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Sent: Monday, May 27, 2002 7:51 PM Dear Friends and Family,

They are going to transfer us to Lucille Packard Children's Hospital (LPCH) at Stanford tomorrow! We don't have all of the details yet, but we believe we will be taking an ambulance from Children's Hospital Los Angeles to Van Nuys airport. From there Kaitlyn and I will ride in a rented Lear Jet with a Registered Nurse, Respiratory Therapist and pilot. We will fly into Moffet Field in Mountain View and then take an ambulance to Stanford. We should be there by tomorrow evening. Brad and Kelly are going to drive and will probably leave before the plane does.

It has been a very long weekend. Instead of taking "baby steps" towards improvement the new saying is "one step forward, three steps backwards..." Kaitlyn had surgery Friday and they were able to detach the rest of her tongue from the roof of her mouth. They also removed her tonsils. There are still many adhesions and they still have not been able to look at the larynx, but they have informed the ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) surgeon at LPCH of Kaitlyn's condition and she will take over the case. Kaitlyn is still breathing on the ventilator and hopefully if the transfer goes smoothly we can wean her off of that later this week.

Yesterday they informed us that Kaitlyn has contacted an infection called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Here is the scoop: MRSA infection can develop in hospital patients who are elderly or very sick. Healthy people rarely get MRSA. Staphylococcus aureus, often referred to simply as "staph," is a bacteria commonly found on the skin of healthy people. Occasionally, staph can get into the body and cause an infection. This infection can be minor (such as pimples, boils, and other skin conditions) or serious (such as blood infections or pneumonia). Methicillin is an antibiotic commonly used to treat staph infections. Although methicillin is very effective in treating most staph infections, some staph bacteria have developed resistance to methicillin and can no longer be killed by this antibiotic. These resistant bacteria are called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. So once again, Kaitlyn has developed something that is rare and hard to treat. Because of this she is now in isolation and gowns and gloves are required in her room and have to be discarded before anyone leaves the room. We're not sure how this will effect having visitors at LPCH. She also has developed a urinary tract infection. So she was completely off all the anti-fungal and antibiotics medicines going into her IV's for one whole day and now she is back on two different antibiotics...

I made a typo in my last e-mail and said that Kaitlyn could see clearly when she opened her eyes. I meant to say she "could not" see clearly. She did open her eyes several times today and looked and Brad, me and two different nurses. It was the most progress she has made and was a huge step. She said she could see us, but we're really not sure what she could or could not see clearly.

She is a lot more active now and can with help roll onto her side and move her legs. She has stopped nodding and speaking much and now mostly points or squeezes our hand. She is very tired, scared and anxious and we are trying to keep things as quiet as possible for her. Of course with nurses and doctors coming in every hour for various things it is hard to do. She did not sleep much last night and Brad was at the hospital until 5:30 a.m. with her. We usually have one of us at the hospital from 7:00 a.m. until 1:00 a.m. She constantly wants us to hold her hand and just be there with her.

Brad said to end this on a positive note. We have taken down all of your wonderful cards and pictures from Kaitlyn's hospital room and are packing up our room at the Ronald McDonald House. We are headed home and we cannot wait to get there!!!! I said goodbye to some of the nurses tonight and they cried! We have promised to come back and visit and to send pictures. Hang tight and we'll let you know when you can come visit us.

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Please keep up your prayers for this family. They have a very long road ahead of them.