Thoughts and Prayers Requested

[scobb]

Hey All

I hope this is okay for the general board....

It is just from being here a few short months, I know there are some prayer warriors here....and we can never get too many people praying...

At 10:27 Saturday night, my best friend's son passed away. He was eight years old. Please pray for the family! His father was raising him alone and they were very close. The little guy was Blake and his father is Roger.

Thanks so much
Sharon

[Deb]

I stopped and prayed for Roger. May God comfort him, give him strength and help him to find meaning in this tragedy.

[Susan Jennerjohn]

Oh my. That is so sad.

My prayers are definitely with Roger that he stays strong.

I could not imagine (and never would want to) the pain he is going through.

Susan

[Sandi Moses]

There is nothng worse than losing a child. Let the parents know there are people all over the world praying for them.

Sandi

[Lori G.]

Sending my prayers to all.

Lori

[talfighel]

Sharon,

My thoughts and prayers are with you and Roger.

I am so sad to hear that.

Tal

[garovich]

Sharon,

Sorry to hear such sad news. My wife and I will l keep all of you in our thoughts and prayers.

Gary

[Erich]

Sharon

Tell Roger he is getting a bunch of support Prayers from this forum and we hope and pray that somewhere and somehow....something good will come from this tragedy.

All we really know for sure in this life is that God and and His son the Lord Jesus Christ, never does anything or allows something like this to happen without a good purpose.

I just hope Roger gets a glimpse of what that purpose is and see's the true meaning of why. That would be quite a gift to help him thru his mourning.

You don't say how he died and it is really none of our business... but when you say he "passed away"... that leads me to believe there was an illness involved.

One of my favorite charities is The St Judes Hosptial for Children and if it isn't to personal to give his full name... I will make a donation in his name. I donate there monthly anyway so it's not like I'm doing anything special...

Here is their contact info:

www.stjude.org

Take Care

Erich


PS: This is kinda coincidental... but I have a cousin whose first name is ROGER and he lost a teenage son to a traffic accident a couple of months ago.

[troyzone]

Sharon,

I am so sorry to hear that Roger and his family are in my thoughts and prayers as well. Take care.

Troy

[Hank and Dot]

Sharon,

We know there are no words that can ease the pain Roger is feeling. It is absolutely the worst of all pains in the world, at times unbearable. No one should have to experience it.

We can't explain or understand why things happen. But it is not up to us to explain or even understand in this life. One day we will see the "big picture" and it will all be clear to us then.

Our whole family will certainly pray for you, Roger, and his family. For your strength and your peace.

God on the mountain
is still God in the valley.

Hank and Dot

[Sandi Moses]

I lost a brother and a cousin when they were both teenagers. (Years apart - very different causes.) Having watched two sets of grieving parents, let me offer this:

1) Encourage them to give it all to God. He knows their pain - His Son died, too.

2) Make sure they let each other grieve in their own way. There is no one "right" way and each person has to get through it as they are lead, on no one else's time table.

Hold their hands, and let them cry and talk. As much as they need to. If there are support groups for parents of children who have died, especially of whatever Blake died from, encourage them to go, even if they don't participate. Nowhere else will they find people who truly understand, because they have "been there, done that."

Sandi

[Lori]

This is so very sad and brings tears to my eyes. My prayers and thoughts are with Roger and his family at this difficult time.

Lori

[shing]

Hello Sharon,

I'm so very sorry to hear about this. I hope in time, that God will heal Roger's deep wounds and that he will have the assurance that through Jesus Christ, he will see his son again some day. One thing for which I am grateful is that he was so close to his son - so Roger can live out his years without regret and hold his memory close to his heart.

Shawna

[Scouser]

Hi Sharon,

My deepest sympathy to Roger and all of little Blake's family for their loss. A prayer is winging it's way to him now...........

David.

