Anne Hart Article from the Savannah Morning News

Our famous little cancer fighting machine once again made the news! We love Anne Hart and so appreciated her writing her column on us. It was perfect! We hope it will encourage lots of people to register for Cora's run to help raise lots of money for her fund and more importantly for us to donate to CURE. The only thing we wish we could have added to the article is #1 to brag on and name each one of her doctors Dr. Stone, Dr. Whittle, Dr. Gonzolas, and Dr. Johnston. #2 To thank everyone who's reached out to us by name, but I suppose that would take up the entire paper, so thanks again everyone! Just in case you aren't local, click the title of this post to be linked to Anne's column.

Smile, You're On Candid Camera!

That's what I wish someone would pop out and say to me right now. The Garola's have never been a sickly bunch, just an occasional ear infection or cold. 2009 has not been good. This morning around 1:30 am Cora appears in our bedroom. She says, "I don't feel good." and then throws up all over the floor. I thought, OK too much medicine, too much chemo, nausea. Took her back to bed and laid with her. In the next hour she threw up 4 times and I put her in the bathtub at 2:30. After a sheet change and pj change, she fell back asleep and I fell asleep on her floor. At 3:30 I am awoken by cries from Cade's room. He is sitting in his bed and has thrown up all over the place. He was assigned to daddy just in case his sickness was different from Cora (to keep her from getting his) and this throwing up continued for both of them until about 7am. By morning, Cora was totally dehydrated and could not keep down a drop of water. She was lethargic and had huge bags under her eyes, so...Yep, you guessed it, I called the clinic at 8. Of course they wanted to see her. The good news was that no one had a fever. Cade slowly recovered and I took Cora in. They gave her Zofran through her port along with giant amounts of fluid. 4 hours later, I left with a happy, smiling girl! This dehydration thing is becoming a real issue. I jokingly asked Dr. Whittle if I could take an infusion machine home with me and just give her fluid. He seriously said, "if it becomes a continual problem." So once again, it could be worse. My fear was being admitted to the hospital for the weekend. But we are home. Just pray that the girl will eat and drink and keep it down! I hope not to see the doctors again before Monday! That was either a very quick little bug or bad fruit smoothies yesterday (that's the only thing the same that they ate). Oh, BTW, daddy had his follow up appointment after two weeks of heart monitoring and it's really nothing. He has a mild arrhythmia. It's called something atrial or something like that, but the good news is it is super common and not dangerous at all. It's not even a precursor to anything dangerous. Phew! Now I am off to continue washing everything! I hope to post something positive next! I am starting to feel like a drama queen!

AHHHHHHH!

If you live in the 912 area code and you heard screaming last night around 8 pm, it was us from the ER! I mean we are a disaster! Cora started her steroid again on Monday along with a couple of preventative meds. She has felt awful ever since. She just constantly says ,"mama I don't feel good." She has no energy and sometimes just acts like she is drugged. She'll be walking and just lie down on the floor in the middle of the kitchen, yesterday she insisted that her eyes were bleeding (which they weren't), she's extremely tired, and then the icing on the cake was when she begged me to go to be at 6pm last night after only being awake from her nap for an hour. Then I picked her up, she threw up everywhere and started falling asleep and waking up on and off in my arms. It was almost like she was passing out. SO...I called the doc on call who thinking I could confirm dosages on the meds with him and he would reassure me that it was the drugs. Wrong! He said,"get her to the ER immediately, how fast can you be there?, I will call and tell them you are on the way." Those are not words you say to an already crazy mommy! Daddy was at a baseball game and Cade and Cora were already pj'd up for bed. I start yelling for Cade to get in the car and he hollers something about shoes. To which I replied, "forget the shoes!" So we run into the ER and Cade is freaking out that he has no shoes on! I am trying to keep Cora awake in the meantime. To make a long story short...(well, its already not short, but shorter) Aunt Lauren comes for Cade, Daddy arrives, poor Cora gets blood tests, x-rays, and everything else you can imagine to find that it's nothing but a little dehydration. Everything checked out fine, they put some fluids in her, and she seemed a little better this morning. We had to go back to the clinic for an injection of chemo in the thigh. Poor Cora! She's like a pin cushion. My heart was breaking for her last night. Poor Cade, spring break is spent being dragged from one appointment to the next. But we are so thankful it wasn't anything too serious. We are not scheduled for clinic again until Monday, so we are tentatively planning some fun for the next few days.

A Special Visit

Abuela and Abuelo came all the way from PA just for Cora's game last Saturday. They even brought special things with them.







Abuela seems to think the remedy to daddy's panicky/heart beat issues is hot tea, so she toted along some of that!




Abuelo nearly bought up all of the raffle tickets and won us some Atlanta Braves stuff, lunch in Hilton Head, and a family portrait!

Check out our new shoes!!! They brought these to us, too! We are ready for summer!

Thanks for a special visit, Abuela and Abuelo!

Things I Don't Like.....by mommy

1. chocolate medicine - that's the steroids that make my little girl mean and bloated that she had to start taking again today.

