Rachel's Story

  December 23, 2003 started out as an ordinary day.  It was only two days until Christmas and our last day of work
before the Christmas Holiday.  It was our daughter Rachel’s last day of daycare at her elementary school, too.  We
had been counting down the days.  Rachel, like any other five -year-old, adored Christmas.  I got a call at work at
1pm from Rachel’s daycare director.  She said that Rachel had a fever and wasn’t feeling well at all.  When I picked
her up she was really tired and feverish.  I took her home and gave her some Tylenol; she lay on the couch. 

We were in the midst of a terrible flu season so we thought for sure that she must have the flu.  Her temperature was
between 100-102 and the Tylenol was bringing it down.  We put her to bed around 9pm.  Again, she has had the flu before
and her symptoms were no different then any other time.  We were still concerned about her fever so I let her sleep in my
bed with me.  My husband slept in the other room.  At 5:30 in the morning she told me that she was uncomfortable and she
wanted to get up.  I told her to try to sleep a little bit more.  She asked for help to get to the bathroom because she couldn’t
walk.  I carried her there and she knelt down to throw up.  She was really stiff and I could tell that something was really wrong.
  I ran and got my husband from the other room.  He picked her up and laid her on the bed while I turned on the light.
  Her eyes sort of rolled back into her head, she had purple bruise-like marks on her feet.

I called 911 and we waited 6 minutes for the Fire Department to arrive.  They were not alarmed when they saw
her.  After taking her vitals they advised us to drive her to the emergency room and not bother taking the ambulance
that had not yet arrived.   When we arrived at the hospital about 30 minutes later it turned into a full blown emer-
gency.  As soon as they saw her they knew that she had Meningococcemia.  They gave her antibiotics immediately.
They purple marks were now all over her body.  After an agonizing and terrifying two hours they stabilized her and
sent her over to the pediatric ICU.  They said that if she made it for 24 hours then she would have a good chance to survive. 

It was Christmas Eve morning. Rachel was so brave all day.  She just wanted to know when it was time for breakfast! 
As the day went on her feet and legs started to turn black.  We knew that she might lose them but the doctors were extremely
optimistic that she would survive.  Things worsened as the afternoon progressed.  She was not producing urine and
her heart rate was extremely high.  She was transferred to a Children’s hospital at Stanford.  At this point our baby
was so sick.  I kept thinking that we should be at church celebrating Christmas Eve not at the hospital with a dying child. 

The doctors still gave us hope that she may survive.  Shortly after midnight (It was now Christmas morning) we told Rachel
that they were going to give her medicine to help her sleep.  We told her that we saw Santa and that he brought her the
Bratz doll that she really wanted.  We then told her how much we loved her and that we would see her when she woke up.
  She never did.  They put her on a respirator to help her breath.  They put her on kidney dialysis.  At about 5:30am we
checked on her and the nurse told us that her heart was bleeding.  The doctors and staff proceeded to perform CPR for
about 40 minutes because her heart was finally giving out.  We had a couple of minutes to say goodbye after they stopped.
  We knew our baby was already in heaven.

We lost our only child on Christmas morning.  She went to be with Jesus on his Birthday. Rachel Ann Schrette
was smart, sweet, funny and she loved life. We still can’t believe that she is gone.  We miss her so much. 
Neither one of us had even heard or read about this terrible disease. 

Steve and Joi Schrette

I see the countless Christmas lights around the world below Don't worry, Mom and Dad I still love you so The sight is so spectacular so wipe away your tear I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year Dear Rachel, how we miss you with pain inside our hearts Our love for you is still alive, though we are apart With Love Forever,  Mom and Dad