OK, this miracle technically happened Friday, February 27, but as a journalist, I always love a good headline. And Baby Austin will always be a miracle baby in my opinion.
You might remember from a post last year about my college friend Natasha and her family who discovered their little baby had leukemia. After five months of chemo at Shands at UF, the Allen family officially went home for good on Friday evening, and Austin is in remission. The photo above is Austin on the right, and his big brother Hunter is on the left.
I'm so happy for this special family and hope to meet Austin and his big brother Hunter one day. During this ordeal, my mom and dad cooked and took a meal to Natasha one day while she stayed at the hospital EVERY day. She stayed during the week, and her husband came to the hospital on the weekends. Austin is such a happy baby. When my parents visited his room, my mom said all he did was laugh and laugh, despite being so sick.
His older brother Hunter celebrated his 5th birthday at the end of January, and I sent him a present. He told his mom to tell me, "Thank you for the gift. If you ever need anything, please call me." How cute is that! He also sent me an adorable hand-written thank-you note.
Natasha and I have been out of touch since college, but through Facebook, e-mail and her blog, we've reconnected, and I've learned so much about her wonderful family's struggle with this dreaded disease. As Natasha wrote near the beginning of this fight, "Austin has cancer, but cancer doesn't have Austin." Go Austin for beating cancer! Take care little buddy!
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