Bethany's Story & Celebration of Her Life Born: November 15, 1979

Returned to our Lord, October 21, 2002

As fate would have it, I met Bethany during an online chat in 2000. While chatting with her, she informed me that she was an adoptee and was searching for her birthmother because she was going to have to have major brain surgery. The doctors did not know if she would survive the surgery. I stepped in and offered my services to Bethany at no cost.

After a week of searching, I was finally able to locate her birthmother in the Colorado area. Turns out that Bethany had two teenage, half sisters also. She was able to speak to her birthmother and half sisters before she underwent the surgery.

Well, it turns out that Bethany survived the surgery, but had some pitfalls due to over-medication after the surgery. After being weaned from Oxycontin in 2001-2002, her life continued to improve, but she battled daily migraine headaches - a side effect of her medical condition that lead to the surgery.

On Friday, October 18, 2002, Bethany informed me that she wanted to contact her birthmother to get information about her birthfather. She wanted to locate him to obtain his medical history. However, the telephone number that she had for her birthmother had been disconnected. I told her that I would assist her in getting a new telephone number for her birthmom when I got back to my office on Monday, October 21, 2002. We had chatted on the phone for nearly an hour on Friday night. She was chatting about her future plans including her upcoming birthday party in November. She wanted to be sure that I was going to be there. She also wanted to know what present I was going to get her. I told her that it had to be a surprise. In addition, she told me that she couldn't afford to get me a present for my birthday next weekend. Instead, she had promised me a big bear hug, that I graciously was going to accept. At the end of the conversation, as she had in the past, she told me to have a good evening and said, "You know that I love you right, `big brother'?" To which, I responded, "I love you too, `little sis'!"

On Monday, October 21, 2002, I was supposed to meet Bethany for lunch on my way home from Toledo to Cincinnati at around 2 P.M..

At 1:05 pm, I placed a call to Bethany's cell phone to confirm our meeting place and time again. Kamara (Bethany's girlfriend) answered the phone.

She informed me that Bethany had passed away in her sleep this morning at approximately 9:15 a.m.

"Bethany, you had become more of a friend than you realized. I know that you are dancing with your fellow angels in heaven. You will be missed!

Mike

10/23/2002 3:15 AM

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UPDATE 10/23/02: Bethany's funeral is being held at the Rutherford Funeral Home located at 450 W Olentangy St in Powell, OH. Visitation is Thursday, October 24, 2002, 2-4pm and 6-8 pm. The funeral is Friday, October 25, 2002 at 10am. Cremation shall follow the service.

UPDATE 11/13/02: Bethany was an organ donor. Her organs were successfully removed and transplanted. No information has been received about the recipients. The autopsy report has not been received yet.

UPDATE 01/04/03:  Bethany died due to an accidental overdose of prescription medication.