THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2008 09:26 PM, CST

Diego died in our arms surrounded by people who love him. He started having breathing problems the night before and went from 4 liters of oxygen on the nasal cannula to 10 liters with a mask. At one point his saturation was only 72 and his heart rate was falling to 87. He had been at 97- 98 breathing saturation and heart rate of 130's. He was working so hard to breathe. His heart rate went up to 183 and 100% saturation but still was struggling to breathe and it just did not stop. I think a tumor in his lung burst and took over what was left of his breathing space. We told him about an hour before he died he could rest now, that he could stop fighting. He said I want to fight. He was so loving up until the end. Leaving him cold and alone in his bed was the hardest thing we ever did. We know he was not in there but it is hard to except. We miss him so much but the gravity of the loss has not really sunk in so I imagine that this will get harder. For now we watch videos and look at pictures. We cry uncontrollably but also still laugh. It does not seem real.

Some people in life get dealt a hand seemingly so unfair as to be overwhelming, crushing even.

Its amazing the bravery Diego has shown in the face of Cancer. Most adults dont have that resolve.

Saddly it doesnt sound like is fight is over.

Wow, that's quite a kid. I see why he's your hero, Adam. Oh, and uh, what's up with the ghost legs?

GOOD NEWS! The lymph nodes and bone marrow are clean!! Pathology still shows embryonal subtype and 70% necrotic tissue! Me and Frank actually let out a huge sigh. I have a lot to say but not much time. Will update later tonight.

The next update is about how wonderful people have been to us already. Bringing lunch and dinners. At Frank's work people are donating there vacation days. One of his colleagues donated a whole week! Another is working on setting up a fund. Diego's preschool has offered to let us use the playground when school is out and the volunteer said she would clean a classroom for Diego to come and play when he can't attend school. Not to mention all the people who have told us that they are willing to help when we need it. It means so much to us and has brought us to tears. It gives us strength and hope knowing we have so much support and prayers all around us.

Diego received the coolest gift from our Parkcrest Teacher family. A giant T-Rex puppet. It is almost as big as Lilia. He LOVES it and said it is the best T-Rex he has ever seen and napped with it today. I'll have to post of picture of him with it. Last night I went to Mom's night at Diego's school and it was so precious. He made me a necklace. When I tried to help him he said I can do it myself. Then they sang the sweetest songs to us. We then all got together as a school and sang songs. I was glad we could go. Keep praying for us. Diego told me a friend in his class can do lots of cool things he cannot do on our way to the park today. He said he can do a handstand and I can't. He then broke down and cried. I told him there would be thing that he cannot do but that there will be things he will be able to do that others cannot and that his friends like him whether he can do a handstand or not. He said thank you and sang one of the song from the previous night, You are my Mommy (You are my Sunshine tune). It was really sweet. I knew he had these feelings and was really glad that he finally shared them with me. Keep praying for us. Especially Diego.

You know it is stuff like this that restores my hope for the climbing community and makes me proud to be a part of it!

Go Diego!

Thanx Marge, Brad, Todd, & Andrea for signing his guestbook... It meens a lot to him and his family to know that so many people care.

Diego's actually looking forward to getting a "robot arm"...
He's gonna be the bionic boy.

Not gonna lie, bionic arms are pretty friggen sweet. So is he definitely having the amputation?

MONDAY, MARCH 03, 2008 02:19 PM, CST
I'll start with Sea World. We had a nice time but Diego was really tired as he was in much pain the night before and woke about 3 times. He did sleep for an hour on the way to Sea World but apparently that was not enough. Our friend Julie bought us dine with Shamu tickets and he was so tired that he really did not enjoy the show until one of the orcas splashed him in the face! Then he was excited. Lilia loved it.

We met with the oncologist today and Diego's surgery will be next Wednesday to amputate his arm. We will have a 3-5 night stay depending on his pain. The oncologist proposes we follow up surgery with 6 months of chemotherapy using 2 drugs. Adriamyacin and Ifosfamide and possibly radiation later on to his lymph nodes. We will talk to Dr. Calderwood and see what he thinks. I'm a bit tired so that's all for now. Feel free to ask questions in the guestbook and my personal e-mail is: MichelleFuentes19@hotmail.com