I couldn't have said it better....

My mother's best friend, Chris Powell, wrote this poem after my brother Cole passed away.... I was truly touched and it sums up his life pretty well! Thanks Chris for being such a great support to my mother. We love you! Thank you for this wonderful poem!!! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!

Cole

You wondered why he came to earth so early
When he made his unplanned, pre-mature birth,
It must have been that he was very anxious
To begin his mission here upon this earth.
He surely knew the things that lay before him…
The tasks the Lord had sent him here to do
And he knew his time was short to see them finished,
To accomplish all the things he must pursue.
So he set about his mission very early,
As the youngest child in a brood of nine
Bringing joy to all his sisters and his brothers
With a spirit that could only be divine.
As he grew his parents knew that he was special,
His quiet kindness touching lives for good.
Never causing them a moments pain or worry
Always doing everything a young man should.
Yet, still showing forth a streak of fun and goodness
That attracted many friends from every sphere,
Playing ball and living life with vim and vigor
By example, teaching lessons to each peer.
Not afraid to live the gospel to its fullest
He was Christ-like in the life that he did live,
He served a valiant, mission as an Elder
Truly giving every effort he could give.
But it seems his mission simply was not over
He was needed, still, to preach the Gospel truth,
So the Lord reached out his hand and gently took him
To the other side, it seems, while yet a youth.
There were souls that maybe only he could mentor,
There were hearts that maybe only he could turn,
There were lessons, maybe only taught through passing,
That the ones he left behind would need to learn.
Though he left life as he entered – much too early,
A long life here just wasn’t meant to be
Yet, because he touched so many in his lifetime
His influence will be felt eternally.


Love,
Kris

My Baby Brother....

Cole passed away Sunday morning, May 10, 2009. It was unexpected and without warning! There is a lot of people asking what happened....so instead of fighting the tears and repeating the horrific experience that my mother and family went through, here it is in a short version. Saturday morning my brother Cole was complaining of chest and back pain. He then went to a chiropractor for the back pain. After arriving home the pain had escalated. He was at this time vomiting and nauseated. My mother then took him to the Emergency Room around eleven in the morning. They ran a number of tests including cat scans, urine, and blood tests. The conclusion at the end of the first ER visit was that he was probably passing a kidney stone. He was sent home with pain and nausea medication. Saturday evening around nine my mother took Cole to the ER the second time. The pain was not letting up and the medication was no longer having an affect on the pain. He was in the ER for three more hours before they admitted him. He gradually got worse through the night, so they did a scan of the fluids in his body using that dye which they did not use in the first scan. This is when they found pools of blood internally and the doctors say that his aortic valve had burst or leaked and he was bleeding internally. This was around 630 Sunday morning. By the time they had found the problem it was too late to life flight him or prep for surgery. They could not stabilize him enough to do either. He went code blue at 8 am Sunday morning. He had no previous heart conditions. Everything that could go wrong did. It was a shock to us all.

Cole's Obituary can be seen at www.flammfh.com