BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A Bakersfield family still found a lot to be thankful for, even after a year of very tough challenges. One child waited most of the year for a new pair of prosthetic legs and the father battled cancer.

Sarah Moore said on Thanksgiving Day, it was family and friends that helped them pull through.

"Especially for the last year, if it wasn't for our family, I would have lost it."

About 20 relatives were expected at her grandmother's house in southwest Bakersfield, and most were there cooking the dinner. That included 6-year-old Madison. She still needs help with her new legs, which she got just last Thursday.

"We are very thankful, and she just loves them," the mother said. "She just wants to be just like everybody else."

Madison was just five months old when she somehow got bacterial meningitis. Moore said the infection got in Madison's blood stream causing septic shock. Both of Madison's legs had to be amputated, her hands were disfigured, and the infection caused other damage. Moore said they almost lost her.

That was the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2003, making this time of year bitter-sweet.

"It's almost to the day, November 30 it will be six years to the day that she got sick," Moore said.

Madison has had a number of surgeries since then. In March this year she had more surgery on her elbow for scar tissue. The surgery delayed Madison getting to use her newest pair of legs.

Then in August the family was hit by another blow. The father, Jason Moore, was diagnosed with stage-two colon cancer.

"We heard cancer, and then he had surgery over the next week and a half," Sarah Moore said. She said he was pretty calm, but she was devastated. Both admit they were frustrated at being "tested" again.

"I just shook my hands in the air," Jason Moore said. "And said, 'God -- just pick somebody else.'"

But, the family said they are moving forward. "I'd say, the last year I think we've all been through, made us stronger," the father said.

"We're so grateful," Sarah Moore added. "For our school, and our friends and our family."

Moore said she was surprised at all the support from the families of classmates at Stine Elementary, where her son and Madison go to school. "They root for her, they were so excited. Parents were coming up and saying, 'I heard Madison is getting a new pair of legs.'"

The mother said Madison will need physical therapy twice a week to adjust to the new legs. They're longer than the last set, and have joints at the knees. Madison has to learn how to use them. She'll start with the help of a walker, then probably crutches. Finally it's hoped she'll get around on her own with the legs.

On Thanksgiving Day, Madison sported pretty, shiny black shoes on the feet of those new legs. The family cooked together in the kitchen, and watched TV in the living room.

Sarah Moore said it's family, friends and a sense of humor that have brought them through.

"We laugh, to be honest. If we don't laugh, we fall apart," she said.

Moore stood in the kitchen with her oldest son nearby. Eight-year-old Hunter looked up at his mother and smiled, then he put his hand on her shoulder.

And Moore also thinks of other families who might be going through hardships.

"I know there's people that have had it far worse, losing their jobs, houses, and with the economy," Sarah Moore said. "Just keep your head high," she said.

"Stay together," Jason Moore added.

Sarah Moore agreed with that. "Stay together, and truck through it."