The Nihei's: Our Story

On April 1, 2008, our 4-year-old daughter, Lauren, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After her biopsy on April 8th it was determined that she had a bithalamic anaplastic astrocytoma with extension into her brain stem.

In the beginning of March we noticed a personality change in Lauren who normally is a very outgoing and happy-go-lucky kid. She became very clingy and shy. She didn't want to talk on the phone anymore, or play on the slide with the other kids at pre-school. By mid-March, Lauren started complaining about headaches. Her pediatrician thought it might be a sinus infection or that she may need glasses. He put her on antibiotics and we made an eye appointment.

A few days later when she started holding her head funny and her headaches returned we insisted on a CT scan. That's when her pediatrician sent us to the ER at Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) for a CT scan, and when our world was turned upside down and our nightmare began...

Story continues at bottom of page

Tuesday, December 2, 2008





Here's Kathy and Hilary donating platelets. Thanks Kathy! Hilary wasn't feeling great towards the end and needed a wet towel because she felt a little feint. Here is the platelet collecting machine (sideways, I couldn't figure out how to rotate it, since I'm using the RMH's computer) and the bag with the yellow stuff is the platelets. It takes approx. 2 hours to collect and since they need to be stored at room tempature, only have a shelf life of 5-days. No wonder there is a shortage of platelets.

Posted by admin at 7:16 PM

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