August 14th, 2006

Sorry for the delay in the update but we have had a lot to process over the past week. It appears the MRI at St. Jude (which was much more extensive than the one done in Orlando) showed that Samantha's tumor is showing signs of growth. Although some areas have decreased in size there are several areas of concern as well. We have seen a significant change in her abilities and energy level and have decided that chemo therapy is doing more harm than good. In our research over the past 7 months we really haven't come accross anything that we can do other than try something a little different than the traditional treatment (that by the way has no hopes for a cure). We have gotten Samantha accepted into a clinic that has a more natural approach and has some successes in Brain Tumors. We know that this also is a risk and has it's own set of side effects but at this point there is no other choice, no better choice. We are waiting for her counts to come up which have once again been wiped out from her last round of chemo and then we hope to be on our way to getting our daughter the help she needs. We are asking for all your support and prayers as we enter into this next phase of treatment in hopes this is the answer to this terrible nightmare. Thank you all again for all you continue to do for us.
With love,
Audra, Kurt, Christopher, & Samantha