his songs. He keeps the beat as well! The kid is a future musician, we've already accepted that! :) Then Christie (his vision therapist) came, and he did so well. She kept saying what an improvement he is, and we only wished we had longer with all our therapists! Becky especially has done wonders for Cody. Becky was our first therapist, and she came when he couldn't roll over by himself at 6 months old.....to now he climbs all over the furniture and gets into everything! All the therapists were a joy to have in our lives, and we are sad to see them go. But I guess now we start a whole new chapter in our lives, Cody going to preschool in the fall. We have a practice week in July, and one in Aug. I think mommy is going to have the roughest time adjusting to having to leave the house for therapy. We were very blessed to have all the therapists previously coming to our house for the sessions.
We wanted to thank the Auer family for donating the proceeds from their golf outting to Cody this year. We had a wonderful time at the outting, and we are so blessed to have such wonderful friends in our lives. We are in the process of purchasing an hyperbaric oxygen chamber for Cody, and that will greatly help out on the cost! Thanks so much again! :)
Love you all!
Jessie :)
June 20, 2008 (10pm Friday)
Well our time here in Qingdao is slowly coming to and end. Cody has improved in so many ways. Not only does he now have all his colors and can pick them out, last night we were sitting at the labtop looking a pictures together! He is like a whole new kid! Everytime he does something that he'd never done before, we're all like, "did you see that? I saw that, did you see what I saw? Get the camera!" And before you know it we have our camera, video camera, and we're calling grandma and pap-pap (in the middle of the night usually in the US) to celebrate another milestone! He is putting more sounds together, and repeating so much more. Today he was immiating playing the drums almost all day, although I think Paden might have had a little hand in that one too...lol. Cody is walking everywhere holding our hands, and he is begining to try to run all by himself! Now we just have to work on him going straight. He got so excited he was going fast that he forgot to look up to see where he was going, and he kept running into objects. Pup-pup and Cody help to pass the time by walking up and down the hall and practice on the stairs. There are a good number of young kids here with different disabilities, who have all received stemcells. Everyday the parents can't wait to share the newest achievement of the day. Whether it's their child taking their first steps ever without leg braces on during PT or another child smiling for the first time...no words can describe the miracles in progress here. We are so lucky to have been a part of all this.
Ok, so I have another funny food story...
We found a new restaurant that is close. We ate at it once, and it was great. So we got take-out the next day. Josh, Donna, Gary, and I all ordered hamburgers. Gary and Donna went and picked them up. So we were all excited to finally have a hamburger that looked and smelled great! We all began to eat and there was a silence. No one said anything, just continued to eat their burger. Josh couldn't take it anymore and said, "I don't think it's beef!" That was all it took. I was finished. I put my burger down, looked over at Donna and Gary, and their's were already gone! Donna said she kept telling herself, "it's beef, just eat it." Gary said he couldn't look at it because it was raw in the middle. I was beyond done! I couldn't even eat the bun. We were all thinking it, but Josh just had to say it. We were all like, "JOSH!!!" LOL! (Josh and I are writing this now laughing about it still)!
Oh, the memories we have and the stories to tell! :)
June 15, 2008 (Sunday 6pm)
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD! :)
I was going to call now, but I'll be nice and wait until at least 9pm here (9am US). hehe.
Cody did well with his injections yesterday. He laid for the 6 hours after like such a big boy! He sure was hungry after the 6 hours! Today he ate 4 times! He was sluggish today, and we cuddled a lot.
Josh, Donna, and Gary went to the city to the Tsingdao Brewery and beer museum. They got some good pictures and gifts for back home. Then Josh found a McDonalds- and he was a happy man! It actually tasted semi-like the McDonalds in the US...but it was close enough.
We are very excited to come home. We're slowly getting there.
Cody has his last spinal injection this week. We are required to stay so many days after though to make sure he has no negative reactions, and for final bloodwork and tests. Can't wait to see everyone!
