Almost a year to the day, Carol made this her first post.
Thought I'd let her tell it in her own words.
Kel
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About Me
- Carol S--CF girl
- I'm a 40 something year old woman with Cystic Fibrosis. I am married to a wonderful man named Kelly and we have two crazy cats that we love like our kids.
12 comments:
Dearest Kelly,
Thank you for your heart and love that you shared with my Carol Susan.
As the days progress know that I will always be there.
email me any time at jerily66216@yahoo.com
Kelly,
Thanks for reminding us what Carol was all about - a wise and loving heart in that small body. I'm missing her more each day. Take care and call if you need anything.
Cousin Merle
Dear, Kelly, from the day we met Carol she was truly inspirational, smart and funny. She loved you profoundly and just like she said, she worried about leaving you… Only God knows why he has taken her, but she is at peace and no longer suffering. I read the first post and Wow, how true those words. I wish, I would have done some of those little things…Mike and I loved Carol in our way, we met her in 1996, she came to our wedding, she visited Mike soon after he had his transplant, she heard me when I was in distress, and so much more. We will never forget the day that she called and say, hey guys, guess what?, “I got married” we were like what? She was a mischievous cutie. She may be gone, but we have great memories of her and we will cherish them forever.
The day, that you posted about Our Beloved Carol passing away, I received this in my email:
"Yet what we suffer now is nothing compare to the glory he will give us" Romans8:18
God Bless, Sandra Adams
Dear Kelly,
Thank you so much for reminding us of Carol's poignant beginnings on her blog ... Her thoughts are so very, very meaningful ... My spine is tingling.
Please hold these thoughts, written by Albert Schweitzer, in your mind and heart:
"When people have light in themselves, it will shine out from them. Then we get to know each other as we walk together in the darkness, without having to pass our hands over each other's faces, or to intrude into each other's hearts."
I know that you both shared ~ and will continue to share ~ this most exquisite kind of union.
Love, Cousin Kim
God's Garden
Author: unknown
God looked around his garden
And found an empty place.
He then looked down upon the earth,
And saw your tired face.
He put His arms around you
And lifted you to rest.
God’s garden must be beautiful,
He always takes the best.
He knew that you were suffering,
He knew that you were in pain.
He knew that you would never
Get well on earth again.
He saw the road was getting rough
And the hills were hard to climb.
So He closed your weary eyelids
And whispered “Peace be thine.”
It broke our hearts to lose you
But you did not go alone…
For part of us went with you
The day God called you home.
Sweet Carol:
I will truly miss all we have done, shared and loved over the past 21 years. You have been a part of our family watching AJ and Liz grow into adults.
You brought Kelly into our world and he will always be a part of our family. He will never be alone because we will always love him and be there for him.
I know I will never be alone because you will still be there for me to talk to. And someday we will see each other again. Talk, laugh, run from cloud to cloud, sing and dance.
For now enjoy you new freedom to breath easy, be with your parents and get to know the brother and sister you never meet.
Until we meet again. My very Best Friend. I love you.
Michelle
Dear Kelly,
I email the organization USACFS about making a contribution in Carol's name. This is the reply I received and wanted to share it with you.
I know this is a difficult day for all of us, who knew and love Carol, but as I said she will be remembered.
Love Jeri
Jeri,
Thank You so much for writing. You obviously have known Carol all her life. My deepest sympathy goes out to you and your family. I had heard about Carol Sweeten for the first time about 3 years ago. A director on our board had met her, and when we lost a board member in early 2006, her name among others sprang to the top of our list for consideration. She was an easy nominee and selection for our board. Since we live throughout the country, most of our board members had not met Carol in person, although we had a couple conference calls over the last year, and many email exchanges. She was always so upbeat and wanting to do anything to help better our newsletter and provide many options for expanding our mission. In fact, the evening before she passed she was in an email exchange between our VP and me on how to get USACFA noticed via 'MySpace' the popular website. We were both stunned to learn of the happenings the following day. It simply reiterates the statement to 'live everyday to the fullest'. As I was rereading Carol's bio from our Autumn, 2006 newsletter, she certainly appeared to do that, and made every attempt to prove to her clinicians she was going to beat the statistics on CF, which she did by a long shot. 44+ years is a landmark in a CF afflicted life! While most all life is too short, Carol had an amazing number of years to share with us.
