One Year!

Today marks ONE year since Katelyn's very last chemo! I can't believe how the time has flown! We are so very thankful for her health and all the growing that she and we did through this experience. We thank God everyday for lifting her up and healing her, and for keeping her healthy. Thank you for all of your support! Prayer is very powerful and we are so thankful for all of Katelyn's prayer warriors!!!

Kate had a checkup about two weeks ago and everything is clear and in perfect order! We are so very thankful!!!

Kiera just turned ONE! Can you believe it? I can't! She is walking and saying lots of words. She loves her big sister and wants to do everything that Katelyn does. She keeps up rather well too! The girls are already little best friends, and they bring so much joy to our family!

We moved to Ramona a few weeks ago! We got our own place on the West side of Ramona and it is perfect for our little family. It has everything we need and we are close to town, which has proven to be a blessing! We loved living in Mesa Grande, it was beautiful, but I am very thankful to be close to civilization! The girls are reaping the benefits as well, not only do we visit the park a couple times a week, but they have their own play room! They have toys galore and get to run a muck without tearing down the house. I LOVE IT! They also share a room, and it is so nice to be able to lay them down and night and still have the rest of the house to do things in! We are so happy in our own place, it is incredible!!!

Todd has been working a lot, which has also been Godsent. He is doing construction and staying really busy. Thankfully, we are able to pay our bills and enjoy life! I hope that we can find a balance soon though, as we both really want him to pursue his Nursing career. We will just hope and pray that the time will come that we can both pay our bills and he can study!

A quick update on my family! Brooke turned 13 a few months ago and is turning out to be quite a little lady. I watched some of her basketball games over the winter and she is wonderful. She also just started softball and I will be going to see her for the second time this Saturday. She is quite the athlete! Already thinking one step ahead and she keeps her head in the game. She is hitting and fielding and doing really well! It's a joy to watch her play, and to see how she improves and grows every season! Holly is a senior! She is headed off to college in Washington in the Fall. She is very smart, and when she puts her head in something, she can do nothing but excel. I am so proud of her and all that she has accomplished. SHe has such a bright future and I can't wait to see what becomes of her! Nutters is expecting baby Audrey in the beginning of July! She is the most adorable little pregnant person ever. Malakai keeps her busy too! He is all boy... going, going, going, gone! She has to be on her toes at all times! He recently got 4 teeth! Jeanette and Jayd were worried as he hadn't had any teeth until now, and he is 16 months old! They are so thankful that his teeth have finally appeared. Jayd has been busy with work as well! They are just patiently awaiting Audrey's arrival! Ashley is busy as always! Working, going to school, and living the fun, kid-free life that she should! She and Ryan still live with roommates in La Mesa and are enjoying their youth! My Mom is busy at work and recently had a wonderful visit from Peter & his family! It was a wonderful visit for all of us! Also, Todd's brother, Jeff, and his fiance, Tarren, are expecting their second baby in the beginning of June! We are so excited about all of these new additiong, and overwhelmed by all the girls!

Also, the Celebration of Champions is back again! We are so excited to celebrate our little champion and all of the champions we have met along our journey! It is on Saturday, May 15th. We will be there with shade and some chairs, anyone who wants to join in this incredible experience and celebrate all of these champion children with us, should join us! It is truly an experience you will never forget!!!!

Pray for Nadia

Dear Friends & Family,

Our dear friend Nadia Abila has been diagnosed, for the second time in only 3 short years of life, with cancer. She and her beautiful family were a light shining brightly whiler we were in the hospital. Nadia is such a strong, brave girl and has proven to be a fighter. Please pray that she be able to handle the surgeries and chemo to come. Please pray that her Mom, Dad, brother & sister get through this most difficult time.

As you've read in my blog, the only thing worse that experiencing cancer in your child once, is to do it twice. I can't imagine what the Abila's are feeling right now. I feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest, and Katelyn is just fine. Please pray for strength and courage and everything else that the Abila's will need during this time.

