One of our own

[Stoopidbot1]

Most of you will remember a few months back, the rally across the country for a little girl that is sick and a family facing hard times. Well this is an update from Samantha's father, BigcatDave.

The Diagnosis:

Samantha is the second youngest of our 7 children. She is 3 years old. In April of this year (2008), my wife noticed that she was not acting like her normal energetic, bubbly self. She was very pale and lethargic. My wife took Samantha in to our pediatrician, Dr. Rice, who took one look at her and immediately summoned an ambulance. She was admitted to Lehigh Valley Pediatric Intensive care unit, where they immediately started doing tests and giving her blood transfusions.

After a few days, the tests concluded that she had a form of childhood Leukemia called Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, which is a cancer of the white blood cells. Basically, her white blood cells that normally should be cleaning her body of things that don’t belong there, were attacking her red blood cells. The doctors assured us that this is the most common form of Leukemia in children and they had a good understanding of how to cure it, although there are no guarantees. Obviously we were devastated. My wife at one point asked why it had to be Samantha, and all I could tell her was that it was because Samantha was so loved by everyone and all that love would pull her through.

Hospital Visits:

Samantha was moved to the regular Pediatric ward where she stayed for nearly a month. She began chemotherapy there and underwent daily blood tests. During that month, Sabrina and Stephanie took time off from school to stay with her as much as they could. During the day, my wife would stay with her and Preston (our youngest) would play in his playpen in the room. After work, I would go home get the other kids that were being taken care of by Natalie (2nd oldest), bring them in to the hospital for a short visit, and then run home with half the kids to feed them and get them to bed. My wife would stay till around 10pm, leave Sabrina and Stephanie there, and then come home to sleep and get the kids off to school so I could go to work as much as possible. Once they kids were on the bus, she would return to the hospital with Preston and start the routine all over again. If they needed something during the day, I would have to leave work to get it for them or run them somewhere. Sabrina and Stephanie lost so much time at school that Sabrina nearly didn’t graduate and Stephanie struggled to catch up.

When Samantha was finally allowed to come home, it took 3 wagon loads of stuffed animals and belongings to get everyone and everything to the car. On the last load, Samantha helped load all her stuffed animals in the wagon and then clung to Stephanie because she didn’t want to be left behind. It was great to see her walk off the elevator and go to the car. When Samantha got home she was very weak and had to be carried up steps. She was sent home with a “pick line” in her arm to get her IV medicines and blood transfusions. She had to go to the cancer clinic twice a week for those treatments, and got a home nurse in between to check on her. She then got a “port” put in her chest, which is a small receptacle under her skin with a line attached to an artery in her neck. This is a little easier that sticking her little arms with a needle every time. The port will remain there for the entire two to three year period that she will undergo treatments.

Around the end of June, Samantha scraped her knee. The wound became infected and spread to other parts of her body. She went back to the hospital for another 2 ½ weeks. She got massive doses of antibiotics to kill the infections and we fell into our hospital routine of back and forth to the house again.

On September 27th, the day before her big ride, Samantha got a fever and again went to the hospital. When she arrived, the doctors found that her blood pressure was low and she was in “septic shock” which is a bad blood infection. They began giving her fluids to get her pressure up when she started taking fluid into her lungs and started struggling to breath. She was rushed into the Intensive Care unit where the doctors began rescue breathing and inserted a tube into her lungs to breath for her and suck out the fluids. At that time a hospital chaplain was called in because they weren’t sure she would make it. We were told later that we were probably within an hour or two of loosing her when we brought her in. Samantha remained sedated and on a breathing machine for 8 days. During that time, my wife stayed by her side constantly. We couldn’t bring all the family in at one time, but the older kids all visited. Sometimes Samantha would come around a little bit, open her eyes and tears would come. This was too much for me to see. When they finally removed the breathing machine, it was great just to hear Samantha cry, I hadn’t heard her in over a week. After another week and a half of recovery, she was allowed to come home where she finally got to see her new Power Wheels Prowler that the Zone Riders got for her.

About a week after coming home, Samantha stated exhibiting the same behavior as just before the last hospital visit, so she was admitted for 3 days as a precaution, but what ever was going on got caught in time.

[Stoopidbot1]

Continued...

The Medicines:

Samantha gets several different types of chemo drugs at different intervals. She has to take all kinds of other things to help her body fight infections and stay strong. One medicine will make her stomach upset, so she gets something to settle it. One medicine makes her constipated, so she gets a laxative. One medicine makes her loose her appetite, so she gets something to make her hungry. She gets antibiotics as all the time to help fight possible infection. Sometimes she has to get an IV at home. At one point during her 3rd hospital stay, she was receiving 15 different drugs through the IV system at once. She also gets steroids from time to time to help her body recover.

The treatments can really wipe her out. It has been explained to me what a person getting chemo therapy feels like. Imagine the worst flu you ever had and multiply that by 4. The steroids make her hungry and she eats like crazy, sometimes too much and her little belly swells so much it makes her uncomfortable. Bring on the belly medicines again. The steroids can also work opposite of what most people think. If Samantha is not active while she is taking them, her muscles actually get weaker. After hospital stays when she is bed ridden, it takes her about 2 weeks to start getting strong again and has to be helped to walk or stand up.

