Given to Me: My tribute to a brave young lady who passed on too soon
While creating Trevor Jackson’s niece for the Karl Vincent: Vampire Hunter franchise and the Dracula Rising story I found it difficult to name the character.
Then I came across a story from a friend of mine that touched me deeply. He had a co-worker whose daughter suffered from Heterotaxy (Abnormal arrangement of organs or parts of the body in relation to each other.) Her name was Elliana Janae. When I read about the courage that this couple had in raising this young lady I balled my eyes out. As I’m writing this, I’m reading over her obituary to get my facts straight and the tears are forming once again.
You see, I had just been diagnosed with diabetes when I found out about this young lady and was going through anguish over that diagnosis. Then I read the story of how this couple sacrificed everything to make their daughter, who wound up dying at the tender youthful age of two, as comfortable as they possibly could in an attempt to correct her condition through surgery. This story humbled me and made me realize how fortunate that I am. I have a serious condition, but it’s not life threatening (at least not in the immediate future) and it’s treatable.
So, as an homage to this brave couple, I am going to name Trevor’s niece after the young lady who passed on way to early. Her parents will be an inter-racial couple, just like my friend’s co-worker. I am going to share the first five pages of the comic book version of Dracula Rising with you.
Meet Detective Trevor Jackson, Karl’s former partner and his niece: Elliana Janae Jackson.
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