It's never easy to hear these things.......

I play in an online football league. It's a game and you play year after year just like you are the GM of a NFL team. I play against 31 other owners and we've been doing it for a few years now. You get to know guys very well and what goes on in their life. One of the guys in the league has had a rough few months to start the year. His 2 year old daughter was diagnosed with a form of cancer. He put up a website to update people on her treatment and progress. The website is http://www.savekenzie.com. Really cute kid and you can see some of her pictures on the website under the 'Pictures' link.

Unfortunately, her dad posted this news last night on our message board..........

It is with a heavy heart and a somber mood that I have to inform everyone that my daughter Kenzie has lost her battle with brain cancer.

While she has not stopped breathing yet, she is for all intents and purposes not with us anymore. Her upper brain stem is no longer responding to stimuli or input. Which means that she is gone and she is in a better place. All prayers are answered, but sometimes the response is not what you want to hear.

We have had several days to pray and hope for a final miracle and the answer was not what we wanted to hear. The turn for the worse was very, very quick and she faded over the last few days. On Friday we were informed that all options had been exhausted and they had no more things to try. We requested that she be given a massive dose of steroids to reduce the swelling in her brain, knowing that it might make the infection worse but that it was the last hope we had to get our little girl back.

Heidi and I; have come to accept, that the time we had with Kenzie was a blessing and that we all had two wonderful years. She should not have even been born alive since the cord was wrapped around her neck twice and we had a miracle to simply have her born without brain damage. So we got two blessed years to spend with her and have her affect so many people.

Kenzie touched so many people's hearts and minds it is hard to conceive how many people she has made love her. For every person that thinks that nurses are not affected by their jobs, they have not seen the amount of nurses that have come to visit Kenzie after it was clear what the outcome would be, and all of them cried that she would not be here with us.

On Monday, May 1st, we had a blessing service with the family and it helped my 4-year-old son come to terms with her leaving. I think it also gave her Grandmother the closure she needed before Kenzie passed away.

We made plaster casts of her hands and we also made a handprint poster. The handprint poster had both of her handprints, in her favorite color of pink. The rest of the family’s handprints are on the poster in other colors around hers. It was very pretty and will be matted and framed for us.

Since we have always wanted to help other families from the possible ordeal they may have to endure from cancer, we have provided the permission for the Doctors to get the research, and samples they needed to further the understanding of why this happens to children.

Kenzie has already made a difference at this hospital and she will be making an impact in other areas since we have agreed to allow an autopsy to be performed. In addition to all of that the stem cells she donated (for herself) will be used to research a host of diseases and conditions that they may help with.

This reminds me of a story of a troubling making boy named Dylan that was asked my his mommy “How do you think you will get into to heaven after all the trouble you have caused?” Dylan answered simply, “Well, I will go to the pearly gates and run in and out, in and out, until finally; Saint Peter will say ‘Dylan either go in or stay out’. And that is how I will get into heaven.”

I picture in my mind Kenzie running in and out of the pearly gates trying to decide when it is time to stay. Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes you all have sent, sometimes God calls in people we want to spend more time with.

Love,
Scott Kolleck