Happy Thanksgiving 2015

Remember that whatever the situation, we need to give Thanks.   (Photo bostoneastindia.blogspot.com)

  Happy Thanksgiving to everyone this challenging holiday season.

Try to find the happiness, fellowship and joy where you can !

Seven Years

 

In this picture, Daniel was eight.  He passed four and a half years later/

 This week, on the day after Thanksgiving it will be seven years. Seven years since the day in which Daniel  happily entered the bathroom to get ready to go Christmas shopping, and collapsed.  Immediate intervention with CPR and epinephrine made no difference and despite his good color,  he was in cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead here in our house on the farm later that morning.

     "Move on" some of our acquaintances say.  The reality is that no one who has lost a child  "gets over it".  It is not that we ruminate upon it.   It is that it is a life defining moment.  My life was sharply divided as if by machete into "With Daniel on Earth" compartments, and "After Daniel's departure from Earth"., when he died.  The world is forever changed.  I don't want to forget Daniel. I am going to mention him in conversation. This week I was recalling that he learned to read so quickly that I don't think I ever taught him.  I think being an infant and toddler while we were homeschooling his siblings and using the computer simply moved his reading and vocabulary along quickly.   I am aware that parents who have not lost a child are instantly uncomfortable when I mention my son who just happens to have passed.

       In all honesty, if I can mention him and do so with a smile following our family's loss, who are you to convey discomfort ?  You never knew him, never loved him, and don't really care.  If you don't like my mentioning Daniel, it's your problem,  not mine.

      This said, if you are the parent of a child who has passed and you are moving headlong into the holiday season, you are in my thoughts and prayers.  No, it will never be easy, but you will reach a plateau of "better" where you recall the joyous moments of your life together unimpeded by the moments which took your child from you. Some day, the loss will not obscure the joy you had by having that wonderful soul come to Earth as your child. Here's wishing that this day comes soon for you. Someday, you will be thankful rather than wholly sorrowful. I promise you this.

       Wishing all readers and their families and lovely Thanksgiving Holiday.

The Sudden Loss of Luke Schlemm

                  

                 Daniel died suddenly in the Fall, and this week, there have been a couple of sudden deaths in boys. I wonder if the viruses which activate in the Fall, play a part in the loss of more children and teens from sudden arrhythmic death syndromes ?  I wonder if anyone has even considered studying it. Sometimes I wonder if anyone but Corinne Ruiz and I even care.

                           Yesterday, 17 year old Luke Schlemm was playing football in Sharon Springs, Arkansas. He had just finished scoring the extra point after a touchtown, when he collapsed.  An attempted stabilization was made at a local hospital and then Luke was taken to Swedish Medical Center in Englewood.   Luke was determined to be brain dead and life support was removed on Wednesday.

                           Certainly, a full autopsy will be needed to determine Luke's cause of death.  It will need to be determined as to whether an irregular heart rhythm caused a sudden death and brain damage or whether a tackle injured Luke's brain to the point of not being able to be resuscitated.  However, the circumstances do indeed point to a sudden arrhythmic death.  There are just too many of these.   Daniel parted Earth seven years ago. Have we not made any progress in the detection of kids who could be Sudden Arrhythmic Death prone.

                            Our family sends condolences to the parents, family, friends and teammates of Luke Schlemm.





 More info:

 http://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/11/04/kansas-football-players-who-collapsed-on-field/

The Loss of La'Darious Wylie

          

La'Darious Wylie, a brave man.

   Too many times we read of siblings and families who have no particular loyalty to one another.   I wanted to share a sad but inspiring occurrence I heard about today.

                  La'Darious Wylie was an eleven year old boy who lived in Chester, South Carolina.  On October 27,  he and his sister were walking to school when they were the victims of a hit and run driver. At the last moment, La'Darious was able to push his younger sister Sha'Vonta out of the way.   La'Darious died at the hospital of his injuries the following day.

                   If you would like to donate anything at all toward his burial fund, there is a link below on Go Fund Me.   The locality plans to rename the park he played in daily after him.




https://www.gofundme.com/jt7hwr9g

Some Things Never Change: The Loss of Wyatt Barber

         

This is the boy who passed suddenly on Monday night. His name, which is Wyatt Barber was not in initial news reports.

    At the end of this month, it will have been seven years since the day in which Daniel simply slipped from his flesh suit and died.  A lot of changes have come to the Earth since that time, many of them not good.  However, one thing has not changed.  All over the world, there are children and teens, like Daniel, who are believed to be healthy and who collapse into cardiac arrest.  Many of them appear well. They don't complain, and like Daniel, they had clean general physicals not long before their cardiac arrest event.  Many of these, even when they receive immediate CPR, as Daniel did, do not survive the initial event.   The reasons for this are multi-causal. Some on autopsy, have clear cardiac enlargement or anomalies which contribute to a cardiac arrest.  Others , like Daniel, had no structural abnormalities, but have a presumed electrical abnormality which leaves them vulnerable to a fatal cardiac arrest. These children do not have signs of coronary artery disease, which kills so many older Americans and people around the world. This is not a myocardial infarction or heart attack.  Although these sudden cardiac death disorders run in families, many of the families of children who die from a sudden arrhythmic death have no knowledge of anyone else in their family having died in such a manner.  An AED will help some of these kids, but only if used within a couple of minutes of the initial collapse.

                Monday evening,in Pomeroy, Ohio,  a nine year old boy named Wyatt Barber, collapsed after football practice. This was a "walk through practice" and although he was excited about it, no real game or stressful exercise had taken place.  Just like Daniel, he collapsed face forward.  Despite CPR and quick transport, the boy was pronounced dead at a local hospital emergency room.

                 My condolences go to his family and his friends. The path of a sudden and unexpected death of a child is a path I wish no one ever had to travel.


              Why does this keep happening ?  How many children will we continue to lose until we have improved screening for sudden arrhythmic death issues for children and teens ?



UPDATE:    Unlike Daniel, the results of Wyatt's autopsy were clear.  Wyatt had an undiagnosed  abnormal left main coronary artery.  A final autopsy report will not be available for weeks.


A Go Fund Me account has been set up for Wyatt's Family for burial expenses.

https://www.gofundme.com/c58anjf9