2. temper tantrums like the one Cora threw at the clinic today.

3. shots - like the ones Cora has to get this Thursday at the clinic

4. strong medicines that can weaken your heart and make your hair fall out and color you pee pee pink. Cora had a new one of these for the first time today.

5. cancer- it stinks for little girls like Cora, for sweet men like the one we met today at the pharmacy who has it in his throat, and for precious young mommies like our friend Dianne who had a bone marrow transplant yesterday

6. Delayed Intensification- our current chemo phase that includes LOTS of medicines and trips to the clinic!!!!

THINGS I DO LIKE

1. Ms. Theresa and Ms. Melissa, the world's two best oncology nurses

2. The research that has figured out the tricky and complicated combo of drugs that can heal very sick little girls.

3. Nice doctors that are very thorough!

4. The fact that we are 50 days from Maintanence chemo!!! Hooray!!!

5. Helpful friends.

6. A God that hears our prayers!

Cora's Day at the Warriors Field

As you know, the Warriors booster club did a game for Cora. And boy did they out do themselves! Pink balloons everywhere, signs for Cora, raffles throughout the game, hotdogs and burgers on the grill! It was such a fun day! Cora was the star for sure! She threw the first pitch (of course Cade had to throw one too!) and she was on the news on Fox and WJCL last night! She LOVED IT! Here are just a few highlights!!! Oh ya, they raised almost $5000 for her Medical Fund, just from a high school baseball game! We so appreciate all they did for us!

Article from Savannah Morning News

This was in the sports section this morning. It's so cute to me because it is totally a "daddy quoted, sports article about Cora." Go Warriors. Pictures of the game to come! Click the title above to see the original article!


Games double as fundraiser for coach's sick daughter
Rich McGowan | Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 12:30 am

Cora Garola (Photo: Savannah Morning News)




Contextual linking provided by Topix
Cora Garola has bad guys in her blood.

At least that's what her parents, Rob and Amanda, tell her to explain why she has to go to the hospital for tests and treatments.

Last November, 2 1/2-year-old Cora was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells - the cells in the body that normally fight infections.

Today the Jenkins Baseball Booster Club is holding a fundraiser for Cora as the Warriors (12-1l) host Calvary Day (11-3). The doubleheader begins with the junior varsity game at 11 a.m., and the varsity starts at approximately 1 p.m. Rob Garola is the Warriors' pitching coach and a math teacher at Jenkins.

Though Cora's illness is currently in remission, she still has to go through treatments of chemotherapy and countless blood tests.

"She knows there's something wrong," Rob Garola said. "At first, she was wondering why we kept taking her to the hospital and we told her, 'You have bad guys in your blood and we have to get rid of them.' And she's like, 'OK. Did you get rid of the bad guys?'

"She had an idea, but I don't think she understands how severe the problem is."

Though she must go through grueling chemotherapy treatments, the silver lining is children respond better to chemo than adults. Children can withstand a higher dosage compared to their body weight than adults can and have an about 85 percent survival rate, according to the National Cancer Institute. And though Rob Garola said Cora is "low risk" for her cancer to return, she will still be receiving chemotherapy treatments for another two years.

"She still has the nausea and she doesn't want to do it," Rob said of her treatments. "And she has a port in her chest, and she always has to get poked and have blood drawn and she doesn't like that."

Before she was diagnosed, Rob said Cora suffered from numerous ear infections and an occasional fever, "just like any child would have a fever and you'd think they would have a cold."

But after another ear infection, the Garola's were told the news that their daughter had leukemia.

"At first when you hear the word cancer, you think the worst," Rob said. "But now that we've learned a little bit about it and we know she can live with it, hopefully she can cure herself ... It's looking real good."

But caring for Cora hasn't been easy. Her mother, Amanda, left her job as a first-grade teacher at Savannah Christian. It's also meant Cora's 5-year-old brother, Cade, has had to sacrifice some of his parents' attention.

"He's a good brother and he's done a lot to help her out," Rob said. "He knows the situation. He made a couple comments early on like, 'Is she going to die?' So he knows the severity and he's been really good."

All proceeds from today's games from the admission gate, concession sales and raffles, money that ordinarily would go to the booster club's fund, will go to Cora's family to help offset her medical costs.

"It helps teach the boys that there are some things more important than baseball," said booster club president Jeff Carey. "We got a great group of kids and parents and it's turning out to be a real good day for us."

A large number of raffle items include several gift certificates to local restaurants, restaurants in Hilton Head, including Sea Pines Resort, and a pass for four for a round of golf at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Carey said the raffle items will drawn between innings of the varsity game.

"The whole community has been outstanding. Everybody has pitched in," Rob Garola said. "I know (Calvary's) people have sent e-mails around the school. It's everywhere and it's amazing."


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IF YOU GO

What: Cora Garola Day, a benefit to raise money for 2 ?-year-old Cora Garola, battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Where: Jenkins baseball field during JV/varsity doubleheader between Jenkins and Calvary Day.

When: Today, junior varsity game at 11 a.m.; varsity at 1 p.m.