I got the worst text from my friend Kristen yesterday afternoon. It simply said, "Casey passed away this morning". It stopped me in my tracks and I was so shocked. I don't have many words right now, or even details. I only know he was very sick and doctors weren't quite sure what all was going on. Please keep Kristen, Adlee Grace, and the rest of their family in your prayers.
Allison

A Special Request

To whom ever receives this note,
Almost 3 years ago I was privileged with the opportunity to take care of a young patient while working in Houston at The Methodist Hospital. Casey was a 22 yr old newlywed, with an 8 month old baby girl when he was diagnosed with leukemia. Him and his family flew from Kentucky to Houston shortly after diagnosis to be treated. After chemotherapy, blood transfusions, bone marrow biopsies, etc he went back home and did very well. In March he had a bone marrow biopsy that came back clean, he had been clean for 2 years, so they called him "cured". About a month later he got sick, and another biopsy showed the leukemia was back. Casey went to Vanderbuilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. for treatment. The chemo he received was very hard on him. His immune system is completely wiped out and he has gotten pneumonia. The pneumonia became too much for his lungs, and it was too difficult for him to breath on his on. He is now in ICU on a ventilator, fighting for his life. With leukemia it takes a while to recover from chemo, their blood counts take a while to come up. It's a slow process, and very hard to watch and wait.
This is a very overwhelming time for Casey's family. They are out of town, in a hospital just waiting for things to get better. His wife Kristen texts me often with questions and updates. Not only is she worried about her husband, but having a 3 yr old who doesn't understand is tolling. I would like them to be overwhelmed in a different way as they face each day of unknowing. I ask that all of you write a personal note to Casey, Kristen, and Adlee Grace and let them know that you are praying for them. I would like for them to feel the presence of God and see the love of His people. In addition, I would ask that you enclose a one dollar bill for each person the note represents as praying for them. As they see the "prayer dollars" stack up, it will encourage them and give them a special story to tell. I don't mean for this to be a fund raiser; only for a unique way for them to realize how many people care for them. They won't have to "wish they had a dollar for everyone who is praying for them." Please pass the word any way you can (mail, email, text, blogs, prayer groups, etc.) and let's give them something good to remember when they look back on this tough time.


Casey Smithson
MICU Rm# 8641
C/O VUMC
1211 Medical Center Dr.
Nashville, TN 37232
ckarsmithson@gmail.com


Let me know if I can help you help them.
In Him,
Allison (Crowe) Breeding
tbab730@yahoo.com
281-797-2219

Walk-n-Roll

I know I am really far behind in my postings. I hope you will forgive me. But today I wanted to share something special. Vesti and I, along with whomever wants to join us, are going to participate in a walk to raise money for the Spina Bifida Association of North Texas. You can click here Little Warriors - Walk-n-Roll to find our teams page to donate or find more information. If you want to walk with us, that's great! We would love to have you. I am working on a t-shirt for us to wear that day. It's going to be so much fun. It's only 1/2 a mile so just about anyone should be able to join us. Thanks in advance for  you love and support!
More pics soon, I promise!
Ali

Just real quick...
Cannon's eye doctor feels that he has not made enough progress with his lazy eye from the patching and glasses. He feels like it is inevitable that he will need surgery to correct it. So we are planning for the end of the summer. He said we will come back for a pre-op visit in 3 months. And unless there is a significant improvement, we will proceed with surgery then. It would be an outpatient procedure at Cooks, where are are all too familiar with the surgery waiting room. :(
So that's the update. We have 3 months to prove him wrong. Please pray for huge improvements.
Love to you all!

Praying for Eyes

Cannon has an eye appointment tomorrow at 3:00pm. I am getting really nervous about it. Manly because I am afraid of what we will hear. We have been patching Cannon's eye for a while now, and he's wearing his glasses too. However, the lazy eye is still there. I just don't want to hear the word surgery. Please pray that we get a good report tomorrow. Of course if Dr. Packwood feels that C needs surgery, without a doubt we will do it. I just pray that God's will not be surgery. Thanks for remembering us!
Love to you all!
Ali

My little Super Star!

I still have tons of pictures to post, but I needed to skip ahead and show you what my little man has been up to lately. Just the last week he has made so much progress! It won't be long before he's up and running!

Easter Weekend

Okay, so for Easter we went home to my mom and dads. We always enjoy our trips home to New Caney. We started by going to visit Great Grandma Crowe.

We worked so hard to get a 4 generations picture, and the one I liked the best out of all of them was the first one we took. Ha Ha!

Here is Cannon getting his quilt that G.Grandma made him. He really liked it. It is made of double knit, mostly pieces of Grandma's clothes. It's very special. Each of the grandkids, and now great grandkids have one.

Playing ball with Kyler and Aunt Teri

Then he crashed, so sleepy!

Easter morning at Grandaddy and Granmomma's, before church Cannon got to check out his Easter basket full of goodies. He had two and they were both soooo full. He's not spoiled though, ;)

Showing his egg to Grandaddy.

After church we went to Uncle Gary and Aunt Carolyn's for the McCorquodale Easter gathering. We always have fun when we all get together. Here are the "big kids" getting ready for their egg hunt.

Cannon found one too!

Then it was Jax and Cannon's turn. They had their own egg hunt.

With help from Granmomma and Daddy, Cannon really had a good time.

Checking out what he got!




After all the fun we had to head back home. Cannon played ball almost the whole way back, until he fell asleep.

I am slowly catching up, but I am almost current with my pictures. I know that is what everyone enjoys the most. Maybe I can post more tomorrow. We have a busy weekend ahead. Cannon and I are doing a 5K walk at ACU benefiting Jenny Bizaillion's family. I am sure many of you know Jenny's story, but for those who don't...in short...Jenny was an amazing Christian, wife, mother, daughter, sister, and on and on. She recently went to be with Jesus after battle an infection for a couple of weeks. I never had the pleasure of personally meeting Jenny, but I knew her brother. You can read more on Jenny here: https://www.carepages.com/carepages/JennyBizaillionUpdates

If it asks you can use the username jenny@bizaillion.com with the password: friends

So like I said we're doing the walk in the morning. Then Trey is playing in an iron man softball tournament all day tomorrow. Sunday is Cannon's NICU reunion at Cook Children's in Ft. Worth. BUSY BUSY BUSY!

Love you all!

Ali