Life After Maddie
When my daughter goes to sleep, she goes to heaven. When she wakes, she brings back all the joy from her journey. This phrase came to my mind a few weeks before Maddie’s tragic passing. I could not shake it from my mind. It replayed over and over again. I had no idea that I wouldn’t verbalize this phrase until after her passing.
Maddie was such a joy to be around. To say we loved her, would to be an understatement. She completed Nicole and I. While going through our phones and picking out pictures for the prayer service and funeral, we realized just how much we adored our little girl. Nicole had 14,000 pictures on her phone of Maddie, I had just a little over 3,000 on mine. Our daughter was so darn photogenic.
While we feel shorted in a way, we’re lucky in the same breath. We would give anything to hold our little girl again but we have so many amazing people around us. The outpouring of love and support has been humbling. People reached out to us from literally around the world to give us love and support. Some of these people were family members, some of these people were friends, some of these people were families in the Angelman Syndrome community, some of these people were complete strangers.
To hear and feel the love that our daughter’s short life created, spoke to who Maddie was. I typically don’t like to use names in this blog, but I want to highlight some of the special people from the Angelman Syndrome community who dropped everything to comfort us in our time of grief.
Amanda Moore who is the CEO of the Angelman Syndrome Foundation dropped everything she was doing on the morning of August 28th and drove to Grand Rapids to support Nicole and I. She stayed until the next morning, and was there with us when Maddie’s MRI revealed she would not recover. Amanda drove back to her home but turned around and was with us a week later at the prayer service and funeral. Amanda made sure we ate, she made sure to take care of anything we needed, she cried with us. Amanda continues to be there during our grief.
Betsy Black flew up from Texas for Maddie’s prayer service and funeral. If you haven’t met the Black family, make it a point to introduce yourself. Betsy shared her family’s story on the blog. There isn’t a better family to have in your corner. Betsy cried with us, prayed with us, she honored Maddie’s life. We were so humbled that Betsy took the time to be with us.
Then there was the Wisconsin contingent that drove to Michigan to be there for Maddie’s prayer service. Michelle, Athena, Magaly, Isa, and Tatiana are the definition of the Angelman Syndrome community being a family. We met these amazing ladies at the Angelman Syndrome Family Conference and they showed us how truly loved we are. They drove hours through the day and night just to show us that they were here for us. We love all of you.
Nicole and I are still trying to navigate what the next steps will be for the blog and podcast. We know that they will continue, but we are trying to figure out what that looks like. We are still so new in our grief, but our daughter’s legacy will continue. We have a few ideas already, but we won’t share them until they become more concrete.
If I could ask you to continue to pray for Nicole and I. We have a huge hole in our hearts, and a huge void in our life. If we could do these three years all over again we would in a heartbeat. Our little girl showed us the purest form of love, and we loved her beyond measure. Thank you for being there for us and we hope that we can show our love and support in the same way you have showed us.
Written by Adam Birchmeier
