Now Available!

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pray for taylor t-shirts now on sale!

As a fundraiser activity for the Taylor Whitehead Fund, we have ordered our first production of the "pray for taylor" t-shirts! To reduce production costs, the initial offering will be White shirts only in the following sizes: Child Medium, Adult Medium, Adult Large, and Adult XL. If we have enough interest in a different size we will look to expand. Cost is $15 (s/h included).

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To place your order today, please download and complete the attached form:

Pray for Taylor

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Brochures & Catalogs pray for taylor shir

All Proceeds go to the Taylor Whitehead Fund to help cover medical and various other costs associated with Taylor's recovery.

God Bless

~

June 04, 2009

Update from Tammy

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Taylor has had several appointments since I last updated. Friday, Taylor met with her cardiologist and had another echo performed on her heart. Dr.Hannon felt her heart was still unchanged. She has also seen her pediatrician because of an infection to her G-Tube. We are treating it with silver nitrate and zinc oxide; however it is taking a while to heal.

Today we took Taylor to a neurodevelopment specialist. She was very nice and gave us a few avenues to pursue. One type of treatment she felt would be beneficial and successful for Taylor would be mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy. She said she has seen a lot of success with children with hypoxic brain injuries with this type of treatment. Of course, there are no guarantees but she seemed very hopeful. Taylor had her first treatment today. It lasts one hour and I had to go in there with her. Assuming everything goes well, Taylor will have forty treatments. Around 3 per week...

I'm sure you're asking yourselves, "What is hyperbaric oxygen therapy?" This is an explanation from Dr. Harum's pamphlet...

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been used successfully to treat many medical disorders, including brain disorders in children. HBOT is approved by the FDA and acts by enhancing tissue levels of oxygen. Normally, oxygen is carried by the red blood cells alone. Under conditions of increased partial pressure of oxygen, as during HBOT therapy, there is a significant increase in the oxygen delivered to all body fluids, including plasma, intracellular fluids, lymphatic fluids and spinal fluid. This boost of oxygen delivery promotes the growth of new blood vessels, and increases metabolic activity of marginally functioning cells, including damaged brain cells. Many traditional clinical applications use pressures over 2.0 atmospheres (ATA) for treatment of decompression sickness (the bends), arterial gas embolism, carbon monoxide poisoning, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and complex regional pain syndrome. At lower pressures (1.3 - 1.5 ATA), however, clinical success has been reported in the treatment of fetal alcohol syndrome, ischemic brain injury and cerebral palsy, and closed head trauma. We call this mild HBOT.

The only negatives are the cost of treatment and driving to Wilmington 3 times a week. Unfortunately, insurance does not cover this type of treatment. However, because of the generosity of our loved ones, we will be able to pay for all 40 treatments in full! So, once again....THANK YOU to everyone for helping us take care of our little princess!!! It's another reminder that God provides!!!

Tomorrow, Taylor will travel to Greenville for 2 doctor appointments. The first one is a check up at the C-5 clinic, followed by an appointment with her Rehab doctor. Looks like another long day, but you do what you gotta do. :->

Please continue to pray for Taylor's healing and our safety as we travel for her appointments. Sending our love!

Tammy

God Bless

~

Thursday, May 14

Update and pics from Tammy...

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Sorry, I haven't updated on little Miss in a while.  Saying we have been busy is an understatement!!!  We have had so many different people in the home to do an assessment on Taylor, as well has a handful of appointments!  Yesterday, Taylor had two appointments in Greenville.  Unfortunately, because she has had two UTI's in the past 7 weeks the doctors ordered a procedure called a urethra gram.  This was a simple procedure to make sure her kidneys were functioning properly.  Everything looked good, so we can rule out a kidney problem.  Her second appointment was at a specialty pediatric clinic.  Basically the doctors there will work together with our local pediatrician and help us make sure we are getting the services Taylor needs.

