Amber Giles

We are still moving forward with Amber. She did have a few seizures last night but they feel like they can control these ones and they are still moving forward waking her up. She will open her eyes, though she is not very coherent yet. She can't talk or respond (like we thought she might be able to last night) and her eyes aren't yet focusing. But we believe she is listening. We are all grateful for anything we can get. She could be waking up throughout the week (or longer) just a little at a time.

We are still confident and have faith she will make a full recovery, but we have a ways to go. It's definitely a miracle that she is where she is right now. It's just going to continue to take time.

Thank you once again for the continued love and support you show our family and for your prayers for her full recovery!

"Let all those praying know that Sleeping Beauty has awakened. Our Heavenly Father has given us a miracle." ~Julie (mom)

This evening Amber is awake and somewhat responsive. This waking up business is a process which still will take a lot of time, but her eyes have opened and she can hear us. The doctors are watching her and are very pleased with her amazing progress today. We are too!

Please know how much your prayers, fasting, love, and positive thoughts mean to us. Thank you for joining with us in calling down the healing powers of heaven. We are most certainly witnessing a true miracle and it is absolutely incredible.

Things are still going very well today! She is showing all the signs of waking up (which can be a long process). She's coughing even now and then. Although she's still intubated at the moment, she is breathing all on her own. She even just opened her eyes all the way. She's just itching to wake up - you can tell! We are overjoyed!

She started running a bit of a fever today, but it looks like they seem to have that under control. Things are looking up. She's made a huge step in this process and we couldn't be more thrilled and optimistic!

Keep up the prayers. We are witnessing nothing short of a miracle here. She certainly is a special woman.

Amber has done very well warming up after the cryo therapy machine was turned off at around 1pm yesterday afternoon. The coma-inducing medication was turned off at about 1030am, so she was warming up/waking up without that medication.

This is the furthest she has come with no seizure activity. Her brain activity is looking better than it did last night, but still has a ways to go. She has had more eye flickering and coughing, which just means she is waking up.

It's still a long road before she wakes up but this is a huge step to go that long without seizing. The doctor is very pleased with her progress.

Keep those prayers coming to continue to normalize her brain activity and to sustain her as she is waking up. We are so grateful to you for joining your prayers with ours!

We just wanted to take a moment to express our gratitude and appreciation for all of the prayers and the fasting that have been offered on Amber's behalf. We believe our Father in Heaven hears every prayer, and He is very aware of her critical situation. We also appreciate so much the special comments made to and for Amber on this blog. We cannot read them without it bringing tears of gratitude to our eyes. It is indeed clear to us that Amber has made many great friends, and that these friends stand ready and willing to do all they can to help our dear daughter.

Please know that we believe Amber is receiving excellent care. At this point the doctors are again trying to bring Amber out of the induced coma. It is a critical time and we are hoping and praying that this time (if it is His will) the Lord will see fit to bring her back to us. Again we are confident that He hears every prayer, so please continue to add your prayers with ours.

In the hospital Amber is being called Sleeping Beauty. The doctors' ultimate goal is to wake her up without seizures. And so today the doctors have taken her off the machine that keeps her core body temperature so low, in hopes that as her body warms up naturally, and the coma inducement medication is removed, her brain waves will regulate and allow our Sleeping Beauty to awaken.

Thank you again for your love and concern. Faith does not become great until it is exercised. As Amber's parents, we pray that we will all continue to show our Father in Heaven how much we want Amber to remain with us, and that we let Him know that we have placed Amber's care in His loving hands, and trust in His divine wisdom.

Love...Greg and Julie Helm

We love Amber so much

I know all of you are eagerly awaiting news, so I just wanted to let you know that the doctors have extended the cold treatment, which she has responded to very well, beyond the 24-hour mark. Last night, they were keeping her brain very calm at a Level 2 on the pentobarbital, which is good. The doctors are meeting this morning to decide the next step.

Amber and JP's mission president offered these comforting words:

"We may at times wonder about the events that unfold in our lives and the lives of friends and loved ones and for some, questions come to mind. How blessed are we, that we do not question the Lord and that we know of an eternal plan and that nothing goes by unseen by Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. They are watching. We all are praying and the miracle of divine communication blesses our lives. Amber is in safe hands as we each exercise faith and have hope for her complete recovery."

Thank you for your continued prayers. We feel them and hope that you do too.

We would like to invite all of you to join with us in a family fast tomorrow (Thursday) for Amber. We believe that fasting combined with sincere prayer can strengthen us spiritually, bring us closer to God, and help us prepare ourselves and others to receive His blessings. Amber needs His blessings.

The most recent procedures they have been doing have not had the positive outcome we had hoped for. Amber began having seizures again this morning when they tried to wake her up. The doctors are trying a new procedure today where they put her body into a state of hypothermia for 24 hours. They are hoping that this will reset her brain and that the seizures will not return when they bring her temperature back up.

