Chrissie came into our world an Angel. Born to Earth on November 14, 1986 at 28 weeks. Chrissie tried for October 21, 1986, but doctors managed to stop her. For if that date was to be the case, we may not have managed to have kept her on Earth with us as long as we did - 15 years, 22 days.
Chrissie was a very special Angel. It was as if she had a Special Mission to carry out. Chrissie lived her whole life with a sense of urgency - living each day to the fullest. Chrissie was a social butterfly, and made friends like bees make honey. Her friendships spanned across the globe.
Chrissie was born on November 14, 1986, weighing 2.5 lbs., and measuring 12.5 inches long. Chrissie spent 3 months, 2 days in the hospital, and the first 2 months, 2 days in the isolate. We finally got to hold her after 2 weeks. Chrissie spent the first year and a half on oxygen, and the first year and ten months on an apnea monitor. Several times, we had the monitor go off in the night. Each time, we were given our Angel back.
By any stretch of the imagination, Chrissie's life was not easy. She was born with BPD (Bronchial Pulmonary Dysplasia) which eventually became Asthma. Unable to walk or talk for the first several months, Chrissie used sign language as a means of nonverbal communication. She received home schooling from wonderful and talented teachers and therapists of the Ivymount School. These skilled and caring people helped her develop, while keeping me sane.
By the age of three, Chrissie was caught up physically and developmentally. When Chrissie was in the second grade, she developed auditory processing dysfunction. Chrissie had difficulty understanding the words spoken to her. With a personal fm system, she could understand and she started to excel in school. Chrissie suffered from acute mold allergies and missed so much school in the fifth grade that she had to be home-schooled that year. Chrissie went back to school in the sixth grade. On top of the regular stress of handling a full load, Chrissie was exposed to endless teasing, and had to make new friends since the school district had shifted boundaries, forcing her to attend a different school.
Chrissie made her mark in middle school. Despite a new struggle with peripheral vision and short-term memory loss, Chrissie excelled in her studies. Although Chrissie never made it to school plays (despite several attempts), she blossomed in the talent shows and lip sync contests. Even though she was rather shy, she overcame that when she competed in these contests. She surprised many people with her angelic voice.
In the eighth grade, Chrissie made a very special Japanese friend named Mai. Mai was also shy and did not speak English very well. Chrissie introduced Mai to American traditions, such as Halloween, sleepovers, New Year's Eve, and the Fourth of July. They learned from each other. With Mai's help, Chrissie learned how to speak, write, and read Japanese.
When Mai and her family moved back to Japan, Chrissie's world started to fall apart. Many children at her school teased Chrissie about being fat, even though she was quite petite. She became very self-conscious, and started to walk more and ride her bike every day.
Trevia-Lynne and Peter gave her the dream trip for her Golden Birthday. They took her to Disney World for a week.
We sent Chrissie to doctors to treat her eating disorders and depression. Chrissie was really working hard at getting better. Chrissie joined the Peace Club at school and helped her school be one of the school to obtain a Kaki Tree (second generation of the tree). The Kaki Tree is the tree that survived the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan.
Chrissie often wrote poetry, and won several awards. She designed her own web pages, including “Butterfly Wings: A Book of Poetry.” Chrissie was loved by family and friends.
Despite Chrissie's physical ailments (asthma, short-term memory loss, peripheral vision loss, acid reflux, anorexia, depression, and Dissociative Identity Disorder), she always had a smile and kind word for everyone. Chrissie lived her life as if each day were a year. Chrissie had a mission here on Earth. She overcame more challenges in fifteen years than most people do in a lifetime - and she did it with grace and love.
Chrissie's memory will be carried on through a yearly Angel Run to benefit the two memorial scholarships (Ivymount School and Northwest High School) that have been set up in her name. Chrissie's brain was donated to the University of Maryland to research the causes and effects of depression and related neural illnesses. We hope that her memorial scholarships and the donation of her brain tissue will enable future high school students to go to college and help future teenagers to live without depression.
Chrissie's friends will miss her phrases, such as “Save the Buffaloes” and “Coolies!” Her family will miss her smile and “Well, duhh!” Most of all, I will miss her “Love You More and Love You the Most” to my “I Love You!”
Chrissie's death was by suicide. Chrissie had made many plans for the holidays. We only found out that she lived with 5 personalities after she died and we got to read the journals that she left. The one personality that was the strongest was the one that talked of killing Chrissie. This is the personality that we believe took over at the end.
Chrissie was an Angel sent from above and now she is our Heavenly Angel always near.
| 