Love you all! :)
June 12, 2008 (thurs. 2pm)
Mom and dad arrived home safely. They said they miss us, but they are glad to be back in the states. Donna and Gary joined us over the weekend. We've had a down week, Cody has his 4th stemcell treatment on Friday. One more to go after that! Cody has accupuncture in the mornings, and we work on colors throughout the day. There have been a lot of new families to join us. Every room is full, but it makes it nice to meet everyone here for the stemcells. Cody is doing well vocalizing more sounds and partly immitating our words. He is able to give everyone kisses now, and hugs too. We are working on him closing his mouth when giving kisses. His drooling is a lot better! Sometimes when he starts to drool I tell him to close his lips and swallow, and he does! FINALLY! He hates the doctors and nurses. When he hears them he cries and tries to get away (because usually with those voices comes sticks, pokes, evaluations, etc.). I would probably be the same way. They all know "CO-TY" and his moods. Jason, his accupuncture doctor, has learned not to talk. He and Cody communicate through play and hugs. Cody is tolerable of that until is comes times for the actual needles, then it's holding him until they (2) are in. Then Cody is fine. Jason has learned to play with Cody to distract him when he needs to pull them out. Today Cody did not even cry when Jason took them out. The nurses and doctors try so hard to get Cody to warm up to them, but I think it's a lost cause. We don't have to completly restrain him when they take his temp in his ear. He still cries, but he'll lay there and let the nurse take it. Tonight we are having a potluck dinner for Paden and his family, the New Zeleand family, and Joe and Matt. Also to get everyone together to meet. Seva and his little boy Vinnie left yesterday morning. We look forward to keeping in touch with everyone to see their progress. Paden is still making sure all the toys have working batteries. He is the "playroom monitor." Cody and Paden play very well together (I think Paden has the fear of getting "the heavy" put on him by momma, so he behaves. No more hair pulling incidents of little girls.) lol. We got Cody some Chinese pj's that are just too cute. I'll put the pic up on here. Every evening there is the usual poker game out in the gathering area. Dad, Roger said he'll deal you in! :) Everyone is hooked on the local famous beer- Tsingdao...which we've learned to pronouce right so we can order it when we are out. We've learned you have to request your drink cold (which comes more like chilled) or they bring your drink warm. yumyum. Well, I am going to go cut up some fruit for the party this evening. There's no place like home, that's for sure!
Love you all! :)
June 7, 2008 (sat 11pm)
Well we were proven wrong once again about the "steak." We ended up in the restaraunt in the bottom part of mom and dad's hotel. It was a very fancy place, but it was still China food. We picked out everything we wanted before we sat down (somethings were alive, others already sliced on a plate). I was so disapointed from not getting the steak we thought we were going for, that everything looked even more gross than usual. But...I did find a head of broccolli that I was able to tell them that is what I wanted to eat- cooked. They weren't understanding that I didn't want the shushi or grub worms that came with it, I just wanted broccolli. (it was another one of those moments I just had to get my camera out to accutally show everyone back home what I was seeing in front of me! lol.) So, I did get cooked broccolli that was good, and the shrimp dad ordered was good too. Oh, so was the rice. But the rest, well let me just say we left a lot on the table when we were done.
Later that night, Josh's parents Donna and Gary arrived in Qingdao. Josh picked them up at the airport. There was a little conflict with the luggage that was left behind in Beijiang, but they just had to go back later and pick it up. So, that is where they are all at now- back at the airport hopefully picking up Donna and Gary's luggage (Pittsburgh informed them they were to pick up their luggage in Qingdao, but something got screwed up. The only reason we picked up our luggage when we flew through Beijiang was because a Chinese-American fellow passenger told us we had to, or the samething would have happened). But they are here safe and sound. We all met in mom and dad's hotel room, and got Donna and Gary checked into their room. Mom and Dad fly out tomorrow morning. I am sad they are leaving. Two more weeks and we will all be home.
Good Night! :)
June 7, 2008 (sat 10am),
Well Donna and Gary should be over the North Pole by now. Josh is picking them up from the airport this evening. Mom and Dad are flying out tomorrow. We are sad to see them go. I think they've had enough China. lol. Cody had his 3rd injection yesterday. He is doing fine. He's throwing all his toys around the room like usual. Cody was such a big-boy yesterday! He laid flat for the 6 hours he needed to after his spinal, with little assistance from us. At the end of the 6 hours, he could get up and he just laid there. He didn't want to get up. He slept good last night, and we woke to "Old McDonald Had a Farm" and some chinese toy that sings a song that we have no idea what it says.
We had a going away party for several families that are leaving soon, including mom and dad. It was at potluck. We had everything including pizza, to Chinese, clams, fruit, and pop with ice! A few new families came. A young man and his Dad from Dallas, a family with a 2 year old little boy from LA, and a husband and wife from Brooklyn. All with different circumstances, but all here for stemcell injections.
