Day +1,110

We've been busy the last week or so trying to hit the PR trail and get as many people as possible to donate to the blood drive before things really slow down next week with the holidays.  

First off - THANK YOU to the many folks that have already donated - WE APPRECIATE IT MORE THAN YOU KNOW!  

​As a reminder, the blood drive runs through 12/31 and you can click below to get to the sign up page:

Now on to the media blitz :-)   I was able to grab some time with NBC Chicago last week and they ran a segment on the blood drive + some commentary on Cal's Angels.  Click the NBC logo below to view the segment... thank you NBC and Lauren Petty!

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Family of 5-Year-Old Recovering From Cancer Holds Blood Drive

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Additionally, I was able to do an extended interview with 3 of Chicago's major radio stations that they aired a little over a week ago.  Thank you to Rachel @ the Sherman & Tingle show for making this happen.

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James' story that aired 12/11/21 on the 97.1 The Drive, 100.3 SHE and 101.9 The Mix

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Thus far drive numbers are down quite a bit from both 2019 and 2020... so we're really hoping to see a surge in the final 10 days to bring it home.  This year has been especially tough with blood donations, and this month there is no exception with everyone distracted due to the holidays.  We run the drive in December for 2 reasons:  (1) there are huge needs in December due to the lower than normal turnouts... blood doesn't keep long in terms of shelf live, so a continued and constant supply is essential; (2) to celebrate James' "re-birthday" which is December 6th of each year.  So happy that we've made it 3 years and very proud of James to see the great kid he has turned into (or should I say maintained because he was pretty great before as well.. but I am admittedly very biased).

On the health front, James continues to make progress.  James had a clinic visit on 12/10 which consisted of his usual labs, a heart Echo, and EKG, an ultrasound of his lungs, and a boat load of vaccines (7).  James received his usual vaccinations as a baby/kid but those were all wiped out with his stem cell transplant and he has been unprotected and unable to get them due to his compromised immune system + all the medications he's been on.  This is round 1 of all those standard vaccines, so we'll have more to do, but really grateful that he is finally in a place where we can do this and reduce the risk of some other random illness wreaking havoc.  In summary - things are looking up with no new issues or concerns!  

As a result of the positive clinic visit we moved down on some of James' medications... completely stopping 2 and reducing a few more by 20-50%.  No timelines are ever really given on when James may be medication free but doing simple math on the weaning schedules we're hopeful and optimistic that by mid-next year James could be off most, if not all, of his medication.  Of course that's us as parents talking (not the doctors) and any hiccup could set plans back as we've experienced many times in the past.  That said, right now things are looking up and we keep making progress which is absolutely fantastic.  

Last December James had some concerning issues over the holidays and we are just living it up right now and so happy that this Christmas is going to be the best one we've had in the last couple of years.  So thankful for James, the miracles of modern medicine, and all the support of you all (our friends, family and strangers) and looking forward to an even better 2022.

One last shout out - if you haven't donated blood (and are able to... we know that not everyone can) - get out there and get it done.  Holiday spirit... people need you and it's the BEST way you can give back and save a life :-)