December 12, 2007 / Wednesday 2:15 p.m.

KCRG news has done a story on Bianca and Erin for the 6:00 p.m. news tonight. A webcast is available on their website. Click here to go directly to the webcast.

KCRG will also be providing a link from their website to ours to allow for viewers to make donations to the families as well.

December 11, 2007 / Tuesday 11:30 p.m.

Bianca Vocke will be laid to rest on Friday and Saturday. Visitation will be Friday from 3:00-7:00 p.m. and her funeral will be Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

Both the visitation and the funeral will be held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 2215 Windsor Avenue in Dubuque.

Her final resting place will be Mount Calvary Cemetery, 1111 Davis Street in Dubuque. A funeral procession will accompany Bianca and her family to the cemetery following the service.

There will be a lunch in Bianca's honor at 1:00 p.m. at the Eagles Club, 1175 Century Drive in Dubuque.

Her mom, Jean, her step-father Jay and her father John Vocke invite all who knew and loved Bianca to join them for her farewell.

Please send messages to the family for a keepsake of B to greg@colts.org.

The Colts family, including returning members, staff and others who wish to attend the services on Saturday, will be provided transportation to and from camp for the funeral, internment and lunch.

Colts members, the family asks that you please wear your member shirts in honor of B.

On behalf of her family, I thank you for all your support of B and her family through this ordeal. It has been a lifeboat for everyone and has helped a great deal.

Flowers and memorials may be sent to the church.

Peace.

Greg

December 11, 2007 / Tuesday 1:00 a.m.

Bianca has completed her journey. Bianca Vocke passed away at a few minutes after midnight this morning. She drifted away peacefully, with her family with her, and her favorite music playing in the background.

She was born March 27, 1990 and died December 11, 2007. She was 17 years old.

Her smile, her determination, her courage and her incredibly loving personality will be with all who knew her forever. May we all make such a difference in our world as she did in her short time here.

There has to be a special place in heaven for someone as amazing a human being as she was, and will always be.

We love you, B.

Hold on to Morning, and hold on to each other.

Love,

Greg

Please help. Both families will face significant financial challenges.

We are establishing accounts for both families at Dupaco Community Credit Union, 3299 Hillcrest Rd., Dubuque, IA 52001, c/o Sue Hallahan.

You may also mail your contribution to us at Colts, P.O. Box 515, Dubuque, IA 52004-0515 and we will get it to them.

Checks may be made out either or both:

Bianca Vocke Fund
Erin Reichle Fund

You can make a donation via the Colts Store, as well. Click here to make a contribution using your credit card on the Colts secure site.

December 10, 2007 / Monday 7:00 p.m.

Bianca's fight is nearly over. Bianca is being kept comfortable, and her family is with her.

Jay tells me that the family is all there with her, listening to her favorite music and saying their goodbyes.

They have listened a couple of times to the music she used when she won the state color guard solo championship two years ago, and they have listened to "Morning." They have the words for it in the room.

It's time for her to go. She is being kept comfortable and she will leave us sometime soon, when she decides it's time.

She is at peace.

I'd like to share a part of a note for B I got today from a Red Team family member:

"Every single day I think how strong and with how much integrity you are fighting for your life...With so many brothers and sisters, relatives and classmates cheering you on, I know that only the "right thing" will happen. We always knew you were a fighter, but what you have shown us is unbelievable. You have given 'strength' a whole new meaning, B! You know that you are loved by more than I can count, and being prayed for by the same crowd. We know it is up to you. Please do what you need to do, and no matter what that is we are here...alongside you. I love you more than anything."

There are literally hundreds of messages very similar to this one. She is without a doubt leaving this world a better place than what she found it.

She baffled and amazed the experts all week, but no one who knows her is the least bit surprised.

Please pray for her and pray for her family.

Further news and details will be posted here.

On behalf of B and her family, I thank you all for the outpouring of support and prayers you have sent. Jay and Jean are very grateful to you all.

Please let them hear from you again.

Peace.

Greg

December 10, 2007 / Monday 7:30 a.m.

Bianca continues to fight the good fight.

I just talked with Jay and he reports that she is continuing to amaze everyone.

Her blood pressure has come back up, which is an improvement, and it appears her liver is functioning slightly, but more that it was.

It is still wait and see, and she is still a very sick kid, but the medical staff is supporting her body to give her as much help and time as she wants.

She received some units of blood overnight to help her recover from some internal bleeding, and they are running dialysis to help her kidneys, which are not functioning.

Let's all stay in B's corner and pull for her. Apparently she's decided it's not quite her time yet.

When there is life, there is hope.

Hang in there B!

Kristen and I will plan to visit again tonight after all, depending on what happens of course.

