Women Marines Association

PO Box 590 Romeo, Mi 48065

Plates for Preston

We are proud to say that to date we have collected, with the help of our friends and fellow Marines, over 100 plates from all over the world. We are still looking for plates from various countries and providences.

The Motor City Chapter of the Women Marines Association has taken on a small community cause to help a little boy realize his dreams of collecting enough license plates from all over the world to cover the walls in his new room when the time comes.

May I introduce you to Master Preston Arthur McFarland.  Preston has a genetic disorder called Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (or NF-1). There are quite a few symptoms of NF-1, Preston's are: Left optic nerve glioma (tumor on the optic nerve) , plexiform neurofibroma (along the left cheek, jawbone and ear area), underarm and groin freckling, numerous cafe-au-lait (CAL's) spots. You can read his story of courage and strength at his Caring Friends website located at  http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=preston

His update from today May 9, 2007, reads: Ok, here we go for the lowdown on the last few days....

Preston's ophthalmology appointment yesterday showed his vision to be the same as the last exam (20/30 R and 20/40 L), however the Dr noticed some changes in his left optic nerve. The Dr will be in touch with the oncologist and she'll be calling us to have his MRI moved up from August to now. This is the 1st time there has been a change in the optic nerve and we are nervous. This could mean the start of chemo. We are hoping and praying that is not the case, but either way we are trusting God to get us through. We expected to hear from the oncologist today, but didn't - hopefully the call will come tomorrow. Please keep Preston in your prayers.

Today was Preston's neurological/psychological evaluation. According to the psychologist, he did really good. He worked very hard today, had good concentration and sat good for her - in one little room for 4 hrs...way to go Preston!! She has to 'tally' up all of the 'test' scores (hers, mine and P's teachers) and we will meet with her again later this month for the final report. We are pretty confident that there will be areas of strength as well as some weaknesses and hopefully we can gain some tools to help him catch-up where he is behind.

On Saturday, we had a bit of a breakthrough with Preston as far as swimming goes. He really didn't want to go to his lesson and we were asking him why he didn't like going. He said that he didn't like floating on his back and we agreed that if he participated in the rest of the lesson he would not have to float on his back. Well, he did awesome on Saturday and Sunday! There is only 1 lesson left, however we are thinking of continuing lessons since he is on the up-swing - he's actually enjoying it now!!  That’s all for now. We'll update when we know when the MRI is going to be.. Please keep us in your prayers as well as all those dealing with NF