A Friend's Loss

On Sunday, my friend's daugther died. She was only 8 years old. This is a friend who lives here, her name is Tricia, she's in the MOMs Club I'm in and someone I see on a regular, who I really like. Her daughter, Carman, had something called Aicardi Syndrome, its a rare genetic disorder that only occurs in girls (boys die in utero). Some common symptoms of the disorder include regular siezures, impaired sight and brain defects. Most of these children do not live into their teens, so Tricia knew she would be surviving her daughter, but of course that doesn't make it any easier. Carman was blind, she had siezures often and went to a special school. She had been pretty healthy, but this past weekend took a turn for the worse, very fast. They brought her into the hospital thinking she had the flu, but was having back to back seizures and at the hospital ended up having a stroke. It's all very sad. The Moms club was told on Sunday she was at the hospital and in critical condition and then on Monday morning we found out she had passed. Tonight they are having a viewing for her, so I'm going to that. And on Saturday is the memorial service for her. I had planned to go to it, but they asked for volunteers to help watch their children, since they aren't bringing them to the memorial. Tricia has 2 other children who are younger and her sister Gina who is also in our group who I'm friends with, has 3 children. So instead of going to the memorial I volunteered to help watch the kids, plus 4 dogs and help with food at the reception afterwards.

You know, I consider myself a pretty strong person, been through a lot and feel I can handle what comes my way (for the most part), but if I had to deal with losing Ripley I think I might just crack. I feel horrible for Tricia and her family. And going to the viewing tonight is going to be tough, going to anything like this is hard, but when it's for a child and now I'm a Mom, ugh. Just wanted to share with you what's going on and to remind us all to be happy for our health and our children's health, etc...xoxo