Kathy and Kim both made the same career choice. The had already volunteered time to the elderly and to mentally disabled children and found they loved it.
They had plans to enter Fairfield Career Center to train for careers in health care. We had picked up their uniforms two days before the crash. We have started a memorial fund in their names to benefit students who have chosen to enter into the same field as the girls.
If you would like to make a tax deductible contribution, please make your check payable to:
The Kim and Kathy Seager Memorial Fund,
c/o National City Bank
1637 N Memorial Dr.
Lancaster, OH 43130
The Twin Connection
In Loving Memory of
Kimberly Thay Seager
and
Kathy Lee Seager
(December 27, 1984 - July 29, 2002)
Born to be Together
From the day they were born, these two girls were inseparable. They went everywhere together and had the same friends. They didn't like to be apart. Read a wonderful tribute to the girls and their unique bond. It will take a while to load, but well worth the wait.
Taking Care of Each Other
Kim was born first. She also became the protector, the more aggressive. If anyone picked on Kathy, Kim would be right in their face.
Suspected of Cheating
My husband and I made the decision to home school and I pulled all three of the teens out of school their seventh grade year.
The first year of homeschooling, I received an education myself on the connection between twins. Because their test scores were almost identical, I was positive they were cheating. So I locked up the tests until I needed them and placed the girls in separate rooms during the test. I planted myself where I could be certain they did not have access to each other. The results were the same. Even their essay questions would be astonishingly similar at times.
Speaking in Stereo
They would often speak the same sentence together in perfect timing. With the same inflection in their voices, and the exact wording. It would make us all laugh.
The Night of the Crash
Kim's head injury was worse than Kathy's. We were told that she would not survive this injury. The swelling in her head was cutting off the blood supply to her brain. We later were told that even if she did survive, she would be a vegetable.
They inserted a monitor into Kim's head to closely watch the inner cranial pressure (ICP) on her brain. But unexpectedly, within two hours, her vital signs looked, good, and her ICP number was almost down to normal. Now, Kathy was the one who looked the worse.
The doctor's main concern about Kathy was her internal injuries. Her spleen was torn, her diaphragm and lungs were severely damaged. Her pancreas was damaged. Both femurs were broken. Every bone in her beautiful face was fractured. Her poor body was so swollen, that when I would touch her skin, it reminded me of the feel of an over inflated balloon.
Then, suddenly, Kathy had a stroke on the right side of her brain. Her doctor was uncertain of the reason. He speculated that the main artery had suffered damage in the crash. Now her head was also swelling, severely limiting the blood flow to her brain. Just like Kim, they inserted a monitor into her head to measure the ICP. She was now in the exact situation as her sister.
For the next four days, one girl would get better, and the other would get worse. They were in different units of the hospital, down the corridor from each other. Yet, the connection was so obvious, that when something began happening with one twin, her nurse would call the other twin's nurse, to ask WHAT was happening over there. The entire hospital was talking about the twins in ICU and CCU who were dying together.
The Final Day
I was in Kim's room, sitting with her, holding her hand and singing while her nurse frantically worked to get the numbers on her moniters to normal. She was scurrying around, administering meds through the IV, adjusting the respirator, and somehow in the midst, calling Kim's doctor to let him know Kim was failing. The swelling in her head was continuing to escalate despite everything the nurse was doing.
I looked up, and Kathy's nurse came in and hunched down beside me. I felt an awful, heavy lump in my abdomen. I though she was going to tell me Kathy was gone.
She laid a hand on my arm and told me gently that Kathy's ICP was skyrocketing. She was not leaving Kathy, and would come get me if things got worse.
I stayed with Kim a little while longer, then went to Kathy's room. I gasped at the number on her ICP monitor. I knew she was in the process of leaving us.. Even though the respirator was going, and the monitors showed a heart beat and blood pressure, her brain was receiving absolutely no blood flow. Which meant that her brain was dying cell by cell.
We played music, sang to them, and talked to them. We told them it was alright to go to Jesus, we would be alright here, until we could be with them again.
Both girls were declared brain dead at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, July 29, 2002. That day has become a way to mark time for me. Very similar to how we view New Year's Day to mark the passage of time, I now view eveything as pre-accident or post-accident. I don't believe that will ever change.
We are a family that has strived to keep God the center of our existence. Although we struggle day to day with our own selfish desires, and each other's shortcomings, we have always known that God was the anchor and without Him, we would be swept away on the sea of worldly ambitions, desires, and longings.
Our children have been taught about God before they could say His name. The three teens had each given their hearts to the Lord years ago. Our oldest son, Matthew had been baptized a second time just a month prior to the crash. He felt he needed to reconfirm his commitment to the Lord as his relationship with Him had grown through the years.
Kim and Kathy knew how much they were loved by God. They knew about God's son, Jesus Christ and why He came to this world. Jesus came to save us from eternal punishment for sins. Sin is anything that goes against the laws of God. It is impossible for us not to sin as human beings. God knows this. So He has provided a way out for us because we are His creation and He loves us dearly. Jesus paid the price of our sins so that we don't have to be separated from our Creator when we die. We will be reunited with Him.
Kim and Kathy are at this moment living with and being comforted by the Almighty God. What an awesome thought. I love them so much and am so happy for them. I can't wait to see their beautiful faces again and hold them in my arms.
All of this is possible because God has made a way. Since the crash that took our girls, my love for Him is deeper because of my gratefulness for this provision.
I can't say that I am at peace with what has happened, or if I ever will be. I still get angry. I'm afraid to drive. I wake up crying in the middle of the night. But at least I'm not in agony as to their whereabouts. I just need to learn how to get through this life without them being here. God promises to go through that dark valley with me. And I will need Him every step of the way.
