Welcome

This is Savanna

Many of you already know this beautiful little girl who was born on January 22, 2006. Many of you know her beautiful, funny and independent mother Bree and her incredible big sister Cassidy. Many of you know that Savanna needs a liver transplant. However what some of you may not know is exactly what is wrong with Savanna, how she is doing, and the fact that this family of three strong females needs your support.

Before I go any farther I will give you excerpts from a letter written by Bridey, Bree's mother, about how Savanna's condition was found out and also what it is...

"Savanna was born January, 22, 2006. Everything appeared to be normal, she was absolutley beautiful. She seemed a little jaundiced, but it didn't appear to be any more than what is normal for any other newborn. The doctors also heard a heart murmur, but a CAT scan reported all was well. Bree was very happy with her little family and Cassidy was ecstatic with her new little sister. The world seemed to be a beautiful thing. However, when Savanna was ten weeks old Bree rushed her to the emergency room with what turned out to be a rare liver disorder and their lives changed forever.

Bree had taken Savanna to her pediatrician that Monday afternoon. She was getting the appropriate immunizations and was making sure that all was well with the baby because she was going back to work. Bree had noticed that her jaundice was beginning to get worse. The pediatrician scheduled blood work for the next day, but said it was probably because she was nursing. Savanna seemed so well in every other way. When her immunization sites were still bleeding at 10:00 that night Bree became alarmed. She called her pediatrician who sent her to the emergency room.

Savanna was diagnosed with the rare illness Biliary Artesia. Biliary Artesia is a condition of the liver which makes it unable to eliminate the bile and waste that our bodies slough off into the liver. This was further complicated by an equally rare condition called Situs Invertus which means that all of her organs are in a mirror image position of what they should be. Her liver became very scarred and deteriorated. The doctors did an initial surgery to try and attach the liver to the small intestines called a Kasai. This surgery only at best has a thirty percent chance of working. Her liver was already so damaged that her specialist believed that the Kasai procedure would just buy her a little time. He was right. At seven months old Savanna is on a list waiting for a liver transplant. Her transplant is further exacerbated by the fact that she has Situs Invertus."

So now you know that. Now let me tell you what we are doing with this blog. This blog will hopefully become a way to be updated on Savanna, Bree, Bridey, and Cassidy now that they are living in Pittsburg, where she will recieve her transplant. We would also like to use this as a way to get everyone involved. This amazing and very large family that Savanna has been born into is incredibly supportive in so many ways. Come on guys, you know you are. I will be posting new blogs as I hear about what is happening with Savanna. I will in the next couple of days give you some links to learn more about her condition and a link to the hospital that she is now recieving her treatment through.

Feel free to post comments, questions, anything!

We are also planning some fund raising oppurtunities to aid this small part of such a large group of wonderful family and friends. Right now Barney has some plaques that we will be selling, and a charitable fund is being set up. To be perfectly blunt about the situation we need to not only show our support in well wishes, prayers, and good thoughts but also monetarily. We will be soliciting business and others to help out with the costs that they are encountering with Savanna's treatment. If you have any advice, or questions please let us know. The way we have gotten this far is with a bunch of little suggestions to help with something so big. That is actually why this blog is being called "an elephant for Savanna", because this little, beautiful, beaming girl needs something so big, hence the elephant.

I think that you can subscribe to this blog so that as new posts are added you will be imformed. Also please pass this site onto anyone who is interested. Thank you all so much for everything that is being done so far!

-Ariel

ps, spell checker is not working, so please forgive the most likely multiple