Day 346/365

     I did shoot sports Thursday night/day 346, but not before shooting Jessica Schwerin's return to school after finishing her home rest following her kidney transplant surgery. I've loved covering this story, but it was nice to bring some finality to it in wrapping it up. She's an awesome kid, and to see how great she's doing and how the community has come to support both her and her donor Brian Martindale has been a great thing to witness.

Day 305/365

     Yesterday/day 305 10 year-old Jessica Schwerin got to come home to Bay City, exactly one week after having her kidney transplant operation down in Ann Arbor. She and her mother were driven back in the limo again, and before going home they stopped in to see Jessica's kidney donor, local business owner Brian Martindale. It was a fun reunion to witness, (Jessica was mostly asleep when Brian visited her in her recovery room when they were both still down in Ann Arbor last Sunday). I've loved being able to be a part of this story from the beginning up until now, and I'm so glad these two are both recovering well and rather quickly. They both deserve it. If you'd like to see more photos and articles written on Jessica's homecoming, you can find a few with links to others on MLive here.

Day 300/365

     Yesterday/day 300 was a good one. I went back down to Ann Arbor and got to see how Jessica and her donor Brian were doing. Brian said he was almost back to 100%, just moving a bit slow and taking it easy for the most part. Jessica was asleep for almost the entire time I was there, which is understandable given everything she's been through these past few days. It was pretty easy to sense how different the mood was with her family though; her mother Stacey was so much more relieved and just so happy. She stopped herself from hugging Brian when he first walked in because she didn't trust herself not to hug him too tight and hurt him. It was a great moment to witness all the same. I got to write the update that went with the other photos I took, and if you like you can find them on MLive here.