Christmas Update

So, we decided to try something a little different this year. Our Christmas newsletter is posted here. I'd like to think that we are a forward thinking family who is techno-savy and eco-friendly... but the reality is that the fact that I would have one less piece of paper to stuff into our Christmas cards appealed to me too : )

2008 has been a great year for the Bowmans. Keira has gone one entire year without treatments or trips to the ER. We are so blessed. At this point, she is being seen by her oncologist every 3 months for labwork and we have another round of scans in June. If everything checks out ok at that point, she will get to "graduate" from her CT scans - something I'm sure she will be glad to see the last of.

She started pre-school this year 2 days a week. She loves her teacher and her friends. She is really starting to open up and we have seen her become much more at ease around new people. She loves to "read" and can recite many of her favorite books from start to finish. Her favorite question is "Why?", and she has to do everying by herself. We are happy to report she is a very normal 2 year old -who is potty trained - yeah!!!

Erin is still in residency - yes still. Fortunately she gets to work with a great group of people! She keeps busy with her studies and trying to keep up with Keira and when she's not doing that .... what am I saying - that pretty much covers it.

Jason is also the eternal student. He continues to do well in his Doctorate of Ministry program. He is in his 7th year of teaching Bible to high school students - and his seventh set of lesson plans, always striving to make things better. His favorite role is that of Daddy and is quite influential in that role.

Blessings to you all during this wonderful time of year. We pray that you get to spend some sweet time with your families. We are grateful for all the gifts God has given us this year, most importantly the gift of His Son.

We thought the most fun way of capturing this year might be in pictures - so we hope you enjoy the show!

Love,
Jason, Erin, and Keira Grace

December 5, 2008 - More results

Keira decided to celebrate her father's birthday this year by going to Children's and having a CT and lots of labwork performed. At the end of the day, it turned out to be a wonderful birthday present as all of her tests gave us good news. Keira continues to look great and so far has not shown any signs of complications from her treatments! We are blessed with this news and look forward to a special Christmas.

Jason, Erin and Keira Grace

June 11, 2008 - Results

Good news! Despite the fact that Keira's bloodwork came back on Friday with some possible abnormalities, the rest of her tests came back earlier today and show only good news! Keira remains NED (No evidence of disease) and her doctors are spacing her follow up out to 6 months. We are all so happy with these results. Thank you for all your prayers on her behalf!

Friday's testing was rough on Keira. When we drove up to Children's, Keira started protesting - "No go here today. Let's go to Ellie's house." She knew. They had a problem getting the IV started which meant more than a few tries (ouch!) Additionally, Keira's body has grown tolerant to the medicine that they use to sedate her for the CT scans so the first dose they gave her didn't work. She remained very upset for quite a while. They gave her an additional dose to settle her down, which worked beautifully. Unfortunately, the extra dose made her sick! After a day full of bad experiences, we still remain thankful - it could be so much worse. We are grateful for where we are at, and try our best to make these times as short as possible and then celebrate their accomplishment with something fun. This weekend to celebrate we went to the zoo.

Keira had a wonderful time and has aked to go back several times. She wanted to ride the zebras, and the lions. How do you explain to a 2 year old that you can't ride a lion? We distracted her from this request by letting her ride some shetland ponies. She was aprehensive at first, but ended up having a great time. We will try to get some pictures posted soon of her ride on the "real horses".

Thank you!
Jason, Erin and Keira Grace

June 4, 2008 - More testing

A quick update for all of you who are following us on this journey. Keira returns to Children's for more testing this Friday (June 6th). We will begin the day in radiology and have her scans done then report for labwork and a physical. It has been three months since her last tests and we are anxiously awaiting some good news.

It is amazing. Though Keira looks and acts like a completely normal two year old (tantrums and all) the cancer experience changes the way you view things. The past couple of weeks she has been more irritable on a regular basis than normal. Those of you with kids are probably thinking "welcome to the terrible two's". While we know that this is a normal part of two year old development, it is difficult not to worry a little. We have every reason to believe that Friday's tests will bring us continued good news... but will feel much better once we have them firmly behind us!

