This is so sad. I will pray for ((((Bella)))) and her family.

Praying for Bella and her family.

Chi, Bella is 5. Thank you all. I know the prayers are greatly appreciated.

5 years old :( it really puts our everyday problems into perspective.

Any updates on sweet little Bella?

I'm sorry. I keep forgetting to give you an update. Yes. She is in a medically induced coma. She had a brain bleed, which caused her brain to swell, and at least 1 stroke. They had to do surgery to open up her skull to give her brain room. She was on the BCMO machine, the one they put you on for open heart surgery, and is on continuous dialasis. They have had to remove her from the BCMO machine. She has to have blood thinners to be on it, and after the stroke, they can no longer give them to her. This very special little girl has a fantastic medical team. They have worked with her from day one, and than means now for 5 years. If there is a new development that needs another type of dr. the team finds one. The team has a saying, "In Bella time"! She heals, recovers, whatever, at her own pace, not what is normal for others. They had to put a gortex patch over the skull opening. The dr. said he had never left one on for more than 5 days. It's now over that, but everything looks as it should, and they have started her on antibiotics to prevent any infection. We still need many prayers for Bella and her family. She is fighting. She had retained so much fluid that her face swelled so much she couldn't open her eyes. The swelling is going down. She still, even in the coma, fights with the team when they change dressings, etc.

And during all of this, there is still the care and worry for/about the other children. The 2 oldest are fine, and in college, though home during this crisis. The other 2 each have immune disorders that require infusions every couple of weeks, in addition to other treatments. The sister with the immune condition still goes to high school, but can only attend half days due to lack of strength. She and her brother both do online class work to make up for school time they can not attend. Also, they cannot attend school during flu season, as it would be disasterous if any of the caught it.

For those of you who are on Facebook with me, I share Super Bella's page with the updates I get. I will try to link one for you in a minute. Usually mom will update the page, or someone connected to the family will. I joined a knitting forum about 6 years ago. Like here, they have become family. One of the ladies there attends church with the family, and has introduced us to Bella by telling us of her and the family. Naturally, the family has become family to those of us on the forum. There are so many in the church community who continuously provide meals and snack, and other needs for them. There are a few who are close enough to the hospital that are taking in hot meals for them. Some just go and sit with them, or play with the younger ones. Anything to help keep things as "normal" as you can in these situations, and all are very familiar with the situtation.

Let's see if my link will work. https://www.facebook.com/SavingSuperBella/

Prayers for Bella & Family

Thank you. They need all they can get.

Thoughts and prayers for Bella. I especially feel for her parents who can't go in to be with her, and have to rely on the doctors. I am sure they are doing a wonderful job, but, for me, that would be so difficult, not to be with her.

There was one day, the day we thought we were going to loose her about a week ago, that they were not allowed in. Since then, they are allowed 4 at a time, for a few minutes, every few hours. It is so hard on them.

Prayers continue for sweet little Bella.

Continued prayers for Bella. She sounds like a fighter.

She is.

Prayers continue for little Bella. Please continue to update us on her condition.

So glad to hear the prayers are working. May they continue to work their mirales............both prayers and doctors!

This update was just posted:

Good evening SuperBella fans. She had a decent day today overall. Her
vitals and ICPs now that she is starting the slow migration off of some
of her sedation meds are a little less predictable. We have been
reassured that it is all normal but is very tough to watch. She has much
work ahead and it will not be easy or comfortable for anyone.

Poor baby and poor family! They are forefront in my prayers.

Hang tough Bella! You've got acres of people rooting for you!

Bless that sweet girl and her family!

Today's update:

Another long day SuperBella fans. Every day brings new challenges for Bella and all who attend to her, she continues to set her own pace and rules “Bella Time (BT). It has proven to be a monumental task to move Bella to the next stage of her care given all of her conditions.

Prayer team mission for today: pray that her brain will not swell and her ICP numbers stay low. Pray that she can be weaned off of her sedation meds without side effects, maintain her temperature, blood pressure and labs. Continue to pray that she can get off of dialysis machine and her body. And keep up. She also has a fever that needs to go away.

As always, thank you all for your prayers and support. Bella’s fight will be a long one, please do not be discouraged. Bella is just teaching us about life in BT.

Prayers continuing for sweet Bella.

Prayers continuing here as well. Hugs to Bella and family

Hugs and prayers for sweet Bella!

Super Bella Update! Woohoo! Our prayers are working! Copied and pasted from Facebook

Saving SuperBella

5 hrs ·

Another
busy day here at the time vortex typically known as the hospital.
Bella now has her head wrap off as you can see In the picture. Her
swelling continues to go down and you can see her cute half shaven head.

She has a MRI tonight at 9pm EST (we were just notified this
was moved to tomorrow at 4pm) to get a better view of the damage that
her brain has from her stroke. This will establish a baseline for many
future brain MRIs that she will have. Please pray that the MRI
and the results will be favorable for Bella. She is doing a trial off
of her dialysis machine right now and so far is holding steady. We will
know more tomorrow on her kidney function.

Please continue to pray for her swelling to reduce and the listed stuff above to continue to get better.

Thank you for your help and support

This brought tears to my eyes, and brings prayers from my heart that this little precious one will heal. God bless her and her family.

