Angels in Heaven

We lost these children in various stages of sickness during their hard-fought fight for life. Some of these precious and beautiful angels surcomed to nature or a lack of medical knowledge. Others to ineptitude or lack of leadership to dedicate hard-earned taxpayer money to American children while otherwise wasting monies on porkbelly projects or foreign interests conveying no gains to common Americans or our children and instead enriched the deep pockets of the few at our cost and suffering.

The first child is Andreas, the son of Christina Poulicakos and Nicholas Giammarino, whom would have been the half-brother of Giovanni. After eight hard months of struggle culminating on life-support Christina and Nick allowed nature to reclaim Andreas in dignity and respect and discontinued artifical life. He left many beloved family members and brothers Alexander, Adrian, and Giovanni.

Kristin E. Graci--21 years young--a loving daughter, a star softball player, a remarkable young woman with the strength of ten men who fought the fight for life beating her cancer into submission several times before it ravaged her and took her life but never her spirit. Her favorite saying: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." Go with God little one, go live among the Angels in Heaven.

Rest in Peace Jasmina. In death many lives will be save in your honor. Go with God little angel.

Words can not describe the grief we all feel from the loss of our precious Jasmina. Last night Jasmina ended her long battle with leukemia. After developing pneumonia early this week Jasmina was hospitalized to treat the infection. She was put on oxygen and intensive antibiotics. She had the best care she could possibly have and in the end, nothing worked. The pneumonia did not respond to the antibiotics or to the breathing treatments she received. Her body finally quit. Last night Jasmina was surrounded by love. She was held all evening and into the night by Thea and was caressed by everyone with her. Loving words were spoken and she was made as comfortable as possible. She was given pain medication so she would not suffer. She rested and slept in her mothers arms and left us surrounded by love. Jasmina had a wonderful life and we thank each and every person who showed kindness and love over the years. Your endless support through this entire process has been invaluable.

Cooper Ryan Blackburn, 3-years-old

Cooper Ryan Blackburn, age 3, our precious angel, passed away June 24, 2009 at Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, NC. He was born November 9, 2005 in Wilmington, NC, son of Krista and Eric Blackburn, and was best friend to his brother, Tanner Blackburn. Cooper brought much joy and happiness to all those he encountered. Even in times of debilitating illness he was able to bring all he encountered under his magical spell. Cooper always held on to his yellow ring, which was his trademark, and loved to place it on his forehead smiling all the time. After spending 18 months in UNC Children's Hospital in Chapel Hill, he loved being home, playing on the floor with his cars and trucks, having books read to him, and riding on his cars. He was into the kitchen cabinets, pulling everything out he could reach, wearing the strainer and smiling all the time. As he continued to improve, he scooted around the house on his bottom at lightning speed and always wanted you to play hide and seek with him. Cooper learned to sign and had no difficulty in communicating. Music was his thing and with his mother's rhythm, he would dance in circles around the floor having the time of his life, but his biggest passion was to be outside at all times. Cooper and Tanner loved to race their cars around the house, and Cooper was a driving maniac on his plasma car, zooming up and down the driveway sporting his Elmo helmet like the champ he was. Nap and bedtime rituals included having books read in the dark by flashlight with his yellow ring and Elmo in one hand, and his bottle in the other.

Go with God, Alecia Morgan, February of 1999 to May 3, 2008

May you fly with the Angels and Andreas. God Bless: Giovanni, family, and friends

Jack Hagelin
September 4, 2002 - March 27, 2007
And, when he shall die,
take him and cut him out in little stars,
and he will make the face of Heaven so fine
that all the world will be in love with night
and pay no worship to the garish sun.
William Shakespeare

Aliyah Dardagos, June 19, 2005 to December 23, 2005. Rest in peace.

Aliyah Dardagos, was born on 19 june 2005. After many years of trying to have a baby we were delighted to finally have our dream come true. Aliyah was born healthy (so we thought)After I took her home I noticed she had a spot under her big toe, I took her to the doctor who said it was just an infected toe nail and prescribed antibiotics, after a couple of days I discovered a lump in her groin and we rushed her to westmead children's hospital. To cut a long story short we discovered aliyah had what was called "severe congenital neutropenia" which is an extremely rare blood disorder where there is an absence of a white blood cell (neutrophils) which fights bacterial infections after many weeks of her being in hospital on antibiotics and after many tests it was decided she would need a bone marrow transplant. She had a very rare bone marrow type so even though my husband was just a half match, he was our only option. Before the transplant aliyah needed a trachy in her throat to help her breathe because she had developed ulceration in her throat, she had also developed a fungal infection which had eaten through the palate of her mouth. Everything went ok with the transplant, though she had side effects from the chemo, the doctors were happy with her progress. After a while though she developed fluid on her lungs and nothing seemed to help this. She had to be on oxygen and eventually she had a cardiac arrest in icu (they don't know exactly why). She was revived but it took 40 minutes which caused significant brain damage and we were told she would not recover so her ventilator was turned off and she died a day later on 23 december 2005. Our beautiful baby was gone, which is still hard to believe. Our baby spent her entire life in hospital (all but a week) and the only comfort we get is to think she is at peace, without medications, tests and injections. Loving Parents

Save A Life With DKMS Americas and Baby Giovanni: Where leukemia met its match over 20,000 times!

Too many kids die waiting for a bone marrow match. Imagine your child's last words: "Did they find a match for me today mom, dad?" Don't let this happen: Give the gift of life, Please become a bone marrow donor today by visiting www.dkmsamericas.org.