Stories of Lost Children
Our Angel Felicia
by Nikki Hunt, Elkhart, IN, U.S.A.
This is a little summary of what has just happened in my life that changed it forever. My name is Nikki and this is about my angel. Felicia who was the most important person in my life. Felicia was born a healthy little girl (with exception of a heart murmur) with beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes. Which was a shock considering her father and I have dark brown hair and eyes, so that immediately made her our angel. For her, no major symptoms became totally relavant until she was about 19 months. Before then it was just that she was a little delayed developmentally, as far as walking, talking, etc. Though she was the smartest little girl I had ever seen. Of course because of her delays she was started in therapy, (physical, occupational, and speech). Felicia started showing so much improvement with therapy it overjoyed us beyond words. August of 2001 she started having seizures and myoclonic jerks. She would be standing at the coffee table, and the next moment it was if she blacked out. It progressed from there with the seizures, and she started having every type of seizure there was. Still she fought, and she had a very strong and determinded look on her face. Of course they were going through every imaginable test to find out what was wrong. It took them until Feb. 2002 to finally say that it was a mitochondrial disease and they started treating her for it. That was because in February, she had her biggest seizure ever; it totally debilitated her. Felicia was placed in PICU on a ventilator and everything else. When she went in that time it changed everything. She also got her feeding tube and nisen (excuse my spelling) in that visit. After about a month we brought her home, then, brought her back because her body was not able to handle doing anything on its own. We got back to the hospital to find out that almost all of her organs were shutting down, one by one. They tried what the could to slow down the process as much a possible but it was not having any effect. So then we decided to bring her home on Friday March 1, 2002 so that she would be surrounded by family, friends and love. The house was constantly filled with family and friends day and night. She came home on oxygen and fluids although on Saturday we thought that it
would just be best to take her off of them. Felicia was so brave and strong the whole time after we brought her home, she was still trying to fight. Monday (March 4th, 2002), the house was quiet and empty for once that evening that at about six o'clock, her father and I decided to just lay there beside Felicia to relax there with her. We laid as close as possible to her; Felicia was laying in the middle of the bed with the both of us on each side. We laid holding her hand and I, with my hand on her chest, talking to her. Telling her how much she was loved and that it was OK for her to leave us to go to that better place where everything would be so much better for her. For weeks she had not opened her eyes because of the state she was in and also because of some medication. There was a moment that evening when we were talking to her when she finally opened her eyes and looked at us as if she was telling the two of us something. Then at around 6:30 p.m., the hardest thing that I have ever had to witness, happened. With my hand on her chest, I felt my angel take her very last breath. Now I know what she was trying to tell us when she opened her eyes. It was her way of telling us 'I love you and goodbye.' Love you always baby, Mommy
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