We are getting tired of pizza everyday, so we decided to venture out to a restaurant for mom and dad's last night here. We think we found a place that has steak....although we have been proven wrong before. :)
Love you all! :)
June 4, 2008 (Wed. 11am)
Cody did well with his IV stemcell injection on Monday. He wasn't feeling to swift yesterday. Grandma took care of him. The day after his injections, he just likes to cuddle. He hasn't had a temp so far, which is good. Cody just got done with his accupuncture for the day. They come in the mornings. We have to hold him down while the doctor puts them in, but then he is fine.We just have to sit behind him to make sure he doesn't bump the needles, or try to pull them out of his forehead. Usually a bottle, and a few toys can distract him for the 30minutes. His next spinal injection is on Friday.
There is no vision therapists here, so we are doing his "vision" play. We brought a bag of toys to work with colors, and we brought cups that are working well too. He learned purple and yellow. He is picking up color out of his left side!!! We are excited! :) Kirshner bought a bunch of toys for the low-vision kids, and she made a play room for them. They all make noise, and have flashy lights. We have a lot of downtime between treatments and therapy, and the kids espcially get bored quickly.
Yesterday Dad, Josh, and I ventured into the city with Paden and his family. We went to the "Gmo-mart" (aka- underground market). Once we got there, we were like--OH, it's REALLY under the ground! lol. We bought some gifts for back home, and then went to eat. We found a restaurant on main street that looked nice. We have to guess what we are ordering from pictures, and no one there spoke English. We pointed at what looked like general tso's, some kind of sliced fried pork, and something else we didn't know what it was but looked like dumplings (homemade dumplings with meat are very popular). When we asked what was in the dumplings when ordering, we said "MOO" (hoping for beef), and the waiter said yes. So we ordered. We should have known something was wrong when the workers were all laughing when our waiter showed them our order. The general tso's turned out to be breaded "chicken" ground up, bones and all. The sliced "pork" was ok, but had bones as well (but big enough we could pick most out). The rice we all chowed down on. Toward the end we looked closely at the rice to come to the conclusion there was fish scales mixed in it. The dumplings were the best of all. The meat inside tasted like pork, and the dumplings were good enough to eat. They did have the Tsingtao beer the guys wanted. We got back to the hospital and talked to a man that spoke Chinese. He said that MOO meant MEOW!!! The dumplings had cat meat inside!! We were all laughing so hard and grossed out at the sametime (the sad part was that the dumplings and meat were the best thing we ate).That was enough for us. We had peanut-butter and jelly for breakfast, and pizza for lunch. I am thinking grilled-cheese and tomato soup or spaghetti for dinner....cooked by us. I can not wait to have American Chinese food! lol.
While in the city we saw a lady with a few bowls sitting on the ground. We looked down to see scorpions! She was selling them to eat! Then woman comes up and began to pick one up with chopsticks. Dad said, "If she eats that I'm going to throw up!" (she put it in a bag).
June 2, 2008 (Monday 1pm)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JENNA! :) Can't wait to see you!
Cody has his 2nd stemcell treatment this afternoon through IV, which is easier on both Cody and us! It takes about a half an hour, and they'll give it to him right in the room. He had accupuncture this morning which was the best one yet. Yesterday we went to Ocean World. Cody was so cute. We asked him where the big fish are, and he tapped the glass on the aquarium. The big fish, sharks, dolphins, etc would swim by and he got all excited and wide-eyed! Numerous times we were asked to get our pictures taken with the Chinese people...it's kinda weird and funny at the same time. They all love Cody. Children over here are especially sacred, everyone just loves them. The little kids wear pants with open holes in the crotch and nothing underneath, and when they have to go- they go! Anywhere. It's different. No one even blinks an eye. At restaurants, any kids there will all get together and play while the parents eat. We experienced that yesterday. Kirshner took us to a great restaurant in the city. It was the best Chinese food yet. The kids all wanted Cody to go play with them, but of course he was in one of his moods. They liked his song toy we had with us, and all they Chinese people in the restaurant wanted pics with the Americans. We passed the Olympic center in Qingdao, where the sailing part of the Olympics will be held. The whole city is Olympic crazy! It's neat to be part of all that, even if we won't be here for the actual events.
