MY ANGEL KERRI MAE

by TERRY DRUGAS
(OLNEY, ILL.)

ON DECEMBER 3, 2008, MY WORLD WENT FROM A BEAUTIFUL DREAM TO THE WORST NIGHTMARE IMAGINABLE. MY WONDERFUL GRANDDAUGHTER, WHO HAD JUST BECOME A MOTHER THREE WEEKS AGO PASSED AWAY FROM COMPLICATIONS OF HAVING HER TERRIFIC DAUGHTER, JOZLYN ILONA MARIE REDMAN. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? WHY KERRI ? WAS THIS A HORRIBLE DREAM? NO THIS WAS A DREADFUL TRUTH. SHE'S REALLY GONE.
KERRI AND WILLIAM REALLY WANTED THIS BABY. KERRI HAD A ROUGH PREGNANCY. SHE FELT AWFUL AND WEAK MOST OF THE NINE MONTHS.

ON NOVEMBER 14,2008, KERRI HAD A GRAN MAL SEIZURE AND WILLIAM RUSHED HER TO THE HOSPITAL. HE DID NOT CALL ME EVEN THOUGH I RAISED KERRI. AFTER FIVE HOURS, THEY STARTED KERRIS LABOR AND SHE HAD JOZLYN, THE BABY WAS WONDERFUL . KERRI WAS ILL WITH PNEUMONIA. FOR THREE WEEKS IN AND OUT OF THE HOSPITAL . SHE HAD ANEMIA AND HAD TO HAVE A BLOOD TRANSFUSION. SHE STILL HAD PNEUMONIA, STILL ANEMIC, AND HAD WATER RETENTION.

HER MOTHER CAME FOR A WEEK AND LOOKED AFTER THE BABY WHILE I LOOKED AFTER KERRI SO HER HUSBAND COULD WORK. ON DECEMBER 2, 2008 KERRI WAS PUT IN ICU WITH CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE. OF COURSE I SPENT THE NIGHT WITH HER AS SHE DIDNT WANT TO BE ALONE. WILLIAM SAID SHE WAS IN GOOD HANDS AND DID NOT NEED ME TO STAY WITH HER BUT I DID.

THANK GOODNESS, ON DECEMBER 3, 2008, SHE LOOKED BETTER AND HAD LOST NINE POUNDS OF WATER WEIGHT. AT THREE PM KERRI COMPLAINED OF PAIN. WILLIAM AND KERRIS GRANPA HAD COME TO VISIT. AT 3:30 KERRI SAID I NEED HELP NOW, AND COLLAPSED. FOR THREE HOURS THE STAFF WORKED ON HER. THEY WERE TRYING TO FLY HER TO A CARDIAC HOSPITAL. MY HUSBAND, MY SISTERS, KERRI AUNT MARINA WERE PRAYING TO TRY TO KEEP HER ALIVE.

WILLIAM CALLED HIS SIDE OF FAMILY, WE COULD NOT GET HIM TO SIT WITH US. HE WAS CALLING FRIENDS TO COME TO THE HOPITAL. WHY? THE DOCTOR FINALLY GATHERED US TO TELL US HE COULD NOT DO ANYMORE, WE NEEDED TO LET HER GO. WILLIAM SAID HE COULD NOT MAKE THE DECISION ALONE SO I TOLD HIM WE HAD TO LET HER GO. WE DID. WHAT A HORRENDEOUS DAY.

JOZLYN IS A BEAUTIFUL BABY, SO FULL OF LAUGHTER AND LOVE. WILLIAM DOES NOT HAVE MUCH TO DO WITH HER. HIS MOTHER AND I, THE GREAT GRANDMOTHER DO MOST OF THE CARETAKING. KERRIS MOM CAME UP AND WILLIAM LET HER TAKE THE BABY HOME FOR SIX WEEKS. JOZLYN DOES NOT COME HOME UNTIL JUNE FIRST.

IT HAS ONLY BEEN FIVE MONTHS BUT A MONTH AFTER KERRI DIED WILLIAM SAYS HE LOVES KERRI BUT NEVER WANTS TO TALK ABOUT HER. I AM REALLY ANGRY AT HIM, KERRI WAS ONLY TWENTY ONE AND HE WAS TWENTY TWO BUT I FEEL HE SHOULD MOURN ALITTLE. HE NEVER SHED A TEAR. MY HUSBAND AND I ARE SO OVERWHELMED. IT REALLY IS HARD TO NOT SEE THIS PERSON WHO WAS SO LOVING AND HAPPY, GONE. SHE HAD SO MUCH LOVE AND FORGIVENESS.

OUR PRECIOUS THIRD DAUGHTER DESERVED TO RAISE HER PRECIOUS DAUGHTER.