THANKS A MILLLION! We really want to thank everyone for their support. If you are not mentioned, it is not because we don't appreciate you but just cannot think of every single person when sooo many people have been there for us. If you see someone mentioned let them know to check out this site!!! If you notice someone I have forgotten, please let me know! More than anything, we are so grateful! Grateful to God for answering our prayers and all of your prayers. Thanks to all of you for these prayers, good thoughts, Karma, e-mails, messages, cards, phone calls and concern for Amy and our family! We are truly blessed to have all of you behind us supporting us through the past years!   First I want to thank EDNA! She was our transplant coordinator! She deserves a prize for her brain and a vacation for all of her hard work and stress she goes through everyday helping and caring for desperate people like us! I know our case gave her several close nervous breakdowns! We are so grateful to the wonderful Medical care we have been so blessed to receive! Thanks to Vicky, Erica, Faye, Kathy, Linda, and Christine in the Hematology Department for your patience with my annoying phone calls and all of your assistance. Thank you Dr. Young, who we saw for the first time 2 years ago, on Halloween! He was in his "soccer costume" He was very patient and conscientious in his care for Amy. And because of him, we came to a very difficult decision to go forward with transplant. And made a pivotal decision to go with the "10/10" match after already being scheduled with my sister, Debbie, related but "8/10" (still very grateful Deb!). As I wrote to him the other day, even if things wouldn't be going as well as they have been, we would still be as grateful because we know, as Alex is a surgeon, you can do your absolute best and sometimes things don't go as you would wish them to and the results are not always like ours. I hope this gives inspiration to him and other Doctors' who find themselves in difficult situations, that they gain strength from grateful families like us, during their more stressful and dark moments in helping very sick children. We also thank the whole Pediatric Hematology team, Dr. Nugent,   Dr. Gheeta, Dr. Rueben, Dr. Lovejoy,      Dr. Soni, Dr. Bhouey, Dr. Simon, Dr. Singh, as well as the team of Doctors in OICU, Dr. Arrieta, Dr. Lang,       and Dr. Neudorf. We are grateful for all of your knowledge, expertise and compassion for Amy and all of your patients. You all practice in the highest of standards and we do appreciate all of you! We want to thank all of the staff at CHOC including Pharmacy, Childlife, especially Kristi and Meagan,   Wayne and the Occupational and Physical Therapy Departments,  Housekeeping, Rema in Nutrition and Dietary and even the "psych" team. Thank you Heather and Jody!  I am sure you won't forget Amy's lovely demeanor! We especially want to thank the nurses and their assistants in OICU and 3rd floor!  We would have been lost without you through those 2 months. You people are truly blessed! You are so wonderful and giving with each and every patient and so comforting to us parents! Thank you to Eileen, Allie, Guy, Janet, Joann, Lori, Brenda, Amy, Angela, Julie, Mercedes,  Karen, Stacey, Chrisitne, Deanne, Suzanne, Christina, JD, Felix, Jessica, Rene, Nicole, Ladka, Jose, Johnny, Sheryl, Ivan, Donna  and so many others. If I didn't remember to thank you, it is because I am having a brain break down, not because I don't appreciate you! I truly appreciate all of you! Not just individually, but when it is necessary, you are there for each other as a group and always there for the same goal; to provide the best care and love to each and every child you treat. I hope each of  you know that what you do is not just a job but a calling to a vocation you are truly gifted for. So if any of you have doubts as to why you chose this profession as your career, don't question your decisions, for what you have given of yourselves to children like Amy and the support you give to scared and desperate families like ours cannot be measured.          You are simply the best! There are not enough adjectives in the world to describe how grateful we are for all you have done to help us when we needed it the most! I don't want to sound like I am at an awards ceremony but I feel we have won the biggest prize of all, the life of my child! So I will continue being grateful........ I want to thank the people at our offices. You have been so patient and helpful! Thanks for keeping Alex company when I know I couldn't be there for him. Thanks for all of your support! I want to thank my family for all of their support! First of all to my sister Christine for organizing the marrow drive and all of the sisters, cousins, friends and the people of Washington who participated in the drive!       