Today Mitzie and her mother left. Mitzie is a young woman with MS. They are from Baton Rouge, Louisiania. Talking with her is so hopeful. She said she had three goals when she came. (1). To run (2). To jump (3). To be able to stand on one leg for 30 seconds. She told me today that she progressed to the point that she was well beyond her goals. She said not only could she jump, she was also jumping over objects. She was able to walk to a night club the other night a group of the patients and their families went to down the road. We had a party for her last night, it was a lot of fun. It was great getting to know her and her mother.
Cody last night began to run. He never really "ran" before, always just walked fast. I went to turn him around from where he was venturing off to, and he grabbed my hands and took off. I could hardly keep up to him. It's the little things that make our day! :)
There's still no place like home.
Love you all!
May 31st, 2008 (Sat morning)
Good morning! (evening more like it back in the states). Things are going well. Cody is doing great! Everyone is so great to us here! The doctors, nurses, translaters, and Chinese people in general are all are so sweet and caring. Everyone is just so nice and helpful with everything. I was at the store the other day looking for syrup, and the lady was not understanding me. A young Chinese woman came over and knew English. She was so helpful, we thought she worked there-until she walked away. We are learning a few Chinese words from the staff, and we teach them as well. Everywhere we go people stare at us, especially Dad, me, and Cody. The first thing Cody's nurse did was she touched my arm and put hers to mine. She said she loved my skin. The doctors all love Cody's eyelashes...when he came out of surgery and was still asleep, the doctors were touching his hair & eyelashes. They kept saying "pretty."
Well we are heading off to breakfast. Oh, Anna- don't worry about little girl kitty, she runs for a few days sometimes. She will come back. One time she left for 2 weeks, and I thought she was gone. One night there she is, in the window. Hope Haley isn't too much for you. Thanks so much for holding down the fort for us! :)
Today's the dinner/dance at the American Legion in East Brady. Thanks to everyone who put it all together for us! So wish we could be there for the fun time! Donna, call me from the event so we can say "Nee-how" (hello) from China! :)
Love u all! :)
May 30, 2008 (Fri. 10am)
We have the internet back...yay! :)
Cody did very well with his first stemcell injection. When he came out of surgery, he had to lay flat for 6 hours to prevent a spinal headache. He slept mostly the whole time...which was a huge relief! He only semi woke up a few times, and we had to hold him down- then he drifted back off to sleep. He just laid around all day yesterday. Didn't have a temp or anything. Cody had a port in his hand from surgery, and they removed it yesteday afternoon. Cody did very well at leaving it alone. He is doing fine today. He didn't eat much yesterday, but he had had 2 bowls of cereal and a chocolate pudding for breakfast.
We can receive calls and text messages on my cell, just can't send or call out. We got a calling card to call home, and also between mom and dad's hotel and hospital. The food is still yet to be desired. Miss the food from home. Our Chinese food is still better in the states. lol.
Cody's drooling is almost gone. Don't know if it's from the accupuncture around his mouth, stemcells, or maybe both. Something worked, which we are very excited about! Our room is very bright from all the windows, which also helps Cody to see. The morning after is treatments, I woke up and looked over to see him just sitting indian style on his bed. He was just looking from one direction to another, taking it all in. If only he could talk to tell us exactly what he can see.
There has been some great progress with our friends that we met here. Casey, a little girl with ONH, is begining to see colors for the first time. She's had a few treatments so far. Paden, a little boy with ONH here, has become friends with Cody (I think Cody's toys helped a little in that too- lol). Paden and Cody are a lot alike in behaviors, and it is nice to see an older boy with ONH that gets around and communicates so well. Casey is from Arkansas, and Paden is from Texas. Cody is the youngest patient here so far. David, a man from Flordia that was paralysed from a boating accident, has had great success it the stemcell treatments. The stories here are amazing of how far patients have come thanks to stemcells! I will put a link to Paden's website and David's as well. David was in the movie "Super-Cells" that won numerous awards worldwide. I watched it last night and cried, it was just so amazing. Seeing such great progress first hand, is such hope in itself! We're all kinda like one large family, that is there for each other on the good days and bad. There are families here from Boston, Flordia, Tennessee, Utah, New Zealand, Romania, and more. We are all on the same floor, which makes it nice to talk to everyone who is going through the same treatments. We all share a kitchen and sitting area.
