Abrielle Neff Foundation

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Top News Story

I would rather something to do with the Foundation make the top news story of the year, but none the less, we made the papers with Sundermann's sentencing. I don't think our lives are newsworthy by any means, but it shows the amount of public support and outcry at the accident that took our little girl. Here are the links to the top news stories in the Maryville Daily Forum and the Nodaway News Leader.
http://www.maryvilledailyforum.com/news/x1277302669/Top-news-stories-of-2008

http://www.nodawaynews.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=11081&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Also, those of you who can, make sure you tune in to the Rose Parade tomorrow and watch for the Donate Life Float. The parade will be broadcast on ABC, NBC, HGTV, Travel Channel, RFD-TV, and a couple others that I haven't heard of. We will be thinking or our little girl as we watch tomorrow as she is honored with a rose.

Avenue City School Donations

Mandy Scott, the third grade teacher at Avenue City, asked her class to bring in donations for the Foundation and here's what we received....

WOW!!! All from just 15 kids!

One of her students, his brother, and his mother accompanied Mandy on the trip up to bring me the donations. These boys were so cute. One had told Santa that to make sure the kids in the hospitals get presents on Christmas too. I love it when kids learn to give. Thank you Mandy and all your students! We really appreciate the gift!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

We Survived...

We survived the Christmas holiday. Christmas Eve was tough for me and I spent most of it in tears at work and while wrapping presents. We started some new traditions with the girls last year and have continued those. This was one of the suggestions in our grief support group and we have tried to do a few of them to get through the holidays. Mady had said a couple days before that it was sad last year that we didn't make any cookies for Santa. So, we did get some made this year. We have always made oatmeal raisin, but thought we should make a different kind this year. We had lots of company on Christmas day and I think that actually helped keep me distracted most of the day. Of course Abby was never out of my thoughts on such a special day, how could she be. In fact, Santa brings gifts for the Foundation to our house every year now. Last year Mady asked for some in her letter to Santa and he brought an enormous bag full of them. This year, Santa left some animals under our Abby Tree.

Those of you keeping track out there, we have a lot of bagging to do in January. I'll try to get a date scheduled soon. And another note, we had to change the date of the Celebration to the 14th of June, so mark the date.

Monday, December 29, 2008

St Gregory's First Grade Donation

St. Gregory's First Graders brought bags of donations to give to me when they decorated cards. Here is what they gave.

I absolutely love the values this school instills in its students. They are continually working on projects that help someone else. I think this is such a wonderful thing to intertwine with the normal curriculum.

Friday, December 26, 2008

School Donations

Mrs. Nielson and Mrs. Wilmes, the preschool teachers at EFE, started a tradition of helping out the Foundation at Christmas time by asking the kids to bring something for the Foundation instead of a gift for them. Here are the gifts they brought this year.

One bag of animals came with a sweet little note that said, "My daughter was in the emergency room several times in September. Each time, she received a stuffed animal. It provided her comfort each time. Thank you! Hope these animals will bring comfort to another child. God Bless!" We love hearing that all the hard work our group of volunteers put in is appreciated.

They also donated several coloring books, crayons, and reading books. We donate most of our reading books to the Nodaway County Health Department, but some go other places too.

Thanks so much for the donations to all that gave and thanks for collecting these gifts for the Foundation Randi and Suzi, Robin and Jenn.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

A Poem for Abby

Christmas in Heaven,
What is it like for you?
Are there gifts to open,
And family dinners too?

Have you been baking
With Great-Grandma Pendergrass,
Making cookies and candies
To share with all who pass.

Or have you and Grandpa
Found the perfect spot,
To give ice fishing a try
Before it gets too hot.

Are you and Granddad
Dealing the cards,
Playing Go Fish
With the angels in charge.

Has Uncle Bob
Found you a big hill
To ride your sled down
Without any spills.

Are you wearing your hat
Like Mommy says to do
As you build snowmen
And have snowball fights too.

Christmas at our house
Is still filled with tears,
Missing you terribly
Year after year.

Between your two sisters’
Your stocking hangs still,
With no gifts or toys
For us to fill.

On Christmas,
In our thoughts you will be
As we open gifts
Left under the tree.

We spend the day playing
With the new gifts given,
But never forget
About you up in Heaven.

So look down on us
On this special day,
Let us feel you close
As we struggle and pray.

Merry Christmas Abby! Mommy and Daddy love you!

Christmas 2006, Part 3

This is the last Christmas we had with our little girl. Here are some photos of Christmas morning at our house. And before anyone says anything, I'm just going to admit it, yes, my girls are spoiled. Christmas is a BIG deal at our house and it has always been my favorite holiday. I have always loved the baking and decorating, the lights and sounds, the family gatherings, the excitement of the kids, but just don't now. I hope one day this will be my favorite holiday again.

Santa got a little sneaky this year. We had finished the basement (most of it) and he put presents under the tree downstairs too. The girls opened all the gifts upstairs and noticed there were some things they asked for that they didn't get. We started off saying that Santa only has so much room in his sleigh and that he must not have been able to bring everything they asked for. They looked a couple of gifts that just seemed odd, like Abby got cartridges of music for her microphone, but no microphone, and they thought of the tree downstairs. They hustled down there and found more presents.

Here's Abrielle in her pink princess dress she asked for. Notice JackJack got to come in for Christmas too. He's at her feet.

The girls got a Little Mermaid salon. Here's Abby in her new robe trying out the dryer.

Merry Christmas Abbers!

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.