September 12, 2006

I can see Daniel waving goodbye.

I feel really sad about this boy's death.



I remember seeing him in her old reality show. What happened? They're saying it wasn't drugs, wasn't a heart attack...

UPDATE: There will be a criminal inquest.

23 comments:

MadisonMan said...

And the timing, right after his sister was born. Ugh. Outliving your children must be a special kind of torment. I hope never to experience it.

Mark Daniels said...

This is such a strange and horrible thing. Not only is the timing awful, so to is the bizarre circumstance, sleeping in a chair in his mother's hospital room. What a heartbreaking thing.

Mark

Mark Daniels said...

so too, not so to

reader_iam said...

Good choice of title, Ann. I'd say more, but (apart from mm & md already covering it--and heaven forbid), there are those "clouds in my eyes."

Tibore said...

You know, I've heard the overdose accusation from so many places, but not a single one had any actual firsthand knowledge; they were all speculating. Cruelly, I may add.

I remember Hank Gathers, and how many of my friends and I were thinking "another damn overdose". Turns out he had a heart condition, and none of us knew. We just assumed. Which was just damn shallow and stupid of us.

So, I'm not going to believe any accusations of drug use unless I hear it officially and definitively, from a coroner or family member with firsthand knowledge. Until then, innocent until proven guilty.

And no matter what the cause, it's still a tragedy.

k said...

madisonman.. A special kind of torment? Maybe. But having experienced it, I don't like to use the term "torment," as it implies something evil, demonic, intentional (by whom?) and horrid. Yes, it is awful. And I pray that none of you ever experience it.

I prefer to think there was some reason. The world can't be THAT random, y'know?

That having been said, my heart is with poor Anna Nicole tonight.

Jennifer said...

It feels weird to be feeling any actual emotion for Anna Nicole. But, I cannot imagine the roller coaster of gaining a daughter and losing a son in the same room. I can't imagine losing a son, period.

This is just awful.

Unknown said...

If it's natural causes, I'd speculate an aneurism, but who knows. My hunch is drugs, just due to sheer probability.

Revenant said...

Turns out he had a heart condition, and none of us knew. We just assumed. Which was just damn shallow and stupid of us

It isn't shallow or stupid to assume that the overwhelmingly most likely explanation is true until you see evidence to the contrary.

Insensitive to mention out loud, sure. Stupid, no. :)

JohnF said...

Have you seen the tacky photo at his mom's website, http://www.annanicole.com/

Sexy lady with Dan. The boy looks like a photographic afterthought. Not what a normal person might have chosen for the picture of a child who had just died.

Ick.

Beth said...

John, I'll forgo the temptation to judge what a normal person would do when her child dies; I'll also assume Anna Nicole isn't updating her own webpage right now. I did look at the picture and saw a son looking at his mother adoringly. Commenting on how she ought to behave right now? Ick.

My parents lost an adult child unexpectedly and never recovered emotionally. My sister lost her adult son as well, suddenly and with no clear explanation. He was a sweet fellow who'd just finished his Masters of Divinity; his wife was working on her PhD in Linguistics, and they were preparing to go to China as missionaries after New Year's. He simply collapsed while playing after-dinner football with his brothers on Thanksgiving and never regained consciousness. The doctors never had a clear diagnosis other than some general immune disorder, maybe a virus picked up camping in the Southwest.

Given that experience, I don't think drugs must be the first, most likely reason for a young person to suddenly lose consciousness and die, certainly not without having shown some outward symptoms. Drugs never even occured to us with Andy's illness due to his faith, but I think it's stereotyping this other young man to jump to that assumption.

Jennifer said...

Thank you, Elizabeth. I have been trying to figure out how to respond to that post. You nailed it.

Finn Alexander Kristiansen said...

While there is no comfort in death, or seeing others suffer, there is some comfort that he died by his mother and not off somewhere else in some dark way.

said...

The same thing that's gonna make sure you, moi & everyone dies.....and that is, life.

The question should be, what brought him to life?
If'in he 'twas like moi that would be a six pack of booze mixed with twaté & twangër, that's all.

Stay on Groovin' (DNA Jungle) Safari,
TOR

Bob said...

Fox News's site says he arrived in the Bahamas late Saturday and died Sunday. They don't say how he arrived, but if he flew, I'm wondering if deep vein thrombosis might have been involved. If the flight was Miami to Bahamas, probably not, but California to Bahamas, maybe, esp. if it was non-stop.

Laura Reynolds said...

No matter the circumstances, its very sad.

Give your own kids a good hug.

Jennifer said...

FWIW, he is reputed to be a good kid with excellent grades and is credited as helping his mother beat her own pill addiction.

KCFleming said...

I hate, hate, hate reading about young people dying.

My niece died at 16 in a stupid car crash, on an icy highway near LaCrosse, now ten years long past. But every time I read these stories I feel that stab in the gut again, and see her face, frozen forever in that photograph from the winter dance, taken just months before she died.

Such deaths expose the raw and random and unforgiving nature of the world. Few people arise from the crucible of a child's death whole, and the wound never really heals. It will always be there for, in every young man's face she sees. May god be with her.

I often think of John Gorka's song on these occasions.
I Saw A Stranger With Your Hair

I saw a stranger with your hair
Tried to make her give it back
So I could send it off to you
Maybe Federal Express
'Cause I know you'd miss it

I saw another with your eyes
The flash just turned my head
I went to try them on for size
But they looked the other way
And they wouldn't listen

I heard a stranger with your voice
It took me by surprise
Again I found it wasn't you
Just an angel in disguise
In for a visit

By the way how is my heart
I haven't seen it since you left
I'm almost sure it followed you
Could you sometime send it back
I'll buy the ticket

Beth said...

Pogo, I love that song. Thanks for the reminder.

P_J said...

Pogo -- I'd never heard that song. It sounds just right.

K, Elizabeth -- I'm sorry for your losses.

When I was in seminary, a couple serving in pastoral ministry came to talk about the experience of losing their 18-year-old son in a car crash. They went through a very painful and difficult grieving, questioning their belief in God. They were fortunate to have people around them to love them through that process.

I hope Anna Nicole has some people like that in her life.

Ann Althouse said...

On the subject of shameful thoughts provoked by this story: I thought that the loss of the child would create sympathy that could increase the chances that she'd win or that the other side would settle quickly. And then -- I'm really ashamed to say -- I started to wonder if the death is a hoax for the purpose of getting to that money. He could change his appearance and identity...

michael farris said...

"And then -- I'm really ashamed to say -- I started to wonder if the death is a hoax"

_You're_ ashamed to say! Hell, I'd worked out a whole manor house murder mystery scenario involving a midwife with a limp, a cleaning lady with a glass eye, a doppelganger doctor and and a helicopter pilot who isnt' who (or what!) he says he is...

amba said...

it's also nice to be reminded of one of Elton John's most haunting songs.