In late August, the day before Adriana Aviles-Saldana died after a two-year bout with cervical cancer, her husband, Jacob, carried her down the stairs of their second-floor apartment in North Austin. She’d had dozens of rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, and the pain was so intense during the last weeks at home that Adriana was unable to tolerate any kind of touch, even the vibrations through the floor of her vibrant 4-year-old daughter, Emely, playing in the living room. “Every time she saw her mom, she reached out to want to hug her, but her mom was in too much pain,” says 26-year-old Jacob Rodriguez-Lopez. After being told she’d only have about four months to live, Aviles-Saldana lived long enough to watch her daughter grow into a radiant young child. Emely has Down syndrome and was born with a heart defect and now eats through a tube in her stomach. But it wasn’t long before she was too sick to be the mom she always wanted to be. Emely is abundant with her affection, often waving at strangers from the porch or from the cart at the grocery store, but her mom couldn’t return the squeezes that Emely so loves to give.

Rodriguez-Lopez, the youngest of five siblings, learned how to tend to the day-to-day needs of both his wife and his daughter, while piecing together enough work to pay the bills and manage their intensive medical care.chairs on sale at sears For the final two months of her life, a Hospice Austin nurse was on hand to help Aviles-Saldana so her husband could take care of Emely and try to keep his job while getting one or two hours of sleep a night. pool lounge chair padsBut as soon as Rodriguez-Lopez woke up, he had one fear on his mind: that his wife had died while he was asleep.buy spinning top chair On her birthday at the end of July, they took one last family photo together. cheap cane chair uk

Aviles-Saldana, a fiery woman who always wore her hair bleached blond, has dark hair and a pained smile on her face. hanging egg chair rain coverEmely looks giddy as she holds a cupcake with a single lighted candle. modern rocking chair plansRodriguez-Lopez sits between them, a weary man trying to hold it together for the loves of his life. bean bag chairs black friday saleHe carries this photo with him everywhere now. table and chairs north walesHe holds the picture next to his heart, stroking the soft, white back of the print.chaise lounge chair with storage

For that birthday, he gave her a card and a rose, both of which are on an altar he’s built for her in the room where she spent her final months. She’d asked him to keep that flower forever, so he does, in a vase next to the black box in which he brought her ashes home, but he also buys fresh flowers every three days to give life to the altar. On the wall, he’s started hanging the art that Emely is now bringing home from the Rosedale School, a school for students with special needs that she recently started to attend. Even in their grief, Rodriguez-Lopez knows that they have to carry on with their lives. “I tell people, you have to be more careful with how you live your life, because it’s a precious life,” he says. “Life is so valuable. I tell them if I could survive this, they can survive, too.” The Rodriguez-Lopez family’s wishes: A lawyer for a will; an insurance agent to help him select life insurance; help with rent and utilities; educational toys, such as wooden puzzles or blocks with the alphabet;

English tutoring to help Jacob improve his English and obtain his high school equivalency degree; a laptop to help him take language and GED classes and practice writing in English; 5 toddler girls clothes, including dresses and play dresses (especially princess); girls dresser and bedside table; girly curtains for Emely’s room; professional-grade painting supplies and tools, including sprayers, brushes, rollers and poles; special car seat for children with Down syndrome; high chair and a stroller large enough for Emely; gas cards to visit family in McAllen; gift cards to H-E-B, Wal-Mart and Target; money for a contractor’s license; a gift card to Amazon for an urn for Adriana’s ashes. Nominated by: Hospice Austin, 4107 Spicewood Springs Road. Its mission: To ease the physical, emotional and spiritual pain of any person in our community facing the final months of a serious illness.The aims of the group are to provide friendship, support and activities for its members. If you would like more information about the group or about any of the activities

AFTER a harrowing fortnight which saw EastEnders parents Mick and Linda Carter fear for the life of their baby they are finally told little Ollie can The Queen Vic landlords have been riding an emotional rollercoaster ever since doctors revealed the little boy had a brain haemorrhage which now might leave him with permanent issues. The youngster fell out of his high chair and smashed his head during a family fight started by Mick’s (Danny Dyer) daughter, Nancy (Maddie Hill) who was angry with her brother Lee (Danny-Boy Hatchard). Nancy sees Ollie coming home as a sign to make amends and gets busy organising a combined Easter egg hunt and welcome home party at the pub. Though it’s not all smiles, as viewers will see the blonde left in floods of tears when her dad tells her he will never forgive her for Ollie’s accident. Actress Maddie Hill has since revealed she will be quitting the BBC soap so soap fans will be left guessing as to whether she can patch things up with

her dad before she bids farewell to Walford. Dyer goes from hardman to glam woman in dramatic drag queen makeover Edwards has a very serious case of morning face undie money: Geordie Shore beauty is the new face of Ann Summers Meanwhile Mick is struggling to come to terms with the prognosis for the future of his youngest. When the couple were told any brain damage to their child could take years to develop the troubled parent took his frustration out on Linda (Kellie Bright) after thinking the seriousness of the medical statement just hadn’t Telly fans will then see him attempt to enlist the help of Honey Mitchell, who raised a baby with Downs Syndrome, to chat to his wife but she is shown the The emotion-packed scenes round off a torrid time for the family who discovered the youngster lifeless in his cot following the family feud on Despite Linda’s best efforts to rescusitate him he suffered a brutal seizure and was whisked to hospital.