Gooooood Morning Digiland!!!!
Have you heard the saying, “It’s the little things that matter.”?
Well my post today is about a little person who changed a whole lot of people!
This gorgeous little beauty is Grace, daughter to the amazingly talented and kind scrapper, Erica (pne123). Erica is not only part of my CT, but I’m also fortunate enough to call her my friend.
Erica’s sweet Gracie was diagnosed with a Hypothalamic Hamartoma (HH), an extremely rare tumor deep within the brain. With HH, the tumor causes seizures, in addition to other major issues, and for Grace, the only chance for a seizure free life was to have a very invasive surgery.
As a team, we wanted to do something special for Erica & Grace….so we came up with the idea of a Color Book! We each made special pages that I then printed off and put together in an album. It arrived to them just before they had to leave for their roadtrip to the hospital! YAY!
Here’s a peek at the album…. (sorry for the grainy resolution!)
On April 20th 2007, Grace had surgery in Phoenix, Arizona. They were able to remove 90-95% of the tumor, but she ended up with complications from surgery and spent nearly two months in that hospital before being transferred to a hospital closer to her home in California. On June 21, Grace finally made it back home and since then is continuing on her road to recovery.
Although she’s been seizure-free since surgery, she continues to deal with complications (excessive weight gain and Diabetes Insipidous) from surgery, but doctors are hopeful these will resolve over time.
Erica was kind enough to keep the world updated on Grace’s progress throughout their LONG stay in the hospital…..and her strength never stopped amazing me. As a mother who has also had to watch her baby endure various proceedures in the hospital, it truely hit home for me…. you have my undying respect and admiration Erica! Thank you for sharing Grace’s story and for changing so many of our lives! {mwah!}
Have a wonderful week everyone….and please send Grace some extra prayers!
xo
L
PS. You can see more adorable scraps of Grace (and her precious sister, Sarah) in Erica’s Gallery HERE!
August 28th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Erica is lucky to have such thoughtful and wonderful friends! I am so glad that everything went okay and that the little girlGrace is on her way to recovery - day by day! Love the book, I am sure it brought lots of time away from thinking about hospital and the disease. Thanks for sharing this with us!
August 28th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Erica is such a strong and kind woman, really amazing! Just love all her last pages on Grace, so full of love! Thank you for sharing the AVC book you did for Grace, so beautiful!
August 28th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Of course, I meant Color book!
August 28th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Oh my gosh. You all should consider looking at getting that book published and then raise $$ for HH research. That is a gorgeous book. And I would definitely buy one for my daughters. What a fun way to learn colors!
August 28th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
What a beautiful idea. Grace, Erica and their family are in my thoughts and prayers!
August 28th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I agree-Erica has always been such a huge source of inspiration for me! She’s a tower of strength and I admire her greatly!
August 28th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
I can’t say it enough…. I absolutely love you Lauren and the awesome ladies on the team that put this together for my Grace. It still brings me to tears when I think about the love, kindness and support we’ve received. You guys are wonderful and I’m blessed to call you friends!
xoxo,
Erica
p.s. My hubby is equally overwhelmed by all the support!
August 28th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
i don’t know erica personally (only through the gallery, lol) but she seems like an amazing woman. i wish the best to her and her family. and girls that is such a adorable idea. that color book is so sweet and cute!
August 28th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
I was so honored to be a part of making this album! i had just joined the CT and knew that this would be such an awesome group to be a part of!
erica is a sweetheart and I’m so glad we could do this for little grace and her family
and of course kudos to lauren for organizing it all!!!
xoxo,
cathy
August 28th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Oh that is just beautiful! What a lovely thing for you all to do for Grace. And what a sweet sweet girl!
August 29th, 2007 at 2:09 am
Oh ladies!! What a wonderful gift and tribute to such a brave little girl and her family. I applaud you and your team Lauren! I’m truly touched by your kindness.
And Erica, I hope your little angel continues to recover from the complications and can quickly return to being a carefree little girl!
August 29th, 2007 at 3:06 am
Oh wow….Lauren what a touching story about this very precious daughter & mother who have been through so much. What a awesome idea you and your CT did for them…. WOW..WOW…WOW. Erica, I wish you and Grace many showers of blessing upon the both of you. Lauren for being such a loving, caring, giving, beautiful person… {hugs} to all of you. Today has been such an emotional roller coaster for me.. Much love for all!!!!
August 29th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Erica has always had kind words for me through gallery posts and her layouts are so inspirational! I love the color book the C.T. put together for Grace.
February 17th, 2008 at 6:41 am
fiyrjbzq dzalpy zrdwaolx lvhefbmnw kzmjc mbicr pktdj