Natalie Melissa Lopez

NATALIE LEFT HEAVEN ON JANUARY 8, 1983

 RETURNED TO HEAVEN ON JUNE 2, 2000

SHE SINGS IN HEAVEN'S CHOIR NOW

GOD'S GIFT TO: MIGUEL & DIAN LOPEZ

EMAIL: Learnofme2@yahoo.com

The Beginning of Forever Changed

Where does someone begin to tell a story like this?

Now June 2000, well, this was the most difficult months in my life. Many of you have asked and I will now share with you the events that would permanently alter our earthly life.  June 2, 2000  started out as a typical day. Natalie had gotten up early that morning because she was supposed to sing in the Talent Show that night.  She wanted to pick up her prom pictures and her paycheck.  I was laying in bed with Miguel resting (it was the first day without any school, we were all resting),  when she and Reyna came to tell me that they would be leaving.  I said ,"drive careful,  hurry home and I love  you. "  Around 10:50 this overwhelming feeling that something awful had  happened sat me straight up in bed.  I couldn't shake this feeling.  I got really busy doing nothing.  I even said a prayer.  But this overpowering  feeling wouldn't subside. 

The phone rang, it was McDonald's calling Rachel (my second daughter)  into work early. So, she hurried to get her uniform on and we headed down the  road. She looked at me and said "Mom, do you think Natalie and Reyna were in a car wreck."  Her words sent shivers down my spine. I already knew that,  but I couldn't believe what my prompting was telling me. Before we knew it,  we came to a road block.  I asked the police officer what was going on and he  told me that there was a serious accident and we would have to take the back  roads. As we drove, we kept looking at each other and kept saying no it's not  them, it can't be.  She is probably at Gabe's (Natalie's boyfriend) house looking at the Prom pictures.  As we pulled back onto the main highway, we looked back and we could see a blue car in the distance  that was half the normal size but we couldn't tell if  it was our blue car.  I dropped Rachel off at McDonald's and told her to call Gabe's and tell Natalie to stay there I would be there in a few minutes. (Natalie wasn't at Gabe's).  As I was pulling out of the McDonald's, an ambulance pulled out in front of me with the siren and lights flashing.  I was full of absolute terror.  I followed the ambulance but it got ahead of me. I continued to go to the hospital and when I got there the ambulance  doors were flung open and I could see blood.  I couldn't go in.  I was to afraid that what I already knew was true. At that moment I knew that one of my girl's were no  longer with us.  I raced home.  I got on the phone and I dialed 911.  But they could only tell me that yes there was a wreck on Hwy 31 and yes there was a fatality.  They told me to call the hospital.  By this time I was  trembling so bad I could hardly dial the phone.  I called the emergency room  and the lady told me that two young girls were involved in the accident.  I  asked her if they were okay and she said: "No madam,  they are not." This is when I lost  it. Jonathan and Anne could  hear my sobbing and they begin to cry.  Miguel comes down the stairs fresh out of the shower and he asks me what is wrong, he can't even understand me.  He takes the phone and  starts talking to the hospital.  He keeps telling me," You don't know its them". You have got to calm down.  I kept telling him,"Yes, I do know it's them." I am here to tell you, a Mother knows.  I called Rachel's manager at McDonald's  and tell her that Rachel needs to be  brought home immediately.  I hug Anne  and Jon and tell them that I will call them as soon as I know how they are  doing. I wasn't going to tell them what  I already knew inside, I don't think I could say the words out loud or it would make it real.

Not one phone call had named names or told us what  vehicles were involved but we headed toward the road block.  Miguel swerved around the road block and the police turned on their sirens.  They realized quite quickly why  he had ignored their authority.  Miguel told me to wait in the van and for some reason I did.  I really think that I already knew that Natalie was dead and Reyna was knocking on death's door, but Miguel didn't know and he thought I was simply over reacting to the whole situation. He  walked over to the police car  and they had Natalie's ID and they told him that yes,  my baby was gone and that Reyna had been life flighted but they didn't know  where because the driver of the other car was also life flighted. One police officer and Miguel came over to the van and got in (it was raining),  while another officer tried to find out where they had taken Reyna ( I found out months later that they were still trying to get Natalie's body out of the car and they were stalling us).  She had been taken to Kosair's Children's Hospital in Louisville,Kentucky. 

It was during her rescue and helicopter ride to Louisville that Reyna had to be revived three times.  I was also told later that when the EMT's  arrived to the scene that they thought Reyna was dead and Natalie was alive, although neither had a pulse. Reyna was covered in blood and I guess she looked more serious than Natalie. So after checking their pulses, they started working on Natalie with no success and then Reyna began to move.  It is also my understanding that the coroner pronounced Natalie dead at the scene.We went straight to a church  friend's house (her and her husband are highway patrol officers and they lived right on Hwy 31, just like us) and immediately they begin to assist us.  I ask her to take care of my kids at  home and not to tell them that Natalie had died. I wanted to tell them myself in a quiet moment all by ourselves, but it was on the radio and TV before we even got to the hospital. Tammy (my friend) had to tell them because it was becoming obvious to them that something was up because people were coming to the house.And they were avoiding the topic of Natalie. My Daughter Rachel,who was 15 at the time, finally just lost it and demanded to know what had happened. What is extremely unusual was that they all said Natalie died didn't she.They seemed to know that it was Natalie that had died .

