The Passing of Tal. Friends & Family in Memory Gathering

The worst news a parent can get:

Hello.

We are Tal's (Talia) Mom & Dad. We bring you the saddest news that our daughter passed away on November 13, 2024.

Tal was a warrior, and fought many of life's struggles and has endured and overcome those struggles on so many levels. This was the most recent battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. A battle that took two separate - months long sessions - of Chemotherapy over a year and a half which they eventually beat and cleared the cancer but the chemo caused extensive lung damage that their body was not able to recover from. Tal passed peacefully and quietly surrounded by loved ones.

Even with all Tal struggled with (past, present, and futures) we are now hearing stories of how Tal has helped so many.

She has shown empathy and has proven to be a positive influence in so many people's lives. Their infectious laugh and at times foolish sense of humors has lifted up others and has become a long lasting memory. People have come forward to say how Tal has become an inspiration and motivation to help them achieve their own success over life's struggles.

A bit of Tal's History (As told by Mom):

Talia Rose is our 24-year-old spunky, funny and always-curious child. They have a huge love for animals and nature, an accomplished dancer, proud ally and supporter of any LGBTQQIP2SA+, and loves to explore the world around them.

Their father Joe and I began fostering Talia and their brother Jazz back in 2002 and later adopted both into our family. Talia was the most terrified child I had ever seen yet they remained curious and their sweet smile never wavered.

It took many months for Talia to trust, but once they did, they just blossomed. They excelled in the performing arts and were a competitive Irish dancer, ballet and tap dancer. At the time hoped to be a fashion designer or work with animals.

At age 6 we began noticing that Talia was struggling to walk and in fact, at one point stopped walking completely and resorted to crawling against the wall or on their hands and knees. They were diagnosed as having arthritis but later on diagnosed with Hypermobile Ehlers- Danlos Syndrome, Ankylosing Spondylitis, as well as Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, OCD, and PTSD .

The First Mystery

In 2004 they were hospitalized with a mysterious illness that caused their spleen to kill off red blood cells and we almost lost them then. These conditions caused a lot of pain and seriously affected Talia’s ability to walk and move freely without pain or stiffness.

A tragic life choice:

In 2020 Talia developed a Substance Use Disorder and was lost to the streets for almost 2 years. During that time they survived more trauma than any person should ever need to endure. Due to severe trauma, Talia prefers to identify as non-binary and prefers “they/them” pronouns.

A return to hope and peace:

The day after Mother’s Day 2022 Talia called me to ask me to come home. After almost losing their life on the streets, Talia decided to get clean and wanted our support. Talia knew that our love and support were unconditional.

Talia returned home and dedicated themselves to getting their life back. They stayed clean and have remained clean since the day we picked them up (2Years ago) and brought them home to safety.

Unfortunately, a short time later, Talia was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. We were all devastated, to say the least, as Talia had been working so hard to build their life back just to be knocked over by a giant boulder called cancer.

Side note:

The cancer was extensive and treatments put them into "remission". A scan a few month later show the cancer returned in two locations and a bone marrow transplant along with a different aggressive form of chemotherapy was used. The treatment was a success but not without the risks. The treatments cause a cascading failure on their lungs, and after a few weeks on medically induced coma and ventilators we were told it was not working.

But, just remember: They beat cancer because she is a warrior!

Our Last hope:

Eventually the type of chemotherapy would damage their lungs beyond repair and the decision to put Tal into a longer medically induced coma and on to an ECMO heart lung bypass for 30 days in hopes the lungs could heal themselves. Sadly, they did not recover and passed away.

The Call for Help: A time for healing

It is with all that Tal has achieved in such a short life, That I ask you to donate what you can to help us have a memorial, an afternoon of healing, and a gathering of all those people Tal has connected with.

We are asking to help with the costs of a hall, Tal's favorite foods, and flowers & decorations, and mementos for those who want something to remember Tal by.

Humbly, Please and Thank You

from

Danie (Mom), Joe (Dad), Jazz and Isaac (Brothers), friends & family,