Mia's 152 Blood Transfusion

Mia was 'poked' the next day for a type and cross after the

visit to Tucson and speaking to the bone marrow doctor.

Lot's of doctor appointments are involved with getting Mia's

care managed. Thank GOODNESS for health care and kind 

nurses and doctors who love what they do.

Mia's #152 before mom and dads 20th Anniversary trip to Cancun.

When dad takes Mia, they take naps and eat lots of food!

Mia's Type

Well, it's a long story...but after a look in the Be The Match

Regisrty (world wide) Mia does NOT have a perfect 10/10 match.

There was one person, a 29 year old somewhere from Europe who

was the closest match at a 9/10.

Not close enough for us to risk a transplant though.

If you know Mia at all, and how she's an Anglophile - 

this made her so happy! We are not sure it's exactly from 

England but we are pretending, since her Grannie and all her

family are from there.

*On a side note, if Mia ever gets to transplant, we will be taking her on a special trip to 

England before all the transplant stuff would happen.

There is another option for transplant called a Haploidentical transplant

which would use one of her sisters as a half match.

We drove down to Diamond Children's in Tucson had 2 of Mia's sisters

tested as well as mom and dad. 

Mia was the only one NOT poked today...how weird is that?!

But she was a great hand holder!

You can do it Madison...she was a bit nervous

but Mia does this all the time, so Madison was really brave just

like her sissy Mia.

Way to go Madison!

Dads turn...he donates blood all the time...so he's used to pokes.

Mia's feeling left out with no poke, but don't you worry Mia,

you'll be poked soon enough!!

I'm so proud of these girls being there for Mia.

#SISTERS

Be The Match Meeting

We got the chance to sit in on a Be The Match meeting

for the 'West' side of the country...the Wild West!

It was awesome being able to hear stories and 

have Mia share her story of how she needs a match

as well. They are looking for you Mia!

We also got to be present as our very own AZ

representative WON - for Be The Match

Rep of the year!! Ahhh yeah!

We are so proud of you Aubrie.

It was really special that

Mia and Stephen (a bone marrow transplant survivor)

got to be a part of this as well.

We sure love being a part of crazy groups!

Thank you Be the Match for all that you do for patients

who need life saving transplants to survive.

Mia's Yearly MRI

Prayer request would be greatly appreciated...

It's that time of year...Mia's yearly T2* MRI of her heart and liver

to see how much iron has deposited on her organs from all the 

blood transfusions. (The very thing that saves her life ... ironically slowly

damages your organs.) Did you know, heart failure due to myocardial 

iron overload remains the leading cause of death in patients with 

transfusion dépendant anemias.

Thank goodness we have a medicine called Exjade

that Mia takes every night, (she hates it...so if you see her tell her she's 

awesome for taking it!)

It helps chelate or get rid of the extra iron that builds up in

her organs to prevent iron overload.

We always hope for the same or lower numbers from her MRI

scans (we want LOW) and we won't find out for a few weeks.

We know that God is in control.

You got this Mia, courage!

Sweet girl...it went by fast. 

They put her to sleep but next year we will try it awake!

We are SO thankful for super kind nurses who just love

on our kids...speaking of a mom with a child with a life

threatening illness. Thank you for taking care of Mia!

Be The Match - Gammage ASU

Born to perform!

We had the chance to go to Gammage at ASU to watch an

illusionist called: What is the Maze?

We had a BLAST...you must try and see this show if it comes

to your town! He has recovered from a bone marrow transplant and

invites  Be The Match to be there at the end of his shows.

We went to help out.

Mia and Aubrey went on stage and briefly shared Mia's story...

and the best part is, that 501 students registered for 

Be The Match!! Yay, it was awesome!

Watch a little bit about:

What is the Maze

Click Here to listen to Jim Munore and his life

saving bone marrow transplant!

Mia's #151

Wow, her counts were so low.

Friday: 7.2

Transfusion scheduled for Monday.

Missed a week of school simply because of not enough

blood...literally no energy.

She always smiles though.

I'm not going to lie, she was very pale.

Feeling better after 2 units of life saving blood.

As always, thank you blood donors for the gift of life!

Make A Wish - AZ Concours D'Elegance

Mia had such a FUN time at the Biltmore in Scottsdale 

to help judge cars as a fundraiser for Make A Wish Arizona.

All the wish kids had a blast...and even got to walk the red carpet.

What cute wish kids!

Mia with her new friends Priscilla and Ivy - so sweet!

One of Mia's favorite cars was this Ferrari!!

Here she is judging it earlier in the day...

The owners let her sit in it...

There's Luke showing her how to drive it...

Be Careful now because she will take this car on a road trip!

This Ferrari won a double award and Mia was asked if she could ride in it

down the red carpet...yes please!

She rode with the owners son Connor.

You can just see her curls sitting shotgun, how FUN!

What a great memory for Miss Mia!

Accepting the award...Mia and Connor.

Connor is the son of Kevin, see below.

There's a reason we met them.

Here is a neat story, so of ALL the cars and people there...

Mia loved Kevin's Ferrari, he is the owner of the car. 

It turns out, he is a bone marrow donor!

He donated his stem cells to his sister about 10 years ago

as she went under a transplant.

She is doing great now!!

What hope that gives us for Miss Mia.

(We are still waiting by the way to see if she has a match!)

Mia and all the wish kids had a fun morning judging the cars.

Below are just fun pics from throughout the day.

This car was made in 1909!

The owner drives it to the grocery store all the time.

This is the only time I'll let you drive Mia!

For you Grannie!

Moms color!

Mia loved the red interior of this car.

This was a unique fun car to look at:

Mclaren P1

It goes 217 MPH.

Mia said she could be in Cali in 2 hours...to go to the Beach!

This Bugatti was insured for 31 million...yikes!

Don't scratch it.

We found a GB flag!

Thank you Make A Wish ... it was a fun day and we are so happy

that you raised $100,000. for future wishes for kids like me!