Hi to all of our dear family & friends out there. Again, I want to start this letter thanking everyone for the amount of prayers & support that have come our way. Thank you so much for standing in faith with us for Maggie’s total healing. This whole ordeal has been so much more than Stephen & I ever comprehended. As a family we have probably gone through every emotion possible from sorrow and anger to joy and thankfulness. We have been angry & questioned God and then in the midst of our sadness He has revealed Himself to us in such a way that all we could do is literally jump for joy! All I can say is that we serve a GREAT God that answers prayers!

There have been many new developments since my last letter with Miss Maggie Moo (mommy’s nickname) or Maggs (daddy’s nickname). First of all, we finally got the chromosome tests back & Maggie was diagnosed with what’s called Mosaic Trisomy 8 or T8M. I’ll give you all a quick Genetics lesson to try and help everyone understand. Chromosomes are thread-like strands of DNA that carry the genes and transmit heredity information. A human being normally has 46 chromosomes (23 pairs) in all but the sex cells. Half of each chromosomal pair is inherited from the mother's egg; the other half, from the father's sperm. When the sperm and egg unite in fertilization, they create a single cell, or zygote, with 46 chromosomes. When cell division occurs, the 46 chromosomes are duplicated. The human body is made up of 50 to 75 trillion cells so this process is repeated billions of times over, with each of the cells containing the identical set of chromosomes. Well in Maggie’s case her 8th chromosome created a 3rd strand (Trisomy). Now this didn’t happen throughout her entire body or it would not be “Mosaic” & Maggie would not be here today. It would just be too much genetic information for the body to handle & it would eliminate the pregnancy, or maybe not. We do know that when she was conceived she started out at 100% (which would have been fatal) & the cells started correcting themselves. This really leads us to Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart for my holy purpose. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations." God started miracles in her before she was even born & it is so much more evident to us that He really does have a plan & purpose for her! GO MAGGIE! We met with her Geneticist and she said that Maggie is one RARE baby! T8M only affects 1 in every 50,000 babies & 5 out of 6 of those cases are male. That makes Maggie 1 in 300,000. She said that in her entire career, Maggie is only the 4th case she’s seen. She said that the lower the chromo-malformation the rarer & the less likely that a baby would even be born. The most common chromo-malformation is Trisomy 21which is Down’s syndrome (this is not “Mosaic”). If you look at chromosome 21 it’s half the size of chromosome 8 so a body can handle all the genetic information. So what does T8M that mean for Maggie? Obviously because of the vast amount of cells the human body contains, we cannot tell just how many of Maggie’s cells are affected without doing a biopsy of every organ in her body & that’s just not possible. The Geneticist says that all of the medical issues she is facing (you’ll read below) are under the umbrella of T8M & that most babies will have mild to moderate mental retardation & low muscle tone. Now these are the facts of T8M but we believe in the TRUTH of the Word of God!

Ok, starting with her brain, Maggie sees a Neurologist and a Neurosurgeon. The Neurologist has diagnosed her with Colpocephaly & Dysgenesis of the Corpus Callosum. Colpocephaly, in her case is that her 1st & 2nd ventricles are smaller than normal & her 3rd & 4th ventricles are larger than normal. Her Neurologist is telling us that she is susceptible to seizures and could have mental retardation. As far as the Dysgenesis (not completely formed) of the Corpus Callosum (200 million nerve fibers that connect the right & left hemisphere of the brain), please see my previous letter for all those details. Basically more junk that we don’t wish to stand in agreement with. Because of the enlarged ventricles, her head is a little mushroom shaped & that‘s where the Neurosurgeon comes in. She also tends to prefer her right side so it’s REALLY flat on the right. They will continue to monitor her & once she’s is able to hold up her head they will probably put her in a helmet for at least 6 months. Not to worry Maggie Moo, mommy will make sure it’s pink & we’ll put all sorts of pretty’s on it!

Ok, down to the heart. Maggie’s cardiologist says that she has Aortic Valve Stenosis. Aortic stenosis is abnormal narrowing of the Aortic Valve. When the narrowing becomes significant enough to slow down the flow of blood from the left ventricle to the arteries, heart problems develop. She also has a kink in her Bicuspid Aortic Valve and a heart murmur in her Patent Foramen Ovale. Her Cardiologist will see her every 2 months to make sure surgery isn’t necessary. This NEEDS to correct itself! Please pray for this in particular!

