Who Was Chel?

        Who was Chel?  Chel is my daughter.  She was a very outgoing girl and young woman.  I could tell you all about her entire life but for this website, I will only tell you about the young woman who suffered a tragedy.

          Chel was married in October of 1990 at the tender age of 19.  In June of 1992, two months before her 21 birthday, Chel went to the hospital to deliver her first child.  During labor, due to medications given her at the hospital, she suffered an anoxic brain injury and lost her child.  According to hospital records Chel went with out oxygen to her brain for approximately 28 minutes, her heart had stopped and drastic measures of resuscitation, re: electric paddles, had to be employed.  Chel was in a coma and a C-section was preformed to deliver her dead child, but not until she was given blood so she would have enough platelets in order not to bleed to death.  During her time spent in the hospital, after being taken off the ventilator, she was operated on to get a trach and feeding tube.  Chel remained in a coma and then semi-comatose state for about 4 months.  She left the hospital for a brain injury rehabilitation institution in August of 1992, and remained in rehab until June of 1993, when she was brought home.  We were told at the rehab institution that she would get no better and were encouraged to put her in a nursing care facility.  Chel was unable to speak, walk, swallow and she did not have the use of her hands.

                Upon bringing Chel home, we employed caregivers and therapists to continue her rehabilitation.  Without going into great detail, the rehabilitation had its ups and downs.  We moved into our new home, built to accommodate Chel, her dog and wheelchair.  By her birthday in August of 2001, Chel was walking with the aid of a walker and the help of her therapist.  Unfortunately, this was a short lived happiness for Chel and all the people who loved her.  By October of 2001, Chel was getting sick, nausea, stomach pains, acid reflux, you name it.  It took us over a year and countless stays in the hospital until a diagnosis was determined, but even now the why is not truly known.  In December 2003, it was determined that Chel would need to be fed through a central line. 

                This did not cure or fix the problems that the brain injury was causing to her entire body.  Between December, 2003, and January of 2005, I cannot even recount the number of times we spent in hospitals.  In 2005, it was determined that Chel would need blood transfusions; this is after we had to give her iron, through the central line.  To bring it all down to the basic, her insides were just starting to not work and by March of 2005, we learned that her blood was also not replenishing, her body was not making enough red blood cells in order for her to live.  On March 14, 2005, the doctor called and we were told to get to the hospital immediately for a blood transfusion as Chel was so low that she could die.  She received 2 units of blood and informed that she would have to have blood as much as every two weeks, if not every week in order to survive.

               March 15, 2005, Chel made the decision of no more blood transfusions.  She and I discussed this as I wanted her to know that without the transfusions she would die, she knew this and that is the road she took.  My lovely daughter passed away on April 3, 2005, at the young age of 33 years.

              What I do want you to know about Chel is she never lost her sense of humor, her compassion for others or her will to try.  Our motto was that IF YOU TRY, YOU DO NOT FAIL.  Chel adopted a family every Christmas, plus purchasing needs and gifts to the Arizona Children’s Home.  She loved playing board games, being read to, watching movies, shopping, and above all she loved her dog, a yellow lab, Cj.   One thing I do want all to know about Chel is she died with courage and dignity.  I could go on and on about Chel for pages and pages but I have asked a few others to put into their words about Who Was Chel, and those follow.