Aimee Steinbock, Lindsey’s mother
Lindsey and I had a very special relationship from the time she was born on June 16th, 1990. We had this bond that became uniquely ours for 30 years that I will cherish forever. We certainly had times where we tried each other’s patience, but we always recognized our love for each other.
I will always remember heading off to the movies every Sunday and always eating Red Vines and Junior Mints before going to lunch after the show. My Mother Day’s gifts and our birthdays were spent getting pedicures that became our yearly ritual. There were also people in Lindsey’s life who touched her in so many special ways.
Nothing made her happier than baking her legendary pies, cakes, and cookies for our feasts with our extended family. Going to the movies or breakfast with Uncle Chuck, spending Saturdays with her sisters and Jerry, Uncle Mark and Matthew doing dad stuff. Or spending the day with Katie baking or shopping. In fact, it was her friendship with Katie that brought Lindsey’s cat Wilder into our lives and encouraged Lindsey to become a CNA.
From the time Lindsey was two, she could carry on a conversation with anyone anywhere and as she got older, she never backed down from her strong opinions on every aspect of life. She definitely was not afraid to voice her opinion wherever she happened to be. She loved to talk to people, and a perfect example of this was her long-distance friendship with her cousin Christina whom she had not seen for over 20 years.
I came home from school one day, and Lindsey casually mentioned to me that she had invited Christina to come live with us in Colorado for 3 months while she attended an EMT program here. And she was bringing her blind dog Baxter who had started out on the streets of NYC, but now had traveled with Christina between Venice and Martha’s Vineyard – a very tough life.
She and Carly drove to DIA with a homemade sign welcoming them to Colorado. Thank God it worked out and our dinners became a time of great stories and laughter. Unfortunately, Lindsey’s cat Wilder did not feel the same way about Baxter, our blind canine family member.
Lindsey always knew what she wanted and she often found a way to make it happen, especially with her dad. I’ll never forget when she was five years old and did not feel like eating the dinner I was making. Thirty minutes later, in-walks Jerry with Chinese food for everyone. Lindsey had called her dad, unbeknownst to me, and ordered Chinese for the whole family.
I think while her Kindergarten class was memorizing their home phones, Lindsey was memorizing her dad’s because she used it a lot. And it didn’t stop with dinner plans. When Jerry learned on very short notice that I was bringing home another puppy, he decided with Lindsey’s help to out-do me on the pet front.
When Hayley, Lindsey and I pulled into the driveway with the puppy from hell listening to the Mick Jagger song “Beast of Burden,” I looked into the backyard to find two llamas tied to the fence. Speechless and in total shock, I turned around to Hayley and Lindsey and there was Lindsey recording the whole thing so that she could give it to Jerry.
Fortunately, Carlos and Frisco, the llamas, only stayed for a couple hours, and 8 years later we still have Georgia, our now full-grown Golden Retriever.
Lindsey also loved to travel and looked forward to our family car trips exploring Colorado. Naturally, she planned the food and Hayley planned where we would stay – obviously places that would allow dogs. There were also our yearly trips to Portland and the Oregon Coast to visit my sister Valerie; the camping trips with my sister Phyllis and her family; and the Presley family reunion in Arkansas with her Aunt Mary and her cousin Emily.
The best was when Jerry came home one day and told us he was going to Branson, Missouri to meet another Jerry Presley, an Elvis tribute artist who shared Jerry’s name. My first response was “really?” but Lindsey thought it would be a lot of fun and off the two went for the weekend. Their trips to California and Las Vegas were also their time to hang out together and they came back with great stories to tell.
The baby gifts she gave her friends and cousins were legendary and she spent so much time picking out the perfect lovie. She was also notorious for the cards she would give on birthdays and special occasions, and she always included a special memory.
She loved coming to my school because she was able to just be “Lindsey.” She helped me organize my classroom and she also helped the teachers decorate the library for staff parties. One of her favorite times was helping the kids pick out gifts for their families at the holiday market. Bingo night was another great time because she loved helping my students with their bingo cards. The kids loved having her there.
Lindsey’s life completely changed for her when she was a senior at Cherry Creek High School in 2008. In the middle of making plans for college and finishing high school, Lindsey was diagnosed with a rare disease that caused Aplastic Anemia. She needed a bone marrow transplant and became patient number 5 in a new protocol for her treatment. She was able to graduate; but instead of going to college in the fall, she went to Children’s Hospital in Aurora for her treatment.
She was so lucky that Dr. Roger Giller was the director of the transplant unit there and took her as his patient so that she did not have to go to Minnesota for her treatment, and our family was able to stay together. She transformed her hospital room with her pictures, clothes, and bedding. Jerry became her new roommate. Carly and I made daily trips to see her while Carly was in high school and I got the house ready for her homecoming. Hayley commuted from CU so that she could help me at home.
Her nurses and doctors were amazing and gave Lindsey the care and support to get her through her transplant. Lindsey was not just patient number 5 in their protocol, she was a special patient to them and they always spent extra time with her. The nurses were definitely her new best friends. She and Jerry also formed a bond that meant everything to them. He knew her favorite take out and all her favorite shows to pass the time.
Lindsey came home and spent the next 14 months “under house arrest” recovering from her transplant. You can only imagine our Thanksgiving celebration after this period when our extended family joined us for dinner.
The next 12 years involved many trips to the hospital for doctor’s appointments and in-patient hospital stays. Lindsey showed a lot of courage and resilience when she had to face the challenges of her numerous health issues. There were also times when these challenges overwhelmed her, and her doctors and nurses gave her the support and care to see her through these difficult times.
My time at the hospital with Lindsey brought us closer together. So many nights we would stay up just talking about everything or just visiting with the nurses who were taking care of her. I felt so close to her and we learned to get through her numerous treatments and surgeries. It was always a great day when I drove her home listening to her playlists.
2019 showed so much promise for Lindsey. She got her CNA license and could not wait to get her first job and work with children. I will never forget the great time we had together when we drove down to Tucson with Carly, listening to music, and sight-seeing in Santa Fe. She even took a trip with Jerry to California and Arizona later that year.
Then the pandemic hit, and Lindsey was once again under “house arrest” because her immune system was severely compromised. It was extremely hard for her because, for yet another time, she was isolated and could not achieve her dreams. She said the pandemic gave her PTSD.
Her last doctor’s appointment with her hematologist gave her hope because he came up with a plan to improve her ITP. It was exactly a week later that I was taking Lindsey to the hospital because she was having trouble breathing. She was put on a ventilator and Carly made it home before she passed away.
We were able to be with her, which was her wish. I was in my garden a few days ago and found the stepping stones Hayley, Lindsey, and Carly made when they were in elementary school. They had decorated them with beautiful seashells, stones, and either a hand or footprint. I looked at Lindsey’s and I saw my handprint next to hers. Little did I realize when she made her stepping stone 22 years ago, how special it would be today.
Lindsey taught me so much and our love for each other will always be with me. Every night we would tell each other “I love you,” “sweet dreams,” and “I’ll see you in the morning.” Often she would tell me “tomorrow will be better.”
I was so lucky to have Lindsey as my daughter.