Aspen's Story

Aspen was born on February 1, 2000 to Dan & Brooke Cressall. The Cressall family always said that, “Ten years ago, Heavenly Father didn’t know whether to send a boy or a girl so he sent a red head, to be her father’s companion & her mother’s little lady.” Aspen loved to play the cello, draw, and play all kinds of games. She loved to hide and scare her mom and grandmas. The louder they screamed the better she liked it! She loved adventures and spent many wonderful hours in the mountains and at Lagoon with her family and friends. She lovingly looked out for her little sister. Aspen even had her very own pink tool box. She loved working on cars with her dad & hanging out with the adults, but was also a great baby sitter & entertainer for the little kids. She had quite the sense of humor & was always telling & playing jokes on those she loved. Her best friend was her little sister, Dana.

In Sept of 2009 Aspen and her family arrived at the sand dunes just outside of St Anthony, Idaho for a weekend of camping and "wheelin" with friends. While her mom was setting up camp, Aspen and her little sister drew straws to see who got to go for the first buggy ride. Aspen won. She and her daddy took off for the sand dunes; they went zipping up a great big one, only to find out as they went over the top that it was a razor back. The buggy came down on it's nose. Even though Aspen was securely strapped in with a special safety harness, she was thrown forward with such force that it broke her neck and crushed her wind pipe.

They got her to the hospital in St Anthony & life flighted her to Primary Children's Hospital. After numerous surgeries and several weeks in the hospital, she finally got to come home. She was home only a day or so when she woke her Mom up in the middle of the night because she couldn't breathe. She was rushed to Logan Regional & then life flighted back to Primary Children's and had emergency surgery to insert a trache. Her wind pipe had so much scar tissue that she was breathing through an opening smaller than a very small straw.

Several more surgeries later, her doctors agreed she was healed enough to have the trache removed. In July of 2010 they removed the trache and Aspen and her Mom spent the night at Primary Children's for observation. She seemed to be doing well, and they sent her home the next afternoon. She hadn't slept well in the hospital and complained of being so tired as she visited with family & friends that evening. That evening she had a really hard time settling down and going to sleep. Her Mom and Dad took turns checking and sitting up with her all night.

Finally, just before her dad went to work around 7:00 A.M., she seemed to finally be asleep. She was on her side facing the wall and he could hear her breathing. Less than an hour later when her mom went in to check on her, she found her blue. She called 911 & she was taken to Logan Regional Hospital, where she was put on life support and then life flighted back to Primary Children's, but it was too late. She had no brain activity and there was nothing else that could be done. Aspen Cressall returned to her loving Heavenly Father and the welcoming arms of her Grandpa on Thursday, July 22, 2010.

Aspen was only with us a short ten years, but during that time she blessed the lives of all who knew her.