In August 2009, Curves was honored to fulfill the wish of a
beautiful little girl from Omaha, Nebraska. Emily Koesters suffers
from stage III lymphoma caused by a rare genetic disorder.
Her dream? To fly in a hot air balloon. 
 

Here is Emily's story, in her mother, Erin's, words:

"Less than two years ago, Emily was celebrating her fourth 
birthday in our backyard with her closest family members
and friends -- BBQ style! Soon after, what appeared to be
swollen eyes from allergies and a protruding tummy from one
too many Cheetos turned out to be the beginning of our
challenging journey. 
 

Emily's kidneys were failing and she was first diagnosed
with Nephrotic Syndrome/Focal Segmental
Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). After exhausting every drug
regimen to treat the disease, she was put on peritoneal
dialysis in February 2008. By April, her kidneys were
completely shot and she was in need of a transplant.
Her daddy gave her this precious gift of life on May 6, 2008.

What should have been a fairly smooth transplant turned
out to be a nightmare when she dehisced (meaning she
literally busted at the seams where she was stitched
together and her insides were coming out!) A few weeks
into recovery at the hospital and I rode on the bed to
emergency surgery with her as I held her insides in my
hands, trying to keep them from oozing out any more
than they already were!

She had to stay open with a mesh covering her innards
for five days so she could get washed out several times 
to make sure she didn't get an infection. A wash out 
means she goes under, has her guts taken out and
washed and her abdominal cavity washed out and then
everything is put back each time! Imagine seeing your
child lay open for five days and looking like she was two
halves held together by a bandage with a tube in her mouth,
keeping her sedated so she doesn't have to go through 
the trauma day in and day out. 
 

By June 6, 2008, we were released and headed home,
looking forward to her fifth birthday BBQ! Well, she had
her party, but felt miserable and two days later we
ended up back in the hospital for the next seven months!

During those long months and countless labs, exams,
x-rays and scans, we found out in mid-July that Emily
contracted the 1% chance of getting a cancer-like
Posttransplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder (PTLD) 
from a kidney transplant and would need light
chomotherapy to conquer it. By September 2008,
the PTLD had advanced to stage III lymphoma.
She endured heavy chemo until January 2009,
while remaining in the hospital with fevers and
immunosuppression. 

Without going into too much detail, Emily's resistance
to treatments all along kept my mother's intuition going
and we asked genetics to come back in to see Emily.
(We'd seen them a year earlier because of the FSGS.)
My suspicions were correct. The culprit of all of these
bad things happening in a child who had otherwise been
healthy was an extremely rare and deadly genetic disease
called Schimke Immuno-osseous Dysplasia, also know
as SIOD. Emily is one of only four people in the United 
States with the disease. We finally had our answers --
but now we didn't want them!

Thinking Emily was in remission, we went home
January 19, 2009, only to return at the end of
March with swollen lymph nodes. No big deal in
most children. Not Emily. Her cancer had returned.
We were readmitted April 13 and have been here
ever since. Emily is going through more chomotherapy 
and her transplanted kidney is paying for it!

As one can imagine, the medical bills are enormous,
our time is more precious, and our daughter is brave
and strong. We don't know how long we have with her,
but we will fight every step of the way to give her the
best quality of life!
 

Emily, in the meantime, is saving the world.
She holds garage sales in the hospital to raise
money for endangered animals and their habitats.
She watches Animal Planet and Discovery and loves
to have us read to her to learn more about her
favorite animals -- cheetahs, polar bears, penguins,
jaguars, kitties and dogs. So the last two aren't
endangered, but nonetheless favorites."

The organization that helped make Emily's dream
come true is Angels Among Us, a 501C3 nonprofit
that financially assists families with children battling
cancer. For more information, click here.