[semigodd154]

Ok here is the situation a lot of the members here will recognize me from RAG back before this site started when this site started i became a member just to move with the family so to speak. Well as you can see by my post count I havent been terribly active on the boards and there has been a very good reason. I will come to it i promise but first a little remembering (bear with me this is hard) I am shaking while i type this so excuse the whole lack of professional english punctuation skills. Some of you will remember that sept 20 2003 I introduced the world to Jake Takoda Hill and had never been happier some of you after hearing of his background dubbed him the miracle man (thank you Reeflady). Well to get to the point I am sad to say that jake passed away Dec. 10th he passed away in his sleep and I found him that morning when it was time to feed him. We are still waiting on some details but we are thinking medical malpractice. He went to the doctors the day before because of a cold and they gave him 4 shots before he left the office the next morning he was gone. So this is why I have not posted in a while. I myself have been recovering you never think of having your children pass away before you do. If there is a silver lining to any of this being that it was christmas time I asked my family to take any presents that they had gotten for him and get a refund for the gift and donate it to the childrens miracle network so hopefully it might make one sick child happy for a day well my boss heard of this and (since i work at walmart ) he announced it where i work and without my knowing about it he started taking public donations and after one month they had taken in more than $5000 they made a custom plaque with his name on it a memorial of sorts and gave it to me and my family (presented by as representative of the cmn) very classy organization i might add I have been asked numerous times why we donated the money to the cmn instead of keeping it to pay for expenses and I simply say that i would like for people to know what kind of person Jake would have been when he grew up and i think if we can help one child be happy for one day before they succumb to illness then it would have made jakes life a little happier. So as I realize how long this post has gotten. And im sorry I would like to ask all of you to look at your children and give them a big hug and tell them that you love them and realize how precious that they are because you never know hopefully you will never go through this because there is no pain like it in the world. Ok I will close now and hopefully I can start posting back to the aquarium side of the board My tanks helped like you wouldnt believe just to relieve some stress Thank you all for being there and God Bless.

Shaun