Danny was a Blessing!!!!!
Danny was a teenager like any other except for the fact that he never made it out of his teenage years. He died at the age of 17 of asphixiation under circumstances unknown. His body was found in a cornfield on edge of the small town of Willard, Ohio, population(6,000)where we lived. How did he get to that point in his life? Let's look back.
Danny was the first born son of a military family. His father, Daniel , Senior, was in the navy. The family was stationed in San Diego when Danny arrived on February 23, 1981. He was moved to Bremerton, Washington at the age of one and on to Japan when he was almost two. He thrived in the foreign environment with his outgoing personalilty and intense energy level, always ready for the next challenge. He was athletic and up beat and often in trouble. As his grandmother used to say "He's all boy." Danny acquired a baby brother, Drew, when Danny was four. The family returned to the States and settled in Long Beach, Ca when Danny got another brother, Ross, when Danny was seven. His last sybling, Caroline, arrived when he was 12 and living in Willard. He had a real tenderness for his baby sister, whereas with most people he was a rough and tumble kind of kid. He was active in several sports as a youth, such as soccer, basketball, and baseball. He was wrestled in junior high and high school and earned the title Most Improved Wrestler as a sophmore. He spent a lot of time with his friends and he had lots of friends. They came well before mundane things like school work and chores. So in general he was like many other teenagers until the end of his sophmore year.
In the spring of 1998, Danny was sent home from school because he was acting oddly. He was normally pretty quiet at school, but that day he couldn't seem to quit talking or stay still. He was manifesting signs of manic depression, which ran in his mother's side of the family. He eventually had to go into a mental hospital and get on medication, which helped a lot. He had another flare up during the summer, but was back on track when he disappeared that fateful day in October, 1998. He had gone to a party in Galion and dabbed with drugs, which must have interacted with his medication. When he came home the next day he was acting strangely and ran from the house, never to be seen again. Eleven days later a farmer found his body, shirtless in November, with marks around his neck, and we're back where we started. It's been 12 years and no one seems to know what happened, all we know is that we still love you Danny, and we miss you. You deserved better.
I don't want you to feel sorry for me. We were blessed when our first was born and were blessed in his short life of 17yrs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFSI3NEyM8YThis Christian Group is ZoeGirl: One of the girls wrote this song when a friend died at 17. When my daughter was about 12 I took her and 4 girl friends to a ZoeGirl concert and we met them back stage and told the story about Danny, They gave my daughter and friends there autographs.
Also below are a few pictures when he was young and modeling in Japan. and The first picture was just before he died. He loved the S.D. Chargers
Ps Sorry for this being so long. But I just don't want his memory lost.
Pss. The bible that really helped me through all this was Roman 8:28 For all things work.....
I could not even begin to imagine losing a child Daniel and I know you didn't share his memory for us to feel sorry for you, but I can't help wanting to pour my heart out to you as a parent myself. It takes a really strong person to find the strength to live a happy God fearing life after going through such a tragedy so I commend you for being such a wonderful person. You shared with me the bible verse that kept you going threw these hard times. Maybe you should share it with others who may be going through difficult times as well.