Update- 4/26/09

We just wanted to give everyone a quick update on Hailey and Carter and tell everyone about some fundraisers that we are currently working on. First, of course, the kiddos… Hailey has been doing very well and her condition is stable. We haven’t really noticed anymore improvements yet, but we know there are more to come in the coming months. She made remarkable improvements while we were in China and I can’t wait to see even more. With our 1st trip, we noticed improvements in the hospital and many more in the months following her treatment.  I’ve still been staying in close contact with the doctors in China and they are always asking about Hailey’s condition, they truly care about her. I’m really looking forward to our next trip. The doctors say that with the 3rd treatment, we will really start to see major improvements.We plan on going back in 3 months, as long as we can raise the money. As I’ve mentioned before, we still need to raise $20,000, for our next trip. It may seems over-whelming in such a short period of time, but I know we can do it! To date, we’ve raised over $130,000 in about a year.

Carter is stable, although as I’ve said before, he is getting more clumsy. One of our local news stations (WHAS 11) is coming out tomorrow to do an interview with us. The reporter has been working really hard on the story and has even been to Cornell (N.Y.) to talk to the doctor there, that heads up the trial. This is the trial that we are hoping Carter will be a part of (as it may one day be the cure for Batten disease), but there have been many things holding it up… such as funding. She has also been to California to talk to the people at Stem Cells Inc. Now she is coming out to interview us. It should be a really good piece and she is trying to get it to go national. We all need to pray that it does, because that way someone may see it and privately fund the trial for Carter and so many other children. We have been waiting on the Cornell trial for some time now and hopefully this will help speed things along.

We do have a few fund raisers in the works that I wanted to share with everyone. They are all still in the beginning stages and there are no dates set as of yet. I will have more information soon. The first one will be a benefit similar to the one we did at the park. We are going to try to have this one at Iroquois Park, but as I said, nothing is set in stone yet. We are going to try and have it at he end of May. A very kind gentleman, named Randall Thomas, has been gracious enough to organize and host this benefit for us and we honestly can’t thank him enough. The second one will be at Molly Mallone’s (on BardstownRoad). For this one, we are going to try and shoot for the beginning of June. It should be a lot of fun and as I said, I will have more details soon.  The third thing that we have been working on is a huge yard sale, all to benefit Hailey and Carter. We will gladly accept any donations for the yard sale. Just contact us and we can figure out a way to get the items here. We are also going to start collecting baskets for the silent auctions, for both the park benefit and Molly Mallone’s benefit. They can be themed baskets, for instance a pet basket (filled with toys, treats and supplies), a baby basket (filled with baby toys, clothes and other supplies), an outdoor basket for kids (filled with outdoor toys), a kitchen basket (filled with kitchen supplies), a beauty basket (filled with girly stuff… bath stuff, lotions, make-up, jewelry), etc. We would also gladly accept any other donations for the silent auctions, such as gift certificates or anything that will help raise money. Again we can arrange pick up or you can bring it directly to our home. You could even mail it and we would gladly reimburse you for any shipping expenses. Just contact us and we’ll work something out. So just be on the look out for these future benefits and please help to spread the word. We really need big turn outs and lots of donations. If you would like to volunteer to work one of the benefits, we would especially appreciate that and again, just contact us and we’ll get a list started, maybe even say what you would prefer to do. We really appreciate everyone’s support through all of this and we cannot thank everyone enough for everything that has been done for us…. but unfortunately we still have a long way to go and we still need lots of help.  God bless everyone that has helped, even if it’s just through prayer. We truly believe in the power of prayer and we know that the good Lord is listening to all of us and He is answering our prayers. Hailey has really come a long way, from a year ago.

We also wanted to apologize for not having more of the recent China pictures up yet, but we are working on it. WordPress has recently changed it’s format and we are still strying to figure it out (it’s not very user friendly either!). But hopefully we’ll have them up soon. I will also put a link up to our interview tomorrow, as soon as they get it done. I know they’ll do a great job and hopefully it will help raise awareness for Batten disease, raise money for the Cornell trial and of course for Hailey and Carter.

Please continue to remember Hailey and Carter in your prayers. We also still really need help spreading the word. Please pass our story and website along to anyone and everyone. We’re gonna make this happen for Hailey and Carter and we’ll get our two miracles…. I just know it.