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Update from 12-01-00: Well it's closing in on Christmas. Dee has a huge list, but only one type of toys.... You guessed it, Barbies. She decided that she wants anything Barbie. We hope to have a great Christmas, and will post some pics of Christmas morning as soon as we can. Dee is still doing great in school, and recently walked 255 feet in her braces before getting worn out, whew! Check back later for more updates, and thanks for the mail, she loves it. Update from 12-21-00: "Hello Friend," It's Saturday, and the kids just got out of school for the next 2 weeks for Christmas Vacation. We put up Danielle's new kindergarten picture, and isn't she beautiful !!! Her Christmas list includes: the Barbie Bug, the Barbie Rock-n-Roll house, and alot of other Barbie stuff. Check out Dee's New Piture Page for more pics of Dee and her Family. Our next update will be after Christmas, so Happy Holidays to you all.... Update from 02-28-01: Danielle had a wonderful Christmas. She got so many toys, she didn't know which to play with first. Shortly after Christmas, Dee got sick. She got Bronchitis, Tonselitis, and had high fever. She spent 3 weeks at home from school, and in and out of the doctors office and hospital. As of today, she is back to 90% and feeling great! It was a hard past month, and Dee thanks all of you for the prayers, and kind thoughts. We will update again in March, so keep visiting. Update from 04-03-01: Danielle has been doing great! She has been practicing walking in here RGO braces, and walked 500 feet the other day! This come from a little girl that they say would never walk again. Guess she showed them! He gets worn out really quickly, and can only last about an hour in the braces, but she doesn't want to stop trying. We hope by the time she starts school next year, she will be out of her wheel chair, and be able to last all day in her braces. Keep praying for her, and she can DO IT!!!. Update from 07-28-01: Well, we had a great vacation in Florida. Danielle spent 2 whole weeks just chilling out under the Florida sun, and getting a nice tan. We spent one whole day at Sea World, and Danielle got to see the whales, and almost got to touch a dolphin. We also spent one day at the beach, making sand castles and getting sand dollars. We just picked up her New RGO braces, and Dee will start using them this weekend. They are a smaller version of the originals, but will take a whole lot of getting used to. Dee says "HI!" and "See you soon." Update from 11-03-01: "Hello Friend," PRINCIPALS LIST!! We knew she was smart, but WOW! Danielle got all A's on her first report card, and she was excited! She also won a 3rd place trophy at her schools Fall Carnival for dressing up like her favorite singer, Britany Spears. She was beautiful, pics coming soon! See ya later! Update from 02-26-02: "Hello Friend," PRINCIPALS LIST AGAIN!! So far Danielle has been doing SUPER in school! We had a wonderful Christmas, and Dee got just about everything she asked for. She is also looking forward to going to the Transverse Myelitis Workshop in Columbus Ohio. It is scheduled for July 18-21, 2002. We are also following some legislation in the House of Representatives, that would assist families with vaccine associated diseases. It would change the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Ask your congressman about HR 1287 IH, and ask for their support. See ya later! Update from 07-27-02: "Hello Friend," Well, it's been a while since our last update. We just got back from the TMA's Children's Workshop in Columbus, and Danielle had a blast! She got to meet alot of other kids, just like her! Dee made friends with 3-4 other little girls her age, who are also in wheelchairs. They all went to the Columbus Zoo, and had a wonderful time. They also spent a day at COSI, a Columbus science museum. We have a bunch of picture, and I will post them in a few days, until then, Dee says,"See ya later!" Update from 10-22-02 "Hello Friend," It's been a busy few months. Danielle recently had a bad bout with bronchitis, but is starting to recover. Luckily we caught it before it went into pneumonia. She hated missing school for a week, but she is back in the swing of things again. We had many sleepless nights, helping her cough, and getting her comfortable enough to sleep, but she is doing alot better now, and should be back to normal in a few days. She also is expecting her new RGO braces in a few days, and will be learning to "walk" in them all over agin. She was up to several hundred feet of "walking" at the end of last school year, but outgrew her braces over the summer. We will update again in about a month. Thanks! Update from 12-29-02 "Hello Friend," Danielle had a wonderful Christmas! Santa brought her a Barbie Train and Barbie Mini Van. She also got a "Baby Annabell" that can cry and burp, and drink from her bottle. Danielle is a very good "mommy" and loves her new baby. She also got several new video games for her Play Station, and overall, she was extremely happy. We will try to update again in about another month. See Ya! Update from 05-19-03 "Hello Friend," Well, Danielle just had her 8th birthday! Can you believe it? She had a wonderful time, and got some more "Baby Annabelle" clothes and a diaper bag. She just loves taking care of he babies! She is such a good "mommy". We are updating the pics page, so check back to see new pics of our "Little Angel". See ya! Update from 10-21-03 "Hello Friend," Danielle has been busy! As you have seen above, she just got a brand new Quickie Wheel Chair, and she loves it! It is "Electric Purple", and has front wheels that lite up when she rolls! It is 10 pounds lighter, so Danielle is having alot easier time moving around in it. She also has grown so much, she had to get some new