Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Noah's board winners!

Congrats to Mrs. Sherry David! So far she has won the first quarter! Geaux Mrs. Sherry!

Congrats to Mr. John Comeaux! Yay! You won the second quarter!

Congrats to Mr. Barry Bizette! You won the entire second half! I see a shopping spree in your future!

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who bought and sold squares. Noah's board was filled up within days. The board raised $500 + $125 + $125 for his suit therapy. Mr. John Comeaux donated his winnings to Noah's Therasuit therapy fund in addition to donating privately to Noah! Mrs. Sherry has also donated her winnings to Noah. How awesome is she? ;) Also, her son Chad, Brad's best friend sold three of the winning quarters! Thank you so much Chad. You are a wonderful friend to us. :)

I also want to thank the Laborde family for donating to Noah's suit therapy. May God Bless you all, LeeLee. Mr. Coonie, Taylor, Tiffany & family. You guys have had a nightmare of a year and are in our thoughts and prayers. We send our love to you all.

Marty, Scotty & Debbie- Thank you so much for your donation. We love you three so much. We are praying you get well soon, Scotty!

As the days go by, I plan on posting more info about Noah's therapy so you can all follow along. He will attend the sessions in June, but as I learn more about it, I want to share it with you guys, too. Also, we are going for a Baclofen pump evaluation in March and please pray Noah is big enough to have to pump implanted. Baclofen is a medicine that decreases spasticity (tightness.) It pumps the medicine directly into the spinal column. It would be doubly awesome if the neurologist OK's him for this surgery. He has to have a space big enough between the top of his pelvis and his bottom ribs to be able to accomodate the pump, so send him some growing vibes. He is so tiny, though, lol. He is just barely taller than his 5 year old brother.
Happy New Year everyone!

Wishing all of Noah's football board participants good luck!
We will post the winners of each quarter post game!





Monday, December 29, 2008

Scott Innes' Hope for the Holidays


On December 23, Noah attended the Scott Innes' Hope for the Holidays event at the Denham Springs Wal-Mart. The event includes children battling cancer and all types of disabilities. Each child received a $100 Wal-Mart gift card to spend any way they want. Noah opted to buy Nintendo DS games and a Wii game. While shopping, we met Kelly, who was also a participant. She was buying Nintendo DS games too.
Thanks to Scott, Borden, Neighbors Credit Union, WYNK, & Rollin' Homes for making this even possible. The kids all had a blast and there were smiles galore!



Noah & Scooby Doo!
Noah & Scooby Doo! aka Scott Innes!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008



Generosity...

After that phone call from Scott Innes, there are a number of people I want to thank publicly...
First- Scott Innes of WYNK 101.5 FM in Baton Rouge, LA. Scott is such a blessing to the people of South Louisiana. I really can not thank him enough for airing Noah's wish on the radio.

Gary Millet, Sr. of Rollin' Homes in Prarieville, LA. Thank you. I feel like there aren't enough Thank you's to express my gratitude to you.

My Aunt Gail, Noah's Godmother- When Brad and I chose you as Noah's Godmother, we knew how much love you had in your heart. We only wanted the best for him, so we chose the best. Thank you Aunt Gail for being the wonderful person you are to Noah and to us. We love you and Uncle Pop so much.

My mom & dad. What would I do without you? You two have ALWAYS been there with us through thick and thin with nothing but UNCONDITIONAL love and support through these years. Who will I be able to lean on when you are gone?

My Mawmaw Lucille. Thank you, I love you.

Mrs. Roberta Averill & her dad, Mr. Bob McBride. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I love you, Mrs. Roberta. You are such a good friend.

Brad's coworkers- My gosh. You guys can move mountains. LITERALLY. How do I let you all know how darn grateful I am to have people like you all in our life?

Mrs. Cheryl and your brother- I plan on following your lead from now on. Every Christmas I will donate to either a family or a charity instead of exchanging gifts with Brad and ask that my family members to donate to others instead of buying gifts.

Peggy & Donnie Leonard- Thank you so much. We love you!

