Abrielle Neff Foundation: August 2011

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Another Speech

Today I spoke to a class of offenders at the Treatment Center. I seemed to be weepier through it than usual. I think it was because of the recent start of school along with the fact that it had been several months since I had spoke. The class was very quiet after my presentation, but after several minutes they finally asked questions and opened up with comments. Hopefully the silence meant I touched some of them.

Monday, August 29, 2011

MTN Donor Family Picnic

Saturday we attended Midwest Transplant Network's organ donor family picnic at Faulkner's Ranch in Kansas City. The girls had a great time with all the activities there and I was able to reconnect with some donor families I had not seen for a couple of years.

Elly loved all the animals in the petting zoo, even though she was a bit intimidated by the buffalo and Brahma bull at first.

While waiting for some of the festivities to begin, we played inside on the fun rocking horses and cows.

The girls got a kick out of milking the cow.

They loved watching the goats play on the goat climb. We bought some feed and they sent it up to the top to make the goats climb up their playground.

Duck races played with water pumps.

Horse swings!

Elly was thrilled to be able to play on a playground since ours is in a pile.

Horse rides were a hit with the girls. They rode several times.

We tried cane pole fishing, but the girls had trouble with there being no reel.

Bounce house fun for Elly.

Doug became Elly's playmate for the day. He pushed her on the swings, played duck races, and chased after her. I was excited that Doug and Julie were able to attend since we had not been able to get together since our Washington DC trip.

I was glad I let Doug step in for me to play the water balloon toss in the second round with Mady since it ended up being a fight at the end. Both came back wet.

Girls vs boys at tug of war.

Musical chairs was followed by a game of limbo which Elly was proud to win by simply duck walking under the bar.

It was great to spend the day with other families like ours. Elly asked lots of questions from people there since she is trying to process death in her little mind.

The picnic shirts had a great quote on the back ~ "Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves." James Matthew Barrie

Friday, August 26, 2011

Celebration Pictures ~ Ice Cream Eating Contest

One of the favorite events of the day has been the ice cream eating contest. This year, two groups competed.

Group 1 winners~

On to the adults ~

The winners!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Celebration Photos ~ MDA On The Stage

I am finally gettting my computer to agree with uploading pictures and am going to be flooding the blog with pictures finally! Here is Maryville Dance Academy performing for the crowd.

This year Elly was super excited to be dancing too.

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