RGO braces. We hope to get her up and moving around in them in a few weeks. It is so hard for her to get used to new braces, but we have faith! See ya later! Update from 01-28-04 "Hello Friend," Danielle got FACULTY LIST! She also just had her first full dosage of BoTox on her legs. This is an experimental phase, combined with intense physical therapy, to see if she can improve her leg strength. Her Neurologist is injecting BoTox to temporarily paralize certain muscle groups, so her therapist can concentrate on the opposing muscles. They hope that combined with the intense therapy, this will eventually strengthen her leg muscles, so she can walk. I guess we will see... See ya later! Update from 07-06-04 "Hello Friend," It has been a long time since our last update, and lots of cool stuff has happened. We moved into a bigger house, so Danielle has plenty of room to move around in her chair. She has a huge new room, and loves her new neighborhood. We all had a blast on vacation, and Danielle got soaked, visiting Shamu at Sea World. Check back in a few months for more updates. See ya later! Update from 08-30-04 "Hello Friend," Well, Danielle has just started at her new school, and she loves it. There are several other kids in wheelchairs, and she has made a bunch of new friends. She has been enjoying being able to go to PE, Music and loves her new Art class! We are planning on going to Memphis Motorsports Park in October, to see Dee's favorite NASCAR driver, Michael Waltrip, who drives the "Aarons Dream Machine" #99, and the NAPA #15 for D.E.I. Racing. She just wants a chance to see him "go round in circles" and "whoop some butt." She loves seeing "Mikey" race, and this is the closest to Memphis that "Mikey" will be getting. We hope we can go into the pits, to try to get an autograph. Wish her luck! See ya later! Update from 03-19-05 "Hello Friend," Well, last week, Danielle got to see Michael Waltrip's #15 Show car in person. We had to drive down to Olive Branch MS to see it, but it was well worth the trip. Danielle was so excited to see the car up close, and to touch it! She was in awe, saying, "Mikey sat right here, Daddy!" I took a bunch of pics, and will load them when I get a chance. Our vacation this year is going to be awesome! We will start out by spending 3 days in Moorseville NC seeing DEI and all the race shops. We have a tour scheduled to see 7 different shops, and can't wait to visit DEI's "Garage-mahal." From there, we are going to spend 4 days in Washington DC. We felt it was the perfect time for the kids to see all the sites. We will be sure to take plenty of pics, and update as soon as we get back, until then, See ya later! Update from 04-25-05 "Hello Friend," WOW! Danielle finally met "Mikey!" Michael Waltrip came to Memphis on April 20th with his NAPA #15 Chevy for an autograph session, and Danielle was first in line! When "Mikey" arrived, he came up to Danielle first, and chatted with her as he signed her 2 Diecast cars. She was so excited to meet him, she forgt to give him the blanket she had helped her mommy make! We eventually got a chance to give it to "Mikey" and he was very gracious, and even used it to sit on the rest of the day (he said it was alot more comfortable than the chair!) Thanks "Mikey" for making Dee's year! She still has a huge smile, that just won't go away.... See ya later! Update from 11-10-05 WOW! Check out Danielle's New Site! "Hello Friend," It's been a BUSY SUMMER! Danielle had a super vacation that included a trip to Mooresville NC to visit all the NASCAR Race Shops (including DEI). From there, we spent several days in Washington DC, where we had private tours of all the major sites, even the White House! Danielle even got to ride on the Presidents elevator, and took a shortcut through the Presidents kitchen! We will be adding some recent photos soon, so check back! THANK YOU MAKE-A-WISH! Danielle has been granted a wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and we can't thank everyone enough for this opportunity! Danielle made a wish to go to Hawaii, and they have made it come true! She told us she wanted to go to Hawaii, because she saw a Mary-Kate and Ashley movie where they had a huge Luau, and she wanted to lounge on the beach and have "a cabin boy bring her little drinks with umbrella's in them." Looks like she will get her wish in March 2006, with an 8 day super trip to the Hawaiian Islands! We will be taking tons of pics, so check back soon.... See ya later!" Update from 03-30-06 WOW,WOW,WOW! I just don't know what else we can say! Danielle's Make-A-Wish trip was fun! She got her first ever airplane rides going to Hawaii, and she loved it. Delta Airlines lost Danielle's seat to her wheelchair going from Atlanta to Honolulu, but we overcame that, and still had a good time. We now have a new one ordered, so Danielle will be comfortable again in a few weeks. I guess whomever took the other seat needed it more than she did! The condo in Kona was huge, and was right next to a little pond with a waterfall. You could see the Pacific Ocean and Mt. Hualalai from the private porch, and the sunsets were amazing! The helicopter trip over the Kilauea Volcano was really cool. Danielle did great, but her dad and brother got air sick! Yuk! Seeing the volcano spewing smoke and lava was awesome! The "Whale Watch Boat Cruise" was also fun, but unfortunately, we didn't get to see any whales like Danielle wanted to. The luau was also fun, but due to heavy rain that night, it had to be moved indoors, so we didn't get to see the whole big show. The beaches were great! We spent one day at Hapuna Beach, one of the highest rated beaches in the world. It was beautiful, but due to bad weather the day before, the water was a little too muddy and salty for Danielle's liking. She preferred the fresh water pool