RICHMOND, Va. -- For Dwight Days, burying his 11-year-old daughter was the hardest day of his life. The funeral came just days after he fought, along with his wife Linda Arrington, fought to keep their daughter on life support at VCU Medical Center.
“You can’t just say let’s pull this plug. Time heals a lot of things,” Days said.
It was more time that the couple prayed for back in 2002 when their daughter Precious Starr was struck with Spinal Meningitis.
Precious Starr
She was flown from Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg to VCU Medical Center and within hours she was on life support.
“It was terrifying because at the time I was trying to find someone to help me out so I could keep her on life support longer,” the father said.
He explained that when the hospital declared Precious Starr brain dead, they fought it. The couple says they tried everything they could to keep her on life support.
“I offered the hospital to pay her bill in cash if insurance stopped paying. I told them I didn’t care how much it cost, I was gonna pay,” Days added.
When the family reached out to CBS 6 News back then, they told us they even tried to move their daughter to another hospital, but to no avail.
Dwight Day
When we reported Precious Starr’s story, we found out that there was no clear cut law addressing life ending decisions for minors.
The family hired an attorney who sought an injunction from a judge that kept the hospital from removing the girl from life support, but that was only temporary.
Ultimately the couple lost their fight and their daughter. Fourteen years later, the pain of losing Precious Starr is still etched in their hearts.
The couple manages to get from one day to the next by visiting her grave, reflecting on good memories of their honor roll daughter, and leaning on their faith in God.
Precious Starr
These days, a story eerily similar to their own, has made headlines and grabbed their attention. A 2-year-old girl on life support brought all those memories flooding back for the couple.
Miranda Lawson is on life support; her parents and their attorney are fighting to keep the same hospital from taking her off.
The 2-year-old inhaled a popcorn kernel and suffered cardiac arrest. Doctors believe Mirranda has no brain activity. They want to perform a test to determine if there is activity.
If there is none, the hospital says it must stop treatment.
Mirranda
The Lawson’s are refusing the test and a judge granted a 10-day stay, but hat time runs out this week.
From more than 100 miles away in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Days and his wife are watching from the sidelines, lifting prayers for the Mirranda and sending encouragement to the Lawson’s.
“I’ll tell them to fight as much as they can and try to keep their daughter here,” Days said.
He also hopes to meet the Northern Virginia couple to tell them in person that someone who knows their pain is standing behind them.
They’re praying for a judge and the hospital to give the Lawson’s as much time as they need with their little girl.