The Treatments and Tests:

Up to this point, Samantha has gone to the Cancer Clinic at least once a week. She gets blood tests every time to check her blood counts. She regularly gets red blood and platelets. Every few weeks she’ll get a spinal tap to make sure the Leukemia is not getting into her spinal fluid and attacking her brain. She has now had about 2 dozen spinal taps. Normally she is sedated for these, but one time was awake through the whole thing and had to be held down by 4 people.

And now:

As of now, Samantha is doing pretty good. She is in remission, but the chemo treatments will continue for at least 2 more years. If the Leukemia is not treated for a long period of time it could come back, worse than ever. She has lost her beautiful natural curls, and always tells us that she’s going to get them back soon. She loves to play with her princess toys that everyone has given her. We have to be very careful with her when her white blood counts are low because she can get sick very quickly. She can not go out side in the cold weather, or go to public places like the grocery store. Since no one else in the family drives except for my wife and me, she has to go along and stay in the car with one of her sisters when my wife goes to the store during the day. There has to be transportation available to her at all times in case she gets sick. Samantha usually sleeps in the living room with Stephanie because they share a room with Natasha who is constantly coming home from school with a cold. We try to keep Samantha isolated from other family members that might be sick, but with 9 people in the house, it’s hard sometimes. We also have to be careful not to let Samantha into certain parts of the house where molds and mildews are present, which is probably the whole house. We have an air purifier running in the house to try and kill off some of those things.

The Support:

I can not thank everyone enough for their support. Our Pediatrician ran a food drive for us over the first 3 weeks that Samantha was in the hospital, and even arraigned for a new carpet to be donated for our dining room. Dennis Kuenze, from the Valley ATV Club organized the Ride for Samantha at Lost Trails on the 28th of September. About 150 riders showed up. Through his efforts he collected money enough to help us pay up our utilities and fill up our heating oil. It certainly kept the wolf away from our door temporarily. The Make a Wish foundation is supposed to bring Samantha a new swing/play set in the spring. It is one that is vinyl coated so there are no splinters for her to worry about.

The Future:

I’m not sure what the future will hold for us. I’m still struggling to keep my head above water, but at least we’re all home together. I still have issues to work out with the mortgage company because we are so far behind and we have some serious issues to deal with around the house. We may still end up liquidating the quads, but for now they are still here.

When we get through all this with Samantha, and I pray we do, I hope to organize some things to help others. I hope to get a ride together to benefit the local chapter of Make a Wish, and I’d like to try to set up a network of volunteers to help other struggling families going through this, there are more than you think. I was inspired by a family that did something similar to what I have in mind. Sometimes simple everyday chores go undone when a family is in crisis, like mowing the lawn or grocery shopping.

Thanks again for everyone’s support.

[Sc0tt]

I will definitely continue to keep Samantha and her whole family in my prayers.

[Ajmboy]

Thanks for posting the update. I cannot imagine how hard it must be on that little girl and her family. I wish Samantha and her family the very best, ease in getting through this winter, and the hope that she stays in remission for the rest of her life. We will keep her in our prayers.

[Guest]

Thanks for posting that 'bot.......

This year has pretty much sucked all the way around....

We have little Samantha......BuckBilly lost his dad........almost lost my dad this summer.....we lost a coworker to leukemia....good friend lost her 29 yr old sister to cancer....I was in the hospital with heart problems...my sister was diagnosed with a funky blood disease (non-cancerous)....another cowoker in hospital with heart problems...my boss has heart problems...coworker just had twin premies by 3 months and may be in danger of a stroke.....very close friend's mother is losing her battle with colon cancer......my landlord lost his father this year.....and, just found out from one of the local clubs, that a fellow rider was laid off 3 weeks prior to his 8 yr old son diagnosed with leukemia......

I'm TIRED of hearing bad news this year!!!!!!!!

The national ATV community really pulled through for Little Samantha this year.....it was such a pleasure to see all the riders come together.....that's the upshot to the year

Another upshot is 'bot and Kristen tying the knot......but, what scares me is the possibility of a future where little 'bots are running around, and eventually ATV'ng around! LOL!!!!!!!

Anyhoo.....Dennis and Dave (TimberRider and BigCatDave, respectively) expressed their thanks for little Sam...as did I....and let me reiterate once again.......THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!

-TD

[Raptor8]

TOM, if you have heart trouble at your age change jobs NOW cuz it doesnt get better.,

Everytime I walk into the hospital women faint and doctors point cuz they all know me! My first was at 44 years old.

TRUST ME. change your life . You don't want this path!

You are HILARIOUS and I want you around!

if you are a smoker, STOP NOW. I did when I DIED in E.R. cold turkey. it's been nine years now.

Hang in there my friend:confused:

[Raptor8]

I lost my Dad last year and this year brought Mom home [that's a handful] cuz she wants to die here. And of course my cardiologist says " no stress" one more and we plant you kind of thing...

