Manning Woods Lee

Manning Woods Lee was born on June 17, 1997 in Flowood, Mississippi and finished his work in this world on December 19, 2020 in Biloxi, Mississippi. He is survived by his loving parents, Marcus Wayne Lee and Angela Dennis Lee of Biloxi, Mississippi and his doting sisters, Morgan Lee Hedglin and her husband Andrew Crouch Hedglin of Pearl, Mississippi, Macey Lee of Flowood, Mississippi, and McKenzie Lee of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He is also survived by his grandparents, Dianne Lee of Pearl, Mississippi, Donald and Glenna Dennis of Pearl, Mississippi, and he was preceded in death by his grandfather, Willie G. Lee.

A memorial service will be held on at 1:00pm on Tuesday, December 22, 2020 at Pearl Presbyterian Church in Pearl, Mississippi.

Manning’s parents dreamed of having a son after their first two beautiful daughters had been born, but to avoid any sense of presumption, they had not picked out a name for a baby boy. When that first son arrived on a warm June day, he was called just “The Little Man” for his first day of life. Realizing he needed a real name, his labor and delivery nurse suggested “Manning” and it stuck.

Manning was only weeks old when he began having seizures that would prove to be uncontrollable. In the coming weeks and months, he would not learn to do the things that healthy babies did. He was diagnosed with early infantile epileptic encephalopathy, an almost impossible thing for his family to understand. It was almost two decades later before the underlying medical condition was identified. Manning was born with a mutation in a gene called CDKL5. He became one of the very few boys with CDKL5 deficiency syndrome, a very rare condition which is often lethal in males before they are even born. In simple terms, his brain could not create the connections needed to function normally.

Manning never did any of the things that on first thought would seem necessary to have an impact in this world. He never sat up by himself nor stood on his feet independently. He never walked or talked. He never reached for his mother or laughed with his father. He never played with or fought with his sisters. He spent his 23 years in a wheelchair or a bed. Yet for all this, Manning changed lives. He changed the lives of his parents, sisters, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. He changed the lives of teachers, therapists, doctors, nurses, neighbors and friends. He gave his father new paths to pursue. He gave his mother strength and selflessness. He gave his sisters patience and compassion. He introduced his family to the kindness of strangers on too many occasions to count. Manning packed a lifetime of lessons into the 23 years that he was with us. He did not have an easy life. He had many battles and fought every one of them like a champion. He refused to leave his family until his work was done, but at long last, it is completed. Manning has moved on to his richly deserved reward. The loss leaves a tremendous hole in the lives of his family, but gratitude for the time they were given to take care of him.

The family would like to recognize the kindness and faithfulness of Manning’s home nurse, Lashassadde Lewis, who took such great care of Manning over the last few years of his life. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family would appreciate your consideration of donating to the United MSD Foundation, which is working hard to fund research to help children with rare genetic diseases.