From Celeste's Web
Site
From the moment we knew that we were having Celeste, we loved her with every
bit of our souls.
Celeste began speaking 'mama' and 'dada' at only 4 months of age. Next word was 'dance' as she would move to music. She has always been extremely expressive & has loved music. She knew the ABC's at a year old and at 18 months of age, we wrote down all the words that she used and came up with 120! She has always had an amazing memory, including specific details.
She was always a natural performer -- especially when it came to doing magic
shows and telling jokes. She enjoyed dancing at the local dance school and
counted the days until she had class again. When she was home, she was in her
leotard practicing all around the house or riding her bike from room to room.
She seemed to always be into some sort of art project or singing a song.
She loved reading and started to read Dr. Seuss at age 3. Her favorite book
was Madeline and she enjoyed playing with Care Bears, My Little Ponies, Bratz
and Hello Kitty. She was a total 'girly-girl'... always with sparkles and
glitter surrounding her... Relaxing in the bubble bath was one of her favorite
things to do... along with singing in Family Choir.
Prior to diagnosis, Celeste had infrequent behavioral problems but nothing
that couldn't be dismissed by doctors as being 'normal' toddler behavior.
There were no developmental issues so we kept living life as normal as
possible. Celeste began vomiting for a month before she was diagnosed. This
was dismissed as a virus. Two weeks before diagnosis, headaches began. We
scheduled a headache visit with her doctor but before this examination ever
occurred, Celeste was diagnosed with cancer at Children's Hospital of
Pittsburgh. She was running and playing around the house as normal on the day
prior to her ER visit and shunt surgery.
Celeste Vida Young 5/17/99 - 8/3/04
Brother - Grant
Sister - Ella