Our mother, Marcella Tuttle, was diagnosed in 2001 with primary pulmonary hypertension, not long after our grandfather died of Parkinson's disease. She had been sick for a while and just thought it was her asthma acting up. She decided that she had felt bad long enough and went to the doctor. She was ultimately diagnosed with PPH and given a short time to live. PPH was a relatively "new" disease and all of her medication was experimental, one of which was Viagra. She had a Flolan line put in that constantly pumped medicine to her heart and she sometimes needed to use an oxygen machine to help her through the night.

It became increasingly harder for her to do little things, like going up and down steps and carrying things. Our German Shepheard watched over her every day and every night. When she was sick from the medicine, it was Roxie that sat in the bathroom and comforted her when no one was home.

In 2004 our mom was put into Christ Hospital when she became increasingly ill. One morning we were all called to the hospital because her condition had changed. That morning we took our mother off of life support. This was one of the most traumatizing and painful experiences of our lives.

We love you mom and miss you every day!!!