Happy Birthday Emma!

Last weekend, a birthday cake was made for a very special 9 year old. Her name is Emma Suzanne McDermott. You would look at her, and say, what makes her so special? Well, the fact that last year, we were not sure that her 9th birthday would even occur.

About 2 weeks before my wedding (married on 10/31/09), I received a call stating that Emma had been taken to Nationwide Children's Hospital. The squad had just beaten me to the ER. When they took me back, I could not believe my eyes. This tiny creature had been hooked up to every machine imaginable. We told her how brave she was, and that we were going to take her out for ice cream after the doctors looked her over. We told her how beautiful she was going to look as a flower girl in my wedding. Then the anesthesia kicked in and she was out. I would not hear her voice for a few weeks. Then various organs started shutting down. They put her on dialysis. We were told she wold be there for a while. The doctor sat us all down and said it would be a tough battle. She had an unknown infection and H1N1. He went on to say that as tough as it would be, as long as her brain was still communicating with the medical team, they could fix her, she would get thru this. Even with this, we still had that lingering voice in the back of all our heads. What if the unthinkable happened? We were told not to think this way, but it was pretty hard not to let that thought wander in that first week.  She was in PICU a few more weeks.

Then, she woke up....she was home before Christmas. What can I say, she was determined to see Santa.

Fast forward to last week. She was turning 9. She is a typical girl, and she is obsessed with Pokemon. So I made her this...

Chocolate cake with nutella buttercream. It was delightful, as was her party. That little girl means a lot to me. I will never let her forget that.
















Happy Birthday my love. Remember, as you get older, I hug harder.