"When you fall, you can get up again"

Here's an update from Komo 4 News. Thank you to the amazing community! Your help is much appreciated! Thank you to Molly Shen, The Problem Solvers, and all of the Komo staff for your continued support as well! The Chalk family is beyond blessed and thankful for all the support! The end of the video brought me to tears: "Zoey is proof that when you fall, you can get up again" <3

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Dad-Amazing-recovery-for-young-flesh-eating-bacteria-victim-215313041.html?tab=video&c=y

Also a huge thank you to the BOEING FAMILY who put together some fundraisers on behalf of the Chalk family. Your compassion, efforts, and generosity have touched the family so deeply. Bless each and every one of you!

Thank you all for being Zoey's hope, and for your continued prayers and support. More updates will come as we face more surgery to fix the hole in Zoey's heart, and try to figure out whatever autoimmune condition she may have. 

Much love,
Zoey's family

Quick Update and Photos

It's been 10 days since Zoey came home from the hospital. Her leg is healing pretty well, with only a couple of the wider places struggling to stay closed up. Zoey is doing pretty well getting around now- she started crawling a couple days ago! Being able to move around has made her so happy! Although if she over does it, the pain is inevitable :(

She is still not eating very well, but she does drink her PediaSure to supplement. Her favorite snack is Mickey Mouse shaped cheese and hard boiled eggs :)

Monday the 24th is her next doctor's check up and to have her stitches removed. Later next week she also has an appointment in cardiology to have another echo cardiogram, and to talk about what she needs to fix the hole in her heart.

There are still no results back yet on the autoimmune condition. Labs have been sent out of state for further testing. Prayers for provision are needed in this area, as insurance is not going to pay for these very costly testings through an out-of-state laboratory.


Here are some photos from the last 10 days:

Zoey's favorite mode of transportation, a wagon donated by an amazing local family! It's perfect, because one side can be up in the chair position, and the other side down flat with a comfy pillow to support her leg. Of course she brings the whole Disney gang along on her rides! We call her new wagon "Zoey's Minnie Mobile"

Out enjoying the gorgeous sunshine with Mommy.

Sweet girl loving her stickers, a cup of PediaSure, and a Minnie Mouse movie :)

And Auntie's personal favorite: her new hat. We were in Target and she saw this hat and immediately exclaimed with glee: "DAISY O'DARE"! (her favorite Disney movie this week). She puts the hat on and Zoey becomes miss Daisy O'Dare! Too cute!

Day 12

Still no update on the underlying autoimmune condition today, but tests did produce an unexpected result. Zoey has a heart defect, Atrial Septal Defect. What this means is Zoey was likely born with a hole in her heart and it never closed on it's own. Not at all something any of us were prepared to hear, but we're also thankful to be aware of it. Without all the testing for a possible autoimmune condition, this diagnosis probably would have continued to go unnoticed. In future months, she will likely have it treated by a cardiac catheterization procedure, but it's not a high priority at the moment. Her doctors agree that her body first needs time to recover from all her surgeries in the last week!

Doctors are hopeful that Zoey should be able to come home by the weekend, so long as nothing changes between now and then. They were hoping she would be able to regain some strength, which being able to eat solid food would help. But as of yet she has had little to no appetite. They are talking about sending her home with the feeding tube still in place, to make sure she continues to get the much needed nutrients to continue her healing and recovery.

Today is Bryan's birthday, so we brought the girls down to surprise daddy for a visit. When we arrived, Zoey was out for a quick stroll to the play room in her newest mode of transportation. What a breath of fresh air it was for Valorie, Bryan, and little miss Zoey to get out of her room for a short while! Looks like a cozy ride to me! :) I think I'm going to try and find her one for when she comes home to make moving about a lot easier and pain free!

Here is Zoey playing with a tiara and happily exclaiming, "I'm the princess!" Yes you are a little princess, sweet girl! Oh how my heart melted to see that beautiful smile coming back!

 Zoey got lots of lovins today. Sweet kisses from her Mammie:

And kisses and snuggles from sissy Hayley. Zoey said "Hayley come lay down with me" So precious!

Here's the birthday guy posing for a quick photo with Mama (Cindy). Happy birthday Bryan! We all love you!

Road to Recovery Begins!

Huge praise report today! Zoey has done a huge turnaround!! She just came out of surgery #8, and for now the doctors were able to get the incisions closed up enough without having to do a skin graft!! Should she need any more surgeries, they won't be in the immediate future. Her precious little body is going to have a chance to recover now! Doctors are hopeful that Zoey should be able to come home this weekend! Zoey just needs to regain her strength enough to be able to eat on her own. For now they are confident that all the infection is gone and under control. Further testing, treatments, physical therapy and the rest of her recovery should be able to be done on an outpatient basis! Bryan and Valorie will need to keep a close eye on her for awhile, since we all know just how fast spreading of a bacteria this was. But, this is a total answer to prayer and we are all in awe of this amazing news!! There is still not an answer yet as to what the possible autoimmune condition could be, or if it was all a result of the trauma her body has gone through.

To every person who has faithfully been in prayer for our sweet girl, the family thanks you! To every person and family who has generously donated to Zoey's Medical Fund, THANK YOU! This will help lift a little bit of the burden off Bryan and Valorie's shoulders over the next weeks during Zoey's recovery. We are eternally grateful!

Eventful Day

Today was quite the eventful day. This was by far the best day Zoey has had since this all began.

The girls got to come down to visit with Zoey in her room! The quarantine has been lifted as of today!! The whole family got to spend some sweet moments at Zoey's bedside. Here is sister Peyton singing Zoey a song:

Hayley enjoyed a trip to get pizza with Daddy:

Q13 Fox news came to interview Bryan and Valorie about Zoey's condition. Tune in tonight at 10 o'clock to see the interview. 

Zoey had a lot of imaging done today, including an MRI and echocardiogram. The rash on her body has not subsided. Doctors are at this point still baffled as to what the cause is, and unsure what autoimmune disease she may or may not have. They continue to do more testing and cultures of her blood. Today Zoey also pulled out her feeding tube again, and this evening they had to put in another one. This time they put some mitts on her hands to keep her from pulling on the tube. We're praying that she gets lots of rest tonight in preparation for tomorrow's surgery, which will begin the reconstruction phase. Please cover our sweet girl  and her parents in prayer tomorrow during surgery. 

Uncertainty and heavy hearts

Coming from a heavy heart and uncertainty...please don't stop the chain of prayer for our precious little Zoey, and for Bryan, Valorie, and the team of doctors. Zoey is undergoing some more testing today. The doctors found inflammation in the biopsy of her blood vessels, which leads them to believe she has a rare autoimmune disease of the blood. Specifics are unknown at this point, and we have no clue what this is going to mean for her treatment and for her future. She woke up today with swelling in her leg and a rash up her stomach....as of now doctors feel the rash/swelling is not from the bacterial infection like before, but rather from the unknown possible autoimmune disease. Our hearts are breaking for what Zoey continues to go through. Please keep Bryan Valorie and all of the family in your prayers as well, there's so much uncertainty and fear in the unknown. 

This evening the doctors decided that Zoey truly needed the NG tube put back in. They sedated her to put in the tube in less traumatically for Zoey. We are praying that she can keep this one in, for her body is weak and needs the nutrients.