Abrielle Neff Foundation

Monday, November 16, 2009

JackJack's Home

Thank you everyone for your concern! I can't tell you how much time I spent outside Sunday looking for him. I was in tears most of the day and had my stomach in knots thinking something had happened to him and I was letting Abby down. We donned our orange multiple times and searched the pasture with no luck. Mady made the comment that, "Mommy, no one's going to shoot JackJack because he's wearing his orange too." Finally as we were sitting down to eat supper after dark, we heard something. I checked the garage and nothing was there. We heard the noise again and it was JackJack knocking on the patio door! You have no idea how happy I was to see him! Rotten cat! All those tears and making myself sick for no reason.

Quick Update

Just a quick update that JackJack is back home! I'll update more later.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

JackJack's Missing!

Today I've been a mess. Our JackJack is missing! My best guess is that he managed to get outside as everyone was leaving after scrapbooking. It was after 1:30 in the morning, so I just did a couple of things and then went to bed. I did notice that he did not come jump in bed with me, but I thought with all the activity of the day he was just still downstairs sleeping on the back of the couch. When I woke this morning I knew something was amiss when he was not right there under foot. I searched the house and then started outside, hoping he would be close. No such luck. I have taken several trips around the area hoping to find him, but no luck there either. Needless to say there have been a lot of tears today as we promised to take care of Abby's JackJack for her. Please come home JackJack!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Proud Winner

Mary Riggs with the Northwest tshirt quilt she won.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

the Streak

How about a funny memory today.

I participated in an online challenge crop this weekend at GoodGriefblog and created pages about Abby. Here's one for a challenge of only using cardstock and chipboard for any of you scrappers out there. Everyone else, here's another page for my memory book.

The journaling reads ~ Ever since she was big enough to walk, Abby loved to streak. As soon as her feet hit the floor after bath, she was off. The towel usually did not make it much further than the hallway before it was off. Then the chase was on to get her jammies on her.

Photo about 9-10 months

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Weekend Events

This past weekend we attended a grief support meeting provided by CMH. This time the topic was Handling the Holidays, a topic that we need help with every year. We were able to catch up with friends we've made there before and meet some new ones experiencing their first holidays without their child. We were also able to take the girls for a session just for kids. They made memory boxes and did other play therapy while talking about their sibling.

After the support group meeting, I went to visit the Degase's at the hospital. I took Deryk things from the Foundation, including a lizard, a car, and a stuffed iguana. I think he enjoyed them. In visiting Deryk, I had to go to the PICU. The last time I was there was when we said goodbye to Abby. Wow, was that tough. I had my brave face on, but it really bothered me to be in that space again, just a few rooms down from where we were two and a half years ago.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

WINNER!

The winner of the Northwest t-shirt quilt was drawn on Saturday. The winner.... Mary Riggs from Maryville! In total, $1442.00 was raised for the two charities! WOW!

Our Story...

Abrielle came into this world in a hurry to get started, which gave us our first glimpse at her personality. Not waiting on Dr Jane to put on gloves, only a towel to catch her with, she weighed in at six pounds fifteen ounces. From the beginning Abby had reflux, but there seemed to more than just that as she failed to gain weight. At four months we were sent to draw all kinds of labs, hoping for a solution, but all was normal. By six months of age, the vomiting became worse, almost nightly. We were keeping records of every calorie she ate, every dirty diaper, and every time she vomited. By this time Abby was refusing to eat supper most nights and would throw up her undigested lunch after bathtime at 8:00. Her food was just sitting in her tummy all day. Dr Watson sent us to Omaha Childrens Hospital to Dr Zapata a pediatric gastroenterologist to help diagnois the problem. There, over the next year and a half of her life, Abby underwent testing, treatments, and outpatient procedures. During every procedure she was given a stuffed animal to hold for comfort, even though she had Blankie with her.
To make a long story short, after the accident we discovered St Francis Hospital did not have a program like this for kids and Abby's Hugs was born.

That Tragic Day...

Thursday, March 29, 2007, began like any other school day in our household with the only exception being that it was Abby's sharing day at preschool. We had a rule that if the sharing item was not picked out the night before (which it usually wasn't), Abby had to be ready for school before she could find something to take. This morning was just like most ... nothing was picked out the night before. She hurried faster than usual that way she would have time to find something. After brushing her teeth, she ran to her room to find some clothes. I always tried to give Abby choices, but she was down to her last clean pair of capris. I gave her the option of wearing those, a pair of Gymboree Fruit Punch capris with a bright yellow shirt or jeans and a purple kitty shirt. She decided on the capri outfit which she had actually rejected every other day that week. After getting dressed, she went into Sissy's room and was playing with her LeapPad when I found her. I asked her how she wanted her hair fixed and she said "little pony". (Not that she was going to leave it in anyway) I helped her onto the sink and she dug through her basket of hair things until she found a yellow one. We went into the living room so I could sit down to brush her hair. Since sitting on my lap was now impossible, Abby stood in front of me as I pulled her hair up with the little yellow hair tie. She ran to her room and began looking for something to bring for sharing. She came out with her Little People's Noah's Ark set stuffed full of extra toys. Being a mean Mommy, I said, You can only bring one toy. Aww, was the response as she took the ark back to her room to look for something else. I went on about my routine of making my lunch and everything else to be ready to leave for work. Mady and I headed out to the Expedition and Abby was not following behind. I went back inside to find her and Marc on their way from her room with her big "bobbycat" (bobcat skidloader) for sharing. They had been looking for the scoop that attaches to the front but ran out of time. They decided that just the bobbycat would work. Marc helped buckle Abby in her car seat. Because she was so small we still used the 5-point harness and not just the seatbelt so she required some help. As we left the house, Marc pulled out ahead of the girls and I onto the gravel road. Just around the first set of curves past our house, I slowed down so we could watch the turkeys fly across the road. I am not sure if Abby saw them or not, but she said she did. We continued on, oblivious to our fate that lie ahead.

last added to 10/29 ...this I will add to as I am able ...thanks for understanding.

The Sentence

On June 25, 2008, Ryan C Sundermann was sentenced to 6 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections on charges of involuntary manslaughter. Sundermann wrecklessly caused the death of Abrielle Neff in a motor vehicle collision on March 29, 2007. Sundermann was charged with failing to maintain proper control of his vehicle, failure to drive on the right half of the roadway and operated a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol.
Sundermann was previously convicted of Driving While Intoxicated and Failure to Drive on the Right Half of the Roadway on April 25, 2006 and sentenced to 2 years probation, 12 days in jail, and a $300 fine. On December 19, 2006, Sundermann was again convicted of Excessive Blood Alcohol Content-Prior Offender which he received a Suspended Execution of Sentence of 180 days, was continued on 2 years probation and received a fine.