In the past five months, there has been many, many amazing things done in honor of Joel. Even strangers that have never met us or Joel have felt compelled to contribute to his spirit. Although I will be writing more about this in the near future, I wanted to at least say thank you now. One of my greatest fears is the dimming of Joel’s light as time goes on. Every act of goodness in honor of Joel is keeping his light shining and providing us comfort. Ultimately, this is God’s light shining on others through you.
So far the Joel Byrne Let Goodness Shine fund has raised over $30K which is amazing. We are prayerfully considering how this money will be used to support organizations that Joel would advocate. I will also be writing more on this in the near future.
In terms of Joel’s cause of death, we still don’t have an answer. Between a full autopsy, toxicology, DNA testing, trips to the Mayo Clinic for cardiac testing, evaluation of Joel’s health records which include a EKG, it would appear that I need to begin to come to terms with not having an answer. All the obvious, and not so obvious, causes have been ruled out. Maybe God just needed him home.
I’ve had numerous exchanges with acquaintances I haven’t talked with since before Joel’s passing. The #1 comment they make is “I’m so sorry I didn’t reach out sooner.” Please, I don’t want anyone to ever give that a second though. There’s not a person that knew Joel, us or about this tragedy that isn’t saddened. These are people with good hearts. Perhaps they don’t know what to say or do. We’ve all been there, including me. The long tail of support is just as important as immediate support. Even the small things like a text message saying, “Thinking of you guys” or “Thinking of Joel” is beautiful. I used to think it’s cliché. It’s not at all. It’s telling me that his light is shining.
Thank you for all your love and support. For everything you do to keep Joel’s light shining.
Love to you all.
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