February Love

February is the month of Love and we will be showing our love of Emily and the Little Giants Foundation by wearing RED on her Nebraska Little Giants Day, Tuesday, February 11th.  We hope you will join us in wearing a LGF shirt and/or RED, snap a selfie and share SIOD awareness on one of our social media sites or on your own!

SAVE THE DATES

Be sure to wear RED and/or your Little Giant T's on February 11th as we honor Emily Koesters' Nebraska Little Giant Day.  We'd love for you to share your selfies with us either on our FB page https://www.facebook.com/believeinlittlegiants/ that day or email us and we will share them for you!  (littlegiantsfoundation@gmail.com)

January is Jumpin'

We are rockin in the New Year and new decade with all the good things!  We had a fabulous Matching Program campaign with our affiliate- Midlands Community Foundation that ended January 6th and are awaiting totals, yet I'm confident we met our goal!  We attended their Reflection Ball last Saturday honoring First Responders- something we know about and have had to use ourselves with Emily.  Our board had it's first meeting of the New Year and we nailed down some event dates to be sure and add to your calendars with more details to come. We have a little bit for everyone: from local, to on social, to all across the USA and World!  All in the name of SIOD, research and the Little Giants Foundation.
AND - be sure to check out our pledge campaign!  1K people to donate monthly $10 (or any amount beyond) = $10,000 a month and $100,000 in 2020!  CLICK DONATE and the DROP down menu to choose monthly option!

D is for Dysplasia in SIOD

Hip Dysplasia is a prevalent part of SIOD.
Emily was in such pain with her hips prior to her double hip replacement that she was under palliative care because of the adult doses of medication being given to keep her "comfortable".  She would scoot herself along the floor on her knuckles around the house as she could no longer walk.  She was confined to a wheelchair at this point and her quality of life was diminished.
We went to the world renown skeletal dysplasia specialist Dr. Mackenzie at AI duPont Children's Hospital in Delaware.  He is the only surgeon to know of, have worked on and trusted to care for a child with SIOD in the USA thus far with these complexities.  He and his nurse practitioner, Colleen Ditro have been instrumental in Emily's care since we met 7 years ago.

Two years ago Emily had the hardware removed from that surgery.  Eventually she will need a hip replacement, her body will tell us when.  She partakes in PT's of aqua and horse once a week to this day for her quality of life, recovery, respiratory and endurance issues.  She only uses that wheelchair now for endurance or very sick days, and uses forearm crutches most days, yet gets around the house on her own.

We know that keeping her moving is key.  HETRA, aqua and school help us to do that. And of course our specialists in Delaware.

Two years ago after surgery

Dr. Mackenzie after 1st surgery 7 years ago

Emily in fully body cast after surgery 7 years ago

Happy 2020 Everyone!

🎊Only 6 more days to give to our affiliated fund of the Midlands Community Foundation's Matching Charitable Program of which the Little Giants Foundation is a part of! (See their website noted below for details)👇

💗 NEW YEAR; NEW 2020 TAX DEDUCTION!

😊Please consider giving and you may do so in ✌ ways: (1) go to our LGF website (link also below) and click on the DONATE LINK
it takes you directly to midlandscommunity*org our affiliate fund matching your donations through Jan 7th WHERE you can opt to give MONTHLY! or (2) send checks made out to LGF to 15603 S Hwy 6, Gretna, NE 68028.

🎉We thank you for the support for our Emily's rare, life limiting disease #SIOD and others afflicted past, present and future!

❤Please feel free to share and HAPPY NEW YEAR!🎉

Believe from Joe, Erin, Emily and Taylor-Jo Koesters #giving #believe #sisters #littlegiants #midlandscommunity #taxdeduction #monthlygiving

https://midlandscommunity.org/donor-giving/donate/

https://thelittlegiantsfoundation.org/donate-index-impact

Merry Christmas To All

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas.  We appreciate all of your support and love through our journey.  We know there are so many who are hurting this holiday season due to loss and challenges and we BELIEVE in the reason for the season and that our efforts to bring about more awareness, education and funding for SIOD will continue to grow and be stronger than ever.

Believe-
The Koesters Family

Believe It Can Be Done!

Today is GIVINGTUESDAY and we are working with SHAREOmaha.  We have a wish list link where you could help us with our behind the scenes needs or you could also click to donate.  Please share our foundation site as well.  While you are at it, share how you know us on your own social media pages or with your friends and why LGF and Emily are important to you.  Please go to our website to read about the research where your giving dollars are going and read about our story.  Emily is the ONLY LIVING child in Gretna, in Nebraska, in the MIDWEST with SIOD! I believe together we can do something extraordinary!
SHAREOmaha LINK
LGF Website LINK

Yesterday we had a follow up appointment with Emily's doctor we lovingly call Dr. Elmo, but his real name is Dr. David Finken. He would be the last to say, if he would say at all, that he deserves any credit for Emily's success with her #SIOD disease, however; we think he is a tremendous asset to our team and has been through it all from the beginning with our little giant warrior princess!  We are proud of how Emily has been working on getting back to her baseline routines.  She is not there yet, but she is making progress.  Her episodes are few and farther between and that is good.