My score so far: 8 heart attacks [two fatal], 13 ambulance runs and 6 heart surgeries.

and they cannot fix me so they sent me home. the last year or two have sucked for me as well. Don't follow me- do what it takes to stabilize that heart! Now I usually stay up all night so I can see the sun come up once more. :rolleyes:

Bot and Kristin were here a week before I brought Mom home. I will always remember their visit! I thot I did pretty good on the raptor- I like 4th and 5th[74 mph max] Bot liked it.....and that's a compliment!

SO live EVERY day and enjoy life as best you can. watch the movie 'charlie bartlett' I learned some from it, and laugh every day- that's a must! OK kid, now you know why Octavian Caesar lived so long- I was his advisor! just a joke........

:cheers2c::norwayflag:

[Stoopidbot1]

I can't thank Raptor8 enough for what he did for Kristin and I. He made a great trip even better. I made a friend for life, now we just need to get him to come play in my rock pile!

[Raptor8]

we'll make it work somehow...

[wheeler0801]

wow...I remember the Ride for Samantha...glad to hear updates on her condition. Let's keep that positive outlook and prayers going for her. Ya know if every harescramble, motocross, supercross track would have one race a year just dedicated to helping somebody like Samantha, the world would be so much better.

So, if anyone out there knows someone that owns some kind of track or place to ride....run the idea past them?? What could it hurt...you've got a 50-50 chance of being able to help someone in desperate need.

It's definitely that time of the year that we should be helping each other out as much as possible.

[Raptor8]

just please remember that Samantha is not the only one in trouble- we have Tom Duggan right here in our midst to consider as well.

[Stoopidbot1]

My prayers go out to anyone and everyone that may be facing hard times.

[BIGCATDAVE]

We have a couple fundraisers coming up. There is a ride this coming weekend for a fellow ATVer that was killed in a car accident earlier this month. I have it posted here> PA Boys :: Ride Hard Ride Free I think that is an open form that you can read without joining.

There is also a ride being planned for an 8 year old boy from the New York area, that was just diagnosed with Leukemia. His father was laid off just 2 weeks before he was diagnosed. I reached out to the guy planning it but I don't have any details yet.

There are lots of rides like Samantha's and Jarreds that are held around the country, but word doesn't always get around. I am on about 30 different ATV forums and I try to spread the word when I can. We can all help each other by getting these rides posted around. Even if the ride is going to be in California, the story could touch someone in Maine, so get posting!

[Stoopidbot1]

Perfect example, when I read Samantha's story it touched home. Someone who was very near and dear to me had the same struggle with their family. I'm in Co. and I did everything I could to help out Samantha. Even if it was just making people aware. Everyone on this site did so and it amazes how a country of ATVers pulls together when one of our own is down.

[wheeler0801]

you have to join to be able to read about it...

anybody have any info on it? i really don't want to join another forum....i'm already on two or three...((this one most of all of course))

i really just dont have time for another forum.

Prayers for everyone.....keep it strong. God Speed....

[wheeler0801]

ok nevermind about the post above...i found a way to get it...here's the info for anyone in the east that can attend:

On November 2nd of this year, 23 year old Jarred Ziegler of Boyertown, passed away as the result of a bad car accident. Jarred was an avid ATVer and boater. He left behind his parents and 2 younger brothers. He was a close nephew of Ziggy on the Grizz. Jarred had no life insurance and left his family to bear the financial burden of his final arrangements.

During the weekend of November 28 through November 30th, there will be a benefit weekend ride out of the Ziegler family ATV camp in Pottsville, PA. Donations will be accepted, no matter how big or how small. Primitive camping will be available Friday and Saturday night. Rides will be conducted in groups according to ability, beginning a various times of the day and night.

If you would like to come ride in Jarred's memory, for a few hours or the weekend, you can PM me or ZiggyontheGrizz here for directions, or contact me by E-mail at [email protected].

[Guest]

Raptor.....thanks for the kind words....but I'm ok

I know where you're coming from......I've been trying to NOT turn into one of THOSE types of ex-smokers to my friends.....LOL!!!!!!!!

I just gotta figure out how to eat again, and the doc gave me the OK to start tossing barbells around again.....but have to add cardio into my routine this time....BLEH!

Getting the word out about these charity rides is getting easier and easier....

Most of the bigger ATV mags have their own message boards, and sites like this that literally reach out world-wide really, really help!

Plus, I'm sure that if you contact many of the major manufacturers with enough lead time, they'll spread the word AND possibly donate some swag to the cause!

I ALMOST had Orange County Choppers donating to Samantha's ride! LOL!!!!

Cruddy thing is is that no one thought of it, and they are literally right down the road from where I live! LMAO! A Homer moment! :D

Anyhoo....thanks for the outreach from the peeps here.....y'all really are a good bunch of hyoo-man beans!

Tom D

p.s. forgot to add that I will be riding for Jarred......come hell or high water! Or BigCatDave sitting on me....whichever comes first

[outlander560]

My prayers are out for all you guys