It breaks my heart that this sweet little innocent must go through all this. I pray for a very successful outcome and that there is no brain damage. Prayers for the family and friends, too. You must all be exhausted from worry.

Absolutely, prayers have been lifted up.

Psalm 121 for the little girl and her loved ones.

I thank you on Bella & her family's behalf. I KNOW the prayers are working. I have not had a chance to check for updates today, but the last report I saw, the swelling continued to go down, she was off dialasis on a trial basis. Nothing with Bella is routine, or what would be considered "normal" for most people. We will have to wait and see. They were waiting for the results of her latest MRI last I saw.

Sending prayers for Bella.

My prayers for Bella continue. Please update as you can.

I couldn't get on Facebook yesterday, but checked it today. Here is yesterday's update.

Good evening SuperBella fans. Not much change today. The name of the
game is slow and steady for miss Bella, many people ask us how she is
doing every day, as of the last few days we usually say good or some
indication of positive. Because she is making improvements. To put it
into context she is doing good for a child that survived all that she
has been through. She is moving forward for sure but has much work to
do. It is amazing to get small glimpses of her personality and a few minutes of her being able to deliberately move a hand or one eye.

Bella needs many prayers for many good days. One step at a time, one
prayer at a time and we can get her through this. Please continue to
pray for her swelling to resolve, kidneys to keep working, lungs to heal
and no set backs.

The Bella fan club has grown and grown over
the last couple of weeks and we are very thankful for that. Please keep
sharing her story so more people can follow her journey and pray for
her.

Thank you again for all of your support and prayers.

Thanks Tami. The updates are appreciated and prayers will continue for Bella.

You are welcome. Thank you. I haven't had a chance to check for an update today, and there isn't always a daily update.

Tami, I am on Facebook. Linda Banks Maretich Could you tell me what to search for to find Bella's page please? I follow another little girl's page....Kyree Beechum who lives in the Erie, PA area and has had multiple transplants. She is 10 years old now. You might find her page by searching for Kyree's Dream Team. It just breaks my heart what these little children are going through. I pray for them both every night.

If you would prefer, you can email me. Maretich@Comcast.net I could send you a link to Kyree's page and you could send me a link to Bella's page.

lindaohnowga - Guess you missed this.....

Tami posted this above "Let's see if my link will work. https://www.facebook.com/SavingSuperBella/ "

Summer, thank you so much. Yes, I must have missed seeing the link. I have it now thanks to you.

Summer, thanks for reposting the link. Bella has had several updates since I had been on Facebook last. She has had a bloodclot in her femoral artery, she is totally off of dyalisis! and they took the vent tube out and did a tracheostomy? They are still slowly weaning her out of the medically induced coma.

I have been really busy the past few days, but here is a quick copy and paste of Bella's progress. She is improving by leaps and bounds, but has fluid leaking from the brain surgery site. I don't know if you can just click on a link from Facebook to read it if you aren't on Facebook or not. I will copy and paste this post, but there are several new posts over the past week, that I haven't had time to share.

Saving SuperBella

17 hrs · Ann Arbor ·

For
your viewing pleasure. Bellas making such huge strides and also
figuring out how to communicate with right hand squeezes for yes or no.
All these things are such a testimony to Gods healing in her. Prayers
being answered and miracles unfolding. Saying all this she still has a
long way to go, is still in PICU and still needs specific prayers.
*
Prayers for continuing healing in her lungs, kidneys, stability in
labs, resolving clots in leg, and reducing swelling still in her
brain and resolving the fluid with little to no intervention. Tomorrow
she will most likely have a repeat brain CT to check fluid. Prayers
that no matter the bumps she still has to go over, none amount to any
more then just that..a bump. We pray for no unexpected setbacks. We will
continue to sing praises and share this journey even though at times
its beyond hard , but we feel its so important to share in our hope,
faith and belief that God is good ; all the time.
Thank you for the
love, prayers, support and continuing to celebrate and also most
importantly pray along side us as she needs so many specific prayers as
she goes along this journey. ❤

-0:34

Saying my prayers for Bella. Best to her and her family.

Thanks for the update...prayers that she keeps having improvements...however so small.

Tears here...........continuing to pray for this little fighter.

Praying every night for little Bella.

Praying for Bella.

This little girl is absolutely amazing! The vent machine is completely out of her room. They took her for a ride around the ward yesterday, I think it was. I have a new phone, and am still figuring out how to get to things on it. I have to figure out how to get here, and do it when I have my password handy! I haven't been able to get on the laptop for a couple of days.

Good evening SuperBella fans. Another long day for her, now that PT/ OT
and speech are working with her every day she is pretty tired once they
get done. She has been making strides forward which is awesome but
physically exhausting. She still has two types of sedation med running
so being able to work through them is no small feat. She has an
unstoppable spirit so she takes it all in stride.

Thanks for letting us know how little Bella is doing....prayers continuing.

Prayers will continue for little Bella. God is great.

Phoggie and Linda, thanks for commenting. I am now logged in on my phone. Now to be able to get here without a post alert in my email! Bella has a pretty dress on in today's update. She's doing so much better with all the prayers.

I went to her page. How precious she looks in her pretty dress and even her helmet has bows on it. Praying for continued healing.