Tonaiya

Harrison's good friend Tonaiya, 10, has been hospitalized since last Tuesday with a sudden and mysterious case of encephalitis. It's source is unknown and she went from being seemingly totally healthy to unresponsive and unconscious in a matter of hours. She went downhill quickly and suffered several seizures but improved on Thursday a bit and was a bit more responsive Friday. On Saturday she could respond with a squeeze of her hand to mean "yes". Today we visited and Harrison seemed to be a tonic to her. She smiled, giggled, got excited and made some choices by squeezing our hands to mean "yes". She still cannot walk, talk, sit up or eat. She is being tube-fed and is bedridden. It's such a scary time for her grandma, Ingrid (her guardian) and the rest of her family. Ingrid and Tonaiya live next door to Doug and that's how Harrison met her. They have been great friends for the past two years and have become really close. We took Tonaiya camping in July and she went fishing for the first time with Jeff, one morning while we all were still sleeping. They went out in the canoe and caught nine sunfish! She came back so thrilled. So, today, Jeff brought her a fishing pole of her own (pink!) and told her she needed to get better so they could go fishing again. She grabbed and held on to that pole for dear life with a big smile on her face! I had to pry it out of her fingers! We plan to visit again tomorrow and every day that we can until she's better. She needs a lot of prayers and good wishes. Such a sweet girl! It's heartbreaking to see a strong, healthy girl become so sick. You can't help but think of your own kids and realize how fragile life is. Treasure every minute...........