Kurtz Family

I'm am not really sure where to start:) I have to say, it seems the entire past year has gotten away
from us:)

For those of you wondering, yes, it really has been over a year since we sent our last update. We are
still alive and everything is wonderful! Things have actually been pretty quiet. Let's see, we've moved,
held the first annual Histio Heroes 5k, met Melanie's donor and added Jake to the family:)

We'll begin with last September when we held the first annual Histio Heroes 5K. The race went really
well as about 250 runners and walkers participated in the 5K and about 50 children participated in
the Little Heroes Hop. The event was a smashing success as we raised over $37,000 for the
Histiocytosis Association of America. We would like to send a very belated, but very heartfelt thanks
to everyone who helped make it such a great day. We are hoping to repeat last year's success with
this year's race which is scheduled for Sunday, September 21st. We hope that many of you will be
able to come out to the race, as this year we will have some very special guests in attendance.

After the race, we had a few weeks to try to get the new house ready for Jake's arrival. We just
barely had enough time to get his room set up as Jake burst on the scene slightly earlier than we
expected. We were thrilled to welcome him to the family last Halloween. For the most part, Jake and
his sister are getting along swimingly. Melanie loves being a big sister, but she does not love
sharing the spot light: Today at dinner she was especially cute picking Jake's sippy cup up off the
floor about 100 times. Each time Jake would drop the sippy cup, Melanie would pick it back up for
him giggling to herself "Jaaake, what are you doooing???". I think Jake and Melanie both enojoyed
this little game very much:

On the health front, we are happy to report that everything has been very quiet. Melanie is doing well
and so far so good with Jake. He was tested monthly for the first 6 months. They did a complete
blood count (CBC) to make sure the numbers looked good and did physical exams to keep an eye
out for an enlarged liver or spleen. We are happy to be normal and worrying about normal baby stuff
for once:)

It is still a little crazy to look back at where we've been. A few weeks ago WTMX 101.9 once again
put on their Children's Memorial radio-a-thon. Listening to the stories is always a very piognant
reminder of how lucky we are. We have so many people to thank for helping us through it all, but this
year we had the unbelievable opportunity to meet and get to know a very special family. It all started
with a phone call we received the first week in January, right about the time we were looking forward
to some down time after the holidays. To make a long story at least a little shorter, we were invited
and flown to a celebrity soccer game in Anehiem organized by Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra
where we were able to meet Melanie's donor, Jen. Not only did we get to meet, Jen, but we also got
to meet her whole family (Jim, Peggy, Chuck and Scott) and they are all great!!!

After the game, we spent as much time as we could with Jen and her family. Later in the trip we were
both stunned and honored when Jen invited us to her wedding! There are going to be quite a few
exclamation points and smiley's in the next few sentences:) Being completely enamored with Jen
and her family, we could not miss another chance to see them again, so, of course, we quickly made
plans to head back to California for the wedding. At this point, we received another amazing
invitation when Jen asked if Melanie would be one of the flower girls in her wedding! I am not sure I
can do justice to describe how incredible our trip out to San Diego for Jen and Jim's wedding truly
was. Peggy and Chuck's hospitality was overwhelming as we really felt as though we were adopted
as long lost members of the family: Melanie had a blast dancing the night away with the other flower
girls and talked for weeks about Callie and Fiona:) You can check them out in the picture gallery:)

The whole trip was unbelievable. It was a wonderfully surreal experience to be able to meet the
person who had such a profound impact on our lives. Jen saved Melanie's life. For all the talking a I
do:), I am really at a loss for words everytime I think about that, which is often:) We will be thinking
about that even more over the next few weeks as we get closer to the 2nd Annual Histio Heroes
Race since Jen, Jim, Chuck and Peggy are making the trek out to Chicago for the race!! I cannot
begin to explain how excited we are about this!

It's once again getting late and I have gone on and on. I have updated pics on the website:)

With love,
Joe, Pam, Melanie and Jake:)