Winner Is Revealed.....Bout Time!

Oh yeah, it's time to announce the winner of the $50 Target Gift Card!





But first I just wanted to thank everyone for entering the contest and supporting JD and his family. It is much appreciated!!


We we able to raise a grand total of:

$1,010



DeAnna says:

"Wow. I am in tears right now. Thank you so much, I am speechless. I am amazed at all the love and support from so many people, even people we don't know. It is such a humbling experience. Thank you everyone for your love and support!"

Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you

And now for YOUR reward......The winner of the $50 Target Gift Card is.....
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Rebecca Jo!!


Congrats Rebecca Jo and thank you for your donation and all of your support! Now send me your shipping info so I can get this flippin gift card off of my hands.


High fives all around!




*Tiny tiny exclaimer: All contest entries were accounted for in a spreadsheet and the contest winner was chosen randomly using random.org*

Last Chance Peeps!!!

After another surgery, JD is finally back home. The doctors "think" that they fixed the problem that was causing JD to get bacterial meningitis over and over again. I hope they are right!!





De and her family are SOOOO happy to finally be home. They have basically lived in the hospital for the majority of 2011. I'm sure it gets old fast. No child should have to spend that much time in the hospital.


I just wanted everyone to know they only have 3 more days to donate to JD's Recovery fund. I'd like to see the total of the fund reach $1,000 by Tuesday and with your help I know we can do it!!


DeAnna has told me many times how grateful she is for all your support! Thank you so much for everyone who has joined the facebook cause, it has truly made this little family's days brighter!





Remember the $50 Target gift card giveaway ends on May 31st as well so come enter. You don't have to donate to enter, just come and leave a comment HERE:


To make a donation to JD's recovery fund, go here:




Love you guys!!

Moms Can Always Make It Better

De has another update on JD HERE.





Here are some pics from my last visit:








De is constantly rubbing his forhead, it's the only thing that makes him feel better.





Don't forget to enter the giveaway in honor of JD!

I've Decided to Boycott Meningitis. Who's With Me?

So JD definitely has bacterial meningitis and he is coming up to Primary Children's Hospital so the doctors can check his shunt to see if it is leaking or infected. They need to find out why he is getting sick every 2 weeks. After the surgery, everything looked fine but here we are again, he's back in the hospital and is as miserable as ever.


He had a fever all night last night of 104 that they couldn't get down until this morning. They try to let him sleep most of the time because he is in too much pain when he is awake.


He was able to take a couple sips of chocolate milk and a few bites of a saltine cracker today. They will be putting in a pic line later this afternoon so he won't be able to eat until after that but he doesn't want to eat.


Of course I'm not happy that he is in the hospital again but I am glad that they are coming up to my area of the town so I get to see their sweet faces!


I just got off the phone with De and she seems to be in good spirits, I mean this whole year they have been in the hospital so she's not excited to be back in the hospital but does not want to leave until the doctors can figure out why he is getting sick constantly.


I would be so frustrated!


I am extending the Giveaway in honor of JD so you still have time to enter! Who knows how long they will be in the hospital this time! DeAnna has expressed her gratitude to me of all of your support in donating and joining JD's cause on Facebook. She is amazed at all the love you have shown her so thank you everyone for your support! It truly helps!


Go here to enter the giveaway!


You can also join JD's Recovery Cause on Facebook.


And if you'd like to make a donation you can do so below:





Remember if you donate don't forget to leave me a comment so I can give you 10 extra entries in the $50 Target gift card giveaway!

Again.

JD is in the ER right now, the doctors said he has menangitis.


AGAIN.


This is the 4th time.


De says his head has been hurting and when that isn't hurting his side by his kidneys are hurting. He has been so sad lately and misses De when she's gone for just a second. He is hardly eating and he is still so skinny!


I know if I were him I'd definitely be depressed! I will keep you updated as I hear from De throughout the day.


Please remember you can donate to JD's Recovery fund by clicking below.





