Copeland at Dusk

National Night Out in Copeland, FL. August 7, 2012.

Holding On To A Mother's Spirit (Update)

Last week, I posted photos about a woman who was battling the effects of a rare disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. This disease took around two months to take the life of Stephanie Brown-Bryant. She passed away only two days after we first published her story in the paper. It was wild to think about that it took only a couple of months to take a lively woman and leave her with only her sight and a short amount of movement.

The following Saturday, the family, friends, and others came together to say goodbye to Stephanie at the beach for a sunset celebration memorial. There were tears shed but the day ended with laughter and smiles from family members remembering the spirit of their mother and friend.

Holding Onto A Mother's Spirit

When I first met Charlie, he came across as a happy guy that was my age. I didn't meet him under a happy circumstance though. Earlier that day I was told I would be going to the home of a woman going through Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). CJD is a is a form of brain damage that leads to a rapid decrease of mental function and movement. I had never heard of it, I didn't know how it affected people. I sat with Charlie and our writer as he told us the story of how his mom, Stephanie Brown-Bryant, came to realize she had this disease and how it has changed their lives. In summary, Charlie and his sister Ashleigh started to notice that their mom wasn't sounding the same on the phone and eventually Charlie invited her up to stay with him in Providence RI. He noticed that she was forgetting things and wasn't able to walk so well. Even though Stephanie wasn't a fan of hospitals he eventually convinced her to go to the hospital. After several days of tests and long nights in the hospital, they found out it was CJD. About a month ago, Stephanie and her son arrived back in Naples to be around family and try to figure out what's next. In that month, she has lost mobility and most recently her speech. It's only a matter of time before Stephanie passes on and the family is surrounding her to make her remaining days as pleasant as possible.

"There Will Be Other Days For Politics"

On Friday, President Barack Obama visited Fort Myers for what was supposed to be a large political rally in support for his running for re-election to office. The day drastically changed after news of the shootings in Aurora, CO arose. His speech was supposed to last for around a half an hour but lasted only eight minutes. The President's speech focused on keeping the shooting victims in everyone's hearts and had nothing to do with politics. "There Will Be Other Days For Politics," said Obama. Here are some of my favorite photos from the day of supporters outside as well as the action inside. Thanks for looking.