Throughout Keira's journey we have asked you to join us in helping raise funding and awareness for pediatric cancer. We have another request for you. One amazing mom is doing everything she can to get at least ONE major company to agree to put a gold ribbon (the gold is for our most precious gift - our children) on their product to raise awareness about childhood cancer. Please click here to sign. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/gold-ribbon-support-for-childrens-cancer-on-consumer-products

We promise to post updates once we have some results - likely the first part of next week. Thank you for all your prayers! God has brought us through such an amazing journey and given us so many gifts through this. We are so grateful to you all for walking with us through this.

Jason, Erin, and Keira Grace

Happy Birthday!

Keira is now officially 2! Wednesday was her birthday and we marked the day by visiting "cocoa" her favorite horse (on a carousel). We then had ice cream - for the second time that day. What more could a 2 year old want?

Saturday Keira had a small party with a few close friends and showed off her new swingset - thanks daddy and grandpa! The party was a huge success - made unexpectedly better by the sudden flooding of our backyard 15 minutes before guests arrived. Luckily, when your 2, a flooded backyard is even more fun than a dry backyard. As we suspected one of our sprinkler pipes had broken so I sense a little digging in our future.

Keira seemed to enjoy the party, especially the cake. She really "got into it" so to speak. All in all she had a good few days and we are so happy. We enjoy every day with her and are loving watching her learn and grow.

Happy Birthday Keira Grace!

March 25, 2008 - Too long

It has been too long since we've posted. First of all - Keira is doing great. Her monthly blood and urine tests are completely normal. Her most recent CT shows no change - this continues to be wonderful news. Her doctor told us at the last visit that he didn't want to see her for three months - that was great news to Keira who now recognizes the parking garage at the hospital and lets us know that she isn't pleased to be there.



We can hardly believe that it has been over a year since her diagnosis. In many ways it seems like so much longer. March 9th, one year from the date of her diagnosis, we had a wonderful little celebration honoring Keira's life and all that God has done for us. Thanks Suzy! We are so grateful to be together as a family, enjoying the wonder of life through the eyes of a soon to be two year old.



Keira had a wonderful Easter this year complete with egg hunts and bunnies. She discovered that plastic eggs were fun to shake - and even more fun to break open and eat!



Keira is growing and changing daily. She loves the playground and asks to go daily - make that multiple times a day. She will even tell us which one she prefers - "blue slide playground", "green playground" "barn playground". She has developed a love of singing and has a special place in her heart for "Old Macdonald". She is not afraid to be heard singing E-I-E-I-O at the top of her lungs. She loves to laugh and will ask for "mo" (more) of anything she finds amusing. Yesterday, Jason said "OW". This was one of the funniest things she had ever heard. We hope this doesn't mean anything.....



We will return in June for more tests. Until then we plan to enjoy watching Keira grow. We will try to be better about posting updates.



Jason, Erin, and Keira Grace

Update on Isaac - please pray

Today's posting from Isaac's blog

Today, Wednesday January 23rd Isaac Matthew Lieser has become an angel. He is being held by his Mom & Dad. Thank you for all your prayers.

Please continue to pray for Isaac's family as they grieve over their incredible loss.

Please join us in praying

Tonight we ask you all to please pray. Keira continues to do very well, but one of our friends, 2 year-old Isaac who also has neuroblastoma, is doing very poorly. This family really needs our prayers right now. They are making some very difficult decisions. Would you please take a moment and pray for Isaac and his family? Isaac really needs a miracle from God right now.

Thank you so much,
Jason, Erin, and Keira Grace

If you want to know more of their story, see their blog. If you go to the blog, we do not want you to be taken off guard. You will see little Issac on the site and he is very sick. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/isaaclieser.