Today is the first sunny day we've seen (the smog is so bad there is rarely sun). It bother's mom's and Cody's sinuses, so we try to keep the window closed as much as possible. But since there is no AC, it sometimes gets to the point we have to let a breeze in.
Happy early birthday to Jenna, just incase the internet goes out again. Call my cell when you get a chance. :)
Donna, we have a list for you for when you come over...lol. The main things are spaghetti #3 babyfood, and individual applesauces, and puddings. Also if you can check the "Cody's Crew" shirts for a small one to bring for Paden. He gave Cody one of his shirts. Dad and mom got an extra padding for their bed, so you don't have to bring an extra cushion. Also bring as many battery items as possible, verses plug in. Our converters are good for one plug.
Thanks so much! :)
Love you all! :)
May 27, 2008 (Tues. 4pm)
Cody did not sleep at all last night. We all went to bed, then about an hour later I woke up to Cody unloading all his toys from his suitcase. He played all night long. We all are slowly getting used to the time change. Yesterday Josh went with our patient rep to the market and got some groceries. We have a community kitchen here on our floor, which is nice. There's a dining room and living room/meeting area as well. It is has skylights, which lights everything up well for Cody. I made scrambled eggs with American cheese, and the best bread I've ever tasted! It just melts in your mouth!
The doctors come around every moring. Today we had his first accupuncture (sp??), which went exactly how we thought. Total screaming/kicking fight from Cody. It took Dad, Josh, and I to hold him the whole time. They put needles one about each eye on his forehead, and the one in each corner of his mouth (to help control his drool). Well we decided that we are going to stick with the forehead ones for his eyes, but the ones on the mouth was just too much. It isn't painful for Cody, but he screams when we have to hold him down so he won't bump the needles at all. So we are through all that now. (for today anyways).
Earlier in the day all of us ventured out to the RT MART (local mall/wal-mart/food store all in one). It would be like if you took Wal-mart, Giant Eagle, Mall, Grove City Outlets, and all food places- and combined them all. It is a couple of stories high, and a few blocks from here. Everything here is so cheap we can't believe it! We went into the food section, which no words can describe. Somethings looked so awesome and delicious, but most we didn't know what was in the items of food. They had some things that I just had to get the camera out for. The Chinese workers were lauging at us, which we expected (when we returned we found out we weren't allowed to take pictures...oops! LOL)! Dad said he didn't know if we were in a pet store or a food store...we never saw so many things still alive in a food store! Where are all the cats?? lol. We had to buy a cushion for our bed due to the "rock" we are sleeping on. Dr. David told us that it is healthy to sleep on a hard bed, but our backs beg to differ.
We have so many wild stories of the culture shock here, we just laugh. The driving is crazy. Mom and Dad always have fun stories to tell us when they arrive in the morning from their taxi rides from their hotel. Looking out our window, we witnessed large trailors carring huge statues of the Olympic rings, and what looked like where the Olympic flame is going to be lit. There is Olympic stuff everywhere, I almost wish we were here during all of that. Almost. lol. I had a dream that we ran into the US Olympic softball team....never know. lol.
Ice is rare here, drinks are served semi-chilled...no ice. We bought extra ice trays for our small freezer in our room. No air conitioners...even the mall. Since we are close to the coast, we have a great breeze up on the 8th floor of the hospital. A family is leaving this evening, so they have a party for them whenever they leave. We've met so many wonderful people! The nurses and doctors are all so caring and friendly! Everyone knows Cody- they pronounce his name CO-TY....it's cute. The other familes are from all over the world....most speak English, and are from the US. To see some other patients that have it a lot worse than Cody, it gives us a little reality check that it can always be worse than just being blind.
