Services for Jenna Lee...

Jenna Lee Walker

August 23, 1985 – July 14, 2010

Jenna Lee Walker passed away July 14, 2010 at her home in Horseshoe Bend, Idaho. She had been diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma in March of 2006. Jenna was born August 23, 1985 in Bountiful, Utah to Robert Levi and Linda Lee Hale Walker. She graduated with High Honors from Horseshoe Bend High School as Salutatorian, Class of 2003. She was a member of the National Honor Society and recognized as an All-American Scholar by the United States Achievement Academy. Jenna also enjoyed playing on the school basketball and softball teams. She continued her education at Brigham Young University and at Boise State University where she was inducted into The National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

Jenna loved learning about the people, places and animals of the Earth. She was a person who loved God, her family, and always desired to serve others. Despite her pain and hardship, Jenna was always an example of love, patience, humility, and faith to all that were blessed to know her.

Jenna is survived by her parents Robert and Linda, sisters Nikki and Joie, and brothers Jerrod, Jon, and Jordan. Viewings will be held July 21 from 6:00-8:00 pm and July 22 from 1:30-3:00 pm. A funeral service will be held July 22 at 3:00 pm. The viewings and the funeral service will be held at the Horseshoe Bend LDS Chapel (447 Highway 52, Horseshoe Bend, Idaho). A graveside service will be held at 2:00 pm July 23 at the Neeley Idaho Cemetery (3251 Eagle Rock Road, Neeley, Idaho).

It was Jenna’s wishes that those desiring to send flowers send a contribution to Primary Children’s Medical Center instead. Donations in Jenna’s name may be sent to: Ewing’s Research, c/o Center for Children’s Cancer Research, Huntsman Cancer Institute, 2000 Circle of Hope Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 – 5550, ATTN: Stephan L. Lessnick, M.D., Ph.D.

Jenna Lee Returned to her Heavenly Father...

Jenna Lee Walker

August 23, 1985 - July 14, 2010

Jenna returned home to her Heavenly Father Wednesday, July 14th at 9:36 pm. After her four year battle with Ewing's Sarcoma, a bone or soft tissue cancer, she was finally released from her earthy body.

We are still planning all of the funeral arrangements, but we will post them as soon as everything is finalized. We know that the Funeral will be Thursday, July 22, in Horseshoe Bend, Idaho.

We are grateful for all of the prayers that have been said on Jenna's behalf, and we are grateful for the prayers that are being said for our family and those who love her. We are feeling the comforting powers of the Spirit and are so grateful for The Loving Plan of Our Father in Heaven that will allow us to dwell with her and Our Heavenly Father again.

We Love You, Jenna Lee, and we are grateful that your trials of this life are over and you are no longer suffering. Please watch over us, and visit us when we are in need of your love.

We will miss you!

Wow. What a week.

Well, we went to the ranch last week. It was so fun to have everyone there. ALL members of the Rob and Linda Walker family.......6 children, 4 spouses and 8 grandchildren! The ranch house was packed! We played horseshoes,mowed lawns,
bought a belt to fix one of the mowers, played on the swings, mowed more lawn,went to town to buy a different sized belt for the broken mower, went 4 wheeling, mowed more lawn, zipped down the zip line, trimmed edges, played cards, trimmed around buildings,returned all the belts for the mower, none would fit!...watched videos, filled the pond,took naps(me mostly),went exploring in the woods, played in the playhouse, and we did a lot of cooking, eating and cleaning! I came out of my room to eat some meals with everyone. Jon and Jerrod carried me and my wheelchair down the steps and into the "play ground" to watch when I felt well enough! Fun! Wonderful memories!

When we got home, it took me 3 days or longer to recover. During that time, Jon called me to tell me that his best friend, Will Packer passed away. I was devasted for my cousin Heidi Hale Packer. They have not been married long but had a great outlook on life and a great plan worked out for their future. Since I was on a ton of pain meds, I had not remembered Jon calling me or any of our conversation. A few days later I overheard my mom talking about it on the phone. Since I could not remember Jon's phone call it was to me like hearing it for the first time breaking my heart all over again.

I am jealous of Will being able to return Home before me! Heavenly Father must have really needed him to take him so quickly. For here I am....broken up, bruised and too often unable to do much of anything because of being in so much excruiating pain. I am ashamed of my feelings of jealousy and anger. I am also frustrated because I want to go so badly even knowing I would cause my family another funeral this summer season. I love my familiy. They mean so much to me. They have been an anchor to me, helping my testimony grow. I am thankful to know that families are forever and we will be together again.
with sincerity,and love,
jennalee

busy day but wearing out.

Wow. I am exhausted. I haven't done much, but oh well. I have two projects going and both can take up quite a bit of time. I love to do them so that is good.

I am working on more jingle boxes. It is good for me because I can see my progress and I know that the time is not wasted and is going toward a good cause.

I am also working on getting my Vancouver photos into a photo album so that others could see the fun that we had. Reminiscing over the events saved in photography brought joy and laughter to me.

I am also wanting to put my San Fransisco pictures in an album so that is probably what I am going to do next.

