I was born in Fort Wayne, IN and raised in New Haven, IN. I am the youngest of three girls. My sisters are 9 and 10 years older then me so really in many ways I was raised as an only child. I currently have 8 nephews and nieces and 4 great-nephews/nieces with 2 more due in July. And that isn't counting my family from David and I do count them but have no clue how many of them there are!
When I went to college I originally was majoring in Criminal Justice but then I took a production class and fell in love with it. So technically I had a double major going one in Criminal Justice and another in Radio/Television. I moved to Los Angeles in June 1995 to do an internship on the soap opera The Young and the Restless. I ended up staying there and not finishing my degree.
I met David while working at Universal Studios in 1996. We were married on May 31, 1997. We stayed in California until September 2003. During that time he had two different knee surgeries from injuries he got while working. We moved back to my hometown in September 2003. In March of 2004 David was supposed to have yet another surgery on his knee but his blood pressure was so high he could not have the surgery. We then found out that he had kidney failure. One of his kidney's had only grown to the size of a walnut and the other was a centimeter smaller then it should be. In December 2006 David went on dialysis. In December of 2008 we got the call that he was going to get a kidney transplant! A woman had come in and wanted to donate one of her kidneys to whomever matched and my David was the one who matched with her! We were so excited!! The surgery went well and with the exception of his blood pressure going up again and now his blood sugar levels as well because of the anti-rejection drugs he was on he was doing great. He had his energy back and was starting to work out and look for a new job.
Then came the day I doubt I will ever be able to forget, October 7, 2009. We had gone to Spiece in the morning to work out and then to Sam's Club to pick up some stuff. I had a sore throat so David made us chicken noodle soup for lunch. He always finished his food faster then I did so I wasn't surprised when he was done and I had barely started. But then I saw him go into our bedroom and I asked him what was wrong. He said he just wanted to lay down for a little bit. I could hear him breathing out in the living room so I asked him again if something was wrong. He said his chest hurt. When I got in the bedroom he was rubbing the top of his stomach near the lungs. I thought he was having a severe asthma attack. I asked if he could manage me driving him to the ER and he said no. So I got him to put warmer clothes on and move into the living room while I called 911. While I was on the phone with 911 he stopped breathing, his lips were turning blue and his face was turning white. Then he started having seizures. They told me to pick him up and get him flat on the floor so he would be ready when the paramedics got here. They told me he had a pulse but then when they turned him on his side to put the back board under him I saw him flatline. He flatlined again in the ambulance and a third time in the ER. All combined his brain went without oxygen for over 20 minutes. They put him into a coma and put a cooling blanket on him in hopes it would allow his brain to heal. Even in the coma he kept having seizures though. He was on a ventilator and he was matching it breath for breath which I took as something positive. He never responded to any stimuli though, not pain or light. They did a multi-day EEG and it showed the only brain activity was the part making him still breath. On Sunday October 11 I signed a DNR in the event he went into heart failure. They didn't think he would make it through the night so my mom and I spent the night with him. He proved them wrong. On Tuesday October 13 the third neurologist to see David met with me and explained that the odds of David ever waking up where basically slim to none. And if he did somehow wake up he would never ever be my David again. So after talking with one of my Pastor's and with David's nurse I made the decision that I would have him taken off the life support on Friday October 16. I had decided to wait until then so family and friends could all come up and say their good-byes. The next morning as I was waiting for mom to come pick me up so we could go to the hospital for the day I got a call from David's nurse. He wanted to know if I was coming up because David had taken a turn for the worse and it would be any time now. We got there about 8:30am and I had them keep him on the ventilator until the Pastor could get there. David died at 9:13am October 14, 2009. My world went so dark, he was my first and only love. Living without him seemed impossible.
David and I on September 24,2009 at the Kidney Gala Event. This is the last picture taken of the two of us and was just shy of two weeks before he collapsed. We were so happy here, we finally felt like life was moving forward.
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