Thank you for your many prayers. Please continue to pray for her and join in our fast. We need a miracle. As Amber would say, "We just need to have faith."

Amber has been handling the new treatments very well. Her brain activity was a little higher than it has been, but this is to be expected during this new procedure. The doctors will likely not try to wake her up again for at least a few more days, so they are keeping her meds elevated for right now. But things seem to be going well so far.

Thank you for your continued prayers! She needs them. We are certainly not the only family who is dealing with such a trying situation. Looking around the hospital, it wouldn't take long to find many others who are deep in the trenches of difficult times. But the support we feel from you and from your prayers is unmatched, and for that we are extremely grateful.

You, our friends, family, and neighbors who are reading and following Amber's story literally number into the thousands! This is incredibly humbling. Your love and support buoy us up. To have such an incredible support group - a group of people who so dearly love Amber and want her to get better, just as we do, is amazing. We feel your love and your unrelenting prayers and cannot thank you enough.

We've had a bit of a breakthrough this morning!

Amber's had more tests, scans, and screens than just about anybody has ever had, many so obscure that the nurses hadn't even heard of some of them. And today, we've had a breakthrough!

The doctors now feel like they know what they are dealing with and will be changing up some of their procedures which will be taking place over the next few days. So they will be keeping Amber at a steady Level 1.5 while they change course a bit.

The doctors are VERY positive now that we know what we're dealing with! Your diligent prayers are working in Amber's favor. Thank you!

The doctors are attempting to wake Amber up again this weekend, and this morning her eyelids fluttered and she has coughed! This means she is waking up. Keep praying that this will continue to go smoothly!

Yesterday, they had her down to a Level 2 of the pentobarbital (the coma-inducing medication), which has been allowing a lot more brain activity. They are trying to keep her calm and trying to gradually pull her out again. The doctors allowed JP to put some headphones in her ears with classical music playing quietly to assist in keeping her calm.

This morning the nurse said her brain is even more active than yesterday, but they didn't say that they were seizures necessarily. Hopefully, they'll be able to take her down to a Level 1 this morning and .5 by tonight. Then completely off tomorrow.

Sorry for the delay in updates. As we've mentioned before, this is a process, and sometimes there isn't a lot of new news.

Amber has been successful at keeping the temperature away. The coma-inducing medication can be pretty harsh, and sometimes it seems that you're treating the symptoms of the treatment and not the symptoms of the true cause. But yesterday and today were looking better.

Again, all of the scans she keeps having of different areas of her body and different organs, continue to come back favorable. She looks good. This is positive, but they feel that waking her up from this coma will allow them to focus on any problems, if any, that they aren't able to see while she's sleeping.

To aid in bringing her out without seizures, they are going to use an anti-convulsion medication. Hopefully, that works well. They just want to wake her up and take her body off the pentobarbital because of the sometimes uncomfortable side effects. They feel if they can control the seizures and get her to wake up, that this would be best for her right now. The neurologist/EEG specialist will be watching her closely. If things get too intense, I'm sure they will put her back under and start the process again. Let's pray that we don't have to do that this time.

Please keep your prayers coming. Thank you so much! We'll keep you updated.

Good news - no fever last night with no fever-reducing medication. This is great!

Another positive development is that beginning last night, the nurses were able to lower the blood pressure medication, which is keeping her blood pressure elevated to a healthy level. This means that her body is doing a little more work on its own. This is definitely a good sign.

Today, she was receiving the coma-inducing meds at a steady Level 4. To give you some idea what that means, it will help to know that she was at a Level 4 on Sunday afternoon (after the first attempt at waking her up) and then they gradually decreased the medication again to a Level 2 by Monday night. Yesterday, when they tried to continue lowering the meds below a Level 2 and she began seizing, they raised her back up to a Level 5 to calm her brain. So today, they brought her back down to a Level 4.

Once again, we have to remind ourselves that the doctors said this would be a process. They'll calm her brain again to a point when they feel like they can try weaning her off the meds again, and try again to wake her up without any seizure activity. The doctors remain hopeful and positive.

Everything else looks good today.

We can't thank you enough for your continued prayers, thoughts, love and for sharing that with us through the comments on this blog. It has been so uplifting to read your thoughts and know of your love for Amber. We thank you. Now let's just pray a little harder that Amber will wake up for us soon.

Things have been a little slow the past two days. The doctors have had her on a Level 2 of the medication that keeps her under, down from a Level 4 on Sunday afternoon. Today, they decreased it even more and she began having seizures. Back up again, to protect her brain and let it rest. They'll try again another day.

She is still running a fever of about 101. They have given her medication to bring down the fever, along with icing her. She also has a fan up in her room pointed at her. They are successful in cooling her down for a little while, but then the fever spikes again and the process starts over.

