Faith is home in New Jersey tonight after a successful trip to Ohio. She is still trached to keep her airway open. The trache prevents her from eating or talking, but it is not permanent.

She will return to Children's Hospital in New Brunswick for a period of about three weeks. There, she will continue a schedule of rigorous rehabilitation therapy for her neurological and muscular health. After approximately three weeks, we are told that she will likely be allowed to come home and continue therapy on an out-patient basis.

From now on, Faith will be working with a team of doctors out of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). It is our hope that this will make further travel to Ohio unnecessary.

Thank you for all of your support and prayers.

Don't forget to register to play golf for Faith!

August 25th ... Registration information to the right.

Faith is doing quite well in Ohio. She is adjusting to her new trache physically and seems to have accepted it emotionally as well. She misses beinbg able to speak, but understands that everyone hopes that will be possible soon. We heard that tonight, she was able to walk the halls of the hospital a while with Peter only holding onto her lightly.

Lorraine and Peter have been told they may be able to bring Faith home Monday or Tuesday of next week. If so, they will be traveling thanks to the Angel Network, which has offered to pay for their return flight. Once home, Faith will undergo rigorous out-patient therapy at Children's Specialized Hospital five days a week.

Faith had a good night. She is in better spirits and has been moved out of the ICU. She will soon begin therapy again in Cincinnati.

Faith, Lorraine and Peter traveled by air ambulance to Ohio today. Upon her arrival, Faith's doctors decided to apply a Tracheotomy tube once again. They applied a short tube at first, but then she struggled a bit, and they switched to a longer one. They also applied a more significant feeding tube that attaches directly to her intestines because she would otherwise be at risk for aspiration.

Both procedures were upsetting to Faith. It was a huge milestone for her to have the tube (that you see in the photo above) removed earlier this year and she is disappointed to have it again. However, we are hopeful that both procedures are somewhat temporary and will strengthen her ability to rehabilitate.

Faith is now in the Intensive Care Unit. Her doctors expect she will need to remain in Ohio until Thursday of next week. Faith needs your prayers in the days ahead, in hopes that she may overcome these setbacks.

Faith has urgent financial need and needs help from her friends and family.

As you may have read in a recent blog entry, Faith is no longer able to eat food. She is only taking in fluid through a feeding tube. In addition to the obvious trouble this can cause long term, it is also very uncomfortable and frustrating to Faith, emotionally and physically, having a direct impact on her ability to rehabilitate.

To assess and treat the injury to her esophagus, she, and ideally Lorraine and Peter, must fly to Ohio on Wednesday to see a specialist. Amazingly, the air ambulance she requires is not covered by insurance and the total cost is required up front. This flight will cost a minimum of $15,000. The family needs to raise this money virtually overnight.

If you are considering sending Faith a donation, please do so right away. If you planned to play golf this summer - register today to play with us on August 25th. If you know a business in a position to sponsor a hole at our outing, please let us know.

If you have already sent a gift to Faith - thank you!

Faith has had a wonderful week with therapy. She is sitting up by herself and balancing herself while standing up. She has even taken as many as ten steps at a time on her own.

She is seeing much better as well and she is responding to verbal communication appropriately. She is speaking more clearly and with more volume.

However, she is having a problem with her upper airway. For that reason, she is not able to eat solid food right now and this frustrates her greatly. She will be traveling to a specialist in Ohio on Wednesday for an evaluation.

Faith is home again for the day today. She is having fun seeing her family and playing with her sisters. We have been given reason to hope that she will come home in a few weeks for good.

Thank you to everyone who has sent emails, cards, and donations! We continue to be overwhelmed by your care and generosity.

We will continue to update the blog as news develops. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Faith has had an amazing week, beginning with Sunday when she spent some time at home with the family. Since then she has returned to the hospital and is working hard. As a matter of fact, her therapists have remarked at how hard she is willing to work and push herself.

Faith is now eating three meals a day -which in turn is helping her energy levels. She is also sitting up almost entirely by herself. She is speaking more and learning to compensate for some difficulty with her vi son. She is taking a few steps at a time using parallel bars and with very little help from others. By far this has been her best week yet!

We beleive that all of your prayers and thoughts are helping!