[zeta]

Sharon,
I was so saddened when I read this post. We have had company and I haven't been on here much.
Sharon my thoughts and prayers go out to You, Roger and the family and friends of Blake. It is definitely a tragedy. I am sorry I didn't read this sooner or I could have put everyone on the prayer list at church yesterday, but I will definitely pass the names along Wed night. They will need prayer, love and support for years to come. Loosing a loved one can effect different people different ways. It takes some people years to adjust and others very short periods of time and others never do adjust. I pray for your strength to be there for your best friend as he will need you more than you will know. Just let him know there are LOTS of people praying for him today, tomorrow and forever and just hang in there.
Zeta

[shellymac]

Sharon..so sad to hear of this. It really makes you think how precious life is. My thoughts and prayers are with this family.

Shelly

[tlansley]

I prey every night, my thoughts and prayers will be with Roger tonight, although Blake may not be on this plain-he will be around his Father in spirit-and may show some signs for his father to see.. It's terrible when a child dies but they will meet again in a better place.

[scobb]

Hey Everyone

Thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts. The family is not doing very well at all. Roger is in pieces as one would expect. Roger's parents are grieving the loss of their grandchld and also fearful for their own son because he just keeps talking of wanting to go be with his son. Blake was a fine little boy and loved Jesus and God very much. He always talked about them and often said he wanted to be a preacher when he grew up. Little did he know he was already preaching because he had a huge hand in changing a few lives of people he loved while he was alive and I suspect will also change a few after his death.

I do some clay work and his father asked me to make him something for his casket. Boy was this hard! But I completed the task and made him a cross with a beautiful blue sodalite stone in the middle. It is large enuogh to hold in his hand.

Erich, you are so kind to offer donating to a charity in his name. What a great way to remember the little guy! You asked about his health so I will take a second to tell you all how this unfolded. He had a hole in his heart at birth. But over a few years it healed. However, due to the hole being there it created some other issues with his heart although none of those issues had gotten worse in the last years. The surgeon panel opted to not do any repairs via surgery since he was living just fine and the condition was not progressing since the surgery itself is such a high risk surgery.

Saturday night, they went to the fair. Roger put him in a ride and noticed as the ride turned he was going limp so he had them stop the ride. By this time he was already turning blue. Roger use to be a paramedic and tried to revive him but it was never sustaining. By the time they got him ready to be air lifted..it had been an hour since he had been breathing so they opted not to air lift him and to pronounce him dead. Roger feels like he "strapped him in to die" and that he "killed him" and is also feeling a lot of guilt for not being able to bring him back as he had brought back so many others in the course of his career. He knew it was bad from his experience and when he called Saturday night when the sheriff arrived and relieved him of CPR....he told me then..."it isn't good and I don't want to live without my son." They perforemd an autopsy yesterday but no results yet...however, those that deal with emergency issues (health professionals etc) feel he had a massive heart attack even though he was not under any restrictions for activities etc.

I will keep everyone posted.

The people in this forum are really wonderful people and your prayers have really confirmed what I already knew about this group. Thanks again for all the continued prayers. I can not imagine the inner turmoil he is experiencing....but the outer signs of the turmoil is very apparent and really scares me for him.

Talk soon
Sharon

[Susan Jennerjohn]

Oh my goodness. I am crying reading this. This is the most pitiful thing I have ever heard. (and I have heard and seen alot)

The main thing you can do now Sharon is to stay close to Roger so he doesn't hurt himself. He needs friends and family more than ever right now. That poor man.

[scobb]

Sorry..I forgot to posts his name...

Blake Stephen Miller
born 4/14/1998
passed on 7/22/2006

Now comes the financial stress of the funeral. There was no life insurance on Blake. The funeral will cost $8,000.00 and that is with the funeral home knocking off around $3,000.00 and does not include a head stone. The local TV or Radio (not sure which) went back out to the fair last night and raised $1,000.00 for them. Blake's death made the news/press since it occured in such a public forum and on a fair ride (even though the fair is not liable in anyway). If you live in the Greenville Michigan area you should be seeing it on the news.

