A Journey Ended

I feel compelled to post about this. If you look down to the blogs I follow, you'll see I am one of thousands that followed the journey of baby Anaya, a beautiful little girl with a rare illness called Infantile Krabbe Leukodystrophy, a terminal brain disease. Yesterday, she lost her battle and she passed away in her mother's arms at the tender age of two.

I've followed her story for about a year now. I first heard about it on a wedding/baby forum that I belong to when they were looking for donations of breast milk. I was not a pumping mom so I was unable to help but I do know someone who did. Hers was the first blog that I actually followed. In the past year she had her ups and downs as the degenerative disease progressed. She had been doing seemingly well the past few weeks. I felt so blindsided when I read on her Facebook page that they had been admitted to the hospital with what they thought was pneumonia. She had beaten it before, she still had some fight. I had hope for a little girl I had never even met.

Unfortunately, it was not so. With the advancement of her disease, her lungs kept collapsing. Without life support, she would die. They gathered the family and they let her go. I can't imagine having to make that choice. The pros and cons. Everyone wants just one more moment with the ones they love, but nobody wants to prolong their suffering. What a horrible decision to make to set her free when you so want her to stay.

I can safely say that I've never been so effected by what is going on in another family and to another child. I spent most of yesterday checking Facebook for constant updates on my BlackBerry. Such despair from thousands of others all across the world who had also never met the family, the number of followers went up by the minute. All joined together in grief for this family.

If there is one thing that I've learned from this amazing family, is to be ever thankful for my beautiful healthy little girl. To cherish each day with her, to love her just a little bit more, that life is extremely precious. So hug your own babies a little tighter. And remember baby Anaya and her struggle, but remember that she was pure love.