Little angel suffering from seizures has been recalled in Heaven

Wednesday night and fondly remembered the child they called “Daddy's little girl” and their “little piece of heaven on earth.”“She had the happiest spirit,” said Lisa Wenger, Prayer's mother. “Even though she was sick, she would look up at us and smile as if saying, ‘I'm OK. Why are you worried?'”

Prayer, 2, died Tuesday afternoon in the emergency room of Chambersburg Hospital. She suffered brain damage when she nearly drowned in July 2005, in her family's above-ground swimming pool in Quincy Township.Since then, she had been in and out of the hospital with a number of illnesses including seizures, fevers and pneumonia.She would have turned 3 on Feb. 6.
Before the accidentLisa Wenger said Prayer used to follow her father, Michael, everywhere he went.Prayer's grandfather, Jay Wenger of Waynesboro, said she was a little tomboy.

“She loved the outdoors,” Lisa Wenger recalled.Prayer also loved watching her father and grandfather fix cars and mow the lawn.“Just a few weeks ago, I remember Lisa had Prayer outside and she started fussing when she had to go back in,” Jay Wenger said. “She could feel the sunshine on her face.”

Prayer also loved music and would go to sleep when her grandmother, Peach Wenger, sang to her.After the accidentLisa Wenger was hanging laundry in her backyard on July 18, 2005. When she went back into the living room where she thought Prayer was watching television with her sister Faith, now 8, she couldn't find her. A few minutes later, she saw her floating in the pool and rushed to save her.

Prayer was taken to Waynesboro Hospital and later flown to Hershey Medical Center, where doctors determined she was functioning on the level of a 14-week-old fetus in the womb.A bout of double pneumonia shortly after the accident left Prayer with the inability to swallow. She also was 98 percent blind and had lung problems.By June of this year, Prayer was showing signs of improvement under a ketogenic diet that her mother said was awakening part of her brain.

She was able to say “Mom” and began swallowing on her own. The diet also lessenedPrayer's seizures which, at one time, she experienced up to 175 times a day. By June, the seizures had dropped to four or five a day. The diet also improved Prayer's eyesight and body movement.But in August, Prayer came down with another bout of double pneumonia - a bout that Lisa Wenger said she never fully recovered from.“She became so sick that I wasn't allowed to take her out of the house,” Wenger said. “Two days ago, she slept all day and wouldn't wake up.”

Prayer was on oxygen all day and on and off antibiotics every two weeks.When asked if anyone in the family had any indication Prayer would soon pass, Lisa Wenger said three women and Jay Wenger all had dreams about Prayer over the past few weeks.“In the dreams, Prayer was walking, talking, laughing and telling us she loved us,” Lisa Wenger said.

“She was singing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' (in my dream),” Peach Wenger said. “I used to sing that to her.”The whole family got to hold Prayer after her heart stopped on Tuesday.The day started with a normal doctor's appointment. Prayer's doctor ordered blood work and X-rays in Chambersburg Hospital, where her mother said Prayer's breathing became difficult.

She was rushed to the emergency room, where a breathing tube was inserted and an IV antibiotic started. A rescue team from Children's Hospital in Philadelphia flew to Chambersburg, but medical crews had to restart her heart several times and adjust her trachea tube.“It was time to say goodbye,” Lisa Wenger said.ThankfulThe family said they are extremely thankful for everyone in the community who has helped them. Recently, several families came together and helped the Wengers purchase a new home on Creek Stone Drive through Exit Realty in Rouzerville.

Lisa Wenger said it is the first home she has ever owned and will be the first time the whole family, including Prayer's siblings Faith, Madison, 14, and Loren, 16, can live under one roof.“We knew we could never afford a home with Prayer's medical bills,” she said. “But a woman named Karen from Exit Realty reads the ‘care page' and I called her. She guaranteed within eight months we would have a home.”Lisa Wenger has been keeping the community informed about Prayer's condition on a “care page” on the Internet.The main reason the family wanted a new home was to accommodate Prayer's needs and to keep her respiratory system healthy.“Although our home was a blessing, it was very old,” Lisa Wenger said. “It was built in the 1800s and there was water in the basement. We truly feel that in a new home, Prayer's health would have improved.”

A group of retired men from Penn National, Helping Hands and Hearts, came together to renovate the Wengers' new home. In a little more than a week, the men, ages 71 to 98, had transformed a soot-covered home into a clean environment for Prayer, Lisa Wenger said.“John Jobes came with one friend and rewired the entire house in one week,” Lisa Wenger said.State Rep. Todd Rock and his wife, Nancy, donated all of the carpet and painted all of the interior doors.The Wenger family and members of St. Andrew Catholic Church and Five Forks Brethren in Christ Church came together to help clean and paint the house.

The Wenger family is set to move in this Saturday.Although Michael Wenger didn't say much during an interview on Wednesday afternoon, he reached for Lisa's hand and told her he was thankful she was Prayer's mother.“No other person could have handled it,” he told her. “She never broke down. She vigilantly every day took care of Prayer's every need. She stayed in the hospital for weeks. I know it wasn't fun for her, but she did it without question.”

Family members said they will receive some closure during the viewing and service for Prayer.On Saturday, Lisa Wenger and her cousin plan to fix Prayer's hair and dress her up. On Tuesday at 1 p.m., the family and the second-grade class at St. Andrew Catholic School will recite a Rosary for Prayer. The viewing is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in Miller-Bowersox Funeral Home, Greencastle.A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday in St. Andrew Catholic Church, Waynesboro, by Father David S. Keller.

Pastor Wilbur F. Besecker will present the eulogy.Lisa Wenger said Sandy Bowling will read a poem for Prayer. Bowling lost her daughter in a drowning accident nine years ago. White doves will be released at the end of the service.“We're just glad Prayer is playing again,” Lisa Wenger said with a smile.In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting memorial contributions to be sent to First National Bank of Greencastle, P.O. Box 8, Greencastle, Pa. 17225.