October 22, 2017

7 years- ago today, my nephew, Christopher Thomas Cardenas passed away.

He would have been 30 years old had he lived on and he would have probably been a sports writer. He loved the Spurs.

Christopher embodied how everyone should live their lives every day. He was born with many challenges, he chartered a whole new world of medicine for doctors struggling with how to help a child survive that was only given 72 hours to live when he was born.

Christopher was 23 when he passed away.

He lived his life to the fullest, he wasn’t the tallest person in the room but he was a giant when it came to his words. He appreciated life and was grateful to all that helped him. 23 years of surgeries, being picked and poked, he was resilient. He wanted to live.

There were so many things we could all learn from Christopher, and while the medical professionals said he would live no longer than 72 hours ~ he proved everyone wrong.

My brother went to the cemetery yesterday to clean the headstone where Christopher lies peacefully with our mother ~ Lola.

He sent me the picture of the headstone and I sighed inside and out. I couldn’t help but feel tears well up in the corner of my eyes. I thought ~ this is why what we are doing is so important because the fighters in the world show us how to LIVE our Lives. We all tend to think we will live forever, but for those who come into the world as fighters and spend their whole lives fighting, they remind us how we take so much for granted.

Christopher and his parents spent his whole life being prepared for the inevitable. The evening he passed away, the light Christopher shared with us slowly dimmed and went out. But even 10 years later we can say he lived a fuller life than most.

Rest our sweet angel.