Rachel George

Rachel is survived by her parents, Steve and Rose George, her brothers, David and Michael George, her second mother, Janet Rodriguez, her adopted sisters, Ashleigh Ekstrom and Samantha Black, and numerous family, friends and loved ones. She was predeceased by her beloved grandparents, Mable Gallenberger and Melvin Merrill, Calvin and Harriet George, and her devoted dogs, Sheba and Harry.

There will be a celebration of Rachel's life at Greenwood Christian Church at 8018 Fremont Ave N in Seattle on Sunday, June 19th, at 1:30 pm.

Donations may be made in Rachel's honor to SOFT (trisomy.org), an organization that supports families living with and grieving the loss of children with trisomy.

Diagnosed with a one-of-a-kind genetic anomaly as an infant, Rachel's family was told to expect a grim future: She likely would not survive long, she would likely never smile, walk, talk, recognize her family, she would be profoundly disabled. Through the course of her lifetime, Rachel excelled in proving the experts very wrong.

Rachel was born October 26, 1981 at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, NC. She shared a birthday with her paternal grandfather, Calvin George. As a first child, her parents, Steve and Rose George (both youngest children), had little idea what to expect. They did not, however, expect an infant that would play confuse the medical professionals for a lifetime. When Rachel missed developmental milestones, the doctors recommended a series of tests to try to uncover the cause. It took three chromosome studies, over the course of two months, to find that she had an unbalanced chromosome translocation between her 2nd chromosome and her X chromosome, giving her a primary diagnosis of trisomy 2q syndrome. It was later said that Rachel had to have trisomy 2q syndrome, because she was too cute. And that she was.

The first indication that Rachel would blaze her own trail was when she did learn to smile - and rarely stopped from that day forward. Her smile was infectious and could brighten the day for even the most discouraged person. That smile enabled her to lift her grandfather out of his depression after the loss of his wife, and she helped her grandmother through her 8-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. Rachel smiled through life-threatening illnesses and numerous surgeries. If she was conscious, she was most likely smiling.

Rachel taught those she met the importance of forgiveness and not being bitter. Whatever procedures she suffered through, whatever illnesses she battled, she instantly forgave anyone that inflicted pain. She had the unique ability of making doctors and nurses and family members feel guilty about having to put her through things, because she was so forgiving afterwards.

She also taught patience: Born without hip sockets, she did learn to walk after having surgery to create them; and again after foot surgery; and again after another foot surgery; and again after life-threatening illness; and again after hip replacement surgery. In all, Rachel learned to walk five times. She also learned to talk, but didn't say her first word until she was five years old (Hi). She kept saying Hi to most everyone she met, in spite of having a tracheostomy for the last 8 years of her life. And as for recognizing her family - she recognized them and many more people. Even when years would go by between seeing someone, she still remembered them, and showered them with her love. Akin to patience, Rachel taught us perseverance - she worked hard for every skill she learned (and we worked with her) - and we learned the importance of persevering through the difficulties, of not giving up when things don't work right at first.

Rachel taught us the importance of living each day as though it is the last one - because on several occasions the doctors did not expect her to survive. Often through the miracles of modern (or not so modern) medicine, Rachel not only survived, she thrived. It was her ability to miraculously pull through so many challenges that made her family and friends so stunned when her final infection resulted in her death.

At the same time, Rachel taught us the importance of living by faith and believing that God could and would change things through the power of prayer. For Rachel, everything she accomplished was an act of faith, and she owed her very life to God's answered prayers. Through Rachel we learned a lot about prayer. There were many nights that we spent long hours up with her through one crisis or another. The quiet hours of the early morning were a precious time to spend in prayerful communication with God.

Some people, upon meeting Rachel, saw her challenges and felt sorry for her; far more people, though, were transformed by Rachel's unconditional love and boundless joy. Rachel taught us the importance of not prejudging people. Because of Rachel, we have had the privilege of meeting many people that we would likely not have had common ground with. She taught us the importance of looking beyond the outward appearance and looking beyond an individual's limitations. We have many friends that have greatly enriched our lives because of what she taught us.

Having Rachel in our lives has been a great opportunity to learn how to advocate for those that need our help. Believe it or not, we have not always been outspoken, assertive and demanding. But when it came to getting the care that Rachel needed, we learned:

¢ to demand that 100 gloves were not enough to care for someone with five ostomies

¢ to insist that if the best medication was from the Republic of Georgia, the FDA should allow us to import it

¢ to stand our ground that Rachel should have full code status if there was any chance at all that she could survive

¢ to insist that packages be inspected to be sure that they contained no latex

¢ to expect that Rachel would be treated by all medical professionals with the respect she deserved

Rachel taught all of us about God's unconditional love. Rachel loved everyone she met, not because of what they could do for her - but because they were children of God, deserving to be loved. Modeling God's love has probably been her most important lesson for all of us - and as we follow her example, we will be able to see the lasting difference Rachel made in this world.