Dante Louis Sawyer's story

May 31st, 1992 was the day we received a gift. This gift was from our good Lord – this gift was Dante.

From the time he was first brought home from the hospital he gave everyone such joy. Dante was a happy baby, a funny toddler, a good hearted kid and an excellent young man. We miss him so much. 

Dante was taken from us on March 19th, 2007 by a vaccine preventable disease called meningitis. The speed with which he went from flu like symptoms to slipping into death was incredible. He was talking Sunday morning and by Monday night he had passed away. Like too many other grieving parents know, this is a pain that we will carry with us for the rest of our days here on Earth. Our hope is that no other parent would have to go through this. 

I received a call from Dante's sister on Sunday morning telling me that they were rushing Dante to the hospital. When we arrived, a large team of people were working on him. It was difficult to not be able to see him right away, but we knew that these medical professionals were helping Dante. We were confident he was going to be OK. As the day went on we could see the desperation in the doctors' eyes. By the next morning, they told us there was nothing else they could do for him. Our sweet boy was going to die and we could do nothing about it. 

Please get your child vaccinated for meningitis. Do it for Dante and all the others who no longer have a chance to sing, dance and play - like your child does.

Martin Young
August 2009