Brandy St. Romain Miller- A friend of mine for many years. Even though we don't see each other very much anymore, you are often in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you and I love you!

I have also wanted to say thank you to everyone that has sent prayers and positive thoughts our way. They really mean so much to us. Cherie Beard & Amber, it was wonderful to hear from you guys. Hearing from old friends is a gift in itself. (((HUGS)))

Nina, Lester & Mr. Allen- Thank you for your part in helping realize Noah's dream.

To be continued...

A little bit about Noah...

Ok. Where do I begin??? It has been such a long road...


Noah was born May 28, 1999 11 weeks early after a very difficult pregnancy. He beat the odds from day one. Noah weighed 2 lbs 9 ozs and was the smallest human being I had ever seen in my life. His bottom was so tiny, it was half the width of my palm. His diapers were hardly the size of a panty liner. In my eyes, he was beautiful and perfect in every single way.

He was on the vent for a week which seemed like such a long time because I did not get to hold him until he was extubated. Not getting to hold him for that long was not the hardest part, though. Leaving the hospital without my baby, wondering if he would be alive when I returned, was the hardest part.

Noah's hospital stay lasted a long 7 weeks. His stay was typical and pretty uncomplicated for a baby that early, BUT I always suspected something else was wrong. I would ask the therapists that taught him how to such from a bottle and the neonatologists over and over about cerebral palsy, only to be told that he showed no signs of neurological problems. Part of my suspicions stemmed from mother's intuition, the other part stemmed from my experience as a nurse and growing up with a cousin that has cerebral palsy. Noah cried almost constantly, except when I would hold him. His arms and legs seemed very tight and the slightest things would set him off crying. Lighting, noise, laying on his back... it was all too much for his little raw neurological system.

Time passed, Noah cried, my worries and suspicions grew, and at 9 months old I called my mom, told her we were taking Noah to the pediatrician and getting answers that day! The ped we were seeing at that time was one of those doctors that does not give you his full attention and always had one foot out of the door. I sat there, with a lump in my throat, pulling the doctor back into the room with my questions. He referred us to a physical therapist and within 2 weeks we had a definitive diagnosis of periventricular leukomalacia, aka PVL. (By the way, we have not seen that ped since. We are now with a wonderful ped that I would not trade for the world.) PVL is when the white matter and parts around the ventricles of the brain are damaged. The white matter is where the electrical transmissions occur in your brain and neurological system. The grey matter of your brain is your actual thinking part. Children with PVL are at risk of seizures, varying degrees of learning disabilities and mental disabilities, and developmental delays.

When Noah was first diagnosed, we had hope that he would walk. Oh my, getting him to be able to walk was very important. He received physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy three times a week. I had to quit my job as a nurse so Noah could get the therapy he needed. Eventually though, through the years, I realized that walking really is not that important. My greatest wish was for Noah's wellbeing and for him to be as independant as possible. That has been my goal for the past 8 years. Last summer we found out about suit therapy that was being ofered for the first time where Noah attends therapy and this was also a first in our entire state. There were only 4 openings for children which were filled as soon as the spots were opened so it was completely out of the question for the summer of 2007. The cost of the therapy was $5000 which unlike his regular weekly therapy is not covered by insurance and we did not have the money for it anyways. The only two people that I had told and spoke to about wanting that therapy for Noah was Noah himself and my mom. We had all three wished he could receive it, but it was not meant to be.

A few weeks ago I received a call from Noah's Godmother, my aunt, about a story about a certain type of therapy she had seen on the local news. I knew what story and therapy she had seen and told her that I wished I could afford that therapy for Noah and he had actually wanted to do the therapy, but I hadn't told anyone because I never dreamed I could afford it and hated to ask anyone to help with a fundraiser. (Trust me, it is very difficult to accept help from others when you are used to being independant.) So, in our convcersation she said she would be happy to help me make the therapy happen for Noah. When we hung up, I put it out of my mind until about 2 weeks after that conversation and the phone rang and this happened...