| Memories of Christa |
| I would like for everyone to be able to add their memories here. Please e-mail me and let me know if you would like to add anything and what you want added. |
| This is for those of you who did not know my daughter Christa. For those that did not know that she had battled Leukemia for two and a half years. She had so many things that she had to go through during her illness. This is just the beginning of this page. I will add "My Memories" from the beginning, when she was first brought into this world. But for now, I want you all to know that she was such a wonderful daughter to have. We all miss her so very much. |
| My Beautiful Daughter, Christa |
| Christina Marie Miles was born on January 7, 1982, in Louisville, KY. She was such a good baby. Believe it or not though, her first word was Donald Duck! You know, not the typical, Mommy or Daddy, but still very cute to hear. She always had a smile on her little face, even when she was not feeling well. She was very smart in school, always getting good grades. School was important to her. Christa's sister, Andrea Michelle Johnson, was born on August 24, 1984, in Campbellsville, KY. She loved her little sister so very much. They were always playing together. She liked to help take care of Andrea. I have so many photos of them together, playing dress up, playing outside, etc. When they got older they would always make up dances and sing songs. They would do this for me as a Mother's Day gift, or for some other special occasion. They were so good at it! Christa's brother, Robert Allen Johnson, "Allen", was born on December 30, 1989, in Campbellsville, KY. Now having two older sister's, he kind of was spoiled. Plus the fact that he was the only boy. Anytime he got in trouble for something, they would love on him, especially Christa. She was a wonderful helper with him. She treated him as if he was her own. When he first came home from the hospital, Christa could not understand why he cried, it made her so sad that she cried anytime that he cried. So there was one day that all of us were crying, what a site I am sure that we made. All three of them grew up so fast. But they always continued to play together. They played basketball, played with their toys outside, etc., but it was always together. I can say that all three of them were and still are very close. Allen could not say Andrea, so her nickname is Shell. He could not say Christa, it came out as Tissa, so that stuck with her as well. At least til they got older! They all three played on basketball teams. The girls were in Girl Scouts for several years. Allen was in Boy Scouts. In high school, Christa was in Track & Cross Country, FBLA, FFA, Christian Group, and several other groups. Andrea in high school played Basketball. Well that tells you a little bit about all three of my children. Now to the very sad part. Christa was diagnosed with Acute Mylogenious Leukemia (AML) shortly after she graduated from High School. She graduated May 27, 2000. She was diagnosed June 29, 2000. She had already enlisted in the Air Force, she was due to go there in August. But was unable to due to her diagnosis with AML. I can say that all throughout her illness, she was always a trooper. She always had a smile on her face, always wanted to make other people feel better. She went through her first round of chemo. I am not sure if the chemo or all of the anitbiotics caused this but she developed complications. She went into renal failure, multiple organs shutdown & she was hemoraging. She had to have dialysis due to the renal failure. We decided that it would be best to have her transported to another, more qualified facility. So she was statt flown to a larger hosp., where they also had a cancer unit. I know that her going there is what saved her life, that and the help of God, with all the prayers. When she arrived at that hosp., she went into respiratory failure. So she had to be placed on a respirator. She was also swollen so much more than she had been. She looked like a totally different person. She also coded on them one day. She was being suctioned out through the respirator tube, a mucous plug closed off the bronchial tube, then her heart stopped. They had to do CPR on her. Also she was still having alot of bleeding. So the next day she had to have a peg tube placed in her stomach for drainage and a trache placed for breathing. The trache was so that they could get to her alot faster if she stopped breathing again. Thank goodness that did not happen again. She made it through all of that. She went through two more chemo's. You know there is always the induction chemo followed be two consolidation chemo's. I am not even listing all the numerous IV's and lines that had to be placed, but she did have a port-a-cath placed in her chest. This was for iv med's, etc. She was in the hosp. til September. She also started using her peg tube for feeding, when the bleeding stopped. She was not able to eat very much. She was in remission though.This was all in 2000. On March 24, 2001 she married Eddie Coleman. They had such a beautiful wedding, to me it was a story book wedding. She was doing so much better at this time. Prior to that she had some of her bone marrow frozen in case she had a relapse. Anyway, she moved to Anchorage Alaska with Eddie. He was stationed there. He is in the Air Force. They were able to stay there for only a short time however, her leukemia came back in June 2001. She had to be flown to Washington State, to recieve care. She had to go through the three rounds of chemo again. Needless to say, there were also more IV's and pick lines, central lines, etc. placed. All went well with this time. Eddie was able to be stationed in WA for Christa's care. Christa went into remission! She was then planning on a bone marrow transplant to be done in Seattle. While she was going to Fred Hutch for the outpatient care, things that have to be done prior to transplant, she had another relapse. This was in the end of November 2001. So it was back in the hosp. for more treatments. This time the leukemia was pushing on her spine, causing her to have numbness from her waist down. So she had to have radiation to that area, which did help with the numbness. She also had more chemo. This time however, even after chemo & radiation, she still had the AML. So they decided to go ahead with the stem cell transplant. They also have to have a Hickman line placed for the chemo, transplant, med's & blood draw. This was placed in her chest. She had her transplant done on January 29, 2002. She also spent her 20th birthday in the hosp., along with all the holidays that were in between the time she was there. Everything went well with the transpant. She did have some Graft Versus Host (GVHD) of the skin. She had to be put back in the hosp. for a short time for that, because it had gotten worse. She also had PUVA, which is light theraphy, for the skin. She stayed in Seattle til May 2002. |
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