Nothing much is going on. I am just trying to stay busy with projects that I get satisfaction from.

The last week I had some pain in my shoulder and in my lower back. It is painful times like these where I wonder if there is anyone still praying that I will "get better soon". I prayerfully ask that they wouldn't. I am so exhausted and my body is all beaten up. I am sorry if I offend or disappoint anyone by that request. I cannot continue to being so run down, exhausted and in pain for much longer. I hope that there is a time soon coming that I will no more continue to be among you. I love you, but please let me go.

IT IS SNOWING!!!!

Okay, I know it has been a while since I last blogged, but this is too cool to share! I can't believe we are having snow in LATE MAY!!!! I tried to post a picture but it didn't work.

Well, don't get you hopes up. I will try to write more often than I have been. I try to remind myself that this is a good form of therapy, but when I have so many mundane days in a row I think that people don't need to hear the same thing over and over again. But I promise I will do better. more than a couple of times a month anyways.

I am now living on the main floor of the house in what was the "guest bedroom". Mom, has worked her hardest to make it feel like my room and brought things down from my room. For example, she brought down a couple of framed pieces and hung them up and also a bulletin board,a couple of pieces of furniture, my TV, and my comfy recliner. Her and Dad also cleaned out the closet so that I have a place to put my clothes. I appreciate all of their hard work. The room is maybe a quarter the size of my old one, but I never used up all the space that I had, so it feels good to downsize.

I moved to the main floor because I am now totally dependant on my mom and dad for everything, i.e. going to the bathroom, taking a shower, getting out of bed, changing my clothes and many other every day movements, for example I need them to come and get things for me that are not in my immediate area, which must be a little aggravating for them. I believe they are sick of the phrase, "Can you come here for a minute?" lol. I have a table by my bed that has a few things on it like a clock, lamp, radio, and place to put a glass of water. I really need to engineer a new table with shelves so that I can reach more things.

Soon after I lost my legs I sat in my recliner for too long and ended up getting a pressure sore caused by not shifting or moving for a long period of time. Also, I have a tumor right under the skin that is rapidly growing and expanding into any facet of my lower back. Not moving and the tumor getting bigger created a "Perfect Storm" (so to speak), so I ended up with a five inch pothole with tunnels growing just below my skin. It is pretty gross and it has, and will take, a long time to heal and I am not sure it will totally heal up. My nurses up here said that they don't see very many pressure sores and the few that see saw never healed completely up.

It is because of this misery that I have to be turned every two hours morning, afternoon and night. Also, I am afraid to be up and around in my wheel chair for very long in fear that the wound would get worse. Over the last month or so it has started to heal and I hope that it continues to do so.

In the meantime I have taken up making "jingle boxes." They are plastic square panels stiched together. Each side is stiched in a different color, e.g. red, orange, blue, etc. Within the box is two jingle bells. These "jingle boxes" are eventually shipped by the church's Humanitarian Center to kids that have very little. It serves as a rattle and is also used to teach them colors. It makes me feel good because I can see the progress that I am making and I am doing service to those that are in need. I don't know who it is recieved by, but I hope that it is put to good use. :)

This last week Jerrod was able to come up and spend some time with me. We just hung out together. I taught him how to make a jingle box. When he left he took some supplies to teach Anna how to make them. :) We then put together a puzzle of Vancouver. It was so much fun to put it together because some of the places that we went to were on the puzzle. lol It also motivated me to get my pictures of Vancouver printed off and put together an album. I am really excited to do that. I have my picture printed. Now all I have to do is put the album together. It touches my heart that he is putting a lot of effort to come and hang out with me. I am so thankful for that. I am able to make even more memories that stand out and gets me out of my mundane schedule. We always have fun together.

I know that if my other brothers and sisters could do that I know that they would. Things are pretty tight right now and I get that. I love them all so much. I don't love one more that the other. I just love them for different things. :) I love my mom and dad too. lol.

I love you all.

Jenna Lee

Bad Day...but there is a hero...

Today has been a difficult day for Our Jenna Lee. She had a rough night last night. She had a big day yesterday, and she has had an increase in her pain since. She has no feeling in her legs, and as of today, she can't move her left leg. She can still maneuver her right leg, but the mental impact of not being able to move her left leg has left her worn out today. It is emotionally crippling as well as physically.

But Luna has been by her side all day. I walked into Jenna's room this morning and I pushed Luna off the bed so that I could have a place to sit. She curled herself up into the closet. But the funny thing is that, you can see how she had to struggle to get her big body into the small space in the closet. Then, Luna just hung out there until she decided she was hungry.

Then, she ended up with Jenna. Jenna has been sleeping a lot today, but she has been trying her hardest to get around. She decided that she needed some "exercise" so she wheeled herself around the kitchen. It was really cute to see her go find mom in the laundry room. She has a great relationship with mom, and mom helps her to calm down, and mom listens to her. It is really amazing to watch.

Mom asked me to take this picture. It is just a small measure of the comfort that Luna is able to offer to Jenna. There is nothing better than an animal that understands what you need, and is there for you, no matter what. We are grateful that Jenna has her Luna. She has done a lot for Jenna's comfort and healing.

