I know Ted has posted about our friend Dyamond before, but I wanted to post an update! I was blessed (and I know Ted feels the same way) when Dyamond came into my life a little over a year ago. It was kinda an odd story of how we came to meet.
I work at a pretty large insurance firm in Des Moines and I was sitting at a coworkers desk last fall when I notice she had a green organ donation bracelett on, but it wasn't like the many others I'd seen. It had on it "DyamondForever". So I asked her about it and she told me of a young lady in junior high who was waiting for a liver and kidney. I told her of my passion about organ and tissue donation and asked her to keep me posted. A few weeks later she emailed me to tell me Dyamond got her call!
I knew that this teenager was a special one when Ted and I went to a benefit in her honor, while she was still recovering, and over 1000 people attended showing Dyamond and her family their support. I was astonished as they announced they had raised over $30,000 at one dinner! Honestly, I was moved to tears while driving home at the compassion the Des Moines community showed this one family!
Ted and I decided to venture to the Leid's Transplant Center in Omaha last November to meet Dyamond and her mother. It was an evening I will never forget. When meeting Dyamond we could tell she still wasn't feeling the best, but it still floored me at the amount of maturity this 8th grade student had. She sat up and talked to us for almost 2 hours. We were complete strangers, yet she took the time to tell us her story. Driving back to Des Moines that night while remembering those wise blue eyes, I realized that this child on the verge of becoming an adult had more wisdom than I will ever attain.
Dyamond's road to recovery has not been a smooth one. There have been a couple bumps along the way. Recently she was admitted back into the Univeristy of Nebraska Hosptial where she's been for almost 5 weeks. She recently had her spleen removed and with other complications has been fighting mono for months on end! However, this weekend her mom posted the following on her CarePage:
"We are home! Yesterday afternoon, Dyamond had her clinic visit and everything looked good and we were told that we could come home. In the morning, it had started snowing very heavily in Omaha and it wasn’t looking like we would be able to travel. We had everything packed and was watching the weather. We got done with clinic around 3:30 and it had stopped snowing. Dyamond batted her baby blues at me and said, she didn’t care how slow we had to drive she wanted to go home. We checked out, loaded the car and hit the road. The roads were just wet till we got about 45 minutes from home and then 5 miles outside of Des Moines the ice started. It wasn’t a bad drive at all, so I’m glad that we came home....
I can’t tell you how nice it is to be home. Thank you to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. It has been long 5 ½ weeks. One year ago today is when we came home from transplant. Her next clinic appointment is January 3 in Omaha. We will be doing weekly blood draws here in town to monitor her, as before. They will test her EBV (Epstein Barr Virus) levels when we go in January and will each month, they will still be watching them closely..."
Please keep our friend Dyamond in your prayers this holiday season! You can also find more information about Dyamond on our website to the left of this post under Faces of Hope or check out: http://www.dyamondforever.com/
Dyamond, I'm thinking about you and praying for you every day! I hope you remain healthy and strong so you can enjoy your holiday...you will have to play dozens of games of Skipbo and Phase 10! Stay strong and know that you have Ted and I and everyone here rooting for you!!!
Much love,
~Jenn
