^^Angel^^ Emerald M. - Quilt Finished in 2005

Born: March 27, 1994 Passed: March 12, 2005

Illness: Anaplastic Oligoastrocytoma Grade 3

Thank you from Emerald's Family!

Written March 2005

(written just before Emerald passed away in March 2005)

Thank you for the quilt.  This is Emerald and her puppy quilt that was made for her, it is cross stitched, she was asleep when they dropped it by, (Tuesday) and when she woke up that night, she really enjoyed having it.

Kimberly and Emerald

3/2/06

(An additional thank you was sent from Emerald's mom, it starts with comments about the picture below.)

Hi.  This picture was taken the Tuesday before she died.  She really loved it. Just the day before they told us she wasn't going to even make it 24 hours and well... she did. She passed away Saturday March 12th, 2005.  My nephew really likes sleeping with the quilt now.  I think it helps him feel close to his cousin.  (Who was like a sister to him, he is here 80% of the time.)

Anyway, I just wanted to send this along.

Thank you so much.  And thank you for working to get it done before she died.  It means the world to me. 

Thanks,

Kimberly, Emerald's mom

Emerald M.'s Story

written by mom Kimberly

Emerald was born March 27th, 1994 by c-section. She was a cuddly baby. She has always been a very quiet, intelligent, caring child. In 2002 she got a wish of a little sister, and was the very first person to hold her. Of course, she wanted to have a baby brother as well... lucky for her she got what she wanted in December 2003.

Four weeks after her brother was born, she suddenly couldn't lift up her arm without lots of effort. Within a couple of weeks, she couldn't lift it at all. We took her to the doctor, who sent us to an orthopedic doctor. This doctor thought that it probably wasn't something serious, but we needed to get checked out by a neurologist. The appointment was going to take about 6 weeks to get. With each passing day, Emerald was in more and more pain. Finally, I decided to take her to the ER, I just couldn't wait 6 weeks. If it was something easy, then why sit in pain for that long, and if it wasn't, then we needed to work on it, NOW.

The ER set us up for an MRI the following day (January 30th, 2004). When we were done, Emerald and I got some breakfast and went home to spend time with Ian and Anya. As we were leaving they caught us and sent us to the Emergency Room. "You need to speak with them because they ordered the test." I KNEW this wasn't true because it had been written right on the prescription that the results should be sent to her pediatrician. We were met at the ER by a very solemn doctor who told us that they found a mass on the MRI and it was on Emerald's cervical spine. It's an Anaplastic Oligoastrocytoma Tumor Grade 3. I remember looking at Emerald and seeing the fear in her eyes, then I saw tears.

After that, things moved very quickly, on February 4th, Emerald had surgery in her cervical spine. Four weeks later she started radiation. She has had physical therapy 3 times a week since the surgery. The surgery caused more damage to her than the tumor was causing. It has been a long road to get to the point of just being able to feed herself regularly. She still needs help getting up, and using the bathroom, but things are coming back much more quickly now. She still needs to use a wheelchair because the surgery also caused all over body weakness, particularly in her legs and arms.

In the near future, Emerald needs to have another surgery to correct her spine. It healed wrong from the previous surgery, where it curves outwards towards your back, instead of inwards towards your Adam's apple. They plan to put a couple of titanium plates to stabilize it.

Currently, she is beginning chemotherapy and is still on neck restrictions.

Written by Emerald's mom Kimberly in August 2004

Emerald relapsed in January 2005 and had more surgery.  They removed 95% of the tumor but it grew back quickly.  Emerald passed away at home with her family on March 12, 2005.  She will be sadly missed by all who knew her.

I got the chance to take Emerald her quilt on Tuesday, March 8, 2005.  Although Emerald was not alert to see the quilt (she was the next morning and said she loved it), we had a nice talk with her mom Kimberly.  Her mom is a very strong lady who has gone through a lot.  We didn't stay long but I will never forget that visit and all of the people there that showed such strength through all of this.  Thank you to Emerald's family for allowing us to visit and deliver the quilt, to the stitchers who sent their square urgently and to Laurie who finished the quilt quickly and  so we could get it to Emerald.

Cathy - LQ Founder and Coordinator