How Jocelyn’s life can help others
interests. Jocelyn didn’t freely discuss things then.
Little by little came other changes, but Jocelyn masked it well to those around her. She was still fun-loving. Still smiling on the outside.
In her final year of life, however, there was a notable difference her parents say.
The constant question was always present: How can we help her?
“I really don’t know how to put my own feelings into words because I’m still going through it,” her dad says. “Unless someone has gone through it, they’re not going to truly understand.”
Jocelyn’s world lit up when her dog Amani became a part of it. But even that loving relationship turned out not to be enough.
Jocelyn continued to help others after her death. While she wasn’t able to be an organ donor due to the length of time following her death, she was a tissue donor. Many people were helped.
“Two different people got a cornea each, so vision was restored for them. Three heart valves were donated. There was skin tissue,” her dad says.
Looking ahead to hopefully one day having a residential support home to help others build hope and empowerment – and to find a piece of peace – Peter says, “We don’t want it to be an institution where everybody is just a number. While they’re there, that’s their home.”
NEVER FORGOTTEN
“It’s hard moving on,” Jocelyn’s mom Sharon says. “It’s been two-and-a-half years, but at times it’s like it was just yesterday.”
Jocelyn’s dad points to the foundation’s logo, which includes an image of a girl and her dog sitting together. A splash of purple is thrown around them, not even close to being confined in the lines. That’s on purpose.
“Life is messy,” he says.
“Life is supposed to fit in a nice little box. Guess what, it doesn’t.”
Before she died, Jocelyn would sometimes come downstairs and ask her parents, ‘Why is my brain doing this?’ “She’d cuddle right into me and I’d just hold her,” her dad says.
Her mom says it hurts when they think to themselves:
Why didn’t we know the things then, that we know now?
“Would it have helped? Or would it have just bought more time? We don’t know,” her dad says. “She knew she wanted that help. She knew she needed that help. That’s what she wanted.”
And for others to also receive such help, no doubt that’s what she would have wanted too.