California Friends

Teagan and Cami.

This is Camisha Casimere (Cami for short). She is my old partner from the ambulance, Jamie's daughter.

She is a level 10 gymnast for Airborne Gymnastics in Santa Clara, Ca. She is so good!!! She was recruited by Cal State Fullerton, for a full ride scholarship! We are so proud of you Cami!

To see Cami's meets you can go to You Tube and find her. Here is a link to one of her floor routines a few weeks ago in Long Beach. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6XteYm19zE

Here is my old partner Jamie, Cami's mom, with Teagan.

Don holding Teagan...support the head!

No, you aren't seeing the same guy from above, this is Ramon (Balonie!!!! inside joke). Ramon and Don are twin brothers. Ramon and I were also partners on the ambulance.

Teagan and Jamie, he is quite relaxed on her chest.

Ahhh, so sweet.

Here is Jill (Mamaz) with Teagan.

We were able to visit for a while, while James was doing work for her.

Jill is the one who through our co-ed baby shower in California. She and I were also partners on the ambulance.

Teagan & Friends

Here is Teagan with my girlfriend, Kerry. She has been waiting just as long as I have to hold him.

My friend Katie, and her mom, Nancy, with Teagan. Katie had never really held a baby as small as Teagan, but with her mom by her side and I we got her through it. Moments after this picture was taken Teagan threw up.

Here is Gail with Teagan.

Gail has three boys, one of them is Kirk, so she was no stranger on how to do this whole baby thing.

Here is Heidi, Kirk's girlfriend, with Teagan.

Here is Kirk, my best friend, with Teagan. Kirk was in our wedding, he was my "Male of Honor." He looks pretty comfortable holding him.

Friends & Family

Here is my Aunt Jackie, my Grandma, me, my Aunt Kathy who flew in from Carson City, Nevada to celebrate with us, and my Aunt Mary. My family is very excited that Obama/ Biden won, they are very into politics. So they insisted we take a picture with the sign.

Anyhow, it was very special that they were all there, especially since my mom couldn't come down from Oregon to be there. But she'll be at the Oregon Baby Shower!
This is James' best friend, Jamie. James and I both just love her! She is a lot like me, but I am a bit more feisty, if you know what I mean. hehe.

This is my friend Marilia, from work. Again, her and I are a lot alike, both very feisty!

Here is my cousin Shakira's boyfriend, Brandon, Shakira, my Aunt Jackie, and my Aunt Mary deep in thought, trying desperately trying to win a game!

Aahhh, the Great-Grandma's to-be are working together on one of the games.

This are great friends of ours. Anne Marie and Geert, their son was a very special patient of mine who had cancer, and passed away at the young age of 17, on Aug.3, 2005. J.W. was the greatest boy I've met, so courageous and funny! He was always thinking of others and wanted to help out the community. Please check out his website for more information.

JW House

At the age of 14, JW Knapen had a normal life - he was a freshman in high school, played the bongos for the choir, enjoyed drawing and sculpting, and was the loving big brother and oldest son of a close-knit Belgian family. But over thanksgiving break in 2002, JW began to have seizures and was quickly diagnosed with three different brain tumors. Over the last two years, 16-year-old JW Knapen has shown courage and grace in his grueling fight against brain cancer, enduring surgery, radiation and chemotherapy treatments.

JW was not only one of my dearest patients that I have met while working as an EMT in Santa Clara Co. in California. He was also a buddy of mine! My EMT partner Jill and I would transport him to and from radiation daily. We had a special bond. This was no ordinary 16 year old, he was bright and intelligent. I guess when you know you are going to die at a young age you grow up very quickly. I once asked him if he could have anything what would it be? He paused and thought a moment, and looked up at me and said, "a family" while he was pretending to hold a baby in his arms. WOW, I thought, normally 16 year old boys are not thinking about having there own family, they want to get a girlfriend maybe in between playing basketball.

JW fought a long hard fight with his cancer, unfortunately the cancer got the best of him but his dream still is living on and we are doing what we can to make his dream come true! JW wanted to make a "house" where families of sick children can stay and be close to them while they are in the hospital. Even while JW was sick his mind was on helping others. He was always thinking of new ways to get peoples attention to be interested in his dream. We have had so many different fundraisers, this house has been able to start to be build all on donations! Please check out JW's website for a lot more information!

JW had his own motto which was to "Never Ever Give Up"! So follow your dreams and heart to do what ever it is you set out to do!