As you can imagine, DeAnna and her family are constantly worrying and stressed about JD and his health I hope by donating just a little bit, we can lift a little of the financial stress that comes along with it.


Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, you have no idea how much you are helping this family!!


And please, whether you donate or not, you can show your support by entering the giveaway here.


You can also join JD's Recovery Cause on Facebook.





Lets get this kid smiling again!!

Giveaway: Help Support JD's Recovery!

As you know, my best friend's little boy just got out of his last surgery. He has spent weeks and weeks in the hospital and has undergone several surgeries and we are so happy this last surgery was a success and that he is finally in recovery.

As you can imagine, the stress of all this not only for JD, but for his family has been trumendous. Why don't we help alliviate some of this stress by helping with the huge hospital bills!? They have ENOUGH to worry about!


Soooo, since I am a huge believer in bribery, I'm doin a giveaway to get you tight wads to donate!


What, you're not a tight wad? Prove me wrong.



Okay so what's up for grabs???





No, not the adorable dog, I'm talkin bout a $50 Target gift card!!! That's right kids, you get to spend it anyway you want!



So how do you enter?


Simply donate $1,000 to JD's Recovery Fund! That's all! Okay, not really. Any donation will get you entered into the giveaway.


Official Rules to enter:

• 1 entry: Simnply leave a comment.
  
  
  
  
• 10 entries: Donate any amount to JD's Recovery fund by clicking on the widget below, then leave me a comment. It doesn't matter how much you donate and you don't have to disclose the amount in your comment.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 5 entries: Join JD's Cause on Facebook and leave me a comment telling me you did so.
  
  
  
• 3 entries: Blog about this giveaway leaving a link to this blog post, then leave a comment with a link to your post.
  
  
  
• 2 entries: Tweet about the giveaway then leave me a comment with a link to your tweet.
  
  
  Anyone can enter just make sure you leave your email address if you do not have it included in your blogger profile. The giveaway will end at 11:59 PM Tuesday, May 31st.
  
  
  
  *Donating will also get you into heaven so you should probably donate just to be safe.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Just sayin.

Is It Over Yet? Please Tell Me it's Over Now.

An update on JayDee:


Last time I wrote about JayDee, he had just gotten his appendix removed and was recovering from menengitis. That was one month ago, since then they had rescheduled his surgery for April 1st.


Yeah April Fools Day.


He was doing well up until a few days before surgery, De took him to the ER (again) and he had another spinal tap done. It was clowdy. Yes, he had menangitis!


Again.


This is the third time! So they drove straight to Primary Children's Hospital. Luckily he was still able to have his surgery on the 1st.


And it was a success!!


He is now recovering and should be able to go home from the hospital this week! There was no blood transfusion, they didn't have to remove his inner ear and they didn't have to take a peice of his skull as they initially thought they would. Right now he has a lumbar drain and will eventually be getting a shunt, but from what DeAnna says, he is doing great!


This picture was taken a day after his surgery (I think).






Mike and I went to see him a few days after surgery, Mike brought a bag full of goodies for JayDee, it was so sweet! Please pay no attention to that blonde popping a squat on the right, I have no idea what she is doing. Seriously, is she really trying to poop in the corner?


Some people have no class.





It is so hard to see a child in that condition. He just looked so uncomfortable and skinny and helpless, I hate seeing children like that. Especially JD, after knowing everything he's been through.


Here is De and her tough little man!

Two Halves Do Not Make A Whole

I was able to leave work yesterday for just a little bit to go see De at the hospital. When I got there JayDee was already in surgery to remove his appendix.





The doctors said that his appendix was in two pieces!


For those of you who are not familiar with the appendix, it is supposed to be in one piece, not two.



And for those of you who have trouble with fractions (which statistically is 5/4ths of the population) that means that his appendix split in half!


That's bad.


Really bad.


They estimated that it had probably ruptured 2-3 weeks ago! Can you believe that?


Crazy.


