Our son Ethan

Dear friends,

Cecilia and I are unsure if you have heard, or if you have heard if you have been given any details of what has happened. As most of you know Cecilia and I left Austin Friday morning headed for Georgia to spend time with family before beginning our trek to Ithaca. We made it safely to GA and were able to spend a good amount of quality time with our families. Late Sunday night Cecilia woke me and let me know that something was wrong and that we needed to go to the emergency room. Upon arriving at the emergency room she was admitted and we were told that after examination our son had passed away due to severe rapid onset preeclampsia. This condition not only was the cause of Ethan's death but gravely endangered Cecilia's life as well. We were told that there is no known cure for preeclampsia other than delivery of the baby and that due to Cecilia's drastically reduced platelet level that C-section was too risky and that labor would have to be induced and the baby delivered naturally. On the afternoon of April 28th 2009 at 2:39pm Ethan McKinley Long was born at Gwinnett Medical Center. He weighed 1 lb 10 oz and was 13 inches long, and perfect in every way. We were able to hold him and say goodbye to him before being taken to the funeral home. Even though we may never be able to completely come to grips with what has happened we are thankful that it happened in GA where we had the love and support of our families. We know that few of you will be able to attend the service, which will be Friday May 1st at 11:00am at the Hebron Baptist Church cemetery in Dacula GA, but your thoughts and prayers were and continue to be greatly appreciated and needed. Although we wish we could call and tell each of you ourselves, it is just to hard for either of us right now. Cecilia has made a dramatic recovery and was released from the hospital just hours ago. We've begun the journey, and are grateful for your support along the way.

Brian and Cecilia