Hello All,
It's with a heavy heart that write to you about the end of Madison's Journey on planet earth, but certainly not her legacy. Madison earned her angel wings this morning about 8:30 AM. While very very sad, it was actually a beautiful and graceful departure. She passed away with absolute grace, pain-free, and without any agitation whatsoever.
Last night Madison's mom Colleen bunked in Madison's room. Madi's medical team trained us well: based upon certain observations with Madison we suspected that we may lose her in the next few days. About 4AM this morning Madi became a bit restless, an occasional norm in the wee hours. Dad got up and mom and I gave her the typical wee-hour meds based upon the what-if scenarios. Madison's oxygen level was low... 54% and over the course of sitting together in Madison's room, the pattern was obvious... her 02 levels were slowly dropping and Madison remained asleep for the duration. I woke up Angela, and both moms and dad sat in Madison's room and just spoke quietly to her and to one another taking turns holding her hands, with Bailey snoring softly on the foot of her bed. Despite her oxygen levels dropping and shallow breathing she knew we were there. We all held her hands and something I'll never forget, I just said "Hey Shug", I'm here with your mom and Angela: Madison squeezed my hand. Her 02 was really low but Madison's nurse Jan said one of the last senses to go is hearing. How true, we witnessed it. We each told Madison how much she has enriched our lives, how proud we are of her, quietly reminded her we'll be okay when she leaves planet earth and gave her permission to go.... " it's okay honey... it's not goodbye, but see you there". Over the next several hours we continued quietly talking to her. Her oxygen continued to slowly drop and her breaths were becoming softer, amazingly free of any agitation whatsoever. She looked so beautiful, so peaceful as she was dismissing her mortal body, and then she simply stopped breathing. We knew the mind can stay 'on' for up to five minutes after mortal death, so we sat there for a short while speaking to her. Since a doctor or nurse must officially pronounce someone 'dead', I called the nurse and Colleen and I dressed Madison in her new French Bulldog pajamas... so cute, beautiful in fact. Madison's facial expression this morning appeared to me as if she was a young kid pretending to be asleep. I couldn't stop staring at her... she looked that beautiful and peaceful. Today was both a tragic inevitability and a beautifully graceful exit. You can see a brief video celebration of her life at this link.
Oh Madison... we are all so very proud of you on so many levels. Your bravery, kindness, compassion, tenacity, spirit, spunk, and love have been an inspirational gift to so many of us. You have taught us how deeply we're actually capable of loving, living, how brave and kind we can be, and those gifts from you to all of us has changed the trajectory of so many lives and relationships... relationships with ourselves as well as with the other people we touch in our lives. We will miss you, this won't be goodbye... we promise you that. We'll be together again...and that will be beautiful.
All of our Love,
Dad, Moms, Family, Friends, and Followers
It's with a heavy heart that write to you about the end of Madison's Journey on planet earth, but certainly not her legacy. Madison earned her angel wings this morning about 8:30 AM. While very very sad, it was actually a beautiful and graceful departure. She passed away with absolute grace, pain-free, and without any agitation whatsoever.
Last night Madison's mom Colleen bunked in Madison's room. Madi's medical team trained us well: based upon certain observations with Madison we suspected that we may lose her in the next few days. About 4AM this morning Madi became a bit restless, an occasional norm in the wee hours. Dad got up and mom and I gave her the typical wee-hour meds based upon the what-if scenarios. Madison's oxygen level was low... 54% and over the course of sitting together in Madison's room, the pattern was obvious... her 02 levels were slowly dropping and Madison remained asleep for the duration. I woke up Angela, and both moms and dad sat in Madison's room and just spoke quietly to her and to one another taking turns holding her hands, with Bailey snoring softly on the foot of her bed. Despite her oxygen levels dropping and shallow breathing she knew we were there. We all held her hands and something I'll never forget, I just said "Hey Shug", I'm here with your mom and Angela: Madison squeezed my hand. Her 02 was really low but Madison's nurse Jan said one of the last senses to go is hearing. How true, we witnessed it. We each told Madison how much she has enriched our lives, how proud we are of her, quietly reminded her we'll be okay when she leaves planet earth and gave her permission to go.... " it's okay honey... it's not goodbye, but see you there". Over the next several hours we continued quietly talking to her. Her oxygen continued to slowly drop and her breaths were becoming softer, amazingly free of any agitation whatsoever. She looked so beautiful, so peaceful as she was dismissing her mortal body, and then she simply stopped breathing. We knew the mind can stay 'on' for up to five minutes after mortal death, so we sat there for a short while speaking to her. Since a doctor or nurse must officially pronounce someone 'dead', I called the nurse and Colleen and I dressed Madison in her new French Bulldog pajamas... so cute, beautiful in fact. Madison's facial expression this morning appeared to me as if she was a young kid pretending to be asleep. I couldn't stop staring at her... she looked that beautiful and peaceful. Today was both a tragic inevitability and a beautifully graceful exit. You can see a brief video celebration of her life at this link.
Oh Madison... we are all so very proud of you on so many levels. Your bravery, kindness, compassion, tenacity, spirit, spunk, and love have been an inspirational gift to so many of us. You have taught us how deeply we're actually capable of loving, living, how brave and kind we can be, and those gifts from you to all of us has changed the trajectory of so many lives and relationships... relationships with ourselves as well as with the other people we touch in our lives. We will miss you, this won't be goodbye... we promise you that. We'll be together again...and that will be beautiful.
All of our Love,
Dad, Moms, Family, Friends, and Followers
