This week yields many surprises for 100 Strong for Adrianna

The kindness of humanity never ceases to amaze me. This week I have been surprised to receive a substantial check in the mail for Adrianna's fund, we continue to have donations coming in via this website, a fabulous fundraiser in NYC at Crispos Restaurant being held November 8th, and a gracious autographed poster from Lenny Kravitz made possible by Mathieu Bitton at www.candytangerine.com.

Throughout this process I have had the singular vision of giving my sweet friend, Stephanie, her husband, Joe, and their precious daughter, Adrianna, lots and lots of family time without worrying about bills and expenses. Thanks to all of the hard work of our many volunteers, the donations from hardworking individuals and groups, and the many prayers, we have been successful thus far. I hope you will continue to keep this family in mind and continue to contribute as much as your family can comfortably afford to give. Likewise, the Cavanaghs need your support via their Caringbridge website: www.caringbridge.org/visit/adriannacavanagh by writing some kind words of support and love. If you live near the Cavanaghs in Franklinton, you can help by providing a meal or any other random act of kindness that might let this family know that they are not alone.

Thank you for continuing to follow and support Adrianna, Stephanie and Joe. They recently learned that their journey is going to be at least one year, up to two years longer than they had hoped, and one can only imagine how difficult the transition must be from seeing the finish line to running an ultramarathon. This family needs all of us now more than ever. They need a renewed commitment from friends and loved ones to help them push through these trying times. Your prayers are needed, your thoughts are treasured and your actions speak volumes.

I would like to share the lyrics to a beautiful song written by Lenny Kravitz that moved us when Stephanie and I were fortunate enough to see him in concert on November 6th. Sometimes you never know where you will find your inspiration...

Believe, by Lenny Kravitz

I am you and you are me
Why's that such a mystery?
If you want it you got to believe
Who are we? We're who we are
Riding on the great big star
We've got to stand up if we're gonna be free yeah

If you want it you got it
You just got to believe
Believe in yourself
'Cause it's all just a game
We just want to be loved

The Son of God is in our face
Offering us eternal grace
If you want it you've got to believe
'Cause being free is a state of mind
We'll one day leave this all behind
Just put your faith in God and one day you'll see it

If you want it you got it
You just got to believe
Believe in yourself
'Cause it's all just a game
We just want to be loved

The future's in our present hands
Let's reach right in
Let's understand
If you want it you've got to believe yeah

If you wnat it you got it
You just got to believe
Believe in yourself yeah
'Cause it's all just a game
We just want to be loved

God Bless you!

Michelle Martin Russo

mmrusso@mac.com

New information about Adrianna

This is the most recent update from Stephanie regarding Adrianna's treatment. It's great news for the family, for Adrianna and for all of us who have come to love and treasure them over the past 7 1/2 months. After Adrianna's radiation therapy, she will begin a therapy that will teach her body how to fight neuroblastoma cells, because these NB cells will be floating around in her body even after all of this treatment. This antibody therapy is a crucial step to keeping Adrianna in remission. Please continue to pray for the family, for the ongoing fundraisers in Adrianna's honor and for Adrianna to continue along this arduous path with no setbacks and very little pain and discomfort.

"Got a call about scan results yesterday- they were all CLEAR OF NB CELLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a blessing! I am so relieved and thankful for this news.

So, next step is radiation on her tumor site (her right adrenal gland area) and the rib site. They will radiate these spots to make sure the cancer cells do not grow again in these areas. These are the two main areas where it would be likely to grow back.

This will last for 2 to 2 1/2 weeks, but will only be about 10 to 15 minutes per day.

The side effects are mainly diarrhea, fatigue, and maybe some weight loss or loss of appetite and some "sunburned" skin.

I think Adrianna will do great with it though! She is such a little trooper!

We are home until Monday morning and appreciating our time here, with this beautiful, cool weather!

Thanks for all the prayers and for all of your donations at the fair!

Oh! Which reminds me-- I haven't update in a while about the 100 Strong Fund, but just got an update from Michelle Russo that now there are 105 volunteers!!! That is so awesome!

