Just thought I would give a update on how I am doing these days. I have been feeling really good. I went to the doctors this week and my red blood cell count is finally in the normal range. My platelets have made it to 100. That is awesome for me, many of you know the many platelet infusions I have had to endure.
I am down to only seeing the doctor twice a month. I am still restricted from large crowds of people while I am being tapered off my immune suppression medication. I am still at risk for the graph vs host so I have to be careful. I am just so grateful to be able to get out and see people. You take what you can get when you have been locked up.
I want all of you to know that going through all of the physical and emotional challenges that have come with having a bone marrow transplant have not taken my desire to keep moving forward. I love life and I am happy for each day. I have a deeper love for my family. I didn't think it was possible to love them more then I did. It is hard to explain but going through a life changing experience I have gone to a new level of feelings I didn't even know I had within me. I have a grater love for my friends and neighbors also. I have a closer relationship with God. He knows who I am and what I am going through. He has been there for me, I'll I have had to do is ask. Prayer has been a huge part of my everyday life. My sister Shauna who passed in June has continued to influence my life. I believe in life after death. I have felt my sister with me throughout this journey. She is my biggest cheerleader on the other side.
Thank you to all of you for your continued love and support.
Denise

I would like to share with you what my daughter Kendra wrote today:

For most of my life my time and thoughts have been focused on the word cancer. What is cancer? To many people it can have many different meanings. A sickness that we can't cure. Something that brings sadness to a families life. Something that takes a loved one away. A fight for life. My aunt Shauna was the strongest person I know. She was diagnosed with  breast cancer only 8 short months after she was married. I have never seen someone fight so hard for life. It wasn't until her final days that I realized what she was truly fighting for. Her family, her mother and father, her sisters and brother, her nieces and nephews. She thought the world of her husband. Her never left her side. The man, that his world was consumed by her needs. But most important her daughter. Shauna filled her daughter with memories that would last a life time. Shauna held on long enough for this angel to remember just how wonderful her mother was. Shauna always had other people in her mind doing anything she could to make everyone happy. She was funny, crazy and full of life, even when her time was running out. All of these things have carried on to her daughter Olivia. Shauna gave strength to her sister to be able to fight and have a full life of happiness with our family. Shauna was an angel sent to our family to fill us with joy and happiness in this life.
Kendra Ashby (a loving niece)