----- Forwarded Message ---- From: KITTY KELSO <[email protected]> To: [email protected]; [email protected]; Isabelle Debois <[email protected]>; M.D. Anderson <[email protected]>; Netflix <[email protected]>; Megan Leahy <[email protected]>; Yahoo! Alerts <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, December 27, 2009 6:31:22 AM Subject: Fw: Mom of 4 dies next to dad during Christmas Eve night; kids find her excited for Santa Claus.
----- Forwarded Message ---- From: KITTY KELSO <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sun, December 27, 2009 6:25:01 AM Subject: Mom of 4 dies next to dad during Christmas Eve night; kids find her excited for Santa Claus. Merry to Tragedy at Christmas Can you think how four children, their father and the tight Italian family will survive this Christmas of 2009? The oldest and only son is 8. The next little cutey is 6. The girl twins are just 2, finally old enough to believe in Santa Claus. Great grandma is 92 and still at home. Her three daughters have five children, with a total of 12 great-grandchildren (the newest addition 1 week old). The family, with their spouses has been my stand-in security for over 30 years, as one of the daughters worked with me at the hospital. She still works there today - 35 years, never called in a day sick! I couldn't make the get-together this year, feeling too weak for celebrations of any kind. Because the homes of the early era, that have been passed down for over 100 years in this family have very little room for 12 kids to be kids, there is simply no place to spread out for anyone. Great-grandma has gotten so small we must usually be careful not to sit on her. The largest home is about 800 sq.ft. There is very little room for expansion on the outside or the back yards. The usual two bedroom set-up, was amongst the great Italian Catholics who raised up to 8 children at a time. There is no holiday that goes un-celebrated. This is the best, Christmas Eve. The houses are within blocks of each other, two back to back. The generation of 30-somethings has finally begun to take-on their voices, while the next older enjoys the kitchen and cooking. There was food for munching; there was food for a more hungry tummy. The liquor began to flow between the 30-something, their spouses, partners, friends, and intended. The home that was holding the event this year, was the one with the twins and two other precious kids - back to back with five other children, mom and dad. Mom didn't even have to walk home. She was home. After everyone left, and dad cleaned up the best he could, and played Santa alone while mom was in a heavy sleep, he finally wakened her and literally dragged her to a chair where she did wake enough to eat a snack of yogurt. She was to be Mrs. Santa Claus in the morning! By 3:00 a.m. dad climbed into bed next to mom, who was already sound, sound asleep. The children began to stir excitedly around 6:00 a.m. Dad felt mom's legs and feet and they were completely cold. He could not stop the four kids before they jumped on mom, trying to get her up to start the greatest part of Christmas for the kids. All four were standing there with a present to be opened in their hands. Dad was coming to this horrible conclusion as the kids were pulling on mom. He shewed them out and asked for just a few minutes. He shut the door - mom was dead. She had been dead for quite a long time as the coldness of her body shouted loudly to him. From that moment on, grandmas, the aunts and cousins were called to pick up the kids quickly. Only, it was finally realized in the clutter, that one of the grandma's was the "mom" of this young mother. She died of a combination of prescribed medications and alcohol. The snack of yogurt could not be regurgitated when the new stomach content and liquor combined. Her sleep was so sound, that she simply inhaled the yogurt as it tried to be eliminated from her body. Due to the combination of the medications, the liquor, and the snack - she suffocated. She died soon after she put her head on the bed pillow. This family has never had such a catastrophy to deal with. The daddy's brother served two terms in Iraq, is a Chicago policeman, yet, is now trained to be a helicopter pilot - and will most likely be returning to Iraq for another assignment. He and his wife are expecting their first child in February '10. I don't want to give the impression these kids have had an easy life; they haven't. The two boys (daddy & uncle) survived so very much before their 12th birthdays. Daddy put himself through college and is a civil engineer for the City. Most of the females are either hospital careered, one lawyer, self-made young families. How will this family live on? How will these children survive? This is the beginning of their post-traumatic stress syndrome......this is the end of hoping for a normal life for them - no matter what they achieve for the outside world to judge them by. I as for prayers for the family who made me realize what true love within that arena can survive. I ask for donations to help these four children to go to college, and especially for dad - who did not have the right life insurance for his wife as she worked part-time where none existed. All of the money for life insurance was going into family health insurance. He lacks suitable funds for any kind of "normal" funeral. All I can do is write. I write with prayers that my words will give - The Joseph Truesdale Family, E. Keys, in Springfield, IL, hope. Send whatever donation you can for this wonderful family who could fall no further. We can put a smile back on these faces. Any contributions ($1.00?), just a card, or perhaps even a deeper pocket find. I thank you. Aunt Kitty Kelso -- Chromium Discussion mailing list: [email protected] View archives, change email options, or unsubscribe: http://groups.google.com/group/chromium-discuss
