be here now - SMW - Round 2

I grew up with Tabitha and Salome in a small mountain community in California. They are those people that are always positive, remained strong in their faith even in trying times, and just exuberated kindness. They were high school sweethearts and just genuinely good people.

Tabitha endured some extreme trauma in her childhood and Salome was always her rock - they got married in 2012 and he joined the US Army to carry on the family tradition. When Tabitha was pregnant with their second child, she suffered a ruptured aneurysm and by some miracle survived and made a complete recovery safely delivering their second son that summer. Fast forward 4 years- Tabitha and Salome are expecting their 3rd child, a girl this time. A beautiful baby girl, named Amari.

However, their lives once again take a scary turn when they learn Amari has a heart defect that will require multiple surgeries once she is born. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a rare congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped. Amari was born in December of 2018 and at just 6 days old she underwent her first open heart surgery. She proved to everyone just how strong she was and pulled through all the complications like a champ. At 3 months old, Amari made her way home. She was growing and getting stronger every single day. On July 5th, 2019, at almost 7 months old, sweet beautiful Amari passed away in her mama’s arms after a sudden complication from her heart condition.

Tabitha, Salome, and their 2 young boys started rebuilding their lives after the loss of their precious baby girl. In December, Salome started having some medical troubles and it was determined he had pericarditis which means, a swelling and irritation of the thin sac like membrane surrounding the heart (pericardium). They were able to remove a liter of fluid from the sac and sent it off for testing.

In January, they announced the expectation of their rainbow baby. Salome and Tabitha are pregnant with their 4th baby.

On February 2, 2020 Salome suffered a stroke. He was being monitored overnight and that morning he coded… CPR was performed, and Salome was holding on by a thread. They did some testing and found a mass inside his pericardium. While waiting for results of imaging on the mass Salome began having organ failure… As the hospital worked to run tests and bring our friend back, he slipped into a coma. On February 6th, Salome was pronounced brain dead. February 8th, he went to be with his daughter Amari.

A seemingly healthy 29-year-old father, husband, son, brother… gone in just a few short days. Anything you can do to help this family is greatly appreciated. They’ve endured more than anyone should in their entire life in just a year.