The Blessings we have...

Happy Day!!! We are all so happy to be together...

These top pictures were from yesterday. We set up the card table in Jenna's room, and we all hung out there all day. We were able to get some craft projects done for my mom and Joie was even able to do her homework. We were pretty efficient for the 4 of us.

Jenna actually ventured away from home today. She decided that she wanted to go to church. Yeah for Jenna Lee. She was the first one up this morning, and sadly the last one ready for Church. That was a new experience for our little Jenna Lee. She was a little discouraged by the fact that both her older sister and her younger sister beat her getting ready, THAT HAS NEVER HAPPENED!!!! When I came downstairs this morning, Dad had gotten Jenna breakfast, and pushed her up to the sink to brush her teeth. Much easier that maneuvering her giant wheelchair into the bathroom. I took over the rest of getting Jenna ready. I helped her get dressed, and do her hair, and we luckily remembered to put one some basics like deodorant. Hahaha! Remembering the basics for someone else is a little more difficult than it is for just myself.

Everyone at the Horseshoe Bend Branch is so wonderful. There were tears in peoples eyes as I pushed Jenna's wheelchair into sacrament meeting. They were so excited to see her come to church. She hasn't been to church for quite some time. We were received with peace and warmth. The people up here love Jenna so much and are so grateful for her example. She is really inspiring to a lot of people, not just me.

rc.

This was Jenna's first car ride since she came home from Utah in January. She was really excited to go to church.

But Church really tuckered her out. She froze to death. We had to send Joie home to get her a pair of socks, and Dad had to go out to the car to get the BYU blanket from the trunk. We spent a lot of time getting her comfortable in her wheel chair. Sitting in one place for too long is really painful for her, and since she can't just stand up and move around, we all had to help her with that.

Joie had to leave today at 2:30pm. It was really hard to say goodbye to her. We have so much fun when we are together. Joie brings excitement and light heartedness with her every where she goes. She is such a joy to have around. She will be home from school for a couple of weeks in April. Then she will be heading back out to BYU-I.

A Sisterly Smooch!!! We are so blessed to have sisters. For anyone who does not have the blessing of sisters, I am so sorry. There is such a comfort that sisters bring. There is such a joy that is felt when we are all together. It would have been so great if our other sisters, Erika, Brittany, and the newest sister, Krista could have joined us this weekend. They were missed and loved. We are so grateful for them, and their willingness to love our brothers, cause heaven knows, we struggled with that growing up. :) I guess it is easier to love those boys now!!! We have so many things to be grateful for...sisters, brothers, spouses, kids, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...I find myself excited for eternal life, where we can all be together and know that the struggles of this life were not only worth it, but over. I am excited to see everyone there.

We were laughing about Joie's bangs and how it looks like they are attacking Jenna's head. AUGHHHHHHH!!! Watch out for the BANGS!!!!

Oh, Joie!!! I already miss you!!!!!

Jenna froze her toes off today!!!! Jenna's pain has been really well controlled by medicine, however, the theory on her pain easing is this...There is a visible tumor on Jenna's lower back. The last time my family and I were here, Jenna was in unbearable pain. She has been totally different on this trip, and we think that the tumor in her lower back has essentially attacked the nerves in the area. She is totally unable to walk. She has no feeling in her legs and feet, unless she gets too cold, then she only feels tingling. She has started to feel pain again tonight. It is so hard to watch her as her eyes fill up with tears. She just closes her eyes, and grimaces and you know, that she is feeling some pain. She tries so hard to not let it bother her, but it is just too much. Mom increased Jenna's morphine again tonight. It has been a while since she has had to do that. It is hard on Jenna.

Tonight, she asked mom how long Grandpa Hale was in a wheel chair before he passed away. I think Jenna was trying to get some sort of idea or an estimate on how much time she had left. Mom gently explained to her that Grandpa's cancer was so very different from hers, and comparing their illnesses would be in vane. Jenna, had tears in her eyes when mom finished. She just wants to have a little understanding of how much longer she will have to suffer. My heart ached for her. She has endured for so long and asking her to keep going seems like torture. But I know, without a doubt, that Heavenly Father has a time table for her. He is just not randomly keeping her here to suffer. There are things that need to be learned, not only by her, but by those around her. Her tasks are not completed, but He is aware of her, and her suffering, and He is reaching His merciful arms out to her daily. She feels His comforting embrace, and she is strengthened by the Holy Spirit, and the prayers, faith and love of those who are learning from her.

Jenna, your patience marvels me!!! What a blessing it is to be your big sister. I know that this life hasn't been easy for you, and I know without a doubt that it sure doesn't seam fair, but I learned this today in Sunday School...

Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Life is Fair.

Our experiences on Earth are so different, but when we all do what we can, the Savior makes up the rest, and that is what makes life fair. He offers His Sacrifice to everyone, not just a chosen few. His arms of mercy are extended to you, and to me, and I will feel blessed to be able to see you wrapped in His Arms when this earthly experience is completed.

I Love You!!!!