Alivia

The main reason that I started this blog was because of a blog that I visited daily and frequently posted comments on. I didn’t like posting as “Anonymous,” so I created my blog and blogger identity.

The blog that got me started was the blog that Emily Haughery started initially because she was firmly convinced that her daughter was the cutest girl in the world. She started the blog to share her beautiful daughter. Emily’s daughter, Alivia Rachel Haughery (a.k.a. Lady Bug – her most common alias), developed a very rare form of leukemia; even more rare for her age of about a year and a half. The blog became an outpost of information for the hundreds of people that followed her story, prayed and offered practical help. The blog, as of today received over 169,000 hits.

Alivia had her spleen removed and received a bone marrow transplant. The complications during the recovery were intense and numerous. On July 6th Alivia went home to be with the Lord. At less than two and a half years-old, she had touched more hearts than many of us will ever have the privilege of touching.

I have known Alivia’s father, James, since he was a boy. Watching him care for his wife and daughter in the toughest of circumstances made it clear. James is a man’s man.

The slide show below is of pictures taken during Alivia’s fight. Her life consisted of much more than that, but unfortunately it is when I really tuned in.

Love to James and Emily.

Dog Gone

Some of you know that our dog, Cary, has had problems with seizures for many years. On the evening of July 4th She had a doozy. As a matter of fact it was several doozies. She just rolled from one right into the next. It was the worst we had seen her, and it took a long time for her to recover. It has been getting more and more difficult (and expensive) to control the seizures with medication. I made the very difficult decision to have her put down. The next morning when I got back from my jog, I took Cary with me for another two mile jog. From there we went straight to the vet. It was a difficult thing to do. Aside from her liking to run away all the time, she was a terrific dog for us. We miss her a lot.