Tiffany's Story

                                                                                  

     Tiffany Smithhart: sister, daughter, and a great person. She was born on October 21, 1988 and died at the age of 18 on July 14, 2007. She was basically a healthy child until about the age of 15 or 16. She complained of right arm pain, which was thought to be an old injury. She never complained too much but at age 16 she was taken to the hospital with chest pains. Only to be told her lung had collapsed. This would happen 10 more times within 10 months. Finally to be diagnosed with Catameniel Pneumothorax. It was a very rare lung disease, and the doctors had never heard of it. She was 202 in the world ever to have it. She had to have Lupon shots to stop her monthly, otherwise it would cause her lung to collapse. Each hospital trip her mother would look at her and realize that her being sick made her a better person. This was a routine every 2-3 weeks. She worried about others more than herself. She loved everyone and loved life.

    She was taken back to the doctor because of arm pain. Tiffany was released to specialists then, Little Rock Children's Hospital. They informed her mother that Tiffany had a very rare childhood cancer called Epithelioid Sarcoma. She would do 10 months of Chemo every 3 weeks. This was Terminal. She lived 1 year after the diagnoses of her cancer. Tiffany would say, "We don't talk about dying only living." She worked up to 4 months before dying. She said, "Mom I just want to live a little." She just wanted to experience life. She wanted no one to feel sorry for her. Her mother says," Tiffany was my hero and always will be." She misses her daughter dearly but she knows that she is rejoicing in heaven. Reading one of her letters Tiffany had left behind after she had died, it said: "You've not left me nor have I left you. I hope to somehow, someway, still help people down the road somewhere." She changed so many lives.
       
    Towards the end stages of her cancer she finally decided to enter the Springdale Hospice House. And that is where she passed. But the nurses and doctors at Hospice say that her legacy is told to every patient that walks in. She may have been dying, but she made it look like she was living. She knew she was Terminal, but she never gave up. She was smiling with her last breath.

  She had two sisters and a brother: Nichole, Taylor, and Josh. Nichole now has three kids and believes Tiffany would have made a great aunt. Nichole is now 26. Her youngest sister, Taylor, remembers her in any way she can. Taylor is 13 now. Josh, her older brother, doesn't like showing too many emotions, but at times you'll see in his face that he misses her. Josh is now 28. Tiffany's mother, Debbie Smithhart, is the only one in her family that knows the true pain of losing a daughter. But instead of drowning in that pain; she embraces what she had, Tiffany. Now she is raising her daughter, Taylor, and watching over her just as she watched over Tiffany. Debbie is now 45.

We hope this website will help anybody who has been in this situation or is currently in it. We shared our story. Now share yours and know that you are not alone. And that you have someone to talk to and who understands you. Thank you for reading Tiffany's Story.

From,

Your Friends at Tiffany's Battle