A fever is your body's defense mechanism and is typically indicative of an infection. The doctors will be running more tests to try to figure out where the infection is that they haven't been able to reach yet. It seemed that the antibiotics were improving the infection (the abscesses) in her abdomen, but clearly there is something else going on as well.

From Sheri: "Sorry there isn't great news, but the doctors are still very positive. When we find the infection, we have every hope she will come out of it 110 percent again."

Yesterday, Amber spiked a fever of 101.6°F. By last night it was down to 99.4°F. They were glad it came down a bit, but she continues to stump them today because it's still hanging on. Originally they thought it might be an allergic reaction to one of the medications, but now they are not really certain. So all the doctors are still consulting to see if they can find the cause of the fever.

The doctors continue to check and recheck just about everything, and it all remains pretty stable. So this is good.

We'll update you, as we learn more or if there are any changes. We continue to be very hopeful.

We are overwhelmed and humbled by the outpouring of love and concern for Amber. She is such a special person and has clearly affected so many of you in a positive way. We love her and are so grateful for your love for her. Thank you!

Amber is back under the coma-inducing medication for at least the next 24-48 hours. The doctors believe the cause of the seizing is the infection, but sometimes it's hard to really pinpoint what the true source of a seizure is. It could just be a coincidence. It's just not always apparent. What the doctors do know is that the antibiotics are working. The infection is improving and the inflammation numbers are down. All of her other tests are coming back with favorable results. The doctors feel like we are on the right road.

At this point, we don't know how long things are going to take to reset. This can sometimes be a long process. The good thing is she is stable. Nothing seems to be getting worse and no additional symptoms have shown up. They are watching her for any changes and we feel they are on top of things. They are protecting her brain with the coma and that is what is important. We are just going to wait for her to heal more. They have had success with this process, but sometimes it just takes a little longer.

Over the next 24-48 hours they will continually monitor her brain waves, watching for improvement and when they feel like there has been enough improvement, they will try again to bring her out. If she starts to seize again as she comes off the meds, then we will just repeat this same process all over again.

Everyone is discouraged that she didn't wake up today, but it's not the end of the world. This is just a process and we have to be patient. We feel positive that she will pull through. She is strong. We just have to get her body ready to accept her mind. So we are just going to wait for her body to heal. We continue to be extremely hopeful and thankful for your love and prayers.

As much as I would like to have better news, it kills me to tell you that she started seizing again and they had to put her back under for 24-48 hours. I'll keep you updated.

The doctors took Amber off the coma-inducing meds today! They anticipate the medication will be out of her system within 15+ hours. She is expected to start waking up sometime in the middle of the night tonight! Yes, I said waking up! Obviously, the doctors' main concern right now, is that she does not begin having any seizure activity, so they are monitoring everything very closely as they wake her up.

As of about 7:30 this evening, things were looking really good. As the medication began wearing off, the monitors showed a lot of normal brain activity. There were some erratic brain waves, but they were minimal and not conducive with seizure activity, according to the neurologist. Also, the infection is showing vast improvement from the antibiotics, which is very encouraging.

So far so good!

I can hardly wait to get an update tomorrow morning. I bet you can't wait either. I'll be sure to update you, as soon as I can!

I know many of you are checking back for an update. Just lots of doctors and lots of checking. We'll let you know when there is new news to share.

Thank you again for your continued prayers. JP and the family are reading your comments and I know they feel your love and prayers. They are uplifted by your words and by the Spirit, as your prayers are at work. Keep them coming!

Heavenly Father is a God of Miracles. He hears each and every one of our prayers. Many of you continue to ask if there is anything else "besides praying" that you can do to help. Our answer to this is simply, your prayers are truly what is needed. It may seem a small and simple gesture, but we know that by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass.

Great things have already come to pass. People who do not regularly pray, are praying. People who do not believe, are finding hope. People are reevaluating their faith and priorities. And THAT, my friends, is a miracle.

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7: 7-11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." (Bible Dictionary-Prayer)

Amber is doing what she does best. She is literally uniting people across the world. She is teaching us about faith and prayer, and the power in collectively calling down the healing powers of heaven. Our love, thoughts, and prayers seem to multiply exponentially when we join together.

As a dear friend in Lithuania wrote, "Amber is a fighter! Even when she is sleeping she is helping people to learn something. I know that God lives! Amber helped me to get to know that. She is a tool that God uses to bless people. I pray for her fervently! The seed which with her help was seeded in my heart, in so many Lithuanian and all others ARE GROWING!"

Amber is giving us an opportunity to practice our faith and allow it to grow. Let us take this opportunity to band together for her sake and we will see miracles happen.