You can follow her journey on her CaringBridge site : http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nadiaabila

With Love & Thanks,
Krystal, Todd, Katelyn & KieraP

Thad

Thank you for all the prayers! My Uncle has Musclular Sclerosis and his health has een deteriorating over the last ten years. He was very functional up until about a month ago. Just before Thanksgiving he started getting major headaches. He said that he had never experienced that amount of pain in his entire life. The headaches lasted about a month. He went to his doctor who ran different tests on him and found that his spinal fluid was low. I'm not sure if they did a head CT on him or if they assumed that the low spinal fluid was the only cause of the headaches. Most of his symptoms were written off by his doctors as MS symptoms.

During the course of these headaches my Uncle Thad was losing his memory, his ability to walk and talk, and perform his daily activities. It wasn't until Monday night, when my Aunt Judy, came home from work that she found him in such a state that she thought he may have had a stroke. He could not move, talk, walk, he could not function at all. My cousin Thaddeus came over and took him to the hospital. The doctors ordered a head CT and found a large subdural hematoma on the left side of his brain. They also found a fresh, small one as well.

The brain surgeon who reviewed his scans set him up for surgery the next day. At 3pm he went into surgery and was finished in less that 2 hours. The doctors removed all of the large hematoma and didn't see the small hematoma. The day after the surgery he said he felt 100% better. His speech was back and his memory was much better. He is feeling wonderful in comparison. I don't believe he is up and walking yet.

The large hematoma was so big that it put so much pressure on his brain that it moved his brain over a bit. We hoped that once the hemotoma was removed that his brain would "bounce" back into its original place. Unfortunately, that did not happen. There is a tube placed in that gap that is draining excess fluid. I don't know how long the tube will be there but until it is removed he must remain in the ICU.

Thanks for all the prayers! THey were miraculous!

Love,
Krystal

Pray for Thad

Please send out prayers for my Uncle Thad. He has been experiencing massive headaches for about a month. Symptoms have progressed over the last few days and he was taken to the ER last night. A CT Scan revealed two sub-dural hematomas. One of them is rather large and is pushing on his brain so hard that it is off center. The other is fresh and small. He is going into surgery this morning. Please pray for him and his family during this very scary time.

Love & Thanks,
Krystal

Mistletoe in Ramona!

My Aunt Debra has been giving away mistletoe for a donation that will benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She has been set up at various locations in Ramona and, I believe, she will continue to do so. She has Katelyn's picture on the booth and the mistletoe packages but I just want to make it clear the proceeds will not go to the Katelyn Devermann Foundation and will not benefit Katelyn or our family directly. We are not involved in this effort.

For those of you who may not know, Katelyn is in full remission and as healthy as any two year old should be! We are so very grateful for all the prayers and support that our community, friends and family have offered us through our journey with cancer. She has graduated from monthly to bi-monthly visits to Hem/Onc for blood tests. We are thankful that each blood test has come back free and clear and completely healthy. Thank the Lord!

The NBC tree lighting and Disneyland footage was shown to benefit Rady Childrens Hospital and spread the word that although bad things happen, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. They wanted everyone to know our story and also to show how far Katelyn, as well as Todd, Kiera and I, have come since her devastating diagnosis. Good things happen. Embrace this Holiday season, love, laugh, and be joyous! Good things happen!

Love,
Krystal

Thanksgiving & The Christmas Tree Lighting

Katelyn & busy bee, Kiera, on Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Todd's Uncle Paul & Aunt Kim's house. There was plenty to eat, drink, and much wonderful conversation to be had. It was nice to be surrounded by so much family this Thanksgiving. Everyone doted on all three of the little munchkins. They are all so much fun to be around. Kate was obsessed with the trampoline and convinced just about everyone to take her up to it at least once. I took Kate & Tayden up there at one point and Tayden was so adorable. She can't actually get her feet off the ground when she jumps, but she would squat down like she wanted to jump as high as she could imagine! It was so cute! Kate would come jump near her then Tayden would fall. It never phased her though, she loved every minute of it. It was nice to have the whole Devermann Family together. It doesn't happen often enough. Now, we can't wait until July! We will be having a family reunion out in Hemet, and hopefully, the whole nation's worth of Devermann's will be there!

