My granddaughter Natalie Skye Lind, became an Angel April 26, 2015. My loving, sweet, funny, happy granddaughter was born May 7, 2010, missing the #6q section #15 chromozone from her DNA (Natalie was the 17th baby world wide to have her particular problem) causing Tetrology of Fallot (TOF), a rare disease that affects about 2 in 10,000 children . In Natalies particular case, no walls in her heart and her heart was positioned backwards, further complicating a rare and complicated birth defect. The obstetrician prepared us for a silent birth, during the early months of gestation, that we were spared. Natalie was too full of energy and spirit to give up that easily. She fought for life and at 1 month of age she endured the first surgery. We were told that she would be gone by 3 months. Two years later, in 2012, Natalie endured another surgery. This time it was new technology, she would be among the first to have a heart wall constructed of living tissue. We were told that her life expectancy was about another year, she would be gone by age three. She passed two weeks short of her 5th birthday, April 26, 2015, she left Earth as the sun rose. No matter how many lemons life threw at my courageous granddaughter, she just kept making lemonade with her smile, her kindness, her inately loving nature. Her amazingly infectious spirit would not allow those around her to remain sad, but she was, for all the challenges she faced, just a kid. She would get mad at her big sister, annnoyed at her little brother, work her grandparents for special attentions. It is time to honor her, and provide some real world support to her parents who are suffering a loss no one should ever have to face. I am asking for your help to fund final expenses and give this young, courageous family some financial breathing room so that they can take the time to mourn their daughter and comfort their surviving children, to figure out how they go on from here.

