Sticking Together Family supports each other in daughter’s fight

Just like any proud grandmother, Cheryl Rohr thumbs through the photos of her grandchildren stored on her digital camera. She stops at the one where twin baby girls are eating bright blue birthday cake.
“This was at the girls’ first birthday party,” Rohr said. “Leah was able to get off the ventilator that day for an hour and the first thing she got to eat was icing.”
Leah and Abigail McDaniel were born July 20, 2012, to Jimmie and Amanda (Converse) McDaniel in Tahlequah, Okla. Amanda is an Iola native and 2000 graduate from Iola High School.
While Abigail was born in perfect health, Leah was found to have hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare congenital heart disorder where the left side of the heart is not fully developed.
It is fatal if left untreated.
Immediately after the girls’ birth, Jimmie, Amanda and oldest daughter, Katie, now 10, were thrown into a whirlwind. Leah was flown to Children’s Hospital of St. Francis in Tulsa the night she was born. She spent the next 2½ months going through eight major surgeries.
On Oct. 14, she had a heart transplant in St. Louis.
Rohr said the family was able to be in their own home for the first time on Dec. 2, almost six months after the twins were born.
Although it was a relief to return home, difficult times still lay ahead.
Leah must be watched every minute and relies on a ventilator to breathe. Initially, she was fed through a small tube in her belly.
 “Jimmie and Amanda have to take turns staying up with her,” Rohr said.
Amanda stays home with Leah and her sisters full time. Jimmie can work only part time so he can come home and take over the caretaking responsibilities so Amanda can sleep. The McDaniels were forced to give up their home and move into a rental because hospital expenses drained all their resources.
While Leah was in the hospital her family stayed in the Ronald McDonald House in Tulsa and St. Louis. Her family has never left her side.
Amanda also home-schools Katie because the family’s frequent trips to health experts for Leah have wreaked havoc on any kind of public school calendar.
The twins turned a year old last month and Leah is improving, Rohr said. She is trying to crawl and learn to eat. Rohr said she is slowing moving off of the ventilator.

TO HELP the family with day-to-day expenses, Rohr and family members Rhonda Wilson and Rita Martin will have a multi-family benefit garage sale this Friday and Saturday and again on Aug. 30-31. Rohr said they have received a plethora of items through donations.
The sale will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 396 Oregon Rd. All proceeds will go to the McDaniel family in Welling, Okla.
If you wish to send something directly to the family or contact them you can do so through mail at Amanda and Jimmie McDaniel, 191775 Welling Rd., Welling, OK, 74471.
The family thanks those who have donated and their items are much appreciated. If you are unable to donate, Rohr said, “That’s all right. Just a simple prayer would be appreciated.”