A
Avidan
Guest
I came across this story about some children that their aunt typed up for them, hoping for people to pray for their lives. So I am trying to get it out to as many people as I can. Bless you.
Story Details:
Ok, so my brother Casey was killed in a horrible gang-related arson fire on April 8, 2004. He was a captain with the Los Angeles Fire Department. He died a really awful and drawn out death-- he burned to death while trying to pull the last victim out of the fire. He was only 29. Casey's life is an amazing and inspirational story in itself... I'd be happy to share it with you sometime.
Casey and Carly (his wife) were EXTREMELY close. I don't know and probably never will know two people who love each other more than Casey and Carly. They had an almost perfect relationship. When Casey died, Carly was absolutely devastated. She had just given birth to their twins (Katelyn and Brooke) less than 2 months before his death. They were born quite premature and Katelyn was born with a lot of problems and almost died. She got out of the hospital just days before Casey passed away. Carly just felt like she couldn't face the future without Casey. She had always been such a happy and upbeat person, and it was hard seeing her so sad. She tried to be strong for the kids, but it was still difficult for her. She also lived with the guilt that the night before Casey's death, he had called and begged her to bring the kids over to the station so they all could eat dinner as a family. Carly said something didn't sound right but she was very tired that night and said she would do it the following night. Obviously, she never got that chance. Casey had been having dreams for a couple weeks prior to his death... dreams that he was going to die. He had only told his chief, who later told us. Casey had described his dreams to him, and what he had dreamed was almost exactly what happened. Anyway, there is so much eeriness surrounding the whole situation but I guess it's a little off the subject of what you were asking me.
So Carly seemed to be doing a little better for a while, then in November of 2004, she started becoming delusional and have hallucinations. She would do things like pick up the phone and pretend like she was talking to Casey at work (like she used to do every night he was at work). We decided some of it was normal to the grieving process, but after it started becoming increasingly worse and she was starting to not talk to anyone besides Casey, Ray and Mary Lou (her parents) felt they had no choice but to take her to a psychiatric hospital. Carly ended up staying at Las Encinas Mental Health Facility in Pasadena for around 4 months. She wouldn't eat, sleep or talk. They had to give her and NG tube so she could get nourishment. She didn't even recognize her kids when they came to visit. And it was hard on them obviously. They didn't understand what was going on. All they knew was that their daddy had died and now their mommy was gone and they missed her like crazy. Carly finally got to a point where she was well enough to go home for a period of time. But she never returned to the Carly we knew.
Well, Nolan (Carly's 2 1/2 year old son) started acting up not long after Carly came home. He was always a sweet and well-behaved little boy, but it was obvious that the stress of everything that was going on had gotten to him. He became very violent and hateful and isolated himself from people. He started saying he wanted to die. They took him to his child psychologist (the kids had been assigned one after Casey died), but a couple nights later, after everyone had gone to bed (he was at Ray and Mary Lou's house), Nolan got up out of bed and went into the kitchen. Somehow he was able to undo the child locks on the kitchen drawers and he found a knife. He stabbed his grandparents' dog to death and then stabbed himself in the neck. The dog's barking woke Ray and Mary Lou up and they went in kitchen and found him. Nolan lived for a few days, but never regained consciousness. He died in Carly's arms.
Carly just couldn't deal with this and blamed herself for everything. Less than a month later, she was found dead in her bed. They never really found anything wrong with her. She didn't commit suicide, which is what some people might think if they don't know the story. Her heart just stopped. I guess she just died of a broken heart.
So all that happened then my mother and Carly's parents got joint custody of Maile, Katelyn and Brooke. They all live in Lubbock,TX. I'm in the Los Angeles area now with my husband and son. But our family is all extremely close. I see the girls every chance I get. Katelyn and Brooke were diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis last month... which has been hard for us to deal with also. You know, a lot has happened to my family, but we do still have our faith. And I think that has a lot to do with the prayers of people like you. Thank you and let me know if you have anymore questions.
