We’ll Miss You, Sophie Magerl

My dear stepdaughter Sophie Magerl was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in July 2019, at 15 years of age. She went into remission, then relapsed in early 2020. Thereafter she underwent a grueling succession of medical interventions that were in the end unsuccessful. Sophie passed away at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC on August 8, 2021. She was not in any pain, and she was with loved ones by her side.

I’m posting this Go Fund Me page on behalf of Sophie’s parents, Chris and Lisa, so that they can be with their grief with one less distraction. Although we’ve known for a while that we would have limited time with our Soph, we are still in shock and absolutely devastated by her passing. However, we also know that Sophie wanted all her loved ones to stay positive and to take care of themselves and one another during this difficult time. So we are doing our best to channel Sophie’s amazing sense of perspective and acceptance, and her unfailing “joie de vivre” even in the face of its biggest challenges. We hope you will too.

We will be celebrating these and all of Sophie’s other beautiful qualities at a burial and memorial service soon. Please consider donating, if you are able, to help our family pay costs associated with her burial and service. These past two years have been extremely draining on our family, financially and otherwise, so any amount even if small will be greatly appreciated. Your contributions will go toward celebrating Sophie’s life and honoring her death in keeping with her expressed end-of-life wishes. Our listed fundraising goal is based on our current estimate of our needs to cover the cost of her burial and service. Anything we might raise above the amount needed for that purpose will be donated to a local charity that supports LGBTQ+ teens, in honor of Sophie’s amazing life and heartfelt values.