A family in Idaho, was struck with tragedy this month when their 9-year-old daughter Shaylyn passed away. The young girl was playing in a tree when she fell and her head was impaled on a piece of rebar.
"Shaylyn fell from a tree and has a piece of rebar in her head we flew to eirmc and they said her condition is too complex so we are just loading up to fly to primary children," Jesi Bergeson, Shaylyn's mother, wrote on Facebook. "Please everyone pray for my baby."
“She had a craniotomy and they removed half of her skull to relieve the pressure,” Jesi told EastIdahoNews. “They found there is a lot of bleeding on the right side of her brain too.
A day later, Jesi posted another update.
"The piece of metal ran through the whole left side of Shaylyn's brain and they told us she would have a 50% chance of surviving the surgery," she said. "Our lil girl is a fighter and so strong and survived the procedure. She is not out of the woods, but we are so blessed to have her still. God, her sissy, and countless others have definitely been looking after her. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers please keep praying we have a long road ahead of us but our baby is alive and that's all that matters."
The community rallied around the Bergeson family, including setting up a GoFundMe page to help pay for medical expenses.
“We feel so blessed as the community has rallied around us in a way we could have never imagined,” Jesi said. “We love them all and feel so blessed to be surrounded by such an amazing community. We could not imagine going through any of this without them.”
Sadly, Shaylyn's condition didn't improve despite the best efforts of medical staff, and Jesi posted a sad update about donating Shaylyn's organs.
Sorry this will be a long post theres an important message we want to share first the there is an update on Shaylyn.We appreciate so much all that has been done for us and all the love and support we have received during this time. We have noticed that some false information has been being shared and we just ask that no one shares info that they haven't heard from us directly or from immediate family.
A couple months ago Shaylyn, Tristan, and I had a conversation about organ donations. She without a blink of an eye said she wanted to donate everything she could. Our angel has just always been the sweetest, kindest, and most selfless lil girl her entire life. Unfortunately God placed the desire for us to have that organ conversation on my heart for a reason. We are currently working with the transplant to to make sure she can bless as many lives as possible through this horrific tragedy.
We have been so blessed with the absolute best medical team during all this and they are still providing the best care to make sure she respected, honored, and comfortable as we allow her body to pass and continue to give live to another lil kiddo. We love you all and cannot express how blessed and loved we have and do feel through this whole process. Thank you all and please continue to pray for us as we again prepare to do the the one thing no parent should ever have to do bury a baby.
When Jesi says "again prepare," it's referencing their daughter Briauna, who passed away in 2016 at just 10 years old. For this family to have to bury two children in three years is unfathomable. Jessi sent an update to EastIdahoNews, confirming that Shaylyn passed away on Thursday evening, but helped five lives in the process.
Shaylyn passed away at 8:45 p.m. very comfortably and quickly, which is important in order to perform what is called a circulatory death organ transplant. Our baby was able to save four lives and someone’s vision. The transplant team was able to retrieve her liver, kidneys, heart valves and corneas. We again are overwhelmed with how blessed we truly are and although we are completely devastated, we are also so proud and overjoyed for those five individuals who are getting a phone call with the answer to a prayer they have been desperately asking for is now possible.
Shaylyn's story is absolutely tragic, but it's a reminder that donating organs can give someone's death meaning. This young girl was able to save five people, and I'm sure that helps ease the pain (albeit it slightly).
