Hey y'all. I'm back, hopefully to stay. I've had a break from the blogging world and I decided I would like to post more often. More like post at all. :-)


This article you are about to read is an e-mail I received from Brittany Stanaland
back in the Gazette for Dummies days. She wrote this for you to read in the paper. Because I failed to get the last issue out, you never had a chance to read this. Now that Brittany is in heaven with both her Heavenly Father and the father she had here on earth, she no longer suffers from the terrible cancer that had taken over her physical body. Please continue to pray for her wonderful family who has lost a sister, a daughter, a husband, and a father all in a very short time.
Please read this and remember not only Brittany and her family but all of the other people you know who suffer from cancer and other sicknesses.


She wrote this for you all to read, so I really want everyone to do so. I'm so, so sorry you never got to read it when she sent it to me.



Hello everyone, I am Brittany Stanaland. I was mentioned for prayer in December issue. I really appreciate all the prayers, cards, letters, gifts and phone calls from you. I am so very fortunate to have so many good friends like you.


I am 13 years old and I have a rare type of cancer called Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor (DSRCT) cancer.



It all started last year when I was in 7th grade. In March 2004, I had a blood disease call Henoch-Schonlein Purpura (HSP). My feet started swelling and I got a really bad rash all over my feet, which started traveling up my legs. It was very painful. My doctor started giving me steroids for the rash. The rash got into my blood vessels and traveled to my brain, which caused me to have seizures. I was life-flighted to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital in Pensacola Florida. I stayed in the Intensive Care Unit for a week, then I went home. The rash continued to travel up my body so I was on the steroids, high blood pressure medicine, lots of pain medicine, and also seizure medicine.



In June 2004, I started swelling up in my stomach and abdomen so I went to our family doctor. He did an ultra sound of my stomach and it showed a large mass. He said it might just be fluid or the blood disease coming back so he sent me back to Sacred Heart Hospital. They did a whole bunch of tests and then surgery. They removed some tissue for a biopsy and they inserted a broviak port in me so they could do blood tests and treatments without sticking me with a needle each time. I still have that same port in me to this day. They even used it for the feeding tube and to give me blood transfusions when I need them. On June 29, 2004 I was diagnosed with DSRCT cancer.



I was in the hospital from June 24th to July 17th then back again the last week of July 2004, then most of the rest of the summer getting chemotherapy a week every three weeks for the cancer, treatments for infections, and blood transfusions. Around the first of December, after four rounds of chemotherapy, (I was suppose to have 5 rounds) my kidney started to mess up an my creatinine level went over 6 ( 1.4 is normal). My doctors decided I could not have any more chemotherapy treatments because of the damage to my only working kidney, so they sent me home to hospice care. They only gave me 1 to 3 weeks to live. Hospice came almost everyday the first week, then twice a week after that to check my blood, bring my medicine, and to check my vital signs. We somehow got through Christmas, then my kidney functions just started getting better. I know it was because so many people were praying for me to get better. I didn't feel like I was gonna die either. I think maybe I would have known if I were gonna die.



I am in 8th grade now. I try to go to school when I feel like it. Even if I don't go, my teachers send me work to do. Being 13, in the 8th grade, and also having cancer is very frustrating. People are always asking me if I feel OK or how I'm doing. Every time people ask me that, I always say fine cause I really am. The only difference is I feel rally tired a lot of the time and I am not as strong. Other than that, I feel kinda fine. A lot of the time I feel like my old self. Sometimes I don't feel like I am sick at all.



Staying in the hospital that is 2 hours away from my house is hard sometimes cause I don't always get to see my friends. Although my friends come over every now and then, they can't miss very much school for me!!



Usually with chemo I get very sick on my stomach and sometimes I throw up a lot. I also get mouth sores and one time they got so bad I couldn't eat anything. One time I couldn't talk at all or even move my tongue, so I had to write every thing down when I wanted to say something. Also, I lost most of my hair, but not all of it, YET!!!



My life has changed a lot since I got sick. I still try to do everything like a normal kid. I try not to let it get to me. Some people wonder if I blame God or anybody, but I don't. I just deal with it as best as I can. Some people even say that by looking at me you can't tell I am sick. I just want to get through my life as normal as possible and live life to the fullest and cherish every moment. I believe I can do it and pass this with the help of everyone prayin for me. I really appreciate all the prayers and calls and cards that everyone sends me. I don't take any of it for granted. I believe that if I didn't have the friends and family I have now, I don't think I could do it, but I do have really good friends and family and that helps a lot. Soooo I want to thank everyone again for everything they have done for me and my family. Please keep prayin.
Brittany Stanaland
After reading that, it really makes you think about how much we really take advantage of the health God has blessed us with.
Live your life to the fullest! God bless you all during this new year and always.