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Here’s what I did this morning: I followed the slow, painful death of a two year old little girl through my Twitter feed. Sounds like a horrific way to the pass time? Well, it was.
I’d only planned to stop by Twitter for a couple of minutes this morning, get my fix, tweet a snarky comment or two, and then get a little photo editing done. My mornings have a sequential order to them: cup of coffee, change a diaper, and then check Twitter. Pluck anyone of those things out of my morning routine and risk the earth rotating off it’s axis.
Once at Twitter, I came across a tweet from @allisonzapata, a woman I follow there. It didn’t contain any naughty words, or ruffle my liberal sensitivities, yet it caught my attention:
“Wondering how @LaylaGrace is doing this morning.”
I wondered, who’s Layla Grace? So I followed the link to her family’s blog where I learned that Layla Grace is a two year old (like my two year old) little girl (like my little girl) dying from a painful cancer, neuroblastoma.
KNIFE. IN. THE. HEART.
The tweets kept coming, and I realized that little Layla Grace was probably very near the end. As in this is it.
I won’t try and retell the story of little Layla Grace. Her mother has already eloquently, and honestly, shared her baby’s journey, and suffering. But I will tell you this: it’s a sad, sad story. The kind of story that tests my faith and beliefs. The @LaylaGrace Twitter account explicitly recounts their daughter’s suffering over the past several weeks. It reads like a torture manual to a parent.
It got to the point where I couldn’t read another word about how Layla Grace was unable to eat or was moaning in pain. This tweet in particular will always stay with me:
“Mommy is rocking Layla. She has only opened her eyes once today. Her feet are getting cold too."
I decided I needed to get back to my life. I needed to get on with my day. So I opened Photoshop and tweaked a few images. And then I wondered if Layla Grace was still suffering. Then I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water, and while checking the bottom of my glass to make sure it was clean, I wondered if Layla Grace was still alive. I went back to my computer, and then I wondered how Layla Grace’s parents had enough physical strength to even hold her. Wouldn’t your arms even hurt from that extreme kind of grief?
Then this tweet from @LaylaGrace, and I stopped wondering:
“Layla went to play with the angels early this morning. Rest in peace precious Layla. 11/26/2007 – 3/9/2010”
Layla Grace’s family is accepting donations to help pay for her medical bills. Donations can be made through PayPal, or by credit card at laylagrace.org.
Please note: as of this moment (the time of publishing this post) the laylagrace.org was experiencing high volume traffic, and I was unable to log on. Be patient and try back.
