Family Fun Day 5-16-2009

This was a day to honor and remember littler Alexander Hinton Judson, who passed on December 30th, 2008 of RSV.Here is an article from the Marietta Daily Journal.Pennies for Alexander: Couple honors short life By Marcus E. Howardmhoward@mdjonline.com MARIETTA - Dec. 30, 2008, was the worst day Kari and Lyle Judson, of Canton, have ever had. That was the day one of their identical twin boys, Alexander, died less than 24 hours after being diagnosed with Respiratory Syncytial Virus. RSV is a contagious viral disease that infects the lungs and breathing passages. Almost everyone gets it by their second birthday, but rarely is it severe, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Saturday, the Judsons and about 200 relatives and friends dedicated a bench and play car at East Cobb Park off Roswell Road in memory of Alexander. More than $4,000 was raised to purchase the items and increase awareness for RSV. "We asked everyone to donate 360 pennies, which is one penny for each day that he was alive," said family friend Andrea Faust of Marietta. Susan Pando, another family friend, said Kari grew up in east Cobb and her parents, Kay and Randy Hinton, live near the park, where the grandparents would take the twins to play. The dedication was meant to be a fun celebration of Alexander's short life. There was face painting, games and cotton candy for the children. The Judsons want other parents to avoid the heartbreak of losing a child to RSV, which has common symptoms that are identical to a cold, according to the CDC. Those include fever, coughing, sneezing and breathing difficulties.According to the American Academy of Pediatric's Pediatrics journal, more than 500 infant deaths are caused by RSV annually. Pando said sever cases of RSV are more common in infants, but people should be aware that they can occur later in a baby's life - such was the case with Alexander. 'Unbelievable' Born Jan. 4, 2008, Alexander and his older twin brother, Dominic, had been healthy for most of their lives. But just days before becoming 1-year-olds, they were described as listless on Dec. 28 by their grandmother, Kay, a former nurse who was babysitting them. After being rushed to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite, Alexander crashed three times from bronchial spasms. "The doctors honestly didn't know what was going on," said Kari, an anesthetist. "They were not able to push air into his lungs." Alexander was then airlifted to Egleston Children's Hospital near Emory with a severe case of RSV. He was determined brain dead a few hours after being placed on a life support machine on Dec. 29. He was pronounced dead the next day. "The whole time I was in a fog," Kari, 35, recalled. "I certainly didn't comprehend what was going on. It's still unbelievable to me that it even happened." Kari met Lyle, 36, an Army Reserve staff sergeant, five years ago at a mall where she worked. They've been married for 3 years. The twins were Lyle's self-described "leave babies" because Kari had become pregnant while he was on leave from serving in the Iraq War. He had been home the entire year Alexander was alive. One of the only ways the parents could tell Alexander and Dominic apart was by the way they crawled. "(Alexander) didn't crawl, he low-crawled," Lyle said. "He just drug himself on the ground. When I'd wake him up, he'd just pop his head over his little bumper on his crib, look at me and just smile." Regarding Alexander's death, Kyle said: "It's the worst, imaginable feeling I ever had in my life. It's like a nightmare I'm still in and can never wake up from." Thankfully, Dominic - who had also been hospitalized for 10 days - survived the RSV attack. "Dominic has become a lot more loving," Kari said. "He was much more independent before Alexander's death. Now he's much more clingy and loving." The couple - who said they want additional children - said it was Dominic and the support they received from family and friends that got them through the loss of Alexander, they said. "We say we have our little angel on earth and our little guardian angel looking down at us," Lyle said. From death comes life From Alexander's death came life. His kidneys were donated to a young female in south Georgia. LifeLink, an organ-procurement agency, was also at the park dedication on Saturday to provide organ donation information.