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The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. The sky was colored in shades of orange, red and rose. The beauty was breath-taking....enough to make one pause and reflect. To think about the future and hope for tomorrow. And give thanks for being able to catch the splendor that is free for all to enjoy.
Watching the sunrise, I thought about how one little boy will never get to see another sunrise and one little girl may see too few.
Erin Parrish is a 3-year old, fun loving and sweet little girl. Her young life started off with a challenge. Her arm bones were underdeveloped at birth and she had no thumbs. Surgery gave her "thumbs" by moving her index fingers. But having been this way since she was born, Erin knew nothing else and accepts her deformity as normal....never letting it affect her life and the things she wants to do. Like any typical 3-year old, Erin loves dolls (she calls each one Sally) and stuffed animals. She loves to laugh and easily brings a smile to all those near. Erin also has a rare blood disease which will require her to have a bone marrow transplant before she is a teenager.
Tony was a 7-year old boy. He was full of life and loved to share with everyone. He was thought of highly by everyone that met him and even a few that never did. Tony loved baseball and NASCAR (Jeff Gordon was his favorite driver). He loved to play with matchbox cars and with his 3 younger siblings. Tony loved to play computer games on his “maw maw’s” computer. but only after asking if his brother and he could. Even at 7, he would go out of his way to help others around him. Tony was a dearly loved son, brother, grandson, nephew, great nephew and friend.
Sadly,
Tony is no longer with his family. During the night of March 21st,
as his family was returning to Indiana after a vacation in Florida, the
van they were riding in was clipped by a semi. The van rolled and
Tony was ejected. He was the only one that was fatally injured as
his head struck a guardrail. His mother and step dad got to him as
he was still conscience. Tony looked at his mother and said, “I love
you, Mommy.” Then he turned to his stepped and smiled. His
mother tried to keep him awake by talking to him. The paramedics
loaded him with drugs to try to keep him alive.
These drugs, which would have been a blessing if Tony had survived, proved to be a curse in his passing. Not only did they render it impossible for his parents to donate his organs, but his bone marrow could not be harvest.
Tony was the only one in the entire family that was a perfect match to be his sister's donor. Now the search must again begin to find someone willing to donate bone marrow and keep this little girl from joining her brother and the family from losing another child.
The sun is slowly fading in the western sky. Deep purples, pinks and yellows painted across the clouds. And I wonder if Erin will get to see a lifetime of sunsets.
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