Dear Friends, Well, time moves on (as it always has). I’m amazed to realize that we’ve been posting status updates for almost 2 years. Not much of a long time for an adult, but a veritable lifetime for a child such as Megan. I look at the picture of her (on the home page) in her hospital bed with her family back in December 1998 and am in awe at how much she has grown up since then. As a matter of fact, everyone in that family picture has grown up a bit since then, and everyone who has come to know about Megan has grown up a little bit more as well. Maybe the one comforting thought is that we have all been allowed to grow up together.

During late September, the entire family made their scheduled trip to John’s Hopkins in Baltimore for the periodic check-up, and to also perform some tests regarding the infection which recently hospitalized Megan. There is a virus which is found in 50-85% of all adults by the age of 40. It is a virus which most of us are infected with by the time we reach adult age. This virus is called "CMV" or, for the technical name: "cytomegolovirus". It is a virus which, although alive, usually remains dormant for life. It does present a problem for people who are immunocompromised. Let me remind you, organ donor recipients are immunocompromised because their bodies must be altered with drugs to accept the donor organ. This is why even the common cold is a major threat to someone like Megan. So, this is part of why she was hospitalized a while back, and why she underwent such an aggressive drug therapy. I can tell you that the infection appears to have been significantly reduced, but just about anything could "trip" this virus to become active again at any time.

On September 6'th, Megan and her friends were in attendance at the RI State House for a Press Conference sponsored by Governor Almond to declare September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. This event was coordinated by the Tomorrow Fund, an organization which has helped people like Megan and countless others. Their website can be accessed at: http://www.tomorrowfund.org/

I recently received an email message from someone who was browsing the internet. The message is as follows:

Hello,
I stumbled upon Megan's website accidentally. I actually have a little girl named Megan as well. She is 2 ½ years old and I could not even imagine her going through what your Megan has. God bless her. I was wondering where I could purchase Megan's pin (the $10.00). I live in Canada.

Thanks