A confirmed donor

After a long stretch at home, Charlotte contracted viral pneumonia. We went on a long hike at a local park towards the end of December, and we think she might have gotten sick. It was a great hike though! Charlotte loves the outdoors. She looked at the rivers and trees with eyes wide open. After three days, Charlotte was discharged and is doing well. She has been home for the entire month of January otherwise! The really exciting news is that we have a confirmed donor for her bone marrow transplant. We got the call and apparently 3 people have been found to match Charlotte and are willing to donate. The doctor at CHOP has picked the best one, and we will start her transplant in May. The doctor wants her lungs to heal as much as possible, because the conditioning prior to transplant can be very hard on the lungs. The good news continues to roll in. We had a follow up with Charlotte's cardiologist and the hole in her heart has closed on its own! Her heart looked normal on the EKG and echocardiogram, so  we no longer need to see the cardiologist! Also, we had a follow up with the developmental pediatrician to assess Charlotte's progress with gross motor skills, fine motor skills, cognition, etc. He said that Charlotte is "remarkable given how sick she has been." She is developmentally right on track for her age! She smiled, laughed, and flirted with the doctors for the entire appointment. Hopefully February will be as good as January!