People are still working on their 1.000 dollar goals, which is amazing to us. We thought by now people would have kind of "forgotten" about our situation, but things are still going strong!

It means more to us than anyone will ever know. And helps relieve our worries when all these hospital bills come pouring in.

I still can't get over how much hospital stays and scans and surgeries cost!! It is unbelievable!

So thanks for all of your donations and support to help us with these many expenses right now.

Please also continue to pray for Grant Hebert. His bilirubin levels are getting better and he is fighting hard, but still remains in ICU.

Love to all, STephanie "

Adrianna and family powering through transplant

Over these past weeks, Adrianna has endured receiving her stem cell transplant in New Orleans at Children's Hospital. Despite exhaustion, vomiting, diarrhea, and fever, she has remained upbeat, loving and as sweet as ever for her caregivers. Stephanie, Joe and Nana have all been rotating and relieving one another during this arduous time of treatment. I continue to be amazed by their strength and in awe of their unwavering faith for Adrianna's healing. You can follow their story, as told by Adrianna's mom, Stephanie, at www.caringbridge.com/adriannacavanagh.

Please pray that Adrianna will be discharged from Children's Hospital soon! They are ready to get out of there, and they have had a little setback. Just the change of scenery alone would lift their spirits and allow them a tad bit more freedom over at the Hope Lodge.

On the fundraising front we continue to have donations come through the CHIP-IN/Paypal sight on the right of this page! We have been joined by the Wasted Women's Quilting Bee of Baton Rouge, who have raised $1,000 by raffling some beautiful quilts in Adrianna's honor. The winners of the quilts were: Industrial Analyzer Services (LSU Quilt), William Bourg (Christmas Quilt), Ida Sayegh (Pink and Green Quilt), Ryan Herringshaw (Pink and Brown Quilt), and Kim McDonald (Noah's Ark Quilt). This wonderful group of ladies made Adrianna's princess quilt, and received direct donations in addition to their raffle proceeds. Congratulations and thank you all so much! Also St. Joseph's Academy's Key Club, lead by 11th grader Maggie Justice, will be selling the ever-famous purple 100 Strong bracelets to raise money for Adrianna. Good luck to you all, and I hope to see lots of purple bracelets around Baton Rouge very soon. It's great to have new prayers generated and awareness spread by the renewal of these fundraising efforts!

With love and HOPE,

Michelle Martin Russo

mmrusso@mac.com

225-802-3774

100 Strong for Adrianna

Preparing for Bone Marrow Transplant

Adrianna, Joe and Stephanie are in New Orleans at Children's Hospital as Adrianna undergoes high-dose chemotherapy to prepare her body to receive the stem cells that were harvested from her own bone marrow months ago. This is a very trying and exhaustive time for the family. Basically, the high-dose chemotherapy will kill all of the cells that are growing in Adrianna's body--both the good and the bad. The good news is that she will start anew, with "clean" bone marrow; however, the bad news is that she will be left with very little in the way of an immune system for months. This leaves the Cavanaghs in a difficult scenario, by which they can only be around her with masks, gowns and gloves. Additionally, she cannot receive any visitors during her fragile state. Stephanie and Joe are being supported by Adrianna's Nana, Judy Simmons, in order to relieve the family of some of the hardships that go along with this difficult time.

Please continue to pray and support Adrianna and her family. The family wishes for Adrianna to be pain-free and remain able to take her medications by mouth and eat, which can only be accomplished if she doesn't get some of the menacing mouth sores that go along with high-dose chemotherapy. Also, keep in mind that the Cavanaghs are 6 months into this 2 year-long battle with neuroblastoma, and they will continue to need our support.

You can keep up with Adrianna's progress through her mother's eyes at www.caringbridge.org/visit/adriannacavanagh

Thank you for your support!

Michelle Martin Russo

mmrusso@mac.com

Please pray for Adrianna, Stephanie and Joe.