The results of the MRI/CT Scan today show that the infection in Amber's abdomen has spread to her liver. She now has a large abscess in her liver and also possibly behind her uterus. They have broadened her antibiotics to cover the infection in these areas and are calling in a surgeon to drain and remove the abscess, to get to the heart of the infection faster. They will leave her under longer to protect her body and allow it focus on healing. They also do not want to wake her up until they have this infection under control because they are worried about her having more seizures during this process. While this news sounds rather alarming, we're hopeful that they have found the problem they were looking for and are able to really treat the root cause.

Directly from her family: "We need your prayers everyone, so keep praying. Please ask everyone to pray for her. We need to keep our faith strong and believe that God can and will work miracles. Please pass this information along to her family and friends."

Thank you SO much for your prayers, concern, and love.

Today was scheduled to be the day the doctors would begin waking Amber up, but their plan has changed slightly.

Since the doctors were still unsure about the cause of the severe seizure activity Amber was having, the doctors brought in a couple of specialists last night and this morning to examine Amber and her case. They ran some additional tests and believe they found an infection in Amber's abdomen. They have started her on three heavy duty antibiotics. Since they think the infection may have been causing the seizures, they have decided to wait one more day to wake her up, which will allow the antibiotics another full 24 hours to begin working. Amber is scheduled for an MRI of her abdomen today, so hopefully that will provide some more concrete information for the doctors to go on.

With this new development, the doctors now plan to begin weaning her off the coma-inducing medication tomorrow, Friday. With the half-life of the meds being at least 15 hours, we expect to start seeing a more visible change by tomorrow evening, but it could be well into Sunday before the meds are completely out of her system.

The doctors continue to be hopeful, which of course is promising news to us, because she is normally a very healthy person with no history of seizures or other major health problems. They have also said, that despite the many tubes and machines she is hooked up to and how uncomfortable she may seem, she is actually very comfortable. This was happy news.

Amber is a fighter. I'm certain she is just (im)patiently waiting for the doctors to give her body the cue that it's time to begin waking up.

Thank you SO much for all your love and concern. So many of you have asked what more you can do to help besides pray. Honestly, all of your positive thoughts, prayers, and love are so important right now. I know Amber is able to feel your prayers and love, and we can too. So thank you.

As you can imagine, JP and the family have been bombarded with phone calls from people who truly care about Amber and her family. This blog has been set up to alleviate the phone and text updates and allow JP and the family to update everyone at one time, saving time that is more wisely spent at Amber's side. Visits are being kept to family only at this time, but if anyone has any letters or messages for Amber or the family, please feel free to use the comment section of this blog and we'll be happy to deliver them. They will be very much appreciated!

Additional updates and posts about Amber can be found here.

For those closest to Amber,

We are all heartbroken by Amber's current situation, and this is a way we can all share in what has happened and what will be coming for the our family.

On Saturday August 7, 2010, Amber hadn't been feeling well. She had a headache she just couldn't get rid of. She hadn't been sleeping well because Kayla her daughter had fallen off their bed and broken her arm a few weeks earlier. The break had been so severe that Amber had to lay by her and keep her on her back all night. JP was worried about Amber and told her he would keep the kids for the night and she could sleep in the guest bedroom. A little while later JP went to check on Amber and she was sprawled half on and half off the bed and he couldn't wake her up. He then dialed 911 and the paramedics took Amber by ambulance to the hospital. En route she stopped breathing and they successfully revived her. She also had a visible seizure en route to the hopital and one shortly after arriving where again she stopped breathing. This time they put a breathing tube in and began running tests to see what was wrong. She was responding to pain, but that was all. She never woke up or responded to anything else.

After a myriad of tests Amber was transferred on Sunday to another hospital, where she could be seen by a neurologist. There they did a few more tests to rule out any soft tissue damage or trauma that could have been missed. All of the tests came back normal. She was healthy in every other way. The doctor then ordered and EEG that measures the activity in the brain. After the hour and 1/2 test the told us that she was having massive seizures one right after another. They gave her a drug called propthol to try to stop the seizures. The doctor said they needed to bring her brain activity to it's lowest point and try to reset her brain. The hope was for her the seizures to stop after the reset.

After waiting the 12 hours they hooked her back up to the EEG and found she was still having seizures. They then began a different drug to slow the brain activity on Monday evening. She has responded as they were hoping on this drug. Her brain activity has been kept to a minimum and they will try to slowly bring her back tomorrow morning. The doctors are very hopeful with how extremely healthy she is and because she has no other history of seizures that she will return 100%. As a family we are continually praying for this.

We so appreciate all the love and prayers for Amber. She is truly the most easy to love person I have ever been around. She has friends praying for her all over the world. Hopefully this blog will give us all a way to share in the love and hope for a quick turn a round and recovery for a dear loved one and friend.
~Sheri