Chynna was a high-energy, dynamic young woman. She was a self-proclaimed "Disney Princess" who loved Ariel. Chynna's favorite comment about herself was that she was "16 going on 8." She never took herself or the world too seriously. She was always the life of the party, this little 5'1" package of adorableness with a perpetual smile. She was innocent on purpose. At 16 (she left us exactly 3 weeks shy of her 17th birthday), she was extremely proud to tout she's never been to one of those wild high school parties. Yet this was one of the most popular girls at her high school. She was the one who would try out for anything! She never did realize her dream of starring in her high school play, yet she auditioned for every one of them and proudly took a support role. An accomplished dancer, Chynna wowed audiences from the age of 3 until she served two years on her high school drill team, The Forney Highsteppers. During her junior year, Chynna elected to try and save money for college - she wanted more than anything to attend Texas A&M to study medicine. So, in typical Chynna fashion she applied for the work program and found herself a job at a local insurance office where she would work 1/2 days. Chynna bought her own car - how many 16 year old girls do that? It was a "lovely" 1997 gold Ford Taurus with a cracked windshield and a perpetual transmission problem. She truly loved that old car! Soon after, Chynna did something else she'd always wanted to do....she tried out for mascot.....and was chosen! Although she never took the field as that Forney Fighting Jackrabbit, peers and faculty alike acted like they'd won the lottery when they found out Chynna would be the incoming mascot. With all her abundant energy and the eagerness to poke fun at herself for "spirit" she would have been a natural.

Chynna was selected to attend a medical conference for students interested in a medical career - she was the lone recipient at her high school for this honorable award. This conference would have been over the summer at Georgetown University. The price was steep, but she was well on her way to saving up half of the tuition funds.

Chynna loved life! She loved her large family (33 first cousins on her Dad's side alone), she LOVED old people - thought they were the cutest things she'd ever seen, she loved her parents, and she loved God above all! She was so, so proud to be a parishioner at St. Martin's Catholic Church in Talty. A self-taught organist (c'mon, how many kids do you know that teach themselves to play the organ just because their Grandfather knows how to play?), she had been asked to play the church's new Clavinova and was practicing diligently for her debut performance.

All of this is gone now. Chynna is gone now. All of these dreams came to an end because this little bundle of energy and eternal optimism had a birth defect that had never been noticed before. Chynna had a Coarctation of the Aorta - a serious congenital heart defect that had gone unchecked for 16 years: 16 years of dancing with abandon, 16 years of being a kid and playing like there was no tomorrow, 16 years of living life to the fullest, and 16 years of being what we know now was just too good to be true. As her parents and keepers of all things Chynna, we now have the obligation to spread the word about a shocking disease that took our daughter quickly and ever so silently - with very little warning. We found out about this birth defect on 3/28/08......she died on 4/12/08. By promoting education and awareness of congenital heart defects, you can make a difference in the lives of children. Thank you for joining us on this journey!