Tommy has a white count!!!

This is the latest update on my little nephew....

Subject: update on Tommy


Hi everyone.
Tommy is finally starting to have white counts. This is both a positive and a scary thing. They cannot test the new counts for DNA for about 4 weeks. That means at lest another four weeks to know for sure it is the new stem cells growing and not the old cells. I ask for continued prayer that it is the baby girl's stem cells. For those of you who don't know, He was given umbilical cord blood stem cells from a baby girl born last March. He now has an honest to goodness half sister somewhere in the world! The wait and see is a long process. He is still very prone to illness and infections. Even after they tell us it's the new cells, it will take at least 6 months to know for sure if it stops the ALD. Everything right now is hurry up and wait and worry. I try not to worry and keep believing it was the Lord's blood that went into him to heal him. Anything else is unacceptable and not from the Lord.Please continue theendless praying for him. This "mess" will continue for a year before he has full immune system counts and then a second year after that before he can possible go to public school. He will have to have every single immunization from birth all over again. He will not be allowed around dust, dirt, bugs, frogs, lizards etc.. for nearly a year. that will be the hard part. He loves to catch critters. He also loves to go to the races. The only way he can go to races is if he can stay in a closed room and watch. He has to stay away from large crowds and children under 18. They are around other kids at schools etc that may be ill. We were told that later, a trip to walmart will have to be after midnight to avoid people, a movie theatre will have to be a drive-in or early am/late night movie for the same reasons. No theme parks, no beaches, no pools. It will be an extremely hard year. He loves to get down and dirty. He has been feeling much better and looks better. His hairactually appears to be growing. They said not for 4-6 months but it IS longer. He has the iv's off now for several hours a day and they just stopped the HAL.(nutritional support), I call it liquid food. He is eating hot wings, taco bells steak meat, doritos and tortilla chips with hot cheese. He is flirting with ALL of the nurses and doctors. He has one female doctor named Leslie. She's about 25. He asked her if she had a boyfriend. She told him no. This morning he asked her to be his girlfriend! She beamed. She loves him a lot and holds him close to her heart. She even bought him a game of Life Pirates of the Carribean2 board game out of her own money 30-40 dollars just because she cares about him so much. How many doctors do you know that care that much? Well, like I said. It is a very long, hard, stressful road for everybody. Please continue to pray. We really have to find a new place to live in Ocala. The old one will NOT work. Even his doctors said the same thing. Allof our love to everyone.
Shelly