"We Love Andrea" was created to update Andrea's friends as she went through a difficult journey. After her second heart transplant when her pulse began to speed up she was given a pacemaker, then a Heart Mate II or LVAD. She was in the Stollery Children's Hospital, then the Mazankowski heart unit in Edmonton, Alberta for 7 months. However, she peacefully died on May 11, 2011 when the rest of her heart and other organs could handle the strain no longer. If you come to this blog, pray for her family and friends, remember to tell your friends you love them, then sign your organ donor card.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Remembering Day

I'm having a great day, laughing and singing and the like when, bam, I remember... Two years ago, almost to the minute, Trish and I were visiting Andrea in the Edmonton Ronald McDonald House... We had an awesome time, laughing and talking and drinking free hot chocolate and just generally being normal girls:) Except that one of us was in a wheelchair with a very uncertain future... That was the evening she told me she was just going to think about getting better, she wasn't going to dream about the future and make long-term plans. I think that evening was the last time I really saw her laugh... And unless you knew Andrea's laugh, you don't know what a loss that was. I'll never forget that evening. Shortly after that she moved back into the hospital, that was the only time I saw her in the RMH.
I'm reminded again that grieving is a life-long process. You can find closure, you can move on, but there's always a hole in your heart. And I'm reminded again why we hold our friends close while they're alive.