Ally Heintz

Jill and I wanted to get this information out as soon as possible. We would like to invite everyone to join our team this year on April 23rd to run or walk in the DASH for ORGAN DONOR Awareness.

Today, nearly 5,000 men, women and children in this region and over 90,000 people nationwide, are waiting for life-saving or life enhancing transplants. The major limitation to saving lives through transplantation is the lack of organ and tissue donors.

Fortunately, the organ donor shortage is a "crisis with a cure." In the past few years we have made great strides in transplantation and each step that you take in the Dash for Organ Donor Awareness will help highlight the importance of organ and tissue donation.

This year Jill and I are committed to making a difference in our community by forming a team for the Dash for Organ Donor Awareness, which will be held on April 23rd in Philadelphia and consists of a 3k walk and a 5k and 10k run. If you would like to contribute to or join our team, please contact us at 215-234-9686 or email at aajsheintz@yahoo.com

To register for th Dash or for more information, please visit the link on Ally's homepage, or by visiting the Gift of Life Donor Program's website at www.donor1.org. Remember to select our team name "Ally Heintz" when registering, and if you do go ahead and decide to register online (which we encourage) please afterwards send us an email saying that you joined the team. This will help us determine how many people are on the team.

Thanks again for all the support, and look forward to the seeing all our friends, family and community coming out to join us on April, 23rd to let Philadelphia know, we care for the well being of others and want to help save lives through the creation of promoting the importance of organ and tissue donation!

Call or email us with any questions. Thanks, Shane

I know it has been a little while since the last update but that is just because things have been going pretty well this past week and I didn't have much to report.

Ally is still on her IV antibiotics and she will remain on them for another week. Her labs this week were okay her liver functions were elevated a little but not enough to be alarmed. She will have labs again on Monday. She has also had two negative blood cultures, one was from last Friday and one was from Tuesday.

Ally went on her first play date this week and had a lot of fun exploring someone else's house! We are all itching for Spring weather. Both the girls love to be outside on their swing set so even though it hasn't been real warm we have still been outside a little. Ashley is busy perfecting her bike riding.

Our friend John is doing better since our last update. his parents update his site at least once a day and sometimes twice a day. I know many of you have emailed your concerns for him. We do have a link to his website listed at the bottom of Ally's home page in the "Links" category. Feel free to check on him and offer words of encouragement. His site is not password protected so you are welcome to view it. John is still a long way from healthy. He will probably head to the OR again next week so that the surgeons can attempt to close his abdomen. John is stable but still critical. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

Last night I had the opportunity to speak at an event for Miller Keystone. For those of you that aren't aware Miller-Keystone is our local blood provider. They provide all the blood and blood products for 18 local hospitals which include Pottstown, Reading, and Lehigh Hospitals. They do blood drives at churches and community events and also have local blood donation centers. There is also a link for there website at the bottom of Ally's home page. Blood and organ donation is so important to our family. Blood and blood product donation is something that is so simple for us to do. It is our way to give something back and it could very well be something you or a loved one may need one day. Only about 5% of people that are eligible to donate blood actually do. Please I urge you to consider giving the gift of life by donating blood!
Check out the video from WFMZ of the event!

Take care and I will update next week.
Jill

Ally's check up yesterday at Childrens Pittsburgh went pretty well. They recommended a couple of changes and they are concerned about the amount of line infections she is getting. They are going to see if they can get her more exception points due to the frequency of the line infections. Still no final word about the motility study they said they would try to get back to me this week about that. They want to see Ally back in about three months unless she gets her transplant first.

Just a quick reminder on Sunday March 19th the Styling Gallery in Gilbertsville is holding a cut-a-thon for Ally. It is from noon till 5pm. Haircuts will be $10 and manicures will be $8. Any questions please email us at aajsheintz@yahoo.com. The Styling Gallery is located on RT. 73 or East Philadelphia Avenue across from Williams Pontiac (at the intersection of Rt.73 and Rt.100).

Please continue to pray for John. He is headed back to the OR today and the surgeons will attempt to close his abdomen, this may take more than one attempt. John is somewhat stable now but still VERY sick. We will get a chance to see him again today. We must go to duPont on our way home from Pittsburgh because Ally's IV antibiotics need to be changed so we have an appointment in Day Medicine at 4pm.