God Bless,
Jazmin
(Their ages: Maile is 4 1/2 and Katelyn & Brooke (Twins) are 1 1/2.)
Story Details:
Ok, so my brother Casey was killed in a horrible gang-related arson fire on April 8, 2004. He was a captain with the Los Angeles Fire Department. He died a really awful and drawn out death-- he burned to death while trying to pull the last victim out of the fire. He was only 29. Casey's life is an amazing and inspirational story in itself... I'd be happy to share it with you sometime.
Casey and Carly (his wife) were EXTREMELY close. I don't know and probably never will know two people who love each other more than Casey and Carly. They had an almost perfect relationship. When Casey died, Carly was absolutely devastated. She had just given birth to their twins (Katelyn and Brooke) less than 2 months before his death. They were born quite premature and Katelyn was born with a lot of problems and almost died. She got out of the hospital just days before Casey passed away. Carly just felt like she couldn't face the future without Casey. She had always been such a happy and upbeat person, and it was hard seeing her so sad. She tried to be strong for the kids, but it was still difficult for her. She also lived with the guilt that the night before Casey's death, he had called and begged her to bring the kids over to the station so they all could eat dinner as a family. Carly said something didn't sound right but she was very tired that night and said she would do it the following night. Obviously, she never got that chance. Casey had been having dreams for a couple weeks prior to his death... dreams that he was going to die. He had only told his chief, who later told us. Casey had described his dreams to him, and what he had dreamed was almost exactly what happened. Anyway, there is so much eeriness surrounding the whole situation but I guess it's a little off the subject of what you were asking me.
So Carly seemed to be doing a little better for a while, then in November of 2004, she started becoming delusional and have hallucinations. She would do things like pick up the phone and pretend like she was talking to Casey at work (like she used to do every night he was at work). We decided some of it was normal to the grieving process, but after it started becoming increasingly worse and she was starting to not talk to anyone besides Casey, Ray and Mary Lou (her parents) felt they had no choice but to take her to a psychiatric hospital. Carly ended up staying at Las Encinas Mental Health Facility in Pasadena for around 4 months. She wouldn't eat, sleep or talk. They had to give her and NG tube so she could get nourishment. She didn't even recognize her kids when they came to visit. And it was hard on them obviously. They didn't understand what was going on. All they knew was that their daddy had died and now their mommy was gone and they missed her like crazy. Carly finally got to a point where she was well enough to go home for a period of time. But she never returned to the Carly we knew.
Well, Nolan (Carly's 2 1/2 year old son) started acting up not long after Carly came home. He was always a sweet and well-behaved little boy, but it was obvious that the stress of everything that was going on had gotten to him. He became very violent and hateful and isolated himself from people. He started saying he wanted to die. They took him to his child psychologist (the kids had been assigned one after Casey died), but a couple nights later, after everyone had gone to bed (he was at Ray and Mary Lou's house), Nolan got up out of bed and went into the kitchen. Somehow he was able to undo the child locks on the kitchen drawers and he found a knife. He stabbed his grandparents' dog to death and then stabbed himself in the neck. The dog's barking woke Ray and Mary Lou up and they went in kitchen and found him. Nolan lived for a few days, but never regained consciousness. He died in Carly's arms.
Carly just couldn't deal with this and blamed herself for everything. Less than a month later, she was found dead in her bed. They never really found anything wrong with her. She didn't commit suicide, which is what some people might think if they don't know the story. Her heart just stopped. I guess she just died of a broken heart.
So all that happened then my mother and Carly's parents got joint custody of Maile, Katelyn and Brooke. They all live in Lubbock,TX. I'm in the Los Angeles area now with my husband and son. But our family is all extremely close. I see the girls every chance I get. Katelyn and Brooke were diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis last month... which has been hard for us to deal with also. You know, a lot has happened to my family, but we do still have our faith. And I think that has a lot to do with the prayers of people like you. Thank you and let me know if you have anymore questions.
God Bless,
Jazmin
(Their ages: Maile is 4 1/2 and Katelyn & Brooke (Twins) are 1 1/2.)