Another Angel in the Family

I have known Sarah, the beautiful mother of little angel Ella, since she was a small girl.  I admired her happy nature and faithful strength as I worked with her in Young Women at church.  And now, I see her quiet dignity and knowledge of the Greater Plan, in the loss of her precious daughter.  Sarah's sister, Angela, joined us as a dove releaser a few years ago, after losing her own daughter.  There are two angels in this family that I love so much!  It was Sarah and Angela's parents who were so near and played a big part when we lost our own son 15 years ago.  This family will always hold a special place in my heart.   They exemplify love, faith, and devotion that Mark and I so admire.

It is inspiring how powerful hope can be in the face of mortal experiences such as losing a child.  Sarah's story of darling Ella pulled at my heartstrings:

Monday, February 1^st, our soon to be 20-month old baby girl woke up with a fever during her nap. The rest of the family was sick the week prior, so we felt we would have a couple of days with a sick baby. On Thursday Ella was just getting worse and I was just looking for signs to take her into the doctors. That night she tugged at her ears and that was enough for me. I took all four children to the doctors that evening hoping to get more help. The Doctor did a typical check up, and everything seemed normal for having a virus. Her ears looked perfect and we were sent home. The next two days she was not getting better, though her fever was gone by Saturday and there were times when she was acting more like herself. I probably will never forgive myself for not taking her in again on Saturday.  Sunday morning, she woke up at 4:30 am having a hard time breathing, making grunting sounds which wouldn’t stop. I took her to the ER and the Doctor put her on Oxygen to help her breath and then took an X-Ray. Her right lung was full of fluid (they called this a white out). Her left lung was perfect. They diagnosed her with Pneumonia (bacterial), and the Corona Virus, and then had her transported by ambulance to Primary Children Hospital.

When we got to the hospital, the Doctors quickly helped her get stable and put my heart at ease that she would be ok. They have had cases like this, and children usually fully recover.  They said that bacterial pneumonia is just “bad luck”. Each day they did a treatment (going from least invasive to more) and more blood tests, X-rays, and CAT Scans. Each day the doctors were happy to see her stats so good and no additional alarms. Each day was hard, but I felt confident that she would recover, and that all would be ok.

Wednesday morning around 4:30 am I got a call from the head nurse that Ella’s breathing was not stable, and that they would soon be putting a breathing tube down her to help her breath. Again I felt like everything was going to be ok.  Staying at an extended family’s house just five minutes away, I sent my husband to the hospital to make sure that the procedures would go well.  I got a call soon after from Daniel that I better come to the hospital now because the doctors don’t know if she will survive.  My mind started racing, my heart aching, this could not be happening. I was driven to the hospital shortly after and rushed to see her. Her room was full of doctors and nurses and all I heard was “do we have a pulse?!” as they were doing CPR over and over again. After waiting outside the room for about a half hour the Doctor told us she was failing and everything that they tried to do was not helping.  She had passed, and we were sent in the room alone to say our last goodbyes.  We later learned more of her condition that she had a form of pneumonia that is very rare and very hard for the doctors to detect because the body usually does not give any signs of failure until it is too late to help.

Our sweet baby Ella Marie completed her mission her on earth; to bring love, happiness, and comfort to everyone she met, especially her family and her mama. Now we hope and pray for that same connection with her to continue with us, as she is our angel. She will always be our “perfect baby”.  She will be forever missed, but we know this was the Lord’s will, and He has a greater plan for this loving girl on the other side. We are so grateful to know that families can be together forever.  The day we are reunited with Ella will be a glorious day.