Her situation is still tenuous and very cricital, but she's decided to stay with us for now. She's a fighter. She's our B.

Keep those prayers and thoughts flowing her way!

As I hear more, you'll hear more.

Greg

December 9, 2007 / Sunday 10:00 a.m.

Bianca's surgery last night was an attempt to open up circulation to her liver and relieve pressure. She came through the surgery but her liver is not functioning and further complications have begun to set in.

Her mom told me this morning that the doctors told her and the family that they have done all they can do for Bianca, and it is time to let her rest. Her family agrees. They are keeping her comfortable and her family is with her.

She has done all she can do, and more than most expected she could do. She has put up an amazing fight this whole week, but she is now making it clear to everyone that it is time for her to go.

There is simply too much damage to multiple systems and organs, and further procedures will add new problems and complications and will not help her in any meaningful way.

There comes the point where medicine and humans have to turn things over to God. That time has come this morning for Bianca.

They will continue to support her with life support until she lets go.

Please send your thoughts and prayers for the family. I will put them all together to give to them at an appropriate time. greg@colts.org.

You may also mail to them via our address at Colts, P.O. Box 515, Dubuque, IA 52004-0515.

Your financial support for them at this time would be a tremendous blessing as well.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I know Bianca knew you were there for her.

Peace.

Greg

December 8, 2007 / Saturday 5:00 p.m.

Bianca is still fighting the good fight. It was a rough night, and her family is there with her.

As of just a few minutes ago, Jay informed me that they have decided to do some additional surgery to give her a better chance. I do not know what it is for, but I do know that they would not have decided to do this unless Bianca was holding her own.

We were there with her and her family until about 4 a.m. this morning, and things were not looking good for her then. I said what I thought was a final goodbye to her when I left. The family's plan at that time was to wait until her dad and sister arrived at around 5 a.m. to discuss what they wanted to do.

Since then, she has continued to hold on and fight, and she has amazed more than a couple of people involved in her care. The odds are still long, but it seems everyone around her is willing to fight for as long as she is.

Keep your prayers and thoughts coming her way. Miracles do happen, and she is definitely in charge right now.

Thank you for your love and support of this amazing girl. She's been incredibly strong through this whole ordeal. You can be proud of her.

Greg

December 8, 2007 / Saturday 4:00 p.m.
Funds established to assist Bianca's and Erin's families with expenses.

We are issuing a plea to friends of Bianca and Erin to help the families with what will be, and already are, staggering expenses from this ordeal.

We are establishing accounts for both families at Dupaco Community Credit Union, 3299 Hillcrest Rd., Dubuque, IA 52001, c/o Sue Hallahan.

You may also mail your contribution to us at Colts, P.O. Box 515, Dubuque, IA 52004-0515 and we will get it to them.

Checks may be made out to either or both:

Bianca Vocke Fund
Erin Reichle Fund

We can also accept your contribution via the Colts Store with your credit card.

The Senior High School color guard has begun doing fundraising programs as well for both families.

Regardless of what health insurance they may have, there are tremendous expenses that the families have and continue to incur that are not covered.

Please do what you can to assist them.

Expenses for both families will certainly run into the thousands of dollars, and they will continue to mount.

Bianca's parents have yet to be home, with all of the expenses that out of town living represents, and Erin's folks just got home after a week.

B's mom has quit her job to be with her, and Jay has been off work this entire week as well.

Erin's parents have similar situations I'm sure.

Updates to follow as we know more today, but as of 7:00 a.m. this morning, B was still putting up the good fight but was not gaining on it very much at all.

Thank you again for all the best wishes that continue to pour in. What a difference they make to both kids and their families!

Take care,

Greg

You may call us at the Colts office at any time for further information at (563) 582-4872.

Thank you for your support of our families and our kids!

December 7, 2007 / Friday 10:00 a.m.

Doctors found that Bianca's liver was not getting adequate blood flow and they performed emergency surgery overnight to get it repaired.

She came through the surgery, and is stable. An artery was opened up to allow better blood flow to her liver. It was not getting adequate enough blood flow to do it's job of cleaning her blood, so her blood was becoming toxic.

The hope is that the toxic blood was impairing brain function, and that this will be a help to get her to come around.

It is wait and see today to see how her liver is functioning, and if her system begins to better purify itself.

She is still critical and still on life support, but young and strong and determined are all things that she has that play in her favor.

Kristen and I will be visiting late afternoon today. Send your well-wishes to her and we will get it to her and her parents.

Keep sending your hopes and prayers! She needs it, and she knows you're there for her!

Greg

December 6, 2007 / Thursday Midnight

Erin has been released from the hospital and is home. She will have some challenging recovery to complete, but things look great for her. Bianca has had some developments.

