A Sister's Love

Brytannia's Volley Ball picture September 2004

Brytannia is our 13 year-old daughter. She was born in California in February of 1991. She had been longing for a sibling. When Haley was born she was so excited. Through all of the doctor appointments, hospital visits, and just simply Haley's irritability, Brytannia has loved her sister more and more. I guess we are adding this page as our way of letting families know that life goes on beyond our children with Krabbe's and to not forget others who are out there.

We are very proud of Brytannia. She is very smart and enjoys school. She works really hard and does very well in school. She is now in the 8th grade and works hard everyday. We're pretty sure she's normal because her favorite subject is recess.  

Brytannia's grandparents in Florida were able have her out for a couple of days during the summer (summer of 98). Brytannia definitely needed this opportunity. She was able to get away from the hectic life around home for a short period and really get some one on one attention. Her grandparents took her to Disney World for a day and took her out ocean fishing for a day. (She caught more fish than grandpa did.) I still think her favorite time was just being able to hang out at the swimming pool all the other days. We're glad to be able to let her have the special attention that she deserves.

Brytannia was always aware of Haley's condition. I'm not sure why we have always been so straight-forward with her but I do know that she has definitely benefited from our honesty with her. Sometimes I think she deals with the facts better than we do.

Brytannia always wanted to help with Haley and I think she enjoyed it. We did not always agree on what we'd allow Brytannia to help with, but the more we did allow her to help, the happier the kids were. Allowing Brytannia to help with everyday chores lets Brytannia know that she's a part of the family too. We did allow her to help with Haley's feeding and to hold her as much as she wants. Being eight years old, that didn't last long. But she needed these times too. Brytannia loved to get down and make faces at Haley and you'd be surprised at how much she copies the things we did to keep Haley content.

I think the biggest thing that Brytannia did, was remind us that life must go on. Sometimes we got caught up in Haley and we were forced to remember that Brytannia needed dinner, bath, homework, etc. She definitely kept us going. Once again, we are pretty sure she's normal because she definitely acts like an 12 year-old going on 21. I thought you had to be a teenager before you knew everything.

Brytannia has grown so much since Haley's passing.  I do believe that Haley gave Brytannia the gentle heart that she has, she is always seeing people for who they are,  not what they can do.  She always seems to enjoy seeing all of Haley's friends when were are around them.  Brytannia has done many school papers on Haley.  I think the one that touched my heart the most was titled "Who is your Hero, and Why?".  She chose Haley as her hero, I don't think I need to say anymore...  

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Last Update 12/21/04

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