<div>Crystal Rock-Jepson was wonderful. She was kind, funny, whip smart, loving, meticulous, deliberate, and a thousand other adjectives that poorly paint you a portrait of her. She was a published scientific author, a teacher, a fantastic cook and baker, a self-taught seamstress and DIYer, an avid reader with wildly varying musical tastes. She was my very favorite person in this world, and she made it a better place.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Crystal had a pulmonary embolism (PE) on 3/28/25, and was rushed to University Hospital in the San Antonio medical center. She had two heart attacks- one en route, and one in the emergency room. The hospital team could not get a heartbeat back after the second, and they put her on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation).
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The doctors told us she was basically the ideal candidate- she was relatively young, healthy, and they were able to put her on ECMO as soon as possible. There was terrible dread because of the PE-caused oxygen deprivation, but there was hope as well.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Over the next 48 hours, hope dwindled and disappeared. Crystal's body responded well to the support ECMO provided, but her brain did not. Despite the team's best efforts, she did not recover, and we agonizingly stood by as the final neurological test was given, to which she did not respond- and she officially died at 5:37pm on March 30, 2025. She was 37 years, 10 months, and 3 weeks old.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Losing her is the closest thing I have ever felt to having something torn out of my chest. The empty desolation of the final fading of hope is a harrowing memory that I will never escape.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>She was an organ donor, and the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance (TOSA) was able to place both her kidneys, her liver, and her heart with four different recipients. Crystal is gone, but parts of her live on. I can only hope the four recipients make the most of a new lease on life.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Crystal's impact is far more than just saving lives through organ donation. Her family and friends are all better for having known her, and we will continue to remember and honor her as long as we are able.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I was lucky enough to call Crystal my friend, my partner, my wife, and my love, but I am not the only one who loved her.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Her mother, Patty, has only ever described Crystal as the perfect child, a loving kid who gives more than they take. They talked just about every other day, and they were with each other through good times and bad.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Crystal helped raise her niece, Raven, from when Raven was six years old. Crystal taught Raven to read, then later to drive. Crystal was Raven's aunt, but she was also their friend, shoulder, and cheerleader.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Ash met Crystal in college at Rensselaer Polytechnic, where Crystal studied for her BS in biomedical engineering. Roommates at first, they became best friends after moving out. They spoke nearly everyday about nearly everything. Between Ash and myself, we could likely paint you a picture of Crystal better than anyone else.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I could tell you the stories of how she met nearly everyone devastated by her loss, but I think I'd run out of space.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>We were... one. Two halves of a whole. Our lives blurred and merged, as we grew ever close together. We did almost everything together- vacations, self-improvement, household projects. Each would carry more when the other needed it- we relied on and trusted the other through whatever hurdles and gaps life tossed at us.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The biggest leap we took was in choosing to become parents. What a gamble that is, and anyone who knows our daughter would tell you that we hit the jackpot with Autumn. We loved her the moment we saw her on an ultrasound, and we did everything we could to try to prepare for her. This was during 2020, mind, so the norm was very much abnormal, but we got through it together. Bringing Autumn home, caring for her, and watching her ever so slowly grow to be the articulate, energetic, considerate, assertive, <em>wonderful</em> little girl she is was a constant source of joy, frustration, hope, stress, and delight as only a beloved child can be.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>We had the family we wanted.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Now it is just Autumn and me, and I am left to fill Crystal's shoes while still wearing my own. We have family and friends that are here to help, but there is <em>so much</em> to prepare for. We'd been planning to homeschool Autumn- gone. College is dauntingly expensive now- what will it look like in 14 years? The myriad adventures and experiences that we would have had together as a family, now with Autumn, me, and a memory.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I cannot ask you to donate. There are a thousand other causes that need help as well- one near and dear to Crystal's heart being the underrepresentation of women in medical research.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>If, however, you <em>do</em> want to help, know that it will be used to help provide Autumn with the best life I can provide in Crystal's absence. This would be things like tuition for a private school, saving for college, covering emergency expenses, and sometimes just- letting a kid who misses her mom just be a kid.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>If you'd like to know more about Crystal, or Autumn, or myself, or any of the thousand memories I have of her, I'll be slowly capturing them on <a href="https://turtlefunrun.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">my silly website</a>. It's incomplete now, and may never be complete- after all, Crystal is part of who we are, and I hope to keep creating more memories for her for a long, long time.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>If you'd like to share pictures or a story of Crystal, contact Brad Jepson. If you're not sure how, contact me through the Remembering Crystal contact option below. I'd love to include just about anything on my own website- it will be a treasure trove of pictures and stories for Autumn to vicariously get to know who her mama was.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Give your loved ones a hug, and never hesitate to tell them you love them. We certainly never did.
</div>

Anonymous

Benjamin Thompson

Marisa Hendron

Keeping Crystal's Light Shining

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

Eligible for Profile Share Badge

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

isEligibleForProfileBadge

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Keeping Crystal's Light Shining

Still $13,255 to go. Help us build momentum.