Rashale Arana

The e-mail in my inbox read:

From: Rashale Arana
To: Kasey Jackson
Sun 12/21/2008 5:00 AM
Kasey rashale picked up a horrible infection and she is not doing good

That was it.
I didn’t know what I was reading. I thought the note came from Rashale. After all, it was from her e-mail account. But I didn’t quite understand. That day and what happened in the next 24 hours remains burned into my memory.

From: Kasey Jackson
To: Rashale Arana
Sun 12/21/2008 7:30 PM

Oh, my. What’s wrong? Are you OK? I hope so. I’m praying for you, girlie girl!
Kasey

I don’t remember why I hadn’t been on e-mail earlier than 7 that night, but when I got the message, I immediately e-mailed back to Rashale. I also started calling and e-mailing everyone I could think of in Charlotte who might get back to me. I e-mailed Megan in PR at Presbyterian. I e-mailed Dr. Mark Mogul, Kiwanian and Rashale’s doctor. I e-mailed Rashale’s mom.

I remember feeling sick to my stomach. I was shaking. I was replaying everything in my mind that had been said. “Not doing good.” What does that mean?

I was sitting on the bed in my son’s room when I finally spoke to someone—Megan Talley from Presbyterian.

She told me it was the worst news. She said Rashale really wasn’t doing well. It was not looking good at all. At that point, we knew she was in some sort of intensive care unit and tests were being run.

We spoke of how we both felt so helpless. How we both figured the initial word that she wasn’t doing well meant she probably just felt crappy—this was, after all, the chemo she called the “worst ever.” We both kept saying we wished we were closer so we could do something. Anything. Talk to her. Be there.

From: Mogul, Mark J
To: Kasey Jackson
Sun 12/21/2008 11:49 PM

She is doing horribly and will likely not survive another day. Absolutely devastating. Call me when you can. M

I didn’t get this one till the next morning. I was at work.

I passed the news along to everyone, so everyone knew what was going on. My boss, Joedy Isert, said I had to call Dr. Mark for an update. I remember telling Joedy I wasn’t about to be the one to call Mark and have his pager go off while he was trying to save Rashale’s life.

I waited a bit. But I couldn’t wait too long. I e-mailed Mark instead of calling. Then, probably not even 20 minutes later, I called.

He said she was slipping away. He’d call me later.

I got the call a little after noon with the news that Rashale had passed.

I can’t tell you how those words affected me, other than to say I was a complete wreck. I’d be kidding myself to say I’m not still. People around me were crying—people here, at Kiwanis International who had never met her, were crying and devastated.

Her story of hope and courage and determination—and the fact that Kiwanians had stepped up to do the right thing, to save a little girl who needed saved … it was all just so touching and amazing and at this point, so downright sad.

I share all this with you and I’m not sure why. These were tender, personal moments. E-mails shared between new friends. A time that we will never forget. And we can’t forget.

We can’t forget how awful childhood cancer is. We can’t forget how sicknesses such as cancer ravage a body so quickly—and sometimes without explanation. We can’t forget that everyone deserves a chance. We can’t forget that there are countless children suffering because they have no access to medical care—even the most basic. We can’t forget that Rashale had a few amazing months that she might never have had if she hadn’t come to the United States for help. We can’t forget that Kiwanis was there for her and her family.

Rashale was meant to come into my life, Dr. Mark’s life, Megan’s life, and every one of your lives. I believe that. If you’re reading this right now, and if you read the first part of her journey, no doubt you feel connected to the little girl with the huge smile. A little girl who traveled to the United States from Belize, thanks to many caring individuals—many of them Kiwanians.

Their compassion and caring hearts should make yours beat a a little stronger. Make you want to go out and do something good. Make you want to find a child to hug, to hold, to help.

Rashale changed my life. I’m thankful to have met her. I miss her. There’s not much more to say than that.