🏈 AJ and his girl story

[doemasters]

I missed this a few weeks ago but thought some of you might enjoy

Around 7:30 p.m. ET on Jan. 3, 2012, DeAndra Chapman wrote the following message on a CaringBridge page, a website that was providing family and friends with updates on the condition of her ailing 3-year-old daughter:
It is with an overwhelmingly heavy heart that I type this status. Today, after a seizure, Starla left us. And after two minutes of chest compressions she was revived. We later found that another ECHO showed even more decreased heart function than before. She is now on life support and we need a miracle!!!!!! I'm so hurt, and please don't ask any questions as I will not share any more information. I love my beautiful daughter with EVERY fiber of my being, GOD knows this, EVERYONE knows this. Please pray!!!! Pray for a MIRACLE!!!!
Starla Chapman was clinging to life as she battled acute myeloid leukemia, a rare form of cancer that starts in bone marrow and blood and progresses rapidly. Chemotherapy to fight the disease damaged Starla's heart so severely that it was functioning at only 6 percent capacity. After she flatlined on Jan. 3, 2012, and then was revived by the chest compressions, doctors at the University of South Alabama Children's and Women's Hospital in Mobile, Ala., put her in a medically induced coma to try to keep her alive.
"That night, they definitely told us to prepare for the worst," DeAndra said. "Her father was with her in the pediatric unit when she flatlined. He was holding Starla as she was getting ready to take her meds. He said she just locked up and her tongue fell out of her mouth. There was no heartbeat or blood pressure. I saw my husband shaking and crying. I knew something bad was happening."
Doctors gave DeAndra and Korey Chapman the worst possible prognosis: Without chemotherapy, Starla would die from the cancer that was ravaging her little body. But the chemotherapy would probably kill her, because her heart was so badly damaged.
"The doctors told us numerous times to call our families, pastors and friends to come see her because today was going to be the day," DeAndra said. "They told us if they wanted to see her, they needed to come to the hospital because she probably wasn't going to make it."

Click here to read the rest of the story

 

[cartag]

He's a good guy, by all indications.

 

[gumboman]

This is nothing new to AJ. He has always been one to spend meaningful time with kids less fortunate. Not because he had to. In high school, the kids are required so many hours of community service in order to graduate. AJ's community service was spent with less fortunate children. He never looked for any credit, as he is someone who truly enjoyed his time with the kids, and he knows they appreciated it. Starla is just another example of how these kids touch AJ's heart, and how AJ is a genuine guy who cares about those who can't help themselves. This guy wears his heart on his sleeve. Always has.

My daughter thinks its silly how people go crazy over AJ. She asked what the big deal is. She said "It's just AJ." Yet, when she sees him, she runs up to him and jumps into his arms, like a little sister hugging her brother, whom she has not seen in months. Not because he is the quarterback of her Daddy's favorite college football team, but because he hugs her back with the same love she hugs him with. He always has since he was a freshman in high school. My daughter could care less about football. She just wants to know that he is ok after the game, and when AJ is coming home.

 

[Kirk Van de Graaff]

What a beautiful young lady. Awesome story and very glad the little one pulled through, stories like this are what makes the world a better place. AJ will go down as one of the greats at Bama, and it is so great to see he is as good off the field as he is on it.