Today, Monday August 31, 2009, was a much anticipated day for the Cavanaghs. Adrianna had to undergo surgery to place 2 central lines to prepare for her bone marrow transplant, and she was scheduled to have a biopsy of a "spot" that was visualized during a scan last week. The biopsy was of concern, and during surgery a neuroblastoma-filled tumor was almost (95%) completely removed from her chest.

Ultimately this was not part of "the plan." However, it is part of "The Plan," and the Cavanaghs are dealing with this kink as they have all along: faith, prayer and trust. Please join me, Adrianna's family, and her fans in lifting her up with prayer and support during this time of disappointment and disorientation. Adrianna is still on schedule to receive her bone marrow transplant, radiation and antibody therapy as originally disclosed.

Thank you for your continued support for Adrianna Kate Cavanagh. She is truly a light in our world!

With HOPE,

Michelle M. Russo

mmrusso@mac.com

225-802-3774

Please read Adrianna's maternal grandfather's post on www.caringbridge.org/visit/adriannacavanagh

"Steph and Joe are pretty tired and generally "bummed out" by today's events, so I have been asked to write a journal entry for them.
First, let me mention that Adri had a great time visiting her little cousins and friends last weekend, and was in fine humor and wit for us. She received special mention in church Sunday morning, and couldn't believe the speaker was talking about HER. Then as the congregation joined in singing "Jesus loves me", she sang along awhile and then just smiled and listened as everyone else continued. She is quite a little charmer.
Today, however, Adrianna was sedated and underwent surgery to install her central lines (2) and for removal of the tumor in her right chest. The surgeon was only able to remove 95% of it, but not all. The lab confirmed that the tumor was NB cancerous, but the doctors believe the stem cell transplants, together with radiation and immunotherapy will kill the remaining parts of the tumor.
God has blessed so far, so we intend to trust Him for the rest of the journey. Even though it's hard to be positive when we are tired and seeing her suffer, we will continue to believe! Adrianna will be in the hospital at least until Thursday, with a drainage tube in her chest part of the time, and will be Very uncomfortable. This is hard on her adult family, of course. But she is such a little trooper that she will probably do much better with it than her parents and extended family will do. Please continue to pray for her until she is cancer-free. Poppa/Reggie"

Adrianna, Stephanie and Joe have just returned from a fun-filled vacation to Disneyworld, Sea World and Universal Studios in Orlando, FL, courtesy of DREAMS COME TRUE of Baton Rouge! I would like to personally thank Teresa Kalivoda, founder of Dreams Come True for reaching out to me to make Adrianna's dream of going to Disney come true. It sounds like they had a great time, and Adrianna's spirits are higher than they've been in a long time. Adrianna and family just completed a lengthy meeting with her Stem cell transplant physician, Dr. Yu at Children's Hospital in New Orleans. Here are the details in Stephanie's words, as read at www.caringbridge.org/visit/adriannacavanagh

"I would love to just write about our vacation and all the fun experiences we just had, but it's down to business...

