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Nia is 11 Today

Happy Birthday to Nia!

Nia Mercedes Schell is 10 today

Happy Birthday, Nia! It's time to party! I doubt that Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals have ever seen a celebration like this. Balloons, streamers, international guests, and perhaps also a few presents...

2010 Easter Hunt at Woburn Abbey

Finn hunted ducks...

Nia hunted clues...

and Dragonflies hunted Corinna!

How Special is Nia?

Q: How rare are babies like Nia? i.e., born with the CHD "ALCAPA" who are diagnosed with Ph+ ALL?

ALL birth rate = 0.04%, or 4 out of 10,000 babies
Ph+ frequency = 6% of pediatric cases of ALL
Ph+ birth rate = 0.0024%, or 24 out of 1,000,000 babies

CHD birth rate = 0.69%, or one in every 145 babies
ALCAPA frequency = 0.375% of all pediatric cases of CHD
ALCAPA birth rate = 0.0026%, or 26 out of 1,000,000 babies

ALL Ph+ and CHD ALCAPA birth rate = 0.00000006%, or 6 out of 10,000,000,000 babies

A: Quite rare! But if I further calculated the frequency of BMT to treat ALL Ph+, or of Takeuchi-tunnel to repair ALCAPA, I would just be showing off. We already know that Nia is unique.

Glossary
ALCAPA: Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery
ALL: Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
BMT: Bone Marrow Transplant
CHD: Congenital Heart Disease
Ph+: Philadelphia Chromosome Positive

Merry Christmas 2009

The Schells had a very merry Christmas with Oma and Opa.

Happy Birthday Oma!

Oma celebrated her 67th birthday in Milton Keynes with the Schells.

"Make-a-Wish" Comes True for Nia

Nia had a great weekend in Greenwich, courtesy of Make-a-Wish. We stayed in a nice hotel while Oma watched Finn in Milton Keynes. We went to the planetarium at the Observatory on Sunday. We went to the Maritime Museum on Monday. The big event started on Monday afternoon, when a white stretch limo came to the hotel to pick us up. It dropped us off at the O2 arena, where Nia met Miley Cyrus backstage! She also saw Miley's brother Trace and her sister Noah. Then we were escorted right past the stage, where Metro Station was playing. We went to our seats to watch the rest of their show, and then watched Miley's show. On Tuesday, we went to the Science Museum, then drove home.

Nia will chase the Banana Man!

Message from Nia:

I just signed up for the 2K Junior Banana Race around Willen Lake in aid of Leukaemia Research on September 13th. I will have to do a lot of training before I can do it - and only 2 weeks time. I managed to go all the way to Tesco Express yesterday and my Mum said it is only twice as far. I set up a webpage for fundraising - please sponsor me - I would like to raise £200 for Leukaemia research to help people like me.
If you live in Milton Keynes, please come and join me at Willen Lake for the Banana Run.
Here's the website:
http://original.justgiving.com/niaschell

Nia's 9th Party: Day 4: Stretch Limo to Woburn

Time for a real party! Nia picked up Clara and Annabelle in her new stretch limo Hummer. Special guests from South Africa, Claudio and Angelique, also joined in the fun.

Finn Hopkins Schell is 1 Year Old

In between all of the other parties going on this week--Finn turned 1 on Tuesday!

Nia's 9th Party: Day 3: Legoland

We went to Legoland, courtesy of Camp Quality!

Nia's 9th Party: Day 2: Silverstone

We were guests of Mercedes-Benz at the Friday practice session of the British Grand Prix--the last time at Silverstone?

Nia Schell is 9 years old

Nia is having a 4-day birthday party for her 9th birthday. Day 1: at home reading cards, opening presents, swinging on her new swing, playing with friends who dropped by: Hannah, Clara, Rachel, Imaan, Emily, and Charlotte!

Vacation in Wales

We had a lovely time in a lovely place.

A spring day at Hunstanton

We took advantage of good weather, good health, and a good chance to get away to the beach! It was Finn's first time. Looks like it won't be his last!

Beautiful April Day

Beautiful weather for Finn to play in the garden. Nia blew bubbles in bubbles, then went kite flying at Furzton Lake and bumped into Clara!

Dude--and Oma

We're all here

at home.

Oma claims boy has teeth

Finn's German grandma, Oma, who has been staying with him for the past week, claims that first one and then a second tooth have appeared through Finn's lower gum line. This seems to be the reason why he has been crying quite a bit at night. We are trying to confirm this report, and hope to have photographic evidence soon.

Big sister Nia's first tooth arrived on January 20, 2001, as seen in this archive photo. Link to more photos from back then: January 2001

Finn is 9 months old

And his first tooth has appeared! Happy 3/4 birthday, Finn!

The "CLEAN DIET" is over!!

---NEWS FLASH---NEWS FLASH---NEWS FLASH---
Today is Day 103 post-transplant, and Nia is finally allowed off of her clean diet. She can eat anything she wants now! Unless she wants something really yucky and disgusting...

Who is this Top-Secret Pop Star?

We had a visit from a top-secret pop star, but I think she was wearing a disguise. Who was it really?

Bouncing Baby Boy

Are you ready to laugh until your throat hurts? (I did--sorry about the froggy voice of the camera man!)

Nia escapes Bristol

It's true!
As Nia wrote (over at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nia):

Day +48
Yippeee! I am out of non isolation and right now I am at Milton Keynes – home home! I have to go to Oxford tomorrow but I should hopefully be back in Milton Keynes for the weekend. My German Grandma is here. I was really shocked when the doctor came in and said I can leave today. I am going to miss the play nurse and the teacher because I made a project with the play nurse and I still have a bit left to do. I had to wait for all my meds to be ready and we finally arrived home at 10 pm!
Night night,
Nia

Bouncing Boy

Omi left this morning, so what's a boy to do? Bounce, bounce, bounce...

When Big Sis visits later today, she'll be joined by her friend Rachel!

Day 0: Bone Marrow Transplant

From Nia's Transplant

Ready to Eat?

Here's the boy, ahead of our first (unsuccessful) attempt to feed him some "solid" food.

Flippin' Finn!

Finn can roll over onto his back from his tummy--here's the proof!

Big Sis