 

So far, our private duty nursing has been great!  We have had three different nurses come into our home.  They all have different personalities, but they are all awesome!  They do such a wonderful job taking care of Taylor.  They hold her, stretch her, sing to her, and most of all love on her!  We are very blessed to have such caring individuals taking care of our princess!  Hopefully, we will be able to keep them!  As of last week, our insurance was trying to reduce our hours to 4 per day and then when Jeff is out of school for the summer they are looking to pull all the hours all together.  This is another frustrating part of her recovery.  Anyone that comes into our home can see the whole picture to why we need help.  However, when you're only looking at a piece of paper with a diagnosis of a 8 month old everything is not so clear.  I honestly, only hold Taylor for about 10 minutes while our nurse is here.  The boys are ALL over mommy!  It feels so incredibly great being home, but it is also more draining trying to juggle LIFE!  

 

Taylor started OT today.  Her therapist seems so nice and had some great advice about additional therapies Taylor could be receiving.  One in which is a vision therapist.  We had never even heard of this while in rehab.  PT will start on Saturday.  She will receive each service twice a week. 

 

I have the ringbone on my phone, "It won't be like this for long" by Darius Rucker.  Every time my phone rings, it reminds me that times may be tough right now, but eventually Taylor will get better.  I keep holding on to that!  Thank you to everyone who continues to lift Taylor and the rest of our family up in prayer!  You guys are the best!

 

Much love,

Tammy

 God Bless

~

Happy Birthday Tammy

Just wanted to wish Tammy a happy birthday. You are an amazing women, one of the strongest spirits that I know. May your birthday be blessed with simple pleasures, love, and happiness.

God Bless

~

Monday, May 4

Just a quick note... Taylor was able to come back home on Thursday. On Friday, their in-house nurse started and she has been a great fit, the entire family loves her!

God Bless
~

Tuesday, April 28

Just a quick update. It turns out that Taylor has phenomena and a urinary tract infection. So she is back in the hospital for a couple of days while they push some antibiotics. I guess it's a little reminder that Talyor has come so far, but will continue to meet challenges along the way. The good news is that she has Christ leading the way as she overcomes all odds and continues to be a testament to His word.

God Bless

~

Monday, April 27

It’s been a big week. For those that haven’t heard, Taylor got to come home for good on Friday! We also just found out today that she is going to be approved for in-house nursing for 8 hours a day! This will be a huge help for the family. Below is an update that Tammy sent last night. I’m so proud of all of them, and am grateful for the blessings the Lord has bestowed.

Late addition: On the downside, Taylor has been running a temp off an on through the day and Tammy has taken her back to Pitt as a precaution. May the Lord continue to bless her and heal our little angel.

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A lot has transpired over the last several days. On Friday, our family became whole again... we brought our baby girl home! As I was leaving the hospital, I found myself with a mix of emotions. I was so extremely happy that the day had finally come to bring Taylor home. However, I was also nervous and sad to be saying good bye to the friendships I have made with the rehab staff. The nurses, therapist, and doctors there have become part of our extended family. They were sad, but also happy to see her go. We will never forget what they have done for our little Taylor....

Having Taylor home has been wonderful. The boys are adjusting to her and Jeff and I are trying to figure out how to balance everything. It's like bringing home a newborn again!!! Tate walks around the house saying, "baby." He tries to love on her, but doesn't realize flopping down on top of her is not what we want to see. Tanner is doing an outstanding job playing the big brother role. He constantly tells us that he loves his baby sister.

Today, we brought Taylor to church. As, I sat there and listened to the choir sing, I had such an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. Here we were, surrounded by our church family who has been praying for our little darling for almost 5 months now. You could feel the love all over the church. Jeff and I are very blessed to be a part of such a great church family!

This afternoon, I was talking to a friend of mine about Taylor. She shared with me how Taylor's story has changed her life. She expressed that she was back in church and that her church asked about Taylor every Sunday. I think, through God, Taylor has changed a lot of lives including mine and Jeff's. Taylor has given us strength, taught us how to be patient, and reminded us not to take anything for granted. She has also taught us to have FAITH. I remember the first day Taylor was in the ICU. The doctors said many times, "IF" Taylor makes it through the night... As, scary as it was, God was always there for our little girl and he's here for us, too. I think a lot of people have grown spiritually because of the strength Taylor has shown. We are going to keep holding on to our faith in Jesus and keep praying for our little princess. She has come so far and we are so blessed to have her in our lives!

Tammy

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"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Isaiah 41:10

God Bless

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