Bianca has developed an infection that is being treated. Otherwise, there is no change. So far efforts to bring her to a level of conciousness and response have not been successful.

I talked with her mom twice today, and there is a higher level of concern that she is not yet coming around.

They are planning another scan this evening to see if they will see any further brain damage that has surfaced.

There is also a chance that there is an obstruction in her digestive system that they are looking for. I am still waiting to hear on that possibility, but I wanted to get a briefing up in the meantime.

She is still far from out of the woods, but she continues to be stable, although she is running a slight fever.

Life support continues as does the vigilance keeping her going and looking for improvement.

Please keep sending her your prayers, friendship, support and love. I'm sure she knows.

Courage, all.

Greg

December 5, 2007 / Wednesday 3:30 p.m.

Erin has been up and walking and is looking forward to getting out of the hospital. She will undergo therapy in her recovery, but she is doing well. Bianca is stable and is essentially unchanged.

I've spent a good part of the day today with Bianca and her family at the hospital, and I can report that she has movement in her arms and legs, but it is still involuntary and reactive. The nurses and doctors here are amazing, and they are keeping a close eye on her around the clock.

Part of the process now is to ease up her medication every four hours or so to see if she is able to conciously respond to commands. So far, she has not, but she does try to fight the ventilator at these times, which is a really good sign.

There is no additional pressure in her head and she is stable in all her vital signs. Her internal injuries are coming along as hoped.

It is now wait and see. The doctor I talked with said that there will likely be quick improvements and will likely be quick setbacks for a while, but overall it will just be a slow recovery and healing process. It will be some time yet before we know how much, if any, long-term damage there has been and how much, if any, re-learning she will need to do.

The human body has miraculous means to heal itself and recover from serious damage and injury, and B is going to need to call on it all.

Keep her in your thoughts and prayers, and keep sending your notes for her to hear. We'll be through the first book of them pretty quickly! Thank you for all your support for this special kid! She's a fighter. She already made it this far!

Jeannie and Jay, her mom and step dad, asked that I send to you all their heartfelt thanks for all you are doing to support them and to support B.

They are a little bit amazed, I think, about all the love and support there has been for Bianca so far, and certainly the nurses around the ICU are. It is so incredibly empowering for everyone, especially Bianca.

Thank you!

Greg

December 5, 2007 / Wednesday 2:00 p.m.

We just left the University of Iowa hospital after seeing Bianca and her family, and we have reports from Erin. Sorry for the delay in updates, but it's been a day without answers, bad weather and changes.

Erin had a slight set back with her back surgery, but a correction was made today, and she is still on track to be released by the end of the week, according to Kendall and crew who visited her today in Waterloo.

She will have some tough times yet with rehab and recovery, but she is doing well. They even talked with her about the possibility of spinning soon.

Bianca is a fighter, and she had to fight for life today. She won.

She has yet to be responsive to commands, but this evening she did fight the ventilator and move her arms and legs, which the ICU nurse said was a very good sign, and much more promising than earlier today when there was no response or movement.

She has significant brain bruising and swelling, and the surgery overnight and this morning was touch and go. The MRI still shows extensive injury to many parts of her brain.

She is critical. The next 72 hours will be the telling time.

She is on life support, and they have implanted a measurement device to track cranial pressure. So far, the pressure has been under control.

There was a portion of her brain that was damaged to the point it was pressing on her brain stem, and it had to be removed. We'll know later what, if any, skills and re-learning this will represent, but it is not an area that controls motor skills or life function.

Mom, dad, nurses have all been reading to her your messages of love and support, although they have a hard time reading without choking up.

They certainly will make a difference to her. At some level, she is hearing your words. We have a book full of several hundred well wishes, but we will never have enough for a while. Send your message to her via my email at greg@colts.org.

One of the ICU nurses said she has never seen such outpouring of support for a patient. Go Red Team and go drum corps family!

We will be reading your messages to her until the day we can give her the book to read for herself.

Pray for her. She's winning so far, but its the toughest fight she's ever had, and the outcome is far from certain.

The good news is that the internal injuries she suffered have responded. There is no infection, no swelling and no additional bleeding and they have been able to close completely, way ahead of when they thought they could.

She is also in the best place she could possibly be for what she has to deal with. It is an amazing, caring and miraculous place, and they are taking care of her as well as any of us would.

Take care and please be safe.

Greg

December 4, 2007 / Tuesday 7:30 a.m.

Bianca got through the surgery and is back in her room at ICU.

Surgeons found bruising on her brain that was creating pressure in her head. They have taken steps to relieve the pressure to avert further damage.

She is still asleep so they have not been able to make any assessments yet on how she has come through this turn.

I will keep you all posted as I know more. Her parents were finally sleeping, and they will give us more details when they can.