Now to the kidneys, Maggie has Hydronephrosis and Reflux. This means her ureters are kicking the urine back into her kidneys instead of releasing it into her bladder. Her Urologist is keeping a close eye on her & has prescribed antibiotics until she turns a year old. At that time she will be reevaluated to see if surgery is in her best interest. Her left kidney is far worse at a grade 4/5 (severe) as opposed to her right which is at a grade 1 (mild). The antibiotics are totally necessary, even though my poor girl hates them! Luckily we’ve figured out that flavoring it like bubble gum seems to keep her a tad happier.

We are so happy because one very common thing with T8M is a cleft pallet but Maggie doesn’t have one. She is does have Ankyloglossia, more commonly known as being tongue tied. Basically the membrane connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth is a lot thicker & smaller & is up towards the tip of her tongue. Her ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat specialist) said that at a year old we will just put her under & clip the tongue. It’s only a 5 minute procedure & shouldn’t be too painful.

Now this is a biggie. We started to get very concerned with Maggie’s vision. In the hospital before she was discharged from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) the Ophthalmologist saw her & said everything looked ok. Well, Maggie just kept rolling her eyes, would not focus on anything & was not following objects back & forth. She basically just had a very dazed look in her eyes all the time. It really started to worry us & one day her Developmental Specialist said that we may need to get in contact with the FBC (Foundation for Blind Children). Of course this news was absolutely devastating. I just kept thinking about how with every pregnancy I prayed & prayed that one of my babies would have their daddy’s blue eyes. Well, of course my last, Miss Maggie Moo has those beautiful blue eyes & I just kept thinking that God gave her those eyes & THEY WOULD NOT BE BLIND! Doctor after doctor kept telling us to hurry up & reschedule a follow-up visit soon with the Ophthalmologist because it was looking very bad. Well…great news! Just this past Monday we were told that her optic nerves are fully formed, she has no cataracts & that she is responding great to dark & light. Maggie was diagnosed w/ Corticle Visual Impairment, which means her eyes are fully formed but the brain isn’t spending the right signals to the eyes to see. They say that with time & lots of therapy most kids grow out of this & do eventually see. Surgery & glasses are a possibility but only time will tell for sure. We’re just thrilled that her eyes are intact! I immediately left the doctor & went straight to the store to buy her a mobile for her crib. That same day, we saw a 100% difference in her! She was looking at us, following us & even started cooing at her mobile. Of course this brought tears to our eyes & reminded us that this journey to healing is already in progress & WILL BE COMPLETED! Since that day, person after person keep telling us they see a life in her eyes that wasn’t there before. I swear she gave me a half smile yesterday & I can’t tell you how happy that made me! All I could do was pray & thank God that my baby girl could finally see me! The FBC will start therapy with her next week on strengthening her eye muscles.

Maggie sees an Orthopedic Specialist because the pointer & middle fingers on both hands don’t straighten her tight muscles & joints and her tail bone & vertebrae are fused together. Maggie has a Developmental Specialist & Physical Therapist that each come to the home & work with her an hour every week & an Occupational Therapist that comes every other week. We found out her fingers are not fused with the bone so with time & therapy they will begin to straighten more & more! Early intervention is key so the more therapy the better!

Well, last week Maggie stopped breathing on me and I had to call 911. The paramedics took her to the hospital where we were told that they thought she was having seizures. She had a couple more episodes at the hospital but the EEG (tests the brain waves) came back negative. Her Neurosurgeon seems to think she is having Central Apnea where her brain stem is not sending signals to her lungs to breath & heart to beat. We have an appointment with a Pulmonologist (lung doctor) next week & he will decide if they will start doing sleep studies on her. This would be more overnight hospital visits which are just NO FUN! It’s so amazing that in the 3 short months Maggie has been alive, how many lessons we’ve learned just by knowing her! She’s such a tough little girl & always has such a sweet little attitude about it all. She’s up to 12 different specialists, 3 different therapists and 2 case workers, all which whom will see firsthand the obstacles she will overcome and miracles she will encounter!

Please understand that by no means have Stephen & I always been super upbeat & positive about any of this. Like I said earlier, we still get angry & question God sometimes but He ALWAYS reveals Himself to us in one way or another! We hope & pray that you will continue to pray & believe that Maggie will be FULLY healed from head to toe!