Family faces uphill battle

DALTON GARDENS - Gail Smith walks down the hallway of her family's home, her soft steps heavy with gentle purpose. With stage four ovarian cancer, the Dalton Gardens woman - mother of three adopted Chinese orphans - still rules the roost, even if it's often from her bed.

"We wanted to give them a home, with a mom and a dad," she says, pointing to framed family photos on the wall. "We just didn't count on the cancer."

Smith, 64, and her husband, Mike, 56, adopted Katie, 8, David, 7, and Ellie, 5, one at a time, each at age 2.

She considers it a miracle that she's still here. Doctors told her she was going to die a year ago.

"I keep telling my husband I'm not ready to leave because I want to be here for these kids," Smith said.

It doesn't matter what shape she's in, she said, whether she's in bed or not.

"They still need their mother. I try to give them as much as I can," Smith said. "My son says he can't wait for the day when I'm able to go outside and do things like I used to, but we don't know if that's going to happen."

Her cancer was diagnosed in 2006, just after she and Mike brought their youngest home.

She had no symptoms prior to the diagnosis.

"Poor little Ellie," Smith said. "She didn't get to bond with me."

At first, the toddler wanted nothing to do with her new father, but she learned to overcome that when she realized it was the only way to have her needs met.

"Now he's the apple of her eye, and I'm so glad about that," Smith said.

They planned to adopt just one child, but Smith's husband Mike "couldn't bear the thought of all those kids in orphanages," with babies in rows and rows of cribs of two, their only human contact - when their toes touch.

The couple had already raised six grown children between them, and over a period of six years, helped raise another 10 foster kids.

"We could have gotten babies. We qualified for them, but we already had biological children, so we decided to leave the babies for people who can't have their own," Smith said.

All three kids have physical challenges. Had they remained in China, they were destined to live out their lives in a factory, Smith said.

"Our original intent was that we were going to be giving them tons of hope and blessings for a much better life," Smith said. "They have really shown us a few things."

Katie, the eldest, moves effortlessly with a prosthetic leg, climbing onto the edge of her parents' bed to listen as her mother speaks. Born with a short leg and tiny foot, surgeons at Shriners Hospital had to amputate the little girl's lower leg.

David, the middle child, has a severe cleft lip which has been substantially restored at Shriners Hospital, but will require more surgery as he ages.

Ellie was born with no fingers on one of her hands and a palate defect. The little girl needs ongoing speech therapy and requires extensive dental work, much of it not covered by insurance.

Smith said she and her husband thought they would be doing all the giving with these children, but they have been "tremendously blessed."

"My son David will come into my room and do his little eyebrow tricks for me to make me laugh," she said. "I tell him, 'You know David, you are the best medicine for Mama.'"

As Smith battles the disease, the family's financial situation is becoming more and more grim.

Because she is too ill to care for the children, the family relies on a hired nanny to come in during the week while Mike is at work. He is a social worker in Washington and gets home at 6 p.m. on weekdays.

"Then he starts his second job, taking care of these kids and me," she said. "He's a wonderful husband."

Smith has had several hospitalizations in the past few months, and now receives her nutrition intravenously. She remains hooked to what she calls "the food bag" in her bedroom for 14 hours overnight. Mike puts it in place in the evening, and the nanny is trained to take Smith off it in the morning.

The "food bags" aren't cheap, and insurance only pays a portion of the cost.

Little Ellie recently required dental work that had to be performed at Kootenai Medical Center with $2,000 not covered by insurance.

"That blew us away," Smith said.

Then water started pouring through their garage roof, leaving the couple uncertain how to pay to repair it.

Through it all, the couple's faith and the kindness of others has carried them.

"Going through this trial of cancer has been pretty tough the past three years," Smith said. "These kids, along with many others from our church and others along the way, have supported, encouraged and loved us throughout this challenging time in our lives."