May 26, 2008- PM
Met with all the doctors. Cody is having his first stemcell injections on Wed. He is also having accupuncture therapy tomorrow, so we will see how that goes if we want to do anymore. We have met several other US families that are over here for treatments. Another little boy that is from Texas, he is 6 with ONH. To see him is very promising. :) We figured out you can call us, we just can't call out on our cell for some reason. So call my cell, or LMSL (means "Leave me some love" LOL for grandma)...hehe. :)
May 26, 2008- Early AM
WE'RE HERE! We arrived at the hospital in Qingdao last night at 9pm (Sunday). We flew out of Pittsburgh Saturday morning at 8am to New Jersey on a connecting flight, which was very tiny. We then took an "airbus" 777 (much nicer and very large plane) over Greenland, up over the North Pole, back down over Russia, and then into China. It was amazing to see! In Bejiang, we had a little hang up with plane tickets- which we ended up just purchasing new tickets. BUT...we are here now (Donna and Gary, call Travelocity and double check about your connecting flight from Bejiang to Qingdao, supposily Travelocity never booked our connecting flight). Anyways, Qingdao is beautiful! Very modern, and new! Olympic signs and buidlings being finished everywhere! We are still working on getting our cell phones to work, which Verizon said they would- so we'll see. So grandma don't panic on why we haven't called. :) The sunsets and rises all a lot earlier than ours, and everything starts a lot earlier as well! There were patient represenatives that met us at Qingdao airport and took us to the hospital, and mom and dad then to their hotel. I have yet to see them this morning to see how their experience went last night. Coming over here we gained 12 hours, which was nice not to have to reset our watches. The plane from Bejiang to Qingdao was bigger than we expected, but by that point we were all so tired that Dad and I were asleep before we even took off! (Cody was too, with a little help from another dose of Benodryl in the airport during our ticket situation). Cody slept great last night, as did Josh and I! The beds are really hard, Donna and Gary you might want to bring an egg create or 2- it would be worth it!! Also customs in Bejiang were extremly strict with carry-ons...no liquids of any kind- so we just transfered all of his babyfood, juice, etc. to luggage to go under the plane. We'll I am going to go see if Cody and Josh are awake yet, they came in this morning early to take blood, weight, and check Cody's temp. (which was all good). Keep checking back, I will updated every chance I get. :) Love you all, and Donna and Gary can't wait for ya'll to come too! :) Anna, how was our "babies" for you? Give them all a big kiss for me! :)
April 23, 2008
Well our date is getting closer and closer. We fly out on May 24th, and we are excited and nervous at the same time.
I wanted to thank Dave Malarky for have me and the Lions Club on the Butler Radio last week.
We are still selling the Longaberger ticket for $10 each. Email me or leave me a message on here if you want one, or think you might be able to help us sell a few. It goes off the entire month of July, so you have 31 chance to win! Also in those 31, there are 6 large baskets that are filled with summer themed items (as well as lottery tickets, mom's day out stuff, etc).
April 6, 2008
Well I can't believe it, but we will be going to CHINA next month! So excited! We have a lot of upcoming benefits, so keep checking back for updates!
March 25, 2008,
HAPPY EASTER! Hope everyone had a very Happy Easter! You can probably guess the theme of this Easter- traveling stuff for Cody! :)
WE HAVE OUR DATES!
We are going to Qing-tao, China May 25th- June 21st. The city we are going to is know for it's seafood, beaches, resorts, and beer (annual beer festival-lol). It is also the sight of the sailing part of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Josh and I will be staying in the hospital on the family floor with Cody. Mom and Dad are coming over with us and staying for two weeks. Then Josh's parents will come over for the last two weeks and fly home with us. We are very excited for the trip, but more importantly for Cody to receive the stemcell treatments.
We will be selling Longaberger month long tickets for $10.00 a piece. Everyday of the month you'll have a chance to win! On the ticket will also be summer themed baskets for certain days. (themes are lottery, scrapbooking, Americana, vacations, camping, swimming, Just for Mom, etc.) If you would like a ticket, email me and I'll get one out to you! Jam29Isabel_sru@yahoo.com.
March 15, 2008....again...lol,
Today at the mall we were selling raffle tickets for the baskets. We met a man that was telling us about his friend's little girl from Canada. She is paralized from a horse riding accident. He said she's received 3 stemcell treatments from China, and now can feel the back of her legs and her backside. It is so good to hear of all the great success stories from people that already had done what Cody is soon to be going through. :)
March 15, 2008
Thanks to Liz from Slippery Rock University, the newspaper (THE ROCKET), for doing a story on Cody. What a wonderful article and great colored pictures! Also thanks for the front page pic headline, too.
Thanks again to the Independant Observer in Scottdale for doing another great article/follow-up on Cody and our fundraising!