We are still waiting on the autopsy report...it has been completed though.

Thanks again
Sharon

[yone3000]

Have been away...didn't see this post all this time.

My prayers are with Roger and his family. Hopefully he will get past this without blaming his self. From what you have mentioned here, I can see that Blake had a lot of love in his life. That's the best we can all ask for.

[Lori G.]

Sharon,

I feel for you, Roger and all involved. I wish there was something I could do. Is there an address available to send cards to? Do you think that would help? Maybe we could take some donations for expenses? Let me know. In the meantime, I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers.

Lori

[zeta]

Sharon,
I know it is just as hard on you as it is them. Here is a poem I would like you to read and share with him when the time is right. My friend gave me that poem when my mother passed away and I read it quite often. I thought of this poem as I was reading your post. God bless all of you.
In Loving Memory
If tears could build a stairway,
and memories a lane,
I would walk right up to Heaven,
and bring you home again.

No farewell words were spoken,
No time to say "Goodbye".
You were gone before I knew it,
and only God knows why.

My heart still aches with sadness,
and secret tears still flow,
What it meant to love you-
No one can ever know.

But now I know you want me
to mourn for you no more:
To remember all the happy times,
life still has much in store.

Since you'll never be forgotten,
I pledge to you today-
A hollowed place within my heart
is where you'll always stay.

[Skyrocket]

I've just got to this thread as I've been away at the weekend, what a tragic story and a shock to the system. I feel for Roger and Blake's Granparents, my thoughts go out to them and I hope that they pull through this terrible time and live their lives as Blake would want them to, especially Roger.

I don't follow religion although officially I'm a Christian. I was introduced to the Church when I was about 4 and my parents stopped taking me when I was about 5, so didn't really have a religous upbringing, however the point I'm trying to make is although I won't be praying for Blake's family my wife will, as she is a practising Christian and is just as heartbroken by this tradegy.

[tlansley]

Oh that really is terrible. I see alot of awful things in my line of work-but I feel terible that Roger may blame himself. He really must try not too-and that is almost impossible. Noone knows the pain of losing a child unless they have been there. We can all pray-and boy will I tonight-but-what can you say.... He has no guilt to feel-and being in social work-he really will need some counselling-and to maybe contact an appropriate group. I also feel for you Sharon-just show him your love and support. You are truely a fantastic person-and regular contributers to the forum know how special you are. If you show 1/8 of the support you contribute here to Roger it will make so much difference.X My thoughts and prayers are with you.Tobes

[stirls]

What a sad story adn also a story to remind us all how important life is and to cherish the moments we have.

Sharon please make sure to let Roger knows there are many of us thinking of him and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family!

[burkhardt]

My thought and prayers are with Roger and his family. The story brought me to tears!! Friends of mine just lost their two year old to a terrible accident (pool drowning) and is going through a lot of the same guilt issues.

I hope the best for everyone they need great friends and support through these tough times.

Lisa

[rbarras]

I just read the thread and I also will pray for Roger and his family that the Holy Spirit will comfort them with a comfort that passes all understanding and see them throught this very dark time in their lives.
Ruby

[Darwin]

I will remember in my prayers and meditations. I sympathize and can emphathize as just 2 months ago my daughter lost her infant baby girl.

Darwin

[Sandi Moses]

I know I said this before, but help Roger to find a support group. It is not at all uncommon for parents of children who died from something other than illness to feel some sort of guilt. They agonize over "If only I had . . . . . " or If only I hadn't . . . . "

My own Dad was sure the tires he allowed my brother to buy had something to do with the accident. They probably didn't, but "head knowledge" doesn't help in situations like this.

Most likely the hospital or his pastor can put Roger in touch with such a group. Encourage him to go, even if he just sits there. Those are the only people to whom he cannot rightfully say, "But you don't understand." Because they are the only people who do understand.

Sandi