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Monday, May 17, 2010

sad :(

kristin & daniel, august 2007
daniel is right above the dad. the one with the most hair.

remember my trip to Michigan in September? to visit my cousins? i wrote about it here. Anyway, my cousin daniel, the 23 year old(2nd oldest), died last night. He was competing in a triathlon on Saturday, a triathlon he won last year. During the bicycle part, he was in a collision and suffered massive head injuries. He was flown to University Of Michigan where he had brain surgery but died about 30 hours later. I am still so stunned. he was the one who picked me up when i got to Michigan, we chatted during the 2 hour car ride to his parent's house and it was so fun to hang out with just one of the kids at a time and talk about life. I never heard a kid speak so fondly of his parents or family. he teaches Bible school, coaches soccer....just the best kid ever. Now he's gone. i feel so sad for his older sister, 6 younger brothers and his amazing parents. how will they go on? I'm waiting to hear what/when the arrangements are, then i will decide if I can pull off a quick trip to MI. last minute tickets are so outrageous! But i will try. I want to be there.


in the family photo, Daniel is the darker haired guy right above his Father

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Ali. I'm so sorry.

That sort of thing is not supposed to happen.

beemommy said...

Ali, there is nothing harder than burying a child. Sounds like he reached perfection on this earth a lot earlier than most people. As a mom who has been there, all I can say is that what helped,especially when the shock wore off and everyone had gone back to their "normal" lives when your normal is now anything but....it helped a great deal when people would be open to talking about my daughter, instead of avoiding the subject to protect me. That's all the advice I can give....from what you've written, this family is a very united and powerful one, they will get through this, especially with family like you in their lives. Hugs to you and I'm so sorry. jeri

Georgia said...

I am so sorry. My own cousin, who turned 19 on Mother's Day, was tragically killed late last week in a car accident. His parents are completely devastated, as am I. My mother passed away in September and he came to her funeral, dressed in his Texas A&M Corps of Cadets uniform. She was so proud of her nephew. Comfort and peace will be hard to come by in the days ahead, but I can pray for moments when the family can take a deep breath...just a moment at a time. I am thinking of you.

Mothering4Money said...

This world is so unfair. He left it too soon. Very tragic. My condolences.

Momto16 said...

Terrible. :(
I am so sorry.
Prayers and hugs.

Tara - SanitySrchr said...

My heart aches for you and the family. {{{Hugs}}}

shastastevens said...

Ali I'm so sorry. How heartbreaking.

Mike and Katie said...

That is so sad and just not fair! I remember your post about them. They sounded like such a greay family. What a sad tragedy.