Thanks to the South Butler Firehall for giving us a very nice donation, and also allowing us to set up every Friday at the lent fish dinners to sell the basket tickets. We are really having great success selling the tickets/candybars/donations at the dinners...plus, it's a good excuse to have a great fish dinner there too!!!! :)
Thanks to Dan at BOSCOVS Dept. Store in Clearview Mall for allowing us to set up to sell the Steeler/Penguin basket raffle tickets. We did way better than we ever expected! :)
Feb. 27, 2008
Sending a HUGE hug and thank you to The Vies Family for giving Cody a spaghetti dinner benefit this past Sunday (Aunt Janine, Uncle John, Jenna, Jean, Jennifer, Jason & Amy, and Julie & David). Thank you to Scottdale Elks for giving us their hall, Wise's Resteraunt for donating 5 sheet cakes, Standard Bank for making a raffle basket, and everyone from Fox's Pizza for helping with everything!!! Thank you to the Lemley family for making several raffle blaskets! Thanks to all the volunteers for helping us hold such a successful benefit! From the dinner, raffles, 50/50, and donations we raised $7500.00!!!! I usually don't like to put an actual number on here, but OMG I HAD to put this one for everyone to see! That put us over the half way mark and more!!! YAYAYA!!!!
Feb. 16, 2008
Thanks to employees at the Butler Hospital IDL Building for a successful Valentine's Day bakesale! We couldn't believe how much we made!!! Thanks to everyone that made the items to sell as well!!
We are selling candybars now. If you are interested in buying some, or helping to sell- let me know! :)
Also we are taking orders for Pampered Chef up until March 1st. You can check out the main website online, and let me know what you want. www.pamperedchef.com
Thanks to the Scottdale Independant Observer for doing such a wonderful updated article on Cody and all our fundraising. I never expected to be on the front page, let alone the headline story! Thanks Kelly and Bernadette for helping us out so much!
Feb. 11. 2008
Thank you so much to Mark IV (in Scottdale) for hosting a bakesale on Friday for Cody! It was well above what anyone could have expected to make that day!! It was great to finally get to meet everyone there too!
Second, thanks to everyone who came out to T.J.'s Hideaway on Sat for the country music benfit! We had another very successful night! It was a lot of fun too! :)
Looking forward to the Valentine's Day bakesale at the Butler Hospital IDL Building in East Butler from 11:00am-1:00pm in the cafeteria. Thanks to the ladies from BMH for doing this for Cody!
We are selling Pampered Chef for the month of Feb. Orders will go in on March 1st, so just let me know if you are interested in placing an order. I can also get a book out to you if need be, or you can check out their website at www.pamperedchef.com.
We are also selling raffle tickets for 12 different themed baskets. The tickets are $1.00 a piece, and 12 different winners will be pulled on Good Friday. Let me know if you want any tickets!! :)
Feb. 5, 2008
The Elks and Fox's Pizza in Scottdale are selling hearts and shamrock's for Cody. There will also be a spaghetti dinner at the Elks on Sunday, Feb. 24th from 11:00am-3:00pm. It'll be $6.00 at the door for the dinner, and we'll also be selling 50/50 and a longerberger basket tickets too. Can't wait! :)
Feb. 3, 2008
We have a busy upcoming week!
On Friday, there is a bakesale at Mark IV Office Supply in Scottdale. It is located on the same side as Graft's Car Garage and NAPA Autoparts. They've also been selling snowflakes for Cody, and they are hanging in their front window! :)
In Butler, Friday starts our basket ticket raffle during the fish dinners at South Butler Firehall. We will be there every Friday during Lent. We are having twelve different baskets, so you will have 12 chances to win! The winning tickets will be pulled on Good Friday. If you want tickets and aren't able stop out, let me know!
Then on Saturday, we are having our big benefit country rock concert at T.J.'s Hideaway in Evans City. It's $10.00 donation at the door, and the first band comes on at 9:00pm. We'll also be having a 50/50 there too. Come out and have a good time with us!
Jan. 27, 2008
Well we are 1/3 of the way to our goal! YAY!
