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

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Not sure if I mentioned it before, but there are two Iraqi boys at the Ronald McDonald's House. They have been there at least since Sept. (we saw them the first time we stayed there). The oldest brother looks to be around 17 and the youngest must be around 15 years old. Both of them are missing both legs above he knees and the youngest is also missing an arm. I don't know how they lost them, I've always assumed they lost their limbs stepping on a mine or something. But yesterday, the most amazing thing happened, to the clapping and applause of everyone, the youngest one came strutting into the RMH on two prosthetic legs. You should have seen the big proud smile on his face. Being around so many families with tragic stories and situations, it's nice to finally see a happy story. I asked him if it was hard to learn to walk on them, he said "no", he said, he stood up and just started walking.

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