Saturday, April 06, 2013

A New Beginning

Today is the one year anniversary of Jacob's second bone marrow transplant.  It's incredible to see how far he has come.



Here he is 12 months ago receiving those life saving cells.  He had just finished five days of intense chemotherapies.  He was on many heavy drugs and this was a very difficult time for us.



Since I last posted Jacob has been able to experience numerous firsts now that a year has passed for his immune system to recover and mature.  

Jacob was so excited to be able to go to church with our family!  It's been almost 2 1/2 years since he's been able to go.  Finally!  We kept him restricted from public places ever since we started preparing for his first transplant, over two years ago.  It would've complicated the transplant if he had an active infection since the immune system gets wiped out in the process.  He loves church. 



Jacob planted a garden with Grandma Judy and Ethan!  Don't you just love his sunhat?  (He is at a higher than normal risk for skin cancer, so he must be careful in the sun.)  Since Jacob was diagnosed with CGD at 15 months old, we have kept him away from wood chips, hay, and soil.  It's been fun for him to discover these normal kid things even though he is almost 5 years old now.  



On Monday, Jacob started preschool!  Here he is with his amazing teacher on his first day of school.


Also, Jacob was able to celebrate Easter OUT of the hospital for the first time in 3 years!  The last two years, he's watched Ethan dye eggs on Skype, but this year, he actually got to dye them himself!







In celebration of Jacob's one year mark post transplant, we held a family party today.  Many of Jacob's amazing support team were able to attend.  Thank you to everyone who came and to those who celebrated with us in spirit and made this day extra special for Jacob and our whole family!











 




I am looking forward to sharing more of the world with Jacob.  Things I have in mind that are local are Disneyland, the beach, the zoo and museums.  Jacob's cure was truly a miracle.  I'm so grateful for this new beginning!

5 comments:

Josh Long said...

Amen! Celebrating Jacob's transplant anniversary was such a joyful occasion, especially watching the tear-jerking slideshow you put together.

Funny thing... you previously blogged with the title "A New Beginning" two years ago, right after Jacob's first (and ultimately unsuccessful) transplant. While that turned out much differently than we expected, I'm overjoyed that our little son is whole at last. I'm so grateful to our Heavenly Father for allowing Jacob to stay with us to continue to touch our lives with his sweetness, love, and compassion far beyond his years.

Unknown said...

You don't know me, but I and many others have been praying for Jacob for two years. I'm so very happy today that he's healed. God heard the many prayers, and healed your little boy. God's got a wonderful plan for his future and yours. All praise be to God for His wonderful works! With all my love,

Lynette

Trisha said...

So happy for you all! Hugs from Wisconsin!!

Alice said...

Congratulations!!!! Yay for 1 yr post transplant. And so wonderful to hear all of his firsts :). We want to take the kids to Dland too. Maybe we can have a play date at one of their first places :). We are still in the midst of our setback. But hoping we will be out in the clear soon.

Angelique said...

Whoo Hoo!! Congratulations. It is a true miracle. So great to see your little one enjoying all of the beautiful things the world around him has to offer. I will continue to pray for sustained health and healing.