[C101Yorkie]

Part 1:

Dear Mrs. Kobierksi,

I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Courtney Hall. I am a sixteen year old girl. I entered this world on August 12, 1992 at Hamot Hospital is Erie, Pennsylvania. I get my name, Courtney, from my great-grandmother. It was her maiden name.

I am the older of two kids. I have a fourteen year old brother, named Brandon, who is in the eighth grade at Rice Avenue Middle School. I live with my mom, dad, brother, and dog. My mom, Denise, is a stay-at-home mom. Thank goodness. I really need her all the time. My dad, Bob, is a high school French teacher at Fairview High School. My dog, Sapphire, is a three year old Yorkie. She got her name because I was going to show her in conformation, and win the sapphire necklace.

I am very close to my mom’s side of the family. I spend a lot of time with my grandma, grandpa, my mom’s sister, and my mom’s brother. My mom also has another brother, but we are not as close. On my dad’s side, we spend some time with his dad, his two sisters, and his brother. I have a few cousins on both sides. Only one on each side is older than I am.

When I was born, I had a high heart rate. My doctor found a hole in my heart, and my first trip to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh was in October of 1992. I spent the next year learning to talk and walk, what normal babies do in their first year. The only exception was that I was constantly going for doctor’s visits. This is when I had my first EKG, echo, chest x-ray, and heart cath.

When I was fifteen months old, the doctors decided that the hole was not going to close on its own, and it was time to perform surgery. On November 17, 1993, we went down to Children’s. There, they performed open-heart surgery on me. After I came out of surgery, I spent a few days in ICU. Then, I spent a few more days in a regular room. I was able to go home after that.

For the next thirteen and a half years, I had regular check-ups. I had an occasional EKG, echo, and chest x-ray done. I led a pretty normal life. I was a normal toddler growing up.

I went to school every day that I could. Occasionally, I would get sick and have to miss days, though. I loved going to school. My teachers were great, and I always had A’s on my report card. I had great friends that I loved to be with. I always did my work well and on time. I would usually go above and beyond to do the best work possible. I played basketball and softball, and even soccer one year. I loved playing softball. I was always at practice early and stayed late. My dad supported me by coaching for many years. I played for years and years. I was a great pitcher. I practiced many different batting techniques and catching the ball however it came at me.

In the fall of 2007, I started high school. I was really excited because I had always heard that high school was the best years of a person’s life. Little did I know how sick I was. High school was tough. I was always tired, but didn’t know why. My joints hurt every time I moved. I had a terrible cough that wouldn’t stop. Then, I lost my hearing. I missed so many days those first two months. I was always coming home with a fever, I couldn’t keep food or drinks down, and I was always exhausted.
On November 1, 2007, I went to my family doctor after going to him the whole month of October to figure out what was wrong with me. He sent me to an ENT, who said I needed ear tubes. I also had many other tests done that day. On November 6, my mom took me to the doctor again, and asked to please put me in the hospital, something was really wrong. I spent the next eight days in Hamot. I had tons and tons of tests done. It got to the point where they were drawing blood three times a day. Finally, my doctor decided to transfer me to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on November 14.
By the time I got to Pittsburgh, I was really weak. I couldn’t even get out of bed. My arms were so beat up they couldn’t draw blood. They decided to put a PICC line in my arm. When I had the PICC line put in, they also did a kidney biopsy. The results showed I was in kidney failure. My blood level was 6.3. I should have been in a coma. I had to have a blood transfusion immediately.

A few days later, on the anniversary of my open-heart surgery, I was back in Children’s with a rare disease at fifteen years old. I was diagnosed with Wegener’s Granulomatosis. It is a rare disease that usually shows up in people in their 50’s or older. It was even more rare that I got it, being a kid. For the next four weeks, that I spent there, I received a lot of medication. I had a few days of strong doses of steroids. I also had plasmapherisis and hemo dialysis. I was also getting Cytoxan, a form of chemo. On December 3, I was finally allowed to go home. I had lots of different medicine that I had to take every day.

The day after Christmas, the doctor from Pittsburgh called and said we had to come down immediately. I had to have another blood transfusion. I ended up staying for the New Year. I got to go home the next day. In the middle of January, I had to have another kidney biopsy done. The results weren’t any better than the first one. I ended up staying in the hospital for a few days. I was then switched from Cytoxan to another drug, Rituxan. I had to start physical therapy for a while to get some strength back.