Reported by: Jovanna BillingtonST. PETERSBURG, FL -- "Millions of things, millions. I just want this to be over with." 10-year-old Samantha Romine's mom is anxious. "This is the hurry up and wait part."
Her daughter is going into surgery, for the sixth time.
"Because of her previous surgery, she has several cranial bone defects, holes in her head that we need to patch up so that her brain is protected."
Sami was born with a rare disorder that forced doctors to keep breaking and expanding her skull so her brain could grow. Now she's back at the hospital, for what she hopes is her final operation, feeling, "nervous."
But Sami is stronger than she's letting on.
Just days before her surgery, when she should have been home worrying about herself, she was out, running a blood drive to replenish the local blood bank's blood supply.
She also cut off all her hair to donate to locks of love.
Doctor Ernesto Ruas and Doctor Gerald Tuite successfully performed the surgery at All Children's Hospital. The holes are patched up and they even remodeled part of her face.
"After everything's said and done is that she has a well-protected brain and looks like everybody else out there."
With this final surgery out of the way, Sami hopes to get back to doing the simpler things in life and focusing on what every person hopes for.
"Just to be healthy."
