Just as she got relief from her migraines, Matisse Reid got a dose of bad news yesterday. 

The little girl who had transplant surgery so she finally could eat was banned from her two favorite foods.

 “The ban will hopefully be short. Unfortunately all she wants to eat is chicken strips and onion rings -- both fried,” her mother, Jodee, wrote in her online journal.

 “There is a very good reason for cutting out the fat in her diet. By doing so we may be able to get rid of the drains, which bother her so much, sooner rather than later. But in the meantime, she is not happy -- just another blow to her.”

 Matisse was born with a rare disease that prevented her from digesting food. She received a small bowel and large bowel Dec. 7 during transplant surgery at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

 As she recovered from the surgery, she needed to have blood transfusions.

 The Pine-Richland community came out in droves Wednesday to donate blood at a replenishment drive in support of Matisse at her school, Eden Hall Upper Elementary.

 “I am humbled to think 75 people turned up to donate!” Jodee wrote in the online journal. “That is incredible.  So thankful to Sue [Leonberg, Matisse's school nurse] and everyone who volunteered. 

 “It was awesome to see the pictures and the comments as to why people donated yesterday,” she wrote, referring to the Pine-Richland Patch article about the blood drive. “I am so thankful Matisse's blood use has been paid back tenfold.”

 In the meantime, Matisse continues to take a variety of powerful drugs to fight organ rejection.

 “Matisse does not look like she had a transplant just under five weeks ago,” according to Jodee. “Nor does she look like a child who has been constantly slaughtered with attacks of bleeding and rejection. 

 “If not for the seriousness of the surgeon when he shakes his head and says he is sorry she has had to go through so much, it would be very hard to believe that Matisse is of such concern -- but then again Matisse has never really looked sick.”