Diamond's Story - Plantation

My name is Lisa, and I am the single mother of four beautiful girls: Shawanda, Alexus, Porshea and Diamond. Shawanda is my oldest daughter. Alexus is fifteen and is in the tenth grade at Plantation High School. Alexus is doing very well in her school work and is a well behaved young lady. Porshea is fourteen and is in the eighth grade. She is doing very well in school and is a very nice young lady as well.

Diamond is my last baby. She is 11 and in the sixth grade. She is doing very well in school and is making the Honor Roll. But sadly, Diamond was born with Sickle Cell Anemia. When she was born, the doctor noticed right away that something was wrong with the color of her skin. She was almost immediately diagnosed with Sickle Cell Anemia and needed to see her pediatrician again within days of going home.

Diamond has been in and out of the hospital from the time she was born. At just eight months old she had to have her spleen removed because it could not fight off infections. Currently, Diamond has to live with a port IV because her vein collapsed when they recently tried to take blood from her arms. In December of 2008, Diamond was in the hospital for about 16 days with pneumonia. She was so sick that we were not able to celebrate Christmas, though we were blessed with gifts from the church. Diamond got better, though we also had to spend New Year’s Eve in the hospital. We watched the fireworks from the eighth floor of the hospital, and we thanked God that we lived to see another year.

My other girls were blessed to have their aunt to care for them while I took care of Diamond, and Diamond’s doctor and nurse treated us as though we were their family and helped make our stay as happy as possible.

We learned about Starlight during one of Diamond’s hospital stays eight years ago. Thanks to Starlight, we have been able to go on trips we otherwise couldn’t have afforded, met people with other sick kids and have been able to help families going through similar experiences. We recently went on an ice skating Great Escape which was wonderful. My family’s experience with Starlight has helped us to not worry as much, and to try and believe that everything is going to be ok.

- Lisa, Starlight Mom