Jane Marie Menard

Born October 21, 1982 ~ Heaven Bound,  December 27,2004

MY DAUGHTER, JANE

She is a girl of 22 years of age and the fourth out of six girls.  She loves her sisters and is always a pleasure to be around.  Jane enjoys life to its fullest and always lights up the room with her smile.  She has completed her twelve years of school and is now attending Louisiana State University at Eunice.  She is engaged to be married  to a nice fellow from Crowley, LA and also works at a lumber yard in Crowley.  She will graduate from college in May 05 and get married in June 05.  She has dimples from one cheek to the next and when smiling, she can really get to your heart.  At times, when Jane gets a little upset, which is not often, she shakes her leg up and down.  Jane is always helpful around the house and tries to keep things very synchronized.

          Jane�s two younger sisters that live at home are always trying to put her to the test of anything they can think of.  My two youngest daughters say that I always fuss, but it�s just the way I talk to them sometimes. The dog even goes and hides sometimes.  My wife says that I don�t understand, but that is not true. Deep down in my heart I do understand. 

          Jane has had many friends from school and work.  Throughout the years, many girls have come for parties and sleepovers.  They have all been good friends to us and have all shown much compassion.  Jane was never the type to have troubled friends and was never really interested in boys.  During her school years, she was very active in 4-H.  She showed hogs and when she would get into the ring her smile was one that could not be passed up. The judges would comment on her smile and say how they remembered it from previous shows.  She shows hogs as enjoyment for herself and her parents and made money with this.  She also won trips with this as well as her older sisters.

Everywhere Jane would go people would get attached to her.

She had something special in her heart that people wanted.  She was always so willing to share her heart with everyone.

          Her fianc� would give her so many flowers that sometimes I would tell her that she could open her own flower shop.  She loved all the flowers and tricks that he would play on her.  They were inseparable and could not wait to be married.

          Every time I start to write in this, I cry because I have just kind of summed up what Jane is like.  So, to whoever reads this, as her father I mean this with every piece of my heart.  She was that special person that everybody needed in their heart.  She is also a very religious person (her mom made sure of that).  She also loved children, especially our grandchildren, which are also all girls too (four to be exact as of now).

          Then on Dec. 23, 04 she started getting a little sick.  She called from work and said she had a bad headache and a slight fever.  She was going to stop at her fianc�s house and rest a little while.  She came home and in the wee hours of Dec. 24^th, she started throwing up.  My wife brought her to the hospital and she walked herself in, but never came out.  They had diagnosed her with a virus and were going to send her back home.  Everything just started getting out of hand if you ask me. I don�t ever want to see any of my children go into a coma again.  Everything started going haywire and they admitted her into ICU.  The doctors told us that she had bacterial meningitis, which is something I did not know a whole lot about until they explained it to us.  The readings and numbers that the doctors found were unexplainable and other doctors said that her numbers were off the charts.

          On December 25, 2004 , Jane was declared legally brain dead and we kept the respirator on her for Christmas.  This killer disease can be so severe that antibiotics and all the love and prayers in the world can not save a person.  This disease is so rapid that to me it looks like lighting gasoline.  The LOPA nurse and doctor came to talk to us about organ donation.  We decided which organs were going to save other peoples lives.  The LOPA nurse stayed with Jane throughout the night running many tests and in the early morning hours, the nurse noticed Jane had some movement.  She called in the doctor and he came back and told us that she had some movement and was not legally brain dead.  It was like a miracle had come into her room.  Everyone was so excited and I felt like all my insides had been put back.  The doctors started running all the tests again and found some brain activity.  Her brain swelling was decreasing and they were going to see how much blood flow there was.  Then all of a sudden, there was a code nine to ICU and everyone started going all over.  I opened the ICU doors and when I looked in and saw �pi� was in trouble.  They tried to bring her back and then something happened that could not be helped.  Then, God came and said �Jane it is time to go.  You have did your deed on earth, as I brought you into this world it is time for me to take you home.�  We all know when we came into the world, but we do not know when we have to go home.

          One day I hope we can write a small book about Jane and let people know how this deadly disease can shatter lives of people.  Neisseria bacterial meningitis is the worst illness to me next to cancer.  I have seen people live a long time with cancer and I have seen death in a matter of very little time.  Hopefully, one day I will see �pi� and will say that �I am so glad to be with you again�.  I know that she is watching over us and everything we do because she kept an eye on things when she was here with us.  In our hearts she is still alive and will forever be. 

Her nickname was �pi� because she used to play pee-pi with me so I just called her �pi�.

Jane,

Your great grandmothers bed was vacant when she passed away and now for some ungodly reason it is vacant again.

Pi, I just want to let you know this was very hard for me to write, but I am proud that I was able to do this and I will always love you.

 With much love always, Your Daddy

Jane

written in love by your sister, Dawn

 A smile so bright

You are now our shining light

 The tears we cry, wishing you were here

For in our hearts, we know you are near

 We will always remember

Your sweet face,

Your kind heart,

Your simple; yet refined ways,

And the love you gave to all

 Words cannot say how we feel today

But you will forever stay-

OUR ANGEL

HE TOOK HER ANYWAY

 Written by Jane�s sister, TRACY DORE�

He took her anyway,

Those were the words

That Dad cried,

When the Doctor came out

And told that Jane had died.

He took her anyway,

Those were the words

That I will never forget,

Although Jane knew

That this was it.

He took her anyway,

Those were the words

That was the hardest

For a sister to hear,

Although we know that

Jane is so near.

 He took her anyway,

Those were the words

That hurt so much,

Although we know that Jane

Would be in touch.

He took her anyway,

Those were the words

I could not part,

Although I know that Jane

Will always be in my heart.

He took her anyway,

Those were the words

 That meant she is with God,

Although we will always

Remember Jane�s bod.

He took her anyway,

Those were the words

 I could not untangle,

Although we know that

Jane is now our ANGEL.

The time came when your body left,
but your spirit will always drift;
As far away as you may seem,
you're really as near as a dream;
Each day when the sun rises and sets we are all put through a test;
The love that we have for you will never die;
In fact, it continues to grow as you already know;
The pain and tears that we have is
something that you don't want for us;
And so it is that the happiness that you bring within our
dreams is how you want us to grow.
Created by Nicky Stansbury,
for the love of my family and all of those who have endured pain by loss in their hearts.

A Special Thank You to Mrs. Kathy's Kindergarten Class for working so hard and collecting the most change in the Change For Angels Contest in memory of our daughter, Jane. The Menard Family

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