Abrielle Neff Foundation: October 2010

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Another Angel

Wendy Jackson lost her fight with cancer last night and earned her angel wings. We will miss Wendy! Here are a couple of pictures of Wendy helping out the Foundation.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Our line up time for your parade entry is 7:45 AM. Our entry must be lined up on College Park Drive between College Park Pavilion and the Ron Houston Center at this designated time. You must entry campus from the north on College Park Drive on 16th Street.

· It is imperative that your entry is lined up at your designated time. A Homecoming staff member will be on location to assist you.

· We understand that this line up time may be a bit earlier than you expected. Once you have been give the okay by a Homecoming staff member, you may leave your entry and return to it no later than 8:15 AM. Any groups not in attendance by 8:15 AM will be unable to participate in the parade, as we will start filtering entries into the parade line-up at this time.

· Please make sure anyone walking with you and/or entry is also with the entry by 8:15 AM. Parking has been reserved for parade participants on Lot 61.
· Please remember that throwing candy (or similar items) from the parade line-up is not allowed.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Senior Project

We received a letter from Jennifer Gregory, a senior at Willow Springs High School in Willow Springs, MO about using the Foundation as her College English class project. Her project will take up most of the year and will end with a donation of stuffed animals to the Pediatric unit at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, MO. She plans on holding a competition in the elementary school to receive donations to use.

We are honored that she has been touched enough by the Foundation to use it as a project and the fact that she is sharing Abby's Hugs with others!

Friday, October 15, 2010

Granny's in Heaven

My Grandma joined Abby in Heaven on Thursday night at the age of 92. A bittersweet time for us as Granny is at peace now, but of course it was hard to let her go. I was able to spend quite a bit of time with her before she got her wings and was able to talk about her getting to see Abrielle. I asked her to make sure she took care of my little girl for me until I get there. I asked her to tell her how much we missed her and how much we love her. I told her to snuggle her, rock her, and read her books.

Here are just a few pictures of our two angels in Heaven together. I didn't go through the more recent ones just because they are harder for me to look at.

On a fun little side note, Grandma was always Grandma to everyone that knew her, but after the girls came along, we had to come up with a way to differentiate all their Grandmas, so she became Granny in our household.

Love you Grandma and don't spoil my little girl too much!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Another Round at MTC

Last week I spoke to another class of offenders at MTC. This class was probably the largest I have had there with about 20 men. I was met with many questions and comments from this class also which makes me feel like my speech has made an impact. Several offenders also shared some of their stories with me, which was a first. Before I left, I was asked if I would be willing to speak at the correction facility in St. Joe too. I said I would so soon our Abby will be touching more lives.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Bagging/Parade Prep

We are scheduling a long overdue bagging for next Saturday, October 16th at 7 pm. We will also be working on getting things ready to hand out in the parade.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Women Who Change the World

I received a wonderful card from a friend that really made my day. Sometimes I am not sure if what I am doing is really making a difference so when I get words like these, it helps.

"There are women who make things better... simply by showing up. There are women who make things happen. There are women who make their own way. There are women who make a difference. And women who make us smile. There are women who do not make excuses. Women who cannot be replaced. There are women of wit and wisdom who - through strength and courage - make it through. There are women who change the world every day ...women like you."

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.

Abrielle Neff Foundation