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After a pinprick rash on her chest turned black and a purple bruise surfaced on her back, Angela and Pete Alward knew somthing was terribly wrong with their 9-month-old daughter Amber. Their family doctor knew this as well and had her airlifted to Stanford Childrens' Hospital, with meningococcemia, a usually fatal disease. Alward lies in her hospital bed. A surgeon amputated her left leg below the knee and her right arm below the elbow to save her life.
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| Home became a medical clinic as Angela and Pete learned how to do the twice-daily dressing changes.
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| Physical therapy was a frightening, and at times, an extremely painful ordeal, for Amber.
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Tough guy Pete Alward shares a tender moment with Amber during one of her numerous doctors appointments.
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| Slowly, Amber learns to use her stump.
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| Only weeks after her amputations, Amber is introduced to the prosethetic technology that will become her lifelong companion. Her brother Tyler looks on.
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| Amber's indominable spirit is clearly visible in her eyes.
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| Angela learns to attach her daughter's prosthetic leg.
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Butterflies soar in the Alward's small Capitola apartment as Amber begins to cruise - just like any other toddler.
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| With her mother's help, and her borther Tyler's support, Amber learns to make it down her apartment building's stairway.
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| Almost exactly eight months to the day of her air ambulance ride to Stanford, Amber takes her first solo step.
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