We had a good time with a turkey taste test. Kim cooked two different turkeys; one was organic, farm raised, & fresh and another was your typical frozen, pumped full of all kinds of stuff, regular old turkey. Although it got a little confusing I believe just about everyone liked the frozen one! We didn't know which was which until after we all voted. It was pretty good!

Overall, we have had an incredible month! November was fun filled and amazing. We are excited about December and starting a whole new year in January!!!

Tomorrow, December 3, 2009, Katelyn will join NBC and Rady Children's Hospital at NBC's Christmas Tree Lighting! During the festivities Katelyn will get to interact with Micky & Minnie Mouse, we will experience the Tree Lighting, they will show an interview that we filmed with them last week, and there will be three Ice Skating performances. The show starts at 7:30 and will be featured, Live (I believe), on NBC at that time! Tune in to see our little Angel in this magical event!

I just posted a TON of photos on my facebook page! Go check it out!

Love & Prayers Always,
Krystal

Disneyland & Life

What an incredible weekend! As most of you know Katelyn is the 2009 Miricle Child for Rady Children's Hospital. There was some confusion between myself and the paper so Katelyn's story wasn't printed in the Union Tribune, but she had a wonderful opportunity offered to her in spite of our confusion. Every year Horton Plaza opens an Ice Rink around Christmastime. The rink opened last Friday, Nov 19th. As Katelyn is the Miricle Child of the year, they asked us to be present during their Christmas Tree lighting and sent us to Disneyland! Disney put us up at the Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, which is located just beside Disneyland, Thursday & Friday night. We spent Friday morning filming in both Disneyland & California Adventure, then we went back to the Hotel for a nap. After a decent nap we headed back to Disneyland for a fun filled day! We spent the morning riding rides and interacting in front of the camera. Disney wanted some footage of Katelyn to show at the Christmas Tree lighting. It was fun.



Katelyn is at such a fun age for Disneyland. She was mesmerized by the Princess' and characters. She got to meet Micky Mouse, which was wonderful. She especially loved Pixie Hollow and was able to meet two faeries, including her favorite, Tinkerbell! She just loved Tinkerbell, it was so cool. Todd and I just adored watching her light up at the sight and interaction with her fave character. She was also mesmerized by the parade! We watched it twice, once during the day and once at night when everything was all lit up. Kate couldn't keep her eyes off of everything. It was amazing. She recognized a lot of characters and was especially excited to see the Princess'. During the nighttime parade she asked me "Mommy, is this real?". I was in shock, I didn't really know what to tell her. It was really happening in front of her eyes, so I said "Yes, honey, it is real". I couldn't believe that she formed that question. She is so smart, it amazes me. We stayed late and watched Fantasmic and the fireworks. After it was all said and done as we were getting ready to exit the park I asked her what she thought of the show. She said it was kind of scary! Fantasmic is kind of scary! I thought it was a little scary too. It was an overall incredible experience. I can't wait to take the girls back. They will love it all over again!

Katelyn had a check up last week. Her blood is all clear and perfect. We are so very thankful for her health. We pray everyday for all the kids and families that have been touched by cancer. I pray that she continue on this healthy road, and that every other child does as well. She is no longer on any medications and is down to bi-monthly checkups! Amazing! Keep her in your prayers please :)

Kiera is great, healthy and growing like a champ. She is crawling and pulling herself up on everything. She loves to eat, especially to eat our food! She has three little teeth and more on the way. She and Kate are already the best of friends. Kate wants Kiera with her all the time. SHe doesn't even want alone time with Mommy or Daddy. She wants to bring Kiera everywhere. She is such a good big sister. Kiera loves Katelyn. She brings out so many laughs and so much fun. They play really well together already. Katelyn has even learned that if she wants what Kiera has, she has to give Kiera a different toy. It's incredible watching them interact together. They are the highlight of my life.

Please pray for my Uncle Thad. He has had hurrendous headaches these last few months. A CT Scan revealed that he may have a leak in his spinal fluid. He may have to undergo surgery to correct the problem. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

Love,
Krystal