When Ryan,18, picked up the phone on January 3rd, 2012, he was unaware that the phone call would change his life.

“It wasn’t a tone that I was used to hearing, or a tone that I wanted to be used to hearing,” said Ryan.

That morning, Ryan was taking care of Ashley’s, his sister, children at her house. At Ryan’s house, his brother, Sean, then 9, went into his parents’ room where he found his mother lying on the ground, unconscious but still holding a hair dryer. Sean got his older brother, Brett, to get help. When Brett saw his Mother, he immediately called 911 and began administering CPR. Ashley, who was at work, heard the news and headed over to the house and then called her father and Ryan to let them know what was happening.

“All I could do was pray. I prayed from the moment I heard the frantic tone in my sister’s voice and really never stopped,” Ryan said.

“We tried getting ahold of my dad all morning, but he was in surgery working on a patient. There was nothing more frustrating,” Ashley said.
Later in the afternoon, they got a hold of their father and the family all went in to see her and say their goodbyes as they began to face the reality that she wasn’t going to make it.

Around two, she was pronounced dead and the family began their mourning.

The oldest child, Mitchell, was serving in Germany and didn’t learn of his mother’s death until the next day.

Weeks later, the autopsy revealed the cause of her death was an enlarged heart.

“It was hard to come to the realization that I would never be able to take our mother-- son late night runs to the grocery store anymore or just sit and talk to her. I wasn’t a mama’s boy, for no reason. She was the kindest person,” Ryan said.

Hartland First Baptist Church (FBC) helped the family through the first few months of grieving. FBC gathered money, meals, and gifts for the family.

“My mom wasn’t just a loss for my family, but also for my church family. My mom was a huge part of organizing the church and youth group events. It changes people and friendships when you go through something like that. We became an even more tight knit church family,” Ryan said.

As the family began their grieving process, they found comfort in their faith.

Ryan said, “I find my hope in the Lord and I love the thinking how my Mom is finally where she’s supposed to be. Without the comfort of knowing that I will see my Mom again someday, I really don’t know where I’d be.”