Later that night, I would have my son Jonathan and my daughter Anne call me all the hospital in the Intensive Care education  room and ask me if it was true. They actually didn't believe it, nothing is true until Mama says it is. Oh what I would've given to tell them no, it is not true. It broke my heart to tell them that yes, it was true.  Their big sister Natalie was gone and Reyna was fighting for her life. Tammy loaned me her cell phone  and she called the police post and found out that they wanted us to identify Natalie's  body at the  hospital in town.Once again Miguel told me to wait in the van, (I believe that he was  trying to protect me) and he would  tell me if she looks okay.  Natalie was a beautiful girl and I was afraid that her face was hurt.  What a stupid thing to worry about but I did. I am frantically calling everyone I know on the phone and the only person I can reach is my sister Shari (at work).  She almost collapses when I tell her but I ask her to call my Mom and my sister Teri. I kept calling my Dad but I knew he was asleep ( he works night shift and sleeps during the day) so I call their  neighbor Linda and tell her to go wake him up.  I call and I tell him the  news.  I know that my Dad and my Mother both know what it feels like to lose a child because they lost their first born to cancer many years ago.

By this time, 45 minutes had passed and I was getting so anxious I could hardly maintain.  I went in the hospital  looking for Miguel, the morgue, anybody that could help me. I must have looked like I was confused or out of it because they employees in the hall way where very willing to help me find the morgue. The coroner found me in the hallway.  He  politely asked me to wait for Miguel to come out.  He started asking me  questions about what directions she was going in and what she had done that day.  I answered them. Then the door opened and Miguel walked out with a tear stained face and I asked, "Should I go in?" and he said "No, I don't think that you want to see Natalie like that."  I didn't  question his words at all.  It's like your walking around in a daze.  I  told the coroner to please call and find out how Reyna is and he got the  emergency doctor at Kosair's on the phone and they told me that she is in critical condition with a broken right femur, lacerations to her head and face , they also believe that she has basilar skull fractures on both sides and a traumatic brain injury and  possible internal injuries.They have her in x-ray, to x-ray and Cat Scan her  entire body and especially her head.

We  begin the long drive to Louisville.  It really is only 45 minutes but that day they were the longest 45 minutes I have ever driven.  I got my sister  Sarah (she lives in Louisville, KY) on the phone and I told her to go to Kosair's and watch our Reyna until we could get there. Upon our arrival at Kosair's we are told that Reyna is in PICU on the fourth floor.  My heart is still racing but my soul is somehow at peace.  I  don't understand this at all.  They let us in to see her and she is hardly  recognizable.  They are sewing up her cheek but she is bleeding from her  ears, she's covered in blood, she has tubes in every  hole in her body and new  holes were made for some other tubes, she is on a respirator.  I start sobbing uncontrollably.  I had to go  sit in this room (they call it the education room in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, I call it the bad news room),  where I can see her and try to calm down.  I begin to plead with the Heavenly Father  for her life.     The following day, Reyna crashed and had to have emergency brain surgery and that is when they told us that they really didn't expect her to live and if she did she would have severe brain  damage. I didn't stop pleading for her life for many days.She  received a priesthood blessing to be healed completely but it would be a long  process.  Many professionals didn't believe she would make it.  I believe  that she began to improve because of the power of the priesthood and all the  many prayers that were said in her behalf.  She was promised that she would be 100% healed and I am telling you she is almost there.

  When the swelling in Reyna's brain began to decrease, they would lower the medications that were putting her into a drug induced coma allowing us to check her responses to questions we would ask.  For example, "Squeeze my hand Reyna," or "Open your eyes." for several days Reyna wouldn't respond to any of our questions. She literally had to learn how to read, write, go potty, eat, dress and walk.  One of my most treasured moments in the Intensive Care Room 402 was when they asked, "Reyna who is this?", pointing to me.  She said, "Mama."  They asked her, "What's her name?" and she responded with "Mama !"I cried as many tears of joy as I  cried tears of sorrow and heartache when this whole nightmare started. I knew that very moment that our Reyna was on her way back to us. I was by her side for two months. I learned how to care for a handicapped person and met many newly handicapped people who also had sustained injuries in a  accident of some kind.  Many times would find myself walking the halls with the other Mother's who couldn't sleep in the recliner chair another minute.  We laughed, cried  and prayed together.  I was however, the only one who had lost a child.  Their children were all seriously injured but they were alive and recovering. I kept telling myself that I didn't have Natalie but I had Jonathan, Rachel, Anne and with gratitude in my heart  I still had Reyna.  She is our personal miracle. During those two months I  left her side only a few times, but I never left without someone staying with her.  I left to attend  Natalie's funeral. My sister Sarah stayed with her that day.  Another day was to be with Miguel (he had chest  pain and had to have a cardiac cath done) and it was Grandma who stayed with her that day. Once I went home because I simply couldn't go any longer and I came home to sleep and console Miguel and my other kids.  Everybody needed their Mom . Her favorite Aunt Rachel was with her that time.The last time I came home was to get Reyna's prescriptions and everything she would need when she got home ready.  My sister Teri flew all the way from Utah for the second time to help me bring our miracle kid home. She came straight from the airport to the hospital and stayed with Reyna.