We were just having the most wonderful year of our lives. I had just proposed to my sweet Maryellen on October 3rd at Mile High Stadium. A plane flew over pulling a banner that read Maryellen will you marry me? She said yes! We had been talking about marriage for some time now and she had expected me to propose to her in Ireland where we were traveling to in 3 days for vacation. So the party was just starting a little early. That evening we celebrated with her family and close friends. Little did we know that that was the last time we were to be all together again.
On October 6th we left for Belfast and stayed in Northern Ireland for 3 days with friends of Maryellen. This was a reunion of her friends that was ten years in the waiting. Needless to say there was a lot of catching up to do and we had the time of our lives. If you can ever say that life cant get any better, then this would have been that time. On October 10th we drove down to Dublin where we were to spend the next few days. This was a special day because it was the first anniversary of our first date.
After checking in at our hotel we laid in bed to take a nap before going out to celebrate our anniversary. About 5 minutes after laying down I heard a gagging sound coming from Maryellen. I looked over at her and she looked like she was having a seizure. I totally freaked out because I didnt know what to do for her. I immediately picked up the phone and called the hotel operator to get an ambulance. All I could do was to hold my baby and tell her that help was on the way. There was never any response from her so I had no idea of what was happening to her. I thought she was having a seizure and would soon come out of it or maybe something caused by food poisoning which had happened to a bunch of Maryellens co-workers just weeks before.
The ambulance arrived and we were soon at the hospital. They had Maryellen in the emergency room and really didnt seem to know what had happened to her. But I knew that it was pretty serious especially when the priest showed up at my side. Finally after getting the results of the CAT scan they were able to determine what had happened. Cerebral aneurysm. Even though Maryellen was on the hospital bed on life support, my sweetheart had passed away within seconds in that hotel room, the hemorrhage was so massive. I thank God that she passed quickly without suffering. I prayed at her bedside that she comes through this I would have given my life so that she may still be with us. But the doctors told me that with a hemorrhage as large as hers, she would never really function again. I knew that she couldnt live life if she were not whole.
They kept her on life support until the morning of the 12th so that her mother, father, sister and brother could fly in. We had decided that she would have wanted to donate her organs so there are now people in Ireland seeing with her eyes, people now able to live with her heart and kidneys. Maryellen was always a giving person and this was true beyond her end.
Ive never truly understood how fragile life really is. Maryellen was one of the healthiest people I knew. She exercised every day and had a great diet. Everybody loved her because she had such a great heart and really knew how to give to people. At her funeral services there must have been a couple dozen people that told me that Maryellen was their best friend. We all truly miss her but we know in our hearts that she is shining down on us and that one day we will all be together.