>>2525619My friend's sister (let's just call her Hannah - not her real name) had multiple handicaps - bound to a wheel chair because of contorted limps, mental retardation, couldn't speak normal words, and could chew food. She was a vegetable and fed with a tube to her stomach. Whenever I was visiting my friend's family, I'd go to Hannah and talk to her while her mother cared for her. Though she may have had mutliple handicaps, she still had emotions (obviously). She could cry when she was upset or alone and she could laugh (and snort) when she was happy. It brought me great joy to make Hannah laugh (and snort).
Hannah only lived to 12 years old.
While her parents and my parents were away on a vacation in Mexico, Hannah died in her sleep one night. A relative was checking on Hannah several times a day while her parents were gone. She was more bothered and sickly than usual, but no obvious signs were present that she was suffering from an intestinal disease that eventually lead to a fatal fever. Hannah's father suffered the same disease when he was a teenager. Not being handicapped, he simply told people that he was ill and got treated at a hospital. Hannah couldn't tell anyone that she was in agonizing pain, and so she died alone in her bedroom.
Hannah's parents have never been the same since then. It's been almost seven years now.
Another sad thing about the story? I think I loved Hannah's older sister. She always joked when we were young teens that we would get married some day.
We don't talk anymore.