I hope if you weren't a match for Amy, I hope someday you will be able to give the gift of life to another person in need! I am so proud to be a part of  this family. Debbie thanks for being ready to give of yourself to Amy! You gave us our first glimmer of hope! I want to thank all of you who came out to help with Amy......Christine, Nancy, Marge, and the 2 terrific cheerleaders Diann and Bobbi (Hopefully, video coming soon)   It wasn't easy but it was sooo helpful! And the ones that couldn't come or just because I thought it better for Amy and for us that you didn't, I am truly grateful for how much understanding,care and for your support! You all mean so much to me! By the way Gloria, Amy loved the candy! And Mom, I thank you for your prayers and the strength I must have gotten from you to make it through this ordeal! To Brenda, Laura, Don and all of the Meyers, I am so sorry about the  loss of Justin. I was relieved to know that you have been so giving when you decided to donate and give life to people like us who are in great need of a second chance and so grateful for your act of ultimate kindness and giving. Although,I wouldn't wish what you are going through on any human being, I hope it is helpful to know that you have made people like us so deeply grateful. I hope it gives you some consolation. I Thank You on behalf of some very grateful recipients,  who you have not even met! I can assure you, that you cannot measure the joy and hope you have given them. I want to thank Mia  and Julie for taking the back seat while we have been going through all of this! I want to thank Nicki for all she has done through this and all of the sacrifices you have made for Amy. I know you wouldn't and couldn't have done differently but I truly appreciate you! You have shown so much support and love for Amy and you are probably one of the few people who know how this experience can change a person so dramatically! You have been awesome through all of this! Thanks to Amy's friends for their care and support! Thanks for all of the cards and letters and messages. Thanks to Alina and  Michaela and their  families who visited Amy! Thank you Coral for your persistence to get messages to Amy (who isn't the greatest at returning them) Thanks to all of you who left messages on her web site. Especially to Taylor, Madison and Daniel. It is so good to hear from kids who care! All of your messages kept me going! Thank you to Amy's teachers, Mrs. Coover, who was there at the beginning, Mrs. Salama who went through a difficult decision making year and who also visited Amy this summer and to Mrs. Ward who is Amy's teacher this year and is tutoring her till she begins school in January! Thank you to Mrs. Flores and all of the teachers and staff at St. Edwards for all of your prayers and concern and to Mrs.Lister who has helped us accommodate Amy's schooling situation and has lead the school in praying for Amy's health. I want to especially thank Heather Monica. She is the mother of Kylie Jae. She has helped me so much in her frankness and her courage! I was so relieved to find someone out there who I could share information with and who really understood what I was going through and the agony and courage it takes when you will do anything to save your child! You were a comfort to me! I will never forget your voice, with your "light" New Jersey (hee hee) accent so strong and even if things didn't seem good, you would not give up! You have been through so much more than I have ever gone through! You have a great sense of humor through all of the difficult times and painful moments you have had to endure! I will always keep you,     Kylie Jae and all of your family in our prayers! You are truly blessed! I also want to thank Monique Delorme. She is Alex's cousin in Marseille. She had leukemia and had a bone marrow transplant 6 years ago. She had a special connection to Amy because of the similar conditions and treatments like chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant they both underwent. She was always so caring and interested in Amy's case and would pray to Saint Rita (Patron Saint of Blood) and even went to celebrate the feast of St. Rita and made special prayers for Amy. Even though she was so far away, and they were different in so many ways, she truly empathised with Amy and was so kind and thoughtful and always interested in Amy's condition. The day I got the good lab results, Monique passed away! I send my condolences to Michel her husband and her 2 sons, Thierry and Olivier. Even though we were not particularly close, the connection she had with Amy (or as they say in French "EMY", She will be truly missed by many! And of course, the donor! We don't yet know who you are but as I wrote you anonymously during the time of the transplant while Amy was undergoing Chemo; your selfless gesture has been a Godsend! I hope to meet you in person some day to thank you for what you have done to save my child and to change our lives! As always, I have been long winded! But I must say it feels so good to show some gratitude for all of my blessings! This blessing is a child who is going to free of an awful illness and who will return to being a normal healthy child. For those who already have normal, healthy children, knowing what we have gone through to get there, take a moment and thank God for your healthy child! It can be so easy to take for granted! Gratefully The Carli's