“Don't worry Sadie, daddy's going to walk you home darling. I'm so sorry that you're going to be there alone, my sweet girl - I still have to be strong for your brothers and sisters. But I promise when my time here is done, I will come find you. Daddy will find you, and then we'll watch down together on the rest of them” This is one of the two things I find myself telling my sweet Sadie the last few days. (the other is our morning routine when Sadie would sneak into my bedroom before her brothers and sisters were awake - I think I shared that yesterday) As a quick update, today they are doing tests on Sadie's body for organ donation. They just checked her heart, and were able to record a heartbeat on a small device that we can bring to Build-a-Bear so we can have a nice memory (I'm hoping they have a Baby Shark outfit). Later they're going to do scans on the rest of her organs. Sadie has her time of death now, but she'll be on life support until they find recipients for organ donation. This could be as early as tomorrow, and I'll be in Augusta until I can walk her home. My boss @jeffbcross is arriving here today. Jeff has always been a great friend - I used to bring the kids to his farm when we lived in Arizona to play with his goats and pigs and chickens. In addition to flying out, Jeff has made Sadie's Day an annual company holiday at Nx for all employees to have time with their families and loved ones. 💙🫂 I am also working with our local church that I had taken Sadie to for nursery and sunday school on putting together a humble public funeral for Sadie. I'll share more details when we get everything figured out. As a last update, I wanted to share some links where folks can provide support. I wanted to make sure everyone knew that if they want to do something for my family, the best thing you can do for us is to love your loved ones extra through this ordeal for Sadie's sake, and to mark February 19 in your calendars as Sadie's Day so we can remind ourselves to do the same next year. I'd also love to see and shake the hands of as many of you that might be local as possible at the funeral, but please dont feel any pressure to fly out! So please do not feel any pressure to give and please don't put yourself in any financial stress. For any money donated, it will be distributed: - first to immediate needs of the family - then to Sadie's medical bills - then to Sadie's funeral arrangements - then to permanent housing for the family (we do have medical and house insurance, but I don't yet know details yet on how much they will cover) Here are the links where we'll accept donations (I had meant to do research on which had the lowest fees... but I frankly hadn't had time, so we're just going to pass out all the links): Mealtrain (thank you to Dallas Yoshida for setting it up): mealtrain.com/trains/9q4m3v?… Venmo: venmo.com/u/Zachary-DeRose-1 CashApp: cash.app/$zackderose Gofundme: gofund.me/7524da8b Paypal: paypal.me/zackderose We're also currently accepting clothes, toys, and other essentials at Kylie Renee, my step daughter's, house (I believe the mealtrain is up to date on the kid's needs currently): 707 Evelyn Dr. Seneca, SC 29678 Again thank you to all. A father should never have to bury their child, but at least I'm not doing it alone, and I'm forever grateful to everyone who has reached out with love and kindness for that 🫂💙 I'm looking forward to going through more of your messages soon.