In Memory: A Father and His Daughter

 

Today is the 6^th anniversary of the death of my son Andrew, seen here with Andrew Jr. and his daughter Daniela on her 8^th birthday in 2003.  On September 21, 2010, Daniela died after a 22-month battle with an inoperable brain tumor.  Daniela’s blog, which she began at age 13 some months after she was stricken, was both upbeat and wise, and many have been inspired by it.

As an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution pointed out, Daniela was exceptionally talented in both music and tennis.  Here is an article and video featuring Daniela and her mother Bernardine on Atlanta’s Channel 11, and also a CNN video of the two of them for the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation. 

Unlike his daughter, who struggled courageously with her illness for almost 2 years, Andrew died suddenly on a tennis court, almost instantaneously.  As I said in an earlier post commemorating his death, and find that I cannot improve upon, “What a fine fellow he was, what a pleasure it was to be in his company.”  For more on Andrew in this blog, please see earlier posts for this date.