He is doing okay now after surgery, unfortunately they have to postpone his brain surgery yet again. The poor guy was so exhausted he fell asleep while playing with his Lego's:





Thank you to everyone who went to give some bloggy love to her and her family! To send more love or for more details on how he's doin, you can go here.

Enough is Enough! ! !

My best friend just sent me a text that she is speechless.


I too am speechless right now.


If you remember, her little boy is supposed to go back for surgery tommorrow. Well there have been more complications. Just this week he got sick again and went to the hospital last Saturday with tonsilitis and a sinus infection and a fever that kept spiking and they could not keep it down.





De was just beside herself to see her boy in so much pain and not being able to do anything about it. To make matters worse they did another spinal tap and it turns out he has menengitis again.


Again!


Yesterday JayDee had been having pain in his stomach for almost 24 hours and was in agony all day. He didn't eat anything all day and was throwing up and had blood in his stool so they were life flighted again to Primary Children's Hospital last night.


At that point you think that nothing could get worse for this sweet boy! This sweet boy who doesn't understand why all this is happening to him again and why his mom can't make it all better. Or why the nurses have to hurt him with shots and medicine every day.


Well things could get worse and did get worse.


Right now he is going into surgery because his appendix burst! They are going in right now to remove his appendix so the original surgery that was scheduled for tomorrow will probably be postponed. You know, the BRAIN SURGERY he was supposed to have?!


I just am beside myself and don't know what I can do for her. I can't imagine how scared and helpless she must feel right now. She really needs some words of encouragement so I thought maybe if you guys could go give her some bloggy love, that could at least lift her spirits.


Even if just a little.


You can go leave her some encouraging comments on her blog here.





Thanks everyone!!

My Bestest is Stronger than the Restest

My best friend recently made a trip up to my part of town, which of course is nice for me, however the circumstances in which she came were not so great.


Her 7 year old son has had some health problems and has had surgery in the past.


Brain surgery to be exact. He was 3.


I know, a 3 year old having brain surgery? Heart breaking.


Here's a little history.....in 2007 JD had a lot of ear issues so he had been going to the doctor which is how the doctors found something they thought was a brain tumor. After further investigation, they found out that it wasn't a tumor at all, it was actually JDs brain growing out of his skull. His skull hadn't closed all the way during development and his brain grew right through the hole in his skull into his ear which damaged some bone and nerves around his ear and caused other complications.


He had surgery to remove the brain tissue that was growing out of his skull and to repair the hole in his skull. His surgery was successful although the doctor had to remove his eardrum so he will never be able to hear out of that ear. There were complications with his spinal fluid leaking so the doctors had to put in a shunt to drain all the spinal fluid from his head to his stomach.











That was when he was three, he is now 7 and has been doing great! Until about a week ago when he started complaining that his neck was hurting. De tells the story in much more detail here. Basically he had some spinal fluid leaking which they think caused him to get bacterial menangitis!





Which can be deadly.


So he was life flighted up here in Salt Lake to Primary Children's Hospital. He was a bit of a mystery for the doctors for quite some time, they had several specialists trying to figure out exactly what was wrong and what had caused the problem. They determined that he will need to have surgery, the same surgery he had when he was 3.


JD is home now after the menigitas got better but he will be coming back up for surgery next month. I don't know how De does it! She seriously is a stronger person than I, you should really read about JD's experiences on her blog here.






Here is De and I at Primary Children's a couple weeks ago when JD was in the hospital. She has two other children, Jordan & Taylor, who as you can see, are adorable!!!









The following pictures are just hanging out at the hospital while JD was sleeping in his room.







I'm not sure who the dude is in the blue & red spandex, but it is NOT De's husband.





I repeat, NOT De's husband.








Who are these beautiful girls? These are De's sister's kids, Tamarah. I don't know why I didn't get a picture of Tamarah!











Next month, when they come up again for JDs surgery, I will be able to give you an update. This cute family is so strong!