The Amy and Lisa Page
| July 28, 1990 | Amy is born. God dances. |
| April 14, 1993 | Lisa is born. God dances again, gives self a big hug and a hearty "well done!". |
| Fri, July 24, 98 | Amy gets her ears pierced. She's been asking for this for the last few months. We told her it could be her 8th birthday present. She's a little uncertain - it might hurt, but she decides to go through with it. |
| Sat, July 25, 98 | Amy has her 8th birthday party a little early, since her birthday will be in the middle of the week. She and her friends have a wonderful time rollerblading, eating pizza and cake, and laughing. She shows off her pierced ears. |
| Tue, July 28, 98 | Amy's actual 8th birthday. No party, but her pal Melissa spends the night. We all walk up to the video store and Amy gets her free birthday rental movie. She picks it out, walks up to the counter herself and explains that it's her birthday. Dad is standing by the videos, out of the way so she can do it all herself. |
| Fri, July 30, 98 | We pack up some clothes, dad's guitar, and a bunch of books and toys and head north for a weekend in northern Michigan. |
| Sat, Aug 01, 98 | Due to some unfortunate and as yet undetermined cause (a hearing is scheduled for December 7), a very large pickup truck smashes into the back of the family's van while they are stopped on the freeway because of an accident in the road ahead. Mike and Jean are taken to Cheboygan hospital, Amy and Lisa immediately taken to Petoskey. |
| Tue, Aug 04, 98 | Amy leaves her body. |
| Fri, Aug 07, 98 | Memorial service for Amy in the chapel at Northern Michigan Hospital in Petoskey. Readings by Mike, Frank Fedel, Joe Eridon, Russell Stevens (retired minister in Petoskey) and Steven Guthrie - hospital chaplain. |
| sometime during this week | Vince constructs and Grandma Fedel helps decorate a cross (approx 4ft X 4ft) and place it near mile marker 319 on I-75 where the accident took place. |
| Tue, Aug 11, 98 | Memorial service at First UMC in Ann Arbor for Amy. |
| Thu, Aug 20, 98 | Lisa is flown from Petoskey to Ann Arbor in a Cessna. Kris and Kim are the attending nurses for the flight. |
| Mon, Aug 24, 98 | Lisa begins PT, OT, and Speech Therapies. |
| Sun, Aug 30, 98 | An article on Lisa published in the Ann Arbor News. |
| Tue, Sep 1, 98 |
Kenneth LaHaie arraiged in Circuit Court for Cheboygan County. Mike and Tom Cayley drove up
to attend. The defense attorney 'stood mute' to the charge and the court entered
a plea of 'not guilty'. (This is not an uncommon practice.)
A trial date of December 7 was set. |
| Tue, Sep 1, 98 |
Lisa says her first words since the crash! First word is "mom". Jean spent the night in the hospital
with Lisa since Mike was up north. So, she went to speech therapy. The therapist (Lynn) pointed to Jean
and asked Lisa who that was. Slow and difficult, but Lisa mouths the word "mom" very softly.
For more details, see the Lisa recovery page. |
| Thu, Sep 3, 98 | A benefit concert is held at First United Methodist Church for the Amy and Lisa fund. |
| Wed, Sep 9, 98 |
Lisa eats! Grandma and Aunt Helen visited Lisa; when Lisa said she was "super-duper hungry," they asked the nurse if she could eat. The nurse checked, said "yes," and Lisa got to eat some mashed potatoes and jello (she also tried to eat some pineapple, corn and meatloaf, but couldn't chew them [who wants to eat meatloaf anyway?]). Dad videotaped the event.
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| Fri, Sep 18, 98 |
Lisa is discharged from Mott Children's Hospital to begin outpatient rehabilitation. The family checks in to the Residence Inn and begins daily commutes to MedRehab.
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| Fri, Oct 30, 98 |
Lisa attends the Halloween parade at Eberwhite school. This had been a big goal for mom since we began thinking about her rehabilitation. We'd hoped she might be able to attend part of the parade, didn't know if she'd be in a wheelchair, if she'd be talking, or really even aware of her surroundings.
This was success beyond our wildest dreams. She's already talking, has been to school once or twice on a drop in basis to get to know some of her classmates, has listened to stories being read, and has done two class projects. |
| Tue, Nov 24, 98 |
MADD has the kick-off for their annual "tie one on for safety" campaign. The family attended and Jean gave a short statement/speech at the Detroit City/county building.
Lisa and a state policeman tied the first big ribbon on a school bus parked on Woodward Avenue. Channel 7 and WJR radio gave the event some good coverage. Thanks to them. |
| Thu, Dec 3, 98 |
Lisa begins Kindergarten as a regular kid - without dad or mom sitting in. She's dropped by several times before for an hour or two, but today is the first day she came at 12:30, dad left, and she didn't finish the day until 3:30. From today on, she will be going to school at 12:30 and we're hoping for her to stay all day.
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| Thu, Dec 3, 98 |
The drunk driver who killed Amy and destroyed our family pleaded "guilty" to two of the four charges in the case. We worked out a deal under which the felony charges for injuring Jean and Mike were dropped in exchange for a straight-out "guilty" plea on the charges for killing Amy and injuring Lisa.
The Ann Arbor News and the Cheboygan newspaper published accounts of this plea. |
| Tue, Dec 8, 98 | Mike and Katie play "Orphan Girl" and "Tears in Heaven" at a candlelight vigil sponsored by MADD. The vigil is at St. John's Presbyterian church in Taylor. Amy's name is read in a list of people killed in 1998. |
| Wed, Dec 16, 98 | Lisa, Mike and Jean head to the San Francisco Bay Area for the Christmas holidays. Several people have recommended that we spend some time away to help get through the first holidays without Amy. We're taking their advice. |
| Fri, Dec 25, 98 | Santa found Lisa even in California. She got her much-anticipated "Rock and Roll Barbie" as well as a handful of other presents. |
| Sun, Dec 27, 98 |
Mike is scheduled to read "The Singing of Angels" as a meditation at the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. This is the piece that he read at Amy's Memorial Service at First United Methodist Church in Ann Arbor. He'll also be playing Bruce Cockburn's "Closer to the Light".
Lisa attended part of the service last Sunday and will be there again this Sunday. |