As of now, Makenzie is still waiting on her liver transplant. Her score has moved up slightly, but she is maxed out on all her medication for her weight. Part of her disease causes insatiable itching, a sensation she cannot get to or relieve. As time goes on, her itching increases, and it seems the medication helps less and less. At night and in the car she has to wear her “nunus” because in those situations, we cannot be right beside her to keep her from scratching. Her breathing has also become more labored in the past year and she receives daily breathing treatments from home. Though she does not like them, she has come to realize they help her and will actually ask for a breathing treatment when she needs it. She is so smart.

While she is battling many medical issues, she has not lost her love of learning and experiencing new things. She loves to sing songs and “read” books, but her favorite thing to do by far is paint. She has all different kids of paints and you can always find a new piece of paper on her little table each day. She has started to work on the alphabet, though she thinks it’s hilarious to say she doesn’t know the letters she has already learned. She even wrote her name on a piece of paper we could copy and send out on thank you notes for fundraisers. We will give her a pass on missing the “z” in her name since she did it all on her own 😉

The greatest recent adventure was her opportunity to go to KidSenses Children’s Interactive Museum. They allowed her to come on a day they are normally closed so she would not be exposed to the germs that come from being in public with a big crowd. Makenzie does not normally get to do special things like a museum visit so this was an incredibly special day for her. Check out the pictures in our gallery.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to support COTA for Team Makenzie fundraising efforts. Makenzie certainly has a village that has gathered around to bless her.