A Bit About My Family

 Hello Excellents! It's Elli Bradford with a bit more about me. Much rather, my sister, Lucy. I haven't really gone in depth about her on the channel, mainly because I don't want to cry in front of a camera for a video that will be permanently on the internet. Anyways...

I had a baby sister, Lucy, who was my best friend in my family. She was our little sunshine and always knew how to put a smile on our face. 

In May of 2014, she was diagnosed with acute-lymphoblastic leukemia. I don't really know much about what happened because I was eight when she was diagnosed, but she was really sick, for a short time. If you want to know more, you can go to https://www.teamlucygoose.com for more in depth stories and explanations of what happened. It's my mom's blog she kept the entire time Lucy was in the hospital. 

Moving on, Lucy was 2 and a half years old when she was diagnosed, and she went through, a lot. Everything was scary for us for a little while, but it became our new normal, we were used to it enough. Us kids would stay at grandma's or auntie's while Mom and Dad were in the hospital with Goose. Ike would stay with them during the day, then it was up to us older three to take care of him at night. After school we would go to the hospital and hang out until the end of visitor hours. We were all used to it. Then five months and five days after her diagnosis, everything went downhill. 

October 24, 2014, Lucy took a turn for the worse. Zeke, Zoee, and I had just gotten to school, we were an hour in when we were all called to the office. I'll never forget what we were doing in class when my teacher got the call. A Navy officer, a classmates parents, were explaining what they do in the Navy. It was the day of the Fall Festival and I had promised my teacher that I would help her. We got called to the office. We were so confused when we saw each other. When we got to the office our Aunt Carla was there signing us out. She took us out to our uncle's van and they didn't say anything on the way to the hospital. At least nothing I remember. 

They took us up to Lucy's floor, and all of our other close family and friends were there. Save our cousins who were in school. At that point I knew something was either very wrong or very good. We sat with our aunts and uncles for a little bit until one of my parents came and brought us to a counseling room. They explained briefly what was happening. They said Lucy was very sick and needed machines to help her breathe. That they were going to try to remove her from the machines, but just in case, we needed to say goodbye. They said that the doctors wanted to prep her for a bit then we would go in with Mom and Dad one by one to say goodbye. Being the oldest, of course I went first. 

Once I was done, I went back to the counselors room where I was given my phone. About an hour later, we are all brought into Lucy's room where my mom is holding Lucy. My dad explained what happened, then played a song. I'll Fly Away by Gillian Welch and Allison Krauss. The song they chose for her death song. We still went to the festival that night. My parents thought it would cheer us up a bit. I just sat behind my teacher's stand and helped hand out the popcorn balls. I only left to go get some candy. 

We missed a couple days of school before going back. When we got back, we planted a tree in the schoolyard for Lucy before placing a plaque in front of it. Lucy's tree. When I got back to the classroom, I was attacked and hugged to the point I feel into the bin with everyone's lunch in it. 

That's enough crying for me today. Excellents, you are beautiful, you are smart, you are perfect. If you would like me to post a chapter of one of my stories comment below. Check out my YouTube Channel, EGB Everyday. And comment below if there is a quote you would like to see as the Quote of the Week. Enjoy the rest of your day.