Our sweet, sweet Dana

DanaLee was so much more than Chesson's vision therapist. She was our friend. I will never forget the day, two years ago, when we first talked. It was a Saturday, she was Christmas shopping, she had never met me. Dana spent 30 minutes bringing a sense of stability to my world that was in a tailspin. Chesson had just been diagnosed with Nystagmus. I couldn't even spell it yet. He could only see four feet. Now, he functions like any typical two year old. This is because of Dana. No one has impacted his life as much as she has. She came to our house every week for two years. She taught me how to teach him to do things that come easily to other children....pick up a cheerio with 2 fingers, look at the entire page of a book, scan a room to find an object. Just last week she was helping him learn to run straight. Our sweet boy tilts his head a little to see clearly, so he is running on a diagonal and falling constantly. Dana brought me pages of activities to do with him. She was his biggest cheer leader (she was my cheer leader too). Corbin and I always joked that Chesson would do anything for Dana. When we couldn't get him to pick up small objects, she'd come over and he would try and try until he got it. When we couldn't get him to scan the room, she'd have him doing it as soon as she got here. Chesson adored her. I would even say he had a crush on her. He talked about her when she wasn't here. He waited at the door each week for her to come. He jumped up and down & shouted, "DANE! DANE!" Last week, my sweet friend had some minimally invasive surgery. She was supposed to recover in a few days. Instead, she fell into a coma and died yesterday. She is my age. I cannot understand this. How can this be true? She brought joy, laughter and hope to our family when we were lost. She was just here, in my home, last week. She just texted me on Tues. I just emailed her on Thursday. How can this be? She did more amazing good in her short life than 99% of us can ever hope to do in a long one. I am truly heartbroken. I am sure hers is a void that can never be filled. And I feel as if the world is less of a place without her here.