Our neighborhood tragedy

A week ago, a little girl in our neighborhood passed away suddenly. She was only 8 years old. Her mom is the Primary President in our ward. I guess she had started getting sick last Wednesday. By Friday she couldn't walk. Her mom took her into their doctor (and she had to carry her into the office on her back since the little girl couldn't walk) and apparently he took a look at her and told them to get to the ER right away. I don't know much, but apparently, she was life flighted from a hospital here to Primary Children's in Salt Lake. I guess her heart stopped during the Life Flight ride and they worked on her and also the Doctors at Primary Children's worked on her for over an hour. We heard she had passed away before her parents even made it to the hospital in Salt Lake. An autopsy was performed and I guess she had developed mono, but they also discovered she had a heart defect they never had known about. I guess a valve hadn't developed properly (or was missing) and her heart just couldn't keep up with the infection in her body. This little girl had given a talk in primary the Sunday before on obeying her parents and on eternal families (the theme for Primary this year). Our bishop reminded us of this and told us that sometimes these things just don't happen on accident.

It has been a sad week for our ward and for our neighborhood. Mike and I went to the viewing Tuesday night and the line at the mortuary was huge. The family had so much support. We waited in line over an hour. The funeral was Wednesday and again, there were so many people there!

We have really been reminded this week how precious life is and what a wonderful family we have. When I spoke to this girl's mom, she reminded me to always love our kids. She said they had no regrets because they always loved their little girl and she knew it.

In my earlier post, I mentioned how the doctor did a mono test on Alyssa this week when she was sick. Normally, we would not have done this test, but when the doctor heard about this little girl - and since Alyssa's EKG indicated an issue with her heart - he felt we should also do the mono test. I was grateful for the reassurance of the extra test and for the sensitive doctor.

We always have bad days and get frustrated with our kids. In fact, this happens to me a lot! However, we are so grateful to have them in our family and for the love they bring into our home. We truly do cherish them. Most important, we are thankful for the knowledge we have that our family will be together forever. The pain will always be there when we lose someone we love - and I know the pain and lonliness can last a long time - but it is a great comfort to know that death is not the end and we will be reunited with our loved ones when we die. We have an Eternal Family!