May God rest her soul.
If you would like to make a contribution to USACFA in Carol's name, you can make a check out to:
USACFA
PO Box 1618
Gresham, Or 97030-0519
All Memorials and Benefactors are recognized in our quarterly newsletter.
Peace,
Paul
Dear Kelly,
My name is Clay Christiansen. I did not know Carol, and you do not know me... yet.
I first discovered her existence via her Blog just a few days ago when I learned of her death.
I'm sorry for your loss, and I am sorry for the entire world, for the loss of Carol.
I lost my wife, my true love and my soul mate to Cystic Fibrosis just 6 weeks ago. Her name is Ami Christiansen. She was 30 years old. And by the testimonies, comments and posts by Carol, friends and family... you and I are connected in a unique way. Our wives, Carol and Ami, were (and are) extaordinary souls. The things that she wrote, what friends and family had to say about her illustrate that she was spunky, full of life, your inspiration AND the single most important thing in your world. Just like my Ami is to me.
There is nothing that I (or anyone else) can say to rid you of your pain. But know this; You are nothing short of a hero. Carol's hero. Her best friend and "ROCK". It's spattered all over her blog and all over the comments of friends and family.
While Ami and I lived in Minneapolis, MN, I am currently staying with my parents in Norco, CA. At a time when you feel like no one can relate to you and your pain, please do not forget me. Contact me any time. I would be honored to meet you. I don't even know you... but I am so very full of pride to know that you exist. To know the kind of man that you are. It makes me proud to be a part of the human race.
We are connected friend.
With great admiration,
Clay Christiansen
Cell: 651-785-8643
email: claymi137@yahoo.com
Dear Kelly,
Our family will be keeping you in our thoughts. Carol was such a wonderful woman who touched so many lives. We are priveliged to know her what little we did from her posts. She was an Angel here on earth, and she will be a truly prized Angel in Heaven.
We wish you and her family the best. She breathes easy now.
With thoughts of love,
Crystal Ann Jordan 22 w/ CF
and The Mischief Makers
For Sweet(ened) Cousin Carol and Kelly,
"For what is it to die, but to stand naked in the wind and melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountaintop, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance."
~Kahlil Gibran
Love always, Kim
Hi, I am a friend of Sheri's in San Diego. I am terminally ill as well, however, my illness has a different name; but isn't it all kind of the same? During my years of battle I have collected documents and gathered research to figure out what has gone wrong in our medical community and culture -- and recently I have set up a Blog myself, after being influenced by Carol's accomplishments. Sheri told me wonderful and inspiring story's about Carol's life, enthusiam and determination ... on some of my bad days, the story's about Carol's pursuits helped me stay determined too. Although you don't know me, I just wanted you to know, that there are many of us out here that will miss Carol dearly. So, please feel the hugs that we are extending to you during this hard time. Suellis
My Sweet Carol
How I am going to miss you
I was able to tell you everything
We went shopping , out to lunch and talked
Had our weekends away and talked more
We laugh and cried
We smiled and Frowned
Then we went shopping
I will always have our memories for the past 21 years that I will always keep close to my heart.
You are now free to jump from cloud to cloud, yell as loud and as long as you want, dance and sing.
You are now with you mom and dand and you can now get to know your brother and sister.
I will still talk to you because K know you will always be there.
Until we meet again and together we will jump from cloud to clud, dance, talk, laugh and cry.
Goodby my friend.
We will all miss you and love you.
Kelly you have a family with us who love you and will always be there for you. You hve a home when ever needed. Someone to talk with when needed. We love you Kelly.
Michelle K.
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