Thank you

To date Emily has spent roughly 38 days as a patient at Kosair Children's Hospital.

She is only 9 1/2 months old. Over a month of her life has been spent in a hospital or ER.

We never left her side, one of us is always with her. The accommodations are not 5 star. The choices of food are limited to McDonald's on the 1st floor or take out. Sleeping arrangements aren't the most comfy either. It is a little bench with a cushion on it under the window or a chair that pulls out to a bed-like object. It could be worse.

We have a private room with our own shower. We have access to a small kitchen. Oh and there is always the TV with cable. (we almost always forget to turn it on though)

The best thing about Kosair is the staff!

Emily has several doctors that she sees, including her neurologists. They are great and extremely helpful and knowledgeable. The staff are the ones who get us through the nights. Who sit here with us as she has hour long seizures. Who tends to her after surgery and laughs with us at the goofiness that is Emily!

These people are the ones who work 12 hour shifts to take care of our little Emily.

Family and friends: These are just a few of the nurses that have taken care of Emily over the past few months. I would like you all to look at their picture or name and pray over them. I know how much you all love Emily and I think for you all to be able to "see" the people who have cared for her and to be able to pray for them would be awesome. These are the nurses that would stay with Emily for hours while she would have her seizures and worry about her just as much as we would. Don't worry I got permission from each of them to use their picture and name. :) Also if you want you can send a card to Kosair (unit 5 west).

This is Alisha. We have a special bond with her. The very first time we were admitted Alisha was Emily's nurse. I will never forget that night and how scared we were. She is so amazing and even on days when she has to work another unit she stops by to see us! Thank you so much Alisha, that first night was the scariest night of our lives and you were so helpful and kept us calm.

This is Julie. We met Julie I believe our 2ND admission. Julie is very funny and very boisterous ! ha ha! Good thing you works days right? ha! Emily got to recognize her voice though and would turn her head to see her. She did not do that for just anyone! I think Julie has been Emily's nurse almost more than anyone else. Julie we love you! Thanks for doing such a great job!!

This is Stacy, Emily's dietitian. This girl is amazing too! She is super sweet and goes way above and beyond her job. She works Monday thru Friday but she asked for my number so she could check on us through the weekends. She listens to me talk about Emily even when it's not related to her diet. The ketogentic diet Emily is on is not an easy one. It takes a lot of calculating and "tweaking" and a lot of time! This is the easy part though because she is just on a formula with a little oil added. I can only imagine when Emily starts eating food again. Stacy, thank you so much for giving us hope. Hope that Emily will one day be seizure free and begin to thrive and make progress. You know more about this diet than everyone else does and this diet has done more for Emily than any medicine has. Your patient, hard work, and gentle caring attitude have been so appreciated! I consider you a friend now and can't wait to get know you more!

This is Britt. She is the nurse practitioner for the neurologists. This girl works her butt off! She is the nurse practitioner for the neurologists. We came into the hospital as an emergency on a Monday, within 24hours Britt had Emily's g-tube surgery scheduled and 2 tests that had to be done before the surgery to make sure everything in her belly was OK AND she got a MRI scheduled and the ketogenic diet started. Let me explain that ALL of those things can take days or weeks to schedule but we were not in our room for 24 hours and we had them all scheduled. That took some work! She has the kindest heart too. Britt, I am so thankful for all of the hard work you have done for Emily. I see how busy you are but you never show that once you are in her room. I would never now that you have other patients to take care of, you never rush us or make me feel like I am nuts for the crazy questions I have. Thank you so much!!!

This is Jenny. She is another one of Emily's fabulous nurses. I feel very comfortable when I see Jenny come in at night. Jenny is "on it" at all times. I am not sure you could catch her off her game ever. She works so hard and it shows. She is so confident and that makes Joe and I feel rest assured that during the night our little Emily will be well taken care of. Jenny, I know I had a hard time sleeping at night because I was so nervous, you made me feel that Emily was safe in your care. Thank you for all the time you spent with us, making us feel that Emily was your only patient!

In addition to the ones above there are so many other nurses, aides and staff that we are so thankful for.

Courtney, Laura, Emily, Jenny, Alisha, Theresa, Nicole, Stacy (sorry if I left your name off or misspelled it I just can't remember everyones name )

Joe and I want to thank each and everyone of you for all the time you gave to our Emily. She is the most important thing to us and we appreciate all that you all have done for her. I know she, at times, required a lot of time but you all made us feel that she was your priority. Words can not express how scary this horrible, sad and painful journey is but we are thankful to have the comfort that we received from you all. We are thankful you all have chose the selfless careers that you did. You all are amazing! God bless each and everyone of you. We will never forget the love you showed our beautiful girl. Hopefully the next time we see you all it will be a visit. Also if any of you have facebook you can add me (profile is on the side of this page) I update there with little things and more pictures. I would love to keep up with you all.