By By MARCIA STEFFENS / Dowagiac Daily News
EDWARDSBURG – If it takes a village to raise a child, the entire community has joined forces to help Teigan Donoho in her fight for life.
Teigan was born 10 weeks early on Sept. 23, 2005, suffering a large stroke, bleeding on the brain and brain seizures.
After being told she would likely never walk, she was found to have childhood cancer neuroblastoma.
"It was overwhelming" to learn she would not walk, her mother Carla (McClure) Donoho said. Now she added, "That was small." She and her husband, Todd, wished it was just that when the cancer was found.
There seemed to be no hope after a tumor on her kidney was removed and she was filled with more tumors at stage four and the first round of chemotherapy failed to show any improvement.
Then Carla got a phone call of good news. All 10 to 12 lesions were gone, except one spot after the second round. Todd was in New York on a side job, right before Thanksgiving.
"I was crying so hard, he thought it was bad news," she said of her phone call to him.
Just two weeks prior, they had little hope the second four rounds of treatment would work and had discussed possible transplants and even to be prepared for the worse.
"We don't want to think about those conversations," she said.
The Donohos were reluctant to again be recipients of the Lewis Cass Intermediate School District (LCISD) Adopt-A-Family program.
Last year, with everything they had been through, the program made Christmas possible.
Todd had been laid off. With all the baby's health problems, they welcomed the help.
When they didn't turn in the paperwork this year, Dawn Adam from the ISD called them. People want to help, they were told, even though they had received so much already.
"A lot of people need it more," they said. "This makes you think of those who have it worse."
"We can't wait until we are in a situation where we can adopt a family," Carla said.
Last year, Carla took her older daughter to a woman's care shelter and donated some women's hygiene products, to show her daughter it is important to help others.
It is a lesson she plans on continuing to teach, adding her other daughter when she is old enough to understand.
They feel they have already received the greatest gift they could, "another Christmas with Teigan," Todd said.
Madelyne will be also receiving this year, what to her is also a wonderful gift. She is being adopted by Todd, whom is the only father she has ever known.
"He is the best dad I have ever seen," Carla said. "I believe God had a plan for us.
"We have so many bad things that have happened, but I feel we are truly the luckiest family in the world," she added.
"A loving relationship for kids is the best gift you can give your children," she added.
Along with supporting each other, they have benefited by an entire community which extends to Edwardsburg from Dowagiac, Todd's hometown.
"People have embraced us so," Todd said. Food was planned for 500 people for a benefit for Teigan in the summer in Edwardsburg.
"That food was gone in two hours, said Todd. More than 1,000 attended. They also received cards and letters from those who read about Teigan, "total strangers," he added. "I hope they know how grateful we are to be in a community who reaches out.
"We can't say enough about the people in the area who came together. You hear negative news, that there isn't anything positive. That is not true, he said.
Carla also has nothing but praise for Dr. Jaime Rodriquez of the Lee Memorial Medical Group in Dowagiac. He noticed knobby growths protruding from Teigan's body called hemangiomas.
Sometimes they go away, but the doctor insisted she be examined by a specialist. He sent her to the University of Michigan. That is when the cancer was discovered on her adrenal glands.
The doctor and his wife traveled to the couple's Mason Township home on his day off to offered support when he got the news.
They also were so impressed with the doctors and nurses at the University of Ann Arbor. "Those ladies are caring, a true inspiration."
There, they delight in Teigan's happy personality. "She always smiles," Carla said. They pray for her and "genuinely love her. We are like family."
The other girls play with patients in the cancer ward. Two, with similar problems, didn't make it to Christmas.
Still the Donohos are optimistic. "I wouldn't be surprise if she beats cancer," said Carla.
Their other daughters, will be influenced by Teigan, either way. "The life they chose to have, Teigan will play a big role," she added.
Todd, a 1990 Dowagiac Union High School graduate, just graduated from an Information Technology (IT) school.
He returned to this area from the south after meeting Carla at a wedding and missing snow, he said.
Carla is a 1998 Edwardsburg High School graduate. A country singer, at 23 Carla aspired to stardom on "Nashville Star" in 2003. Her band, Coldwater Canyon played in the area.
She had been taking early education classes at Southwestern Michigan College, until she was in a car accident with Ravin. If she is able to return, her direction will now be to study nursing.
"You can have a life you don't want to deal with, but God chooses it. You do the best you can," said Todd.
"It is selfish to think I am having a bad day over something small," added Carla.
"When you have a baby like her, you pray different. You know what is more important. You feel blesses and life means a lot more," Carla added.
They prayed, "God make her happy while we have her."
"It is hard to be depressed when she is so happy. She smiles from ear to ear," said her father.
God had definitely answered their prayer.