at the condo. We also spent a day at "Hawaii's Volcano's National Park." We got to see Kilauea up close, saw some active steam vents, recent lava flows, and even went down "Chain of Craters Road" until it dead-ended into an old lava flow. It was really neat to see the road just end under lava! To make up for some of the things that didn't go as planned, we found a great place in the Hilton across from our condo. It was a place called "Dolphin Quest." She got to spend 20 minutes swimming, feeding and petting 3 dolphins in a lagoon with her mother and a trainer. It was Awesome! Be sure to check out Danielle's "Picture Page" for a few pics of our trip. Now we can look forward to 2007's trip to the Victory Junction Gang Camp with TMA! "See ya later!" Update from 07-24-06 Well, Danielle has had a nice relaxing Summer. not much has been happening, but she has discovered how much fun the Internet is! She loves the kids Chat rooms, and thanks to KOL (Kids AOL), they are all moderated by adults, and very safe! She starts school in a few weeks, and is looking forward to being in Middle School! Wow, how time flies! She will be attending the same school as her brother Chad, so we hope the will get along. Danielle's big brother Anthony is leaving for the Marine Corps next week, so everybody wish him good luck! We will update again after school starts, so check back next month! "See ya later!" Update from 01-06-07 Wow, Danielle is growing! She loves her new school, and her favorite class is Choir. She has been to 3 dances, and has been having a great time! Christmas was great, and Danielle got lots of clothes and jewelry. She must have gotten 30 pairs of ear-rings! Her big brother came home from the Marine Corps for Christmas, and bought both kids iPods, and now Danielle doesn't go anywhere without her pink iPod. Make sure you check out the pics page, we added a bunch of new photos. Now we can looking forward to going to The Victory Junction Gang Camp in August! "See ya later!" Update from 09-04-07 WOW! Victory Junction Gang Camp was awesome! Danielle got to meet 23 other families with kids who have TM, and got to make several friends! She had a blast and got to do alot of cool stuff! Her favorite thing was fishing. This was Danielle's first time, and she caught 15 fish in 2 days! She also made lots of arts and crafts, bowled, did archery, and kicked back in the pool. It was a great trip, and we thank all the people who made this trip possible! Check out Danielle's "Pics" page for updated photos of all the action. "See ya later!" Update from 01-29-08 Wow, it's been a busy few months! The photo above is from our visit to Michael Waltrip's Race World in North Carolina. Danielle got to take a "Behind the scenes look" at the shop! Christmas was great! Danielle got a bunch of new clothes and a new digital camera. Right after Christmas, Danielle's big brother got married! The wedding was beautiful, and Danielle was sad to lose her "Bubba." Danielle then realized she was getting a big sister in the deal! Check out the new photos, and see pics of Danielle, her "Bubba" and her new big sister! "See ya later!" Update from 06-21-08 It's been a few months, but Danielle is doing great! She finished the 7th grade and looking forward to being in the 8th. Summer is going good, and she loves spending time on MySpace and her cell phone. Texting is her new favorite thing, if she's not on the Internet! We have ordered a new wheelchair and should get it before school starts in August (boy are they getting expensive, but she sure needs a new one!) We are going to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge next month, so look forward to her next update with pics from the trip. Until then... "See ya later!" Update from 11-27-08 Well, right now this update is coming from LeBonheur Children's Medical Center. Danielle had surgery on Tuesday Novenber, 4, 2008, and is recovering. She had 2 major surgeries in one, The MACE Procedure and the Mirofanhoff Procedure. Both were performed so that eventually she can take care of her own personal needs. We did get her new wheelchair last month, and it's great! We will post some pics when we get a chance, and after her recovery. Pray for her in the meantime, it will be a tough few months. Until her next update... "See ya later!" Update from 03-09-09 Wow, it's been a rough few months. Danielle is recovering well, but it hasn't been easy. She is healing well, and the surgery went well. She is back in school, doing great, but will have to take alot of medicine for the rest of her life. There is some good news, she got her new power wheel chair! It's a Neutron R51, and she is having a blast! She zips around school and the house like a NASCAR pro! We can't even keep up with her at the mall, so now we have to wear our running shoes while shopping. We will update later, until then..."See ya later!" All Rights Reserved © 1996-2008 Danielle Troup, and Little Angel Inc.
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Danielle is our 13 year old little girl that has Transverse Myelitis (TM). She became very sick at 9 months old, and was paralyzed from the neck down. Shortly after that, she was diagnosed with TM. Through intense Physical Therapy and Botox therapy over the last 12 years, she has regained 90% use of her left arm and hand, but only has 70% movement of her right arm and hand. She has no voluntary movement or muscle control from the waist down, but she can move her big toe on her right foot. She isn't able to use leg her leg braces anymore, but we hope she will grow stronger as she grows older. She is now confined to a wheel chair, but has the spirit to change the world.... watch your toes, here she comes !!! If you didn't hear her, then turn up your volume, and reload this page to hear Danielle welcome you by saying,"Hello Friend!"