Monthly Archive

Today we celebrate Gabrielle’s second seizure free month. Every day has been such an amazing gift. I continue to watch Gabrielle’s daily progress through tear filled eyes. It is so incredible!! I took the normal development of our first 4 children completely for granted. Today, as I work with Gabrielle to master crawling I am thankful for the smallest improvement. I marvel at how God has changed my perspective!

This is a letter of thanks we sent to Dr. William Gallentine of Duke University Medical Center. He is Gabrielle’s pediatric neurologist and we would highly recommend him for he is an outstanding physician.

Dear Dr. Gallentine,

Thank you for being an exceptional doctor.

You truly get to know a man’s character when it is tested. You have journeyed with us through medication trials, pre-surgical testing, surgery, post-op recovery, and further testing to determine candidacy for a second surgery. Throughout all of this you were always kind and professional. You honestly informed us of the pros and cons of every medication or procedure. You listened to our many questions and treated us respectfully. You always included us in the decision making process and asked for our opinions and feedback.

It is not easy to accompany parents and their children on journeys filled with painful trials. You however have obviously been chosen to do this because your caring and compassion made all the difference as we fought together to find a way to stop Gabrielle’s seizures.

Today we celebrate Gabrielle’s second seizure free month and we want to thank you for everything you have done to help our little girl. God is working through you to affect sick children and we pray He blesses you and your family for your obvious dedication.

Please thank Josie, Debby, and Mark in the EEG lab for us. They treated Gabrielle and myself like family. They always went the extra mile for us. They showed us so much love and caring.

If any of you ever want to check on Gabrielle’s progress we have created a blog at http://GabrielleFaith.com.

With much gratitude,

Duff and Kelly O’Melia

This is a thank you letter we sent to Dr. Gerald Grant at Duke University Medical Center. He is the pediatric neurosurgeon who performed Gabrielle’s surgery and we can’t say enough good things about him!

Dear Dr. Grant,

Thank you for being an exceptional doctor.  From the first time we met with you to discuss our daughter’s candidacy for surgery you impressed us.  You patiently answered each of our many questions.  You praised us for our thorough research and encouraged us by saying we were asking great questions.  You then gave us your email in case any further questions should arise.  You informed us thoroughly about our daughter’s condition, explained the risks and benefits of surgery, and always included us in the decision making process.

The day of surgery you calmly explained everything that happened during the procedure in great detail.  Thank you for your patience and the incredibly careful job you did in the OR.  Thank you for coming to our room each day post-op and never leaving until our questions were answered and our concerns were addressed.  Thank you for treating us like concerned parents and never belittling us.

Thank you for the kindness you showed when we brought our daughter back several weeks after surgery and she was still seizing.  Thank you for reminding us that there was still hope.

Dr. Grant, you are an incredibly compassionate physician.  You are humble yet confident, honest yet kind, capable yet caring.

Today we celebrate Gabrielle’s second month of being seizure free and we want to say thank you!  God is using you in this life to heal children.  He is working through you every day to affect sick children and we pray He blesses you and your family for your dedication.

We have created a blog for our daughter at http://GabrielleFaith.com if you ever want to check in on her progress.

With heartfelt thanks,

Duff and Kelly O’Melia

Well, this Thanksgiving we have MUCH to be thankful for!! Gabrielle is approaching her 2 month mark of being seizure free!! She continues to make progress in her development every day. She is able to get on her hands and knees now and she rocks back and forth in an attempt to begin crawling. She gets to a sitting position on her own now and the use of her left side is constantly improving. She is even beginning to hold her sippy cup! The therapists were really impressed this week with her fine motor movement and want us to continue to work on strengthening her arms and hips so she can begin crawling. I continue to thank God for this miracle and I pray that she will learn to crawl, and walk, and talk!

Hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving!!
Love,
Kelly