Take care,
Jill

A quick update to let you know that Ally was able to make her trip to Pittsburgh yesterday to keep her scheduled check-up appointments for today. We will update again soon with how she is doing in the next few days.

Please continue to pray and provide strength for the Maicher family, as they continue to fight through a difficult week. Jill and I were able to spend some time in John's room the other night visiting, and lending as much support possible. John will make it through this, you could feel that as you stood in his room. He is a true fighter, and look forward to seeing him continue his life as a healthy 21 year old! Keep on fighting John!

Just wanted to let everyone know that Ally was admitted to the PICU late last night for a line infection. They had wanted us to bring her down early in the day to the ER and than to be admitted and we refused. Ally had been acting like her normal self and no longer running a temp. She was also even able to be off her oxygen while she was awake.

Her labs from yesterday morning had looked great. However, they called last night a little after nine to say that the blood culture was positive and they wanted her admitted now.

Ally finally want to sleep around 2am so I am exhausted. She thought it was play time and tried to entertain everyone all night. This is what frustrates me about coming in for these line infections. I know that Ally has the potential to become very sick from these but if we catch them early she always seems to respond quickly to the antibiotics.

I don't know what all of this means about our trip to Pittsburgh. We are supposed to leave tomorrow around noon. I plan on talking to the team this morning and hopefully will have some answers.

Again, I am asking for your prayers for John Maicher. I talked to his mom last night around 8:30 and John was critical and had been that way all day. They were not even able to really complete John's surgery because things had started to go so bad. Currently John is on the osciallator and has lost a significant amount of blood. They somewhat have his bleeding under control at this point and he has (with help) finally been able to maintain his body temp. This is the only reason I am glad to be at duPont. I am glad to be here for Sandy John and Al and offer my support and my prayers.

Please pray for John today.

Jill

Please say some extra prayers for our dear friend John Maicher. After nearly three years of waiting John went to the OR last night to receive his new liver. As I write this update we still have not heard from his parents to see how he is doing. I am praying that he is in recovery and that they are exhausted from their long night. Please pray for John to have a quick recovery and that he may finally have a normal healthy life.

As for Ally, she is currently running a temp so I am sure we will also be headed for duPont today. Right now I am headed to work and taking her labs and a blood culture with me. Hopefully we will get this resolved quickly so that we can head to Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

I will update again later today. If you get a chance there is a link to John's website off of Ally's so check is site for updates on him.

Take care,
Jill

Just wanted to let everyone know that Ii had made a mistake in the last update about the cut-a-thon. Following is all of the information about that event.

Cut-a-Thon will be SUNDAY March 19th from noon till five at the Styling Gallery.

The Styling Gallery
930 E. Philadelphia Ave.
Gilbertsville, PA 19525
610-367-6299

They will be doing haircuts for $10 and manicures for $8

Any questions please email us at aajsheintz@yahoo.com

Ally had labs drawn today and everything looked pretty good. She is scheduled to go to duPont on Thursday afternoon for a checkup. She will also have a blood culture done while we are there just to double check that the infectionis clear.

We just want to thank everyone who helped with the beef and beer and thanks to all the people that came out to support us. Shane and I had a wonderful time. It was great to see so many people and friends that we just don't get to see anymore since Ally keeps us so busy! It was also nice to see so many people that we did not know but who wanted to come out and show their support for Ally and our family.

I will update at the end of the week if there are any changes. Otherwise I'll wait until next week.

Jill

Also, I wanted to let everyone know that the Styling Gallery in Gilbertsville have contacted us and would like to have a cut-a-thon, with the proceeds going to Ally's receovery fund. Following is all the information.

Cut-a-Thon Saturday March 19th from noon till five.
The Styling Gallery
930 E. Philadelphia Ave
Gilbertsville Pa 19525
610-367-6299

The salon will be doing haircuts for $10 and manicures for $8.

The salon is located at the intersections of Rt. 73 and Rt. 100 across from
Williams Pontiac.

Please feel free to email us if you have any questions.
aajsheintz@yahoo.com