Monday through Tuesday, February 18th through March 11th

Hello again,

For all of those still questioning or not quite convinced on the promising future of stem cell usage please watch this video: A 2-year-old showed fewer signs of cerebral palsy after an infusion of his own stem cells Whether using your own stem cells or those of others the extensive research and eventual clinical evidence will validate their use in medical treatments. For all of those having children please try and store the cord blood stem cells if you have the means. You can never know what obstacles and challenges life will hand you.

Tori blew her whistle today during her ST session with Meredyth and she did it several times and rather loudly each time. I actually thought it was Brendan playing with a whistle until Meredyth called me into see Tori try it. She clearly did the best she has ever done with this exercise and it also reminded me that I haven't posted an update on her in a while... Sorry about the dry spell but here I go now.

Cari has also been having very good PT sessions lately and Tori has 'loosened up' once again since the sessions are now twice per week as before. I am seeing a 90 degree bend in Tori's right leg and her left leg is improving as well. You can really see the difference when she is in her wheelchair and her legs are now bending at the knees instead of remaining straight as an arrow.

Jake continues to do great work with Tori and his latest teaching exercises involve watching and reading short stories on the computer. I haven't had a chance to witness this exercise but Tori pays very close attention to the reading (with words on each page) and the page turning. It can keep her attention for a full hour which is quite good for her.

So Tori and Maria keep busy with all of those daily activities each week. Tori's health has been great as well and she has had no illnesses since my last update. We still try and get her up and in her wheelchair each night and attempt to feed her the standard soft food like yogurt, applesauce, noodles, fruit smoothies,etc.. She can handle almost a full yogurt now with minimal or sometimes NO coughing. When focused she has good chewing motion, tongue control and most importantly swallowing.

Tori's sleep patterns have also held pretty constant though about once or maybe twice per week she will decide to stay up and watch movies. That is normally fine except when she wants some company to watch the movies with her and won't stop her moaning or 'calling' if you will until someone is in her room with her. Trying to sleep in the chair in her room is not nearly as comfortable as our bed of course and we don't really get the opportunity for long napping sessions during the day following a 'Tori movie madness' night.... Tori certainly does and she will attempt to sleep as much as possible during the day afterward while Maria does her best to keep her awake and get her back on a normal sleeping track.

So we've been keeping Tori pretty much isolated this winter to prevent illness but we were able to take her out to the Dance Attack Convention which just happened to be at Timpanogos High School which is less than a block from our home. How convenient!!! :) So Maria, Tori, Brendan and I went and watched Whitney and all of the other dancers perform their newly learned routines at the end of the convention. We were on the front row of the gymnasium with the dancers often ten feet in front of us. They also danced their routines about 50 girls at a time. Tori seemed to rally like being that close to them and paid utmost attention to the routines. When her close friends Kenzie, Mollee, Amber and Michelle danced their routines she focused in only on all of them. We remain convinced that she can recognize certain people who have been in her life. Afterwards all of her dance instructors and others who have known or know of her stopped to see her. But she she saved the best for last while taking pictures with McKenzie, Mollee and Amber. She was trying so hard to smile along with them and had us all cheering her on during her attempts and we finally got as close to a smile as possible so here are the beautiful girls McKenzie, Tori and Mollee showing off their pearly white teeth.

Thanks again everyone for all of the love and support given to Tori and our family,

The Schmanski's - Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney and Brendan