A young girl

Most of the people in hospice, as one would expect, are older. Some of the folks I dealt with were middle-aged, but there was one eleven-year-old. Dyan Orr died Wednesday afternoon, after a 2-year battle with a rare disease -- a lymphatic disorder and Gorham's Vanishing Bones Disease. The lymphatic disorder damaged her lungs while the Gorham's Disease ate away at her bones. Because her family felt that she was well cared for by the Lutheran ministers at their church, they did not request visits from a counselor from hospice, but I heard reports of her ups and downs in the bi-weekly staff meetings.

Tom talked to her father, Mike, pictured above with Dyan, when he ran into him in Baraboo today. Needless to say, he was devastated. The family knew that Dyan was doomed, but when the person is so young hope springs eternal that some new development will come along to save her life. Such was not to be. Dyan had already arranged with her parents for doctors to examine her body after she died in hopes that it will help someone else.

I know that her parents, Mike and Tonya, would appreciate your prayers.