Abrielle Neff Foundation: Family Circle Celebration, Part 2

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Family Circle Celebration, Part 2

Since the last post was so long, I thought I should break it out into two posts, so here's part two.

NBC Action News was covering the story and asked for an interview. I am not sure when it aired, but here is the link to the article on their webstie and to the video. http://www.nbcactionnews.com/news/local/story/Childrens-Hospital-Celebrates-Organ-Donors/mG_zHuBk6U6ELKcHu3UYhw.cspx The interview was tough since I was fighting the emotions of the day to begin with and then to talk about Abby just made holding back tears impossible, as you can tell in my voice. I love that they link the website and use our butterfly along with Abby's pictures.

While at the ceremony, we were able to visit with staff from CMH and from MTN, some who we have not seen since that day. It was nice to see them, but since there are not any happy memories attached, it's hard to see them too. They are all wonderful and caring people that have helped us along this journey and we appreciate them for that. We did get to visit with some of the families too and share our stories. It is just like an immediate connection is made and you don't have to explain much, which is nice. A CMH staff member came up to me and said she had lost her son 3 months ago and wanted to know if it gets any easier. I just shook my head no and started crying. She replied by saying that she really hoped it would. I didn't have a response. Maybe I should have said yes, but I just couldn't. It's been almost two years and I still cry when I talk about it and miss my little girl every day. I don't know that it ever gets easier. Some say that it gets different, but the only difference I have found is that the feelings of disbelief and auto pilot are gone and I'm forced to try to conform with society's belief that things should be better by now.

I was not sure what Mady would think of the day, but she did good. She looked at the quilts with me and rubbed my back as I cried. She acts so much more mature than 8 at these things. She walked up front with me to receive everything and was such help the whole day. She visited with the news reporters and the ladies from MTN. She told one of them that she hoped she could put the figurine in her room on her shelf beside the pictures of her and Abby, the ones in the frame with the poem about sisters. I thought this was so sweet when the story was relayed to me. I guess I am going to have to buy her one too.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Our Story...

Abrielle came into this world in a hurry to get started, which gave us our first glimpse at her personality. Not waiting on Dr Jane to put on gloves, only a towel to catch her with, she weighed in at six pounds fifteen ounces. From the beginning Abby had reflux, but there seemed to more than just that as she failed to gain weight. At four months we were sent to draw all kinds of labs, hoping for a solution, but all was normal. By six months of age, the vomiting became worse, almost nightly. We were keeping records of every calorie she ate, every dirty diaper, and every time she vomited. By this time Abby was refusing to eat supper most nights and would throw up her undigested lunch after bathtime at 8:00. Her food was just sitting in her tummy all day. Dr Watson sent us to Omaha Childrens Hospital to Dr Zapata a pediatric gastroenterologist to help diagnois the problem. There, over the next year and a half of her life, Abby underwent testing, treatments, and outpatient procedures. During every procedure she was given a stuffed animal to hold for comfort, even though she had Blankie with her.
To make a long story short, after the accident we discovered St Francis Hospital did not have a program like this for kids and Abby's Hugs was born.

That Tragic Day...

Thursday, March 29, 2007, began like any other school day in our household with the only exception being that it was Abby's sharing day at preschool. We had a rule that if the sharing item was not picked out the night before (which it usually wasn't), Abby had to be ready for school before she could find something to take. This morning was just like most ... nothing was picked out the night before. She hurried faster than usual that way she would have time to find something. After brushing her teeth, she ran to her room to find some clothes. I always tried to give Abby choices, but she was down to her last clean pair of capris. I gave her the option of wearing those, a pair of Gymboree Fruit Punch capris with a bright yellow shirt or jeans and a purple kitty shirt. She decided on the capri outfit which she had actually rejected every other day that week. After getting dressed, she went into Sissy's room and was playing with her LeapPad when I found her. I asked her how she wanted her hair fixed and she said "little pony". (Not that she was going to leave it in anyway) I helped her onto the sink and she dug through her basket of hair things until she found a yellow one. We went into the living room so I could sit down to brush her hair. Since sitting on my lap was now impossible, Abby stood in front of me as I pulled her hair up with the little yellow hair tie. She ran to her room and began looking for something to bring for sharing. She came out with her Little People's Noah's Ark set stuffed full of extra toys. Being a mean Mommy, I said, You can only bring one toy. Aww, was the response as she took the ark back to her room to look for something else. I went on about my routine of making my lunch and everything else to be ready to leave for work. Mady and I headed out to the Expedition and Abby was not following behind. I went back inside to find her and Marc on their way from her room with her big "bobbycat" (bobcat skidloader) for sharing. They had been looking for the scoop that attaches to the front but ran out of time. They decided that just the bobbycat would work. Marc helped buckle Abby in her car seat. Because she was so small we still used the 5-point harness and not just the seatbelt so she required some help. As we left the house, Marc pulled out ahead of the girls and I onto the gravel road. Just around the first set of curves past our house, I slowed down so we could watch the turkeys fly across the road. I am not sure if Abby saw them or not, but she said she did. We continued on, oblivious to our fate that lie ahead.

last added to 10/29 ...this I will add to as I am able ...thanks for understanding.

The Sentence

On June 25, 2008, Ryan C Sundermann was sentenced to 6 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections on charges of involuntary manslaughter. Sundermann wrecklessly caused the death of Abrielle Neff in a motor vehicle collision on March 29, 2007. Sundermann was charged with failing to maintain proper control of his vehicle, failure to drive on the right half of the roadway and operated a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol.
Sundermann was previously convicted of Driving While Intoxicated and Failure to Drive on the Right Half of the Roadway on April 25, 2006 and sentenced to 2 years probation, 12 days in jail, and a $300 fine. On December 19, 2006, Sundermann was again convicted of Excessive Blood Alcohol Content-Prior Offender which he received a Suspended Execution of Sentence of 180 days, was continued on 2 years probation and received a fine.