Well, it’s been another whole year and Keira is now four years old!
Keira blows out the candles on her Tinkerbell cake.
Keira has been very healthy over the last year for which we are incredibly grateful. Some of the more sobering statistics for CF are those prior to 1970. For instance, during the 1950’s the average life expectancy for children with CF was a mere 5 years. It’s stats like these that make each milestone in Keira’s life that much more meaningful.
I seem to be really bad at this blogging stuff. But, anyway for those of you who are following Keira’s progress here’s some encouraging information that we got from her last monthly checkup.
Keira has grown nearly 4″ in the past 2 months for a total of 37″. While this still puts her in the 1oth percentile against healthy kids. However, compared to other CF’ers she’s doing very well (90th percentile).
Finally, let me leave you with this darling photo of her. Keira was the flower girl at her mom’s wedding and this totally candid picture was taken at the reception a couple of weeks ago.
It’s always nice to have a security blanket handy and our “little Linus” is never far away from hers. Recently, Keira’s mom was able to afford better health insurance thanks to a decent steady job. However, this was not without issue.
In the process of changing over, the new plan claimed that several items that were covered under the NYS Child Health Plus were not covered under this “better” plan. Of course that’s precisely when Keira came down with pneumonia.
Keira after a beautiful Memorial Day of play - 2009
While Keira’s mom (Paige), frantically juggled the home finances, my wife and I were cautiously assessing what ‘plan b’ would be if things did not get straightened out in a timely manner.
Although things worked out (the insurance company realized their mistake and Keira didn’t need to be hospitalized this time around), I cannot express how much it helped to know that there WAS a backup. Keira’s Fund is that backup and I once again say ‘thank you!’ Piece of mind went a long way to keeping heads level while negotiating the dizzying maze of insurance.
