Welcome to the world of Janae Grace Heegaard. We never realized, when we named our sweet new baby, how God's real grace would truly be so evident in her life. Janae is a happy, playful, dramatic, talkative 5 year old but she has recently been enduring a fight with a yucky cancer called Wilms. Janae's battle with Wilms kidney cancer has been hard but because of her personality she seems to shine happily when a fever or nausea are not getting her down. When she was diagnosed in the fall of 2008 life took a dramatic turn for her (and for the rest of the family for that matter). Janae's four older sisters and her Daddy and I now look at each new day as a gift of still having her with us. Getting chemo is not on Janae's list of things she likes but she is really happy that the 6 and 1/2 inch tumor is out of her tummy now. Often Janae asks how many more days left till her last chemo treatment, which is May 6. Now that we are getting closer to it, she can wrap her little mind around when that will be and she is thrilled to see the final day coming so soon. Winnie the Pooh is on Janae's list of things she does like, in fact, he is somewhere near the top along with Curious George and riding her bike. Running and playing are some of Janae's favorite things to do and although she has lost a lot of mobility as a side effect from one of the chemos, her new AFO's that she has to wear have now helped bring a confidence back into her step. Thank you for taking your time to care for all the precious children that St. Baldricks is helping and thank you for reading about Janae. We are honored by how God has brought so many people our way to show His love to us. God has been so good to go ahead of Janae and care for her every step of the way, even during those all night ER runs into Chicago when it seems no one else is awake or aware of the pain and worry she is enduring. Before bed Janae can be heard thanking Jesus for helping her get better. We have all been so blessed by her sweet tender heart of trusting in the midst of this yucky illness. Janae's hair is starting to grow back just a little and everyone likes to pet her fuzz. Even this morning though she told me how she couldn't wait till her hair came back. She counts is pretty neat to be a part of an event where people are shaving their heads to look just like her. She liked it when we told her that people want to show her she doesn't have to be one of the only ones without hair. We are grateful for this little boost of esteem in the midst of a severely harsh time. A smile crept up on her face too when we told her that the money that gets raised at this event will help the doctors find a cure for childhood cancer. Thank you again for caring for Janae and helping to be a part of the cure.