As Gina sits in Harlie’s hospital room with her parents, Stephanie and Gabe, we talk about what it means to go home today on Stephanie’s birthday.

A sign from the Angels. Yes! Harlie is leaving the hospital.

It means…Harlie gets to sleep in her own bed.

It means…Stephanie and Gabe get to sleep in their own bed.

It means…Harlie gets to sleep with her dog, Boo. 

 

 

 

 

It means…Harlie can be home with her sister, C’era.

 

 

 

 

It means…no beeps around the clock. No vitals checked. She might be able to sleep through the night.

BUT, IT ALSO MEANS

It is ALL on Stephanie, Gabe and C’era tonight. They are the ones to monitor her oxygen levels, her blood pressure, her vomiting, her EVERYTHING.

It’s ALL on the family. They want to be home. They want Harlie home.

The real gift is that Harlie has the strongest mother and father I know. Stephanie and Gabe are my role models. I know they CAN DO HARD THINGS.

It is just a lot of responsibility on a parent to care for a rare and undiagnosed child. It’s hard. It’s really hard. It is scary.

We are very close to turning Harlie’s blog on RUN over to her family. Please read what Harlie’s brother-in-law, Dustin, wrote about his family.

Dustin Stipanovich: “I met Harlie’s family a year before she got sick. I knew when I met them that I was going to fit right into this amazing team. I call them a team because I had never seen a family, besides my own, that was so supportive of each other and so full of passion for life. I found that the more softball and basketball games they were all going to, the happier they were. They enjoyed supporting each other and watching each other grow as people and athletes.

 

 

Harlie and her sister, C’era, played softball and basketball Monday through Saturday. Harlie’s father, Gabe, was not only playing softball himself, but he was also coaching Harlie’s ICE softball team and C’era’s Kearns High softball team. He and his wife, Stephanie, were also in pool leagues two nights a week. The family was living a very fast-paced lifestyle, as they always have, with very little rest. That’s what they loved to do. No matter who was playing in a game, the entire family would be there to show their strong support. And if they weren’t playing sports, they were hanging out with great friends and family. The Valdez family was always full of life, passion, and love.

 

 

Up until the day Harlie got sick, she was energetic, active, and full of life. She loved playing sports so much that she would go outside daily and practice shooting a basketball or hitting a softball all by herself. She wouldn’t stop practicing or striving to get better. Harlie would come home and work on homework, and then off she would go. Harlie was one of the most passionate young women I have ever met. Harlie was such an amazing athlete that at the age of 12, she was having high schools all across the state asking her to play on their team.

 

 

The Valdez family has had a full change of life now. Stephanie has had to quit her job to take care of Harlie full-time. Gabe has had to take many days off work while trying to support his family to be with Harlie during this difficult time. Stephanie and Gabe are no longer attending pool or hanging out with friends and family.

 

 

 

C’era has given up softball opportunities out of the state to be home with her family. There have been times where our family; Aleshia (Harlie’s oldest sister), Audrea, Adalaya and myself could not go visit them in the hospital because of restrictions or not able to find a babysitter. We have all been impacted by what has happened to Harlie. None of these things can be controlled by Harlie. Our only prayer is that someone can help the next family to not lose out on the things we all love and enjoy.”