Take care and keep sending those prayers.

Greg

December 4, 2007 / Tuesday 1:30 a.m.

Bianca has had a complication and has just been taken into surgery.

Update to follow as soon as we know something more. There is new pressure on her brain that has to be relieved. They project at least a four-hour surgery.

Your thoughts and prayers are needed and will make a difference.

Thank you all.

December 3, 2007 / Monday 3:00 p.m.

Bianca has come through her surgery well, and is becoming more responsive.

More progress was made than what doctors had hoped, and things are looking good so far. She opened her eyes and mouthed words to her mom before surgery too.

Still lots of challenges and healing to go, and there is still pressure on her brain, but it is not getting worse.

Keep those prayers and thoughts coming! I will be visiting with all your notes and well wishes on Tuesday.

The support from the Colts and the drum corps family has been astounding. On behalf of B and her family, thank you! The Red Team is pretty special.

Greg

December 1, 2007 / Sunday 10:00 p.m.

An update on Bianca and Erin:

Bianca first: Kristen and I just got home from visiting her at U of I Hospital in Iowa City. So far so good.

She is still in critical condition due to the severity of her injuries and the many possible complications that could arise, but she is doing much better than her doctors had expected, and so far does not seem to be experiencing complications that can often occur.

She is having further surgery Monday morning to check for any additional internal bleeding, further injury or infection. If no problems are found, they will begin to complete the several stages remaining in the surgical process.

She does have some swelling and pressure in her brain, but it is not increasing. Coupled with her responsiveness, things are very positive so far.

She also broke her left collar bone and both bones in her right forearm.

She nodded when I told her about all the well wishes you sent, and we left around 80 notes for her. I promised there would be many more very soon.

She also reached for and squeezed Kristen's hand, so she knew we were there and what we were saying.

Please send your thoughts and prayers for Bianca to greg@colts.org and I will deliver them to her. Your messsages of support mean a lot and will help her recovery a great deal. The nurses were blown away when they saw the book full of your wonderful messages.

We're also starting to get some very supportive and meaningful messages from the drum corps activity at large, too. Thank you!

She could be in ICU for several more weeks, and there are many things that still have to go well, but she is doing better than expected in many ways. Knowing B, that doesn't surprise me at all. She's a fighter.

There is a special purpose in life reserved for her, I have no doubt.

Her surgery at Iowa City took 8 hours, she used 21 units of blood and the medivac pilot told her mom she wasn't sure she was going to make it to Iowa City. Yet, here she is!

She is still not able to receive visitors, but when she can, I will let you know here.

Her family has also asked that calls not come into them at the hospital. It's all pretty overwhelming, as you can imagine. Send your messages here, and I will get them to her.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. She's far from completely out of the woods yet, but things couldn't be better right now.

There will be a further update following Bianca's surgery tomorrow. Please keep your prayers and thoughts going her way. There is a long road ahead yet and things can still go badly. But, so far so good.

An update on Erin: Steff King, Senior color guard instructor, talked to her earlier this evening. She has three broken vertebrae in her back and a support rod has been inserted. She also had some other injuries that are responding well.

She will have a long recovery, but she could be released by the end of the week. Thank God there are no signs of paralysis or nerve damage at this point. Please send your notes for Erin to me as well: greg@colts.org

December 1, 2007 / Sunday 11:00 a.m.
Two Colts members seriously injured in car accident.

Bianca Vocke and Erin Reichle were seriously injured in a single car accident on Friday evening near Waterloo, Iowa on the way home from Des Moines.

Erin is in a hospital in Waterloo, Iowa with serious back and neck injuries plus other injuries.

Bianca had to be air-lifted to the University of Iowa Hospitals overnight.

I talked to Bianca's mother earlier this evening to be make sure we have the most accurate information possible...

Bianca's condition has improved from "critical" to "critical but stable" in the past 18 hours, but she is seriously injured, and her outcome is not yet certain.

Your prayers are needed. Prayer and prayer groups make a difference. If you feel you can provide that support, please do so now.

She is in an induced coma at this time and has undergone extensive emergency surgery for internal bleeding and injuries. She also has swelling on the brain. An MRI is being performed as I write this to determine the extent of any brain injuries she may have.

She was responsive to her mom and others earlier today, which is very good news, but she is far from out of the woods.

I am convinced that people in a condition like Bianca's not only hear but respond to and benefit from messages that are read to them from friends and others.

Please send me your best wishes for her and I will make sure that she hears them. I am planning to leave to see her at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Please send your message for her to greg@colts.org and I will get it to her and her family.

Please do the same for Erin. She will have a long and difficult road to recovery as well.

Thank you.

Life is very fragile. Please don't ever take it for granted.

I love you all,

Greg