We met with Dr. Yu today, along with both of my parents. I wasn't too thrilled with how it started out- "Things do not look great"- but I just reminded myself that most of all the stuff we were going to hear, we already heard from the beginning. The funny thing was, it didn't sound that bad to my family and me! She did start out by saying that Adrianna's NB is called "amplified", which means poor prognosis. And that her NB microscopic cells have a better chance coming back aggressively....But we knew that she was Stage IV with poor prognosis all along, and look how well she has done! This is all a roller coaster, but we had a feeling we were going to hear alot of bad stuff before she'd get to the good stuff! So, the good part is, her stem cells were clean on their own after only 2 cycles of chemo, she's done really well with all of the chemo rounds, and getting the transplant + radiation + antibody therapy increases her chance of survival to 65%, which is alot better than the chance of survival just 5 yrs ago. If she is chosen to do a double transplant, it may mean that her chance of survival is even greater. They just don't know yet which is better: one or two transplants. However, the more high dose chemo she gets, the more of a chance of liver damage, or kidney damage. She could also lose the ability to ever have children of her own. We will find out probably next week if she was chosen for the one transplant, or two. We just talked about it at dinner and decided that it was going to have to be in God's hands, because no one really knows what the best thing would be for her. Only He knows!! So we are trusting that this will be the deciding factor, and we'll just go with it! Please continue to pray for great scans and testing. They are re-doing the MIBG scan b/c of the area they saw near her ribs, BUT we and Dr. Yu seem to think it was just from her surgery site. If it's not, that will mean it came back too aggressively and that is not a good thing at all! Right now they say she is in only PARTIAL-REMISSION. That is better than NO remission, though! We'll take it for now and pray for total remission later! This is the rest of the schedule I have so far: Wed, Aug 26- Bone Scan 8 am & 11 am, EKG, Echo ultrasound, MIBG injection, chest xray, xray for bone age Thur, Aug 27- MIBG scan 8 am, abdominal ultrasound, and OT therapy, flu shot Mon, Aug 31- Surgery to remove port and place a double lumen central line in for transplant @ 1 or 2 pm Tues, Sept 1- Meet with Dietary to go over strict diet plan, PT, & Hearing exam Thur, Sept 3- Meet with psychology to have a base line of where Adrianna is functioning before transplant Tues, Sept 8- Admitted to hospital for several weeks, begin testing before transplant takes place Wed., Sept. 16- Stem cell transplant begins Some good news is that we won't have to stay in the N.O. area for 3 mths, after all! We will be in the hospital for approximately 3 weeks total for transplant, then we'll only have to stay in the N.O. area for about a month! Then we'll get to go home, but will have to drive to the hospital during the week- just not every day! That's great news, b/c that will mean that we'll probably be home for the holidays! I was thinking we'd be here in N.O., away from home. She will probably start radiation the beginning of Dec. (which is also around her b'day) I wanted to write the schedule b/c so many people ask me to give the specific dates so they will remember to say an extra prayer that day and so they'll know what to pray for! It's all good! The more prayers out there for our darling girl, the better! Dr. Yu also said that there are plenty of kids who do really well the first time around, but relapse either immediately, or after 3 to 5 years.....This is depressing to hear, but we already had heard it before. I just kinda keep that in the FAR back corner of my brain- not trying to remember it! What really aggravated me one time was that I heard that a different doctor told another NB child, "Oh, you picked the wrong kind of cancer to have! Neuroblastoma is the worst kind to have!" Why would a doctor say that to a child, or even the parents? Anyway, we have a lot of faith in Dr. Yu, and we know we're in good hands. But we will miss the upbeat personality & positive vibe of Dr. Singelton. (Though she did say that she'll always be checking on Adrianna, and us as well.) Adrianna gives us all the hope in the world, with her beautiful, kind personality. She is enough to get us through this! We just have to remind ourselves that anything is possible- especially with her! Thanks for checking in!"

It's been a while!

I apologize for not updating the website sooner, but I have been very busy with my family, vacations, summertime events, etc. I am pleased to be back home in Baton Rouge, and I am even more pleased with how well Adrianna is doing since her surgery. The Cavanaghs are currently in New Orleans, at Children's Hospital. Adrianna has healed excellently from her surgery; however, she is really struggling with her last round of chemo. Please pray for her to get more comfortable and to regain her strength and happy disposition soon!

Since the article ran in The Advocate, 100 Strong for Adrianna has received approximately $4,000 in additional donations! What a blessing that article has been for Adrianna! Most importantly I know the support that was generated has helped the family cope with some of their most difficult days. Thank you all for your support!!!

I received a phone call yesterday from a representative of the quilting group in Baton Rouge called the "Wasted Women's Bee." Sherry told me that this sweet group of ladies is finishing up a princess quilt for Adrianna. In addition, they have decided to raise funds for 100 Strong for Adrianna by raffling a few quilts that are handmade with love by these generous women. Thank you so much for reaching out to Adrianna, and I am sure that she will absolutely love her special quilt!

Please continue to search your hearts for possible donations to the Adrianna Kate Cavanagh donation account at Capital One Bank. You may also donate via Chip-in and Paypal on this website on the right side of the page.

Keep up with Adrianna's story at her Caringbridge website: www.caringbridge.com/visit/adriannacavanagh