Loriann Zello:  

Life Well, right after graduation, I joined the Air Force. I was stationed in San Antonio Texas, where I met my husband. We dated for a year, were engaged for a year, and have been married for almost 18 years. During my time away, I lost my mom in '88, my dad passed in '90 and my brother passed in '96. I haven't been back to New Jersey in years, other than the occasional visit. We moved to Germany where I had Josh. I had been discharged from the Air Force by this time. Benji was born in Germany with all kinds of delays. He hardly moved in utero and was a sleepy baby. We put him into intervention when we got stationed in Wichita Falls Texas, and he slowly caught up and was doing well. He had to wear braces on his legs for a while, but they really helped him. In '00 I had my daughter, Grace, who's just precious!! She's six now and has an opinion about everything!! Fast forward to about '02. We were stationed in San Angelo texas. We started noticing that Benji would fall asleep wherever he sat, and he started having these "spells" where he would throw up or soil himself. His Drs all said it was because he had low muscle tone, which he did, so we didn't question it. Then one morning, he woke up not feeling well, then that night he had a seizure. The follwing week, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, called a pilocytic astrocytoma. He had surgery in Dallas that Friday, and thankfully, he's been cancer free ever since. About six months after the diagnosis, we moved to Biloxi Mississippi. We were living on base. Benji was getting his medical care. Rick got deployed to Germany, and while he was gone, I ended up buying a house in Ocean Springs. Rick came home, we closed on the house, went on Benji's make a wish trip to Disney, then moved in. We were SOOOO happy there. Think Mayberry on the ocean. We had great neighbors, great schools, an awesome church and the cutest little house you ever saw. May '05, Rick got deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. We all did well with it. Then three months into the deployment, Katrina hit us head on. By the sheer Grace of God, our home wasn't damaged, but because of the tumor situation, The Air Force moved us back to Texas. Biloxi was so torn up. Huge casino barges were moved across hwy 90 because of the storm surge. All of Beach Blvd. was levelled. All of the beautiful antebellum mansions--gone!! People are still living in tents. It was horrifying! The hospital we sheltered in filled with five feet of water in fifteen minutes. There were pregnant women sheltering on the ground floor and they were air-evaced on C-130s to Texas. One woman even had to have a c-section by flashlight. We are so happy to be back here. We sold our Ocean Springs house the first day it was on the market. We bought a home in the same subdivision we rented in and are very much enjoying our new house. Rick has been in the Air Force for over 21 years. Josh is 15 and is a straight A student, who loves to read and wants to teach when he grows up. Benji's a wild thing who loves Elvis and wants to be insanely rich when he grows up. Grace wants to be a princess at Disney when she grows up. Benji is going to buy me and daddy a house right near Disney, and Grace is going to come visit in her princess costume every day. Yeah, seriously, they have it all figured out! LOL! So, that was my life in a nutshell. So many bad things could've happened to us, but God helped us through. We're happy to be back home in Texas and feel like we've been so blessed!! School I hated hated HATED high school. It was, without a doubt, the most miserable time in my life. Graduation was definitely the h...Expand for more