I got in the mail 2 DVD copies of the news story that was on WealthTV about the Stemcells China- if you want to borrow it to watch lemmie know! We are attempting to pass it around so everyone can see exactly what we are raising money for and it's very informative as well! I actually couldn't believe what I was watching the first time I saw it! It talks about families with children that have ONH that have either already went to China, or that are currently raising money to go for the stemcell treamtents. Give me a heads up if you would like to borrow it. :)
Jan. 26, 2008
First off, thank you so much for everyone that came to Cody's Benefit Bingo last Sunday in Emlenton! We raised well above what we were expecting! We pulled the 50/50 raffle ticket there as well, and Denny Burns from Grove City won--- and guess what-- he donated the entire winnings back to Cody! There wasn't a dry eye in the place! Thanks to Buster for letting us have the benefit at his Bingo Hall. Also thanks to all the family members that busted their behinds organizing and helping out at the bingo! Much appriciated! :) Grandma Betsy's meatball hoagies were a great hit, as we knew they would be! :) Also, thanks to everyone who donated items for the Chinese auction- that went very well too! :)
Jan. 15, 2008
We are having a benefit concert on Saturday, Feb. 9th for Cody at T.J.'s Hideaway on 68 between Butler and Evans City. The country band, "The Stickers", are donating all their proceeds made that night to Cody! It'll be a cover charge at the door, and we'll have 50/50 and possibly a few raffles as well throughout the night. We are just so excited!!! It'll be one heck of a time too! :) Can't wait!!! :)
Dec. 27, 2007
We are working hard on the upcoming benefit bingo on Jan. 20 at Emlenton Firehall. We are having a chinese auction as well. For the chinese auction, we have a few items but we need more. Let me know if you are interested in donating items, gift certificates, etc. by emailing me at Jam29Isabel_sru@yahoo.com. At the bingo, we are going to be selling meatballs hoagies that Grandma is making for us as well!
Dec. 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!!!
Our story was in the Butler Eagle on Monday. It was a really nice picture, and article. There were a few facts that were wrong, though. The main one was the stemcells are not embryotic stemcells, they are umbilical stemcells. Big difference! The stemcells Cody and Lexi are getting are from donated umbilical cord blood, no fetus's are harmed in anyway! Also the address was wrong where to send the donations- it is:
The Cody Fend Fund
P.O. Box 107
East Butler, Pa 16029
(Anyone who has already sent donations, we contacted the Post Office and they are aware of the mistake.)
Dec. 20, 2007
I wanted to give a huge thank you to the Southmoreland High School Band and Choir! What a wonderful gift to Cody! Thank you to everyone who donated at the concert as well!
Dec. 19, 2007
The news story on ONH on the WealthTV was great! I couldn't believe what I was watching! I am looking to get a copy of the report to be able to show everyone exactly what we are doing, and to be able to put faces with names! :)
Dec. 13, 2007
The radio interview went very well! Thanks to Dave for inviting us on the radio with him! The Butler Eagle contacted us and look for us in the paper sometime next week!
Dec. 8, 2007
We are putting together a chinese auction for the benefit bingo on Jan. 20 at Emlenton Firehall. We've got some great items, but we need more. If you have any ideas or want to help let me know! Jam29Isabel_sru@yahoo.com
Dec. 7, 2007
We are going to be on the Butler radio station on Monday, Dec. 10 from 1-2pm. It is going to be live.
Dec. 6, 2007
To everyone that has sent us donations, thank you so much! We are receiving donations from all over, from people we don't even know sending money to help Cody. There's really a lot of good in the world, and we're seeing it in every envelope we open. Words can not express how grateful we are for everyone's help!
Dec. 1, 2007
Cody story was in the Connellsville Courier, Tribune-Review Greensburg, and the Valley Dispatch today! We are so excited to get Cody's story out! If it was in any other newspapers that aren't listed, please let me know! Thank you to all the reporters who passed the story along as well! Much appriciated! We are still working on our own newspaper to do a story on Cody.
Nov. 29, 2007
Today Cody's story is in the Independant Observer in Scottdale. I have yet to see it, but my mom said it is a great article and picture. Also check out the Connellsville Courier in the next few days!! Still working hard to set up some benefits! Thanks to so many people who are donating their time, energey, and money to setting up the fundraising "projects." We know we couldn't have done this alone! Words can't express how grateful we are to everyone!
Nov. 25, 2007
We were informed today that family members are putting together a benefit bingo. It will be Jan. 20, at the Emlenton Firehall. We are also looking to put together a chinese action to have at the benefit as well.
Nov. 23, 2007
The Butler parade was today and it turned out great! We had about 20 family members and friends join us in the parade. Half road the float we made, and the other half walked beside the float passing out fliers. We passed out over 2000 fliers- which was a lot more than we expected! GREAT! Thanks to everyone who bundled up and helped us! Cody was great, we put his bouncy horse on the float. He jumped on the horse the entire parade! We had a flat tire on the float in the begining, but of course it was fixed quickly by the Fend "pitcrew!" hehe.
