When Lindsay was one and a half years old, her creativity and imagination exploded, it was then that she decided napping and sleeping was something she didn’t have time for. From hiding in the clothes racks in stores, to full blown temper tantrums in public and stripping off her clothes in the patio section of a hardware store and stretching out on loungers, we realized we were in for a great ride! When she was three she met her best friend Gina and together the two set out to have the time of their lives. They made homemade movies of themselves and their dolls; they had full blown birthday parties for their dogs which included inviting all their friends and their dogs too. They dressed up their brothers as servants, they themselves as queens and played lawn bowling together on the front yard. They had late night candle sessions with the Ouja board in the garage and marathon weekend sleep-overs which was never without homemade chocolate chip cookies and Doritos and sour cream. The circle of friends expanded in grade six and the basement became the clubhouse, dogs and all; great planning went into dances and trips downtown to see their favorite music groups. Trying to use the phone was pointless as Lindsay monopolized it, always planning something! Chauffeuring gave me insight into all the inside scoop, so I quickly offered to drive day or night! In high school, learning was interesting to Lindsay, she could hold her own in a debate on whatever the topic was, whether it was Aspartame in diet sodas or U.S. politics. This was by no means the main focus, Lindsay was the social butterfly, hair styles and colors, fashion, hats, purses, shoes and boots and her close circle of friends was what meant most to her. Her first true love. Lindsay always stood up for what she believed in, valued others for their uniqueness and was known for saying, ‘Live each day as if it were your last’, be true to yourself and do what makes you happy. Among her friends she was the plan maker, the glue that kept everyone together and the life of the party. Rarely was she seen without her camera, taking pictures of everything she did and saw and putting it all together in scrapbooks.
The girls worked together at their first jobs, and migrated to other jobs in packs, always together. Along the way, the boyfriends changed and they each started to discover their own paths in life. Lindsay took courses at the local college and through that discovered what she really wanted to do was to travel and see the world so she set her sights on becoming a flight attendant.

On July 3, 2007, just after noon our lives changed forever. Lindsay pulled up in front of the house and parked her car. Anxious to see her, as she had been to Whistler over the weekend, I went outside to greet her. As I always did, I asked how she was doing and she said, ‘fine’. She asked me about her car insurance and what she needed to do, she was going to go out later to deal with it. We had a conversation in the kitchen, she got a drink of water and said, ‘just leave the papers on the counter’. That was the last we spoke to each other. Ten minutes later, I called her to the phone. Getting no answer from her, I went downstairs, with the phone in my hand, to her bedroom and found her collapsed on her bedroom floor. The paramedics and doctors worked on her for over an hour at the hospital, nothing. Her best friend Gina, boyfriend, brother and my close friend Deborah were with me. Her Dad was working out of town. He never got to say goodbye, none of us got to say goodbye. We went through the motions of doing what one does when someone passes with the support of family and friends. We waited five months to be given the official word that they could not find out what happened to Lindsay. They listed the cause as “Undetermined”, “with it being most likely a cardiac event that left no evidence behind, most likely being an arrhythmia”.

Lindsay’s Dad found the SADS website while searching online one morning and this led us to Pam Husband. Up to this point we had been moving through the motions of each day in a fog. Speaking with Pam gave us some direction and helped us to put some control back into our lives. One step at a time, we started making phone calls. Our son was seen by Dr. Sanatani and his team and had a complete series of tests, ECG, Stress Test, Echocardiogram and the Holter Monitor test. With the help of our family doctor Jim and I each had ECG’s, Echocardiograms, he had a Stress Test done and then we both did the Holter Monitor Test. Dr. Sanatani referred us to Dr. Sterns in Victoria and we both have now had MRI’s done. We are both participating in the CASPER study and so far Jim has been tested negative for LQT and Brugada. This still continues. We still have no answers. Lindsay’s samples are currently being studied at the Ottawa Heart Institute with the research team led by Dr. Gollob; Dr. Sanatani and Karen keep us informed with the progress.

The SADS Foundation has given us a lifeline; we now know that we are not alone in having no answers. Jim has attended the most recent SADS Conference and was most impressed with how dedicated all these doctors are in finding answers. We wear our SADS pins and hand out brochures everywhere we go and are happy to talk not only talk about our daughter but about what SADS is and they do. For now, it is still one day at time, one week at a time as we try to create our ‘new normal’.

We love you Lindsay, we miss you more today than yesterday, we miss the sound of your voice and your quick way of cutting to the chase and your funny comments, we miss your sense of humor, we miss you calling us to kill a spider in your bedroom, we miss the sound of the washing machine out of balance because you filled it too full of towels. I miss you asking me for help with your resume, Dad misses you asking him for help with your car and Ryan misses not being able to call you for a ride home from school. Saucy misses cuddling up with you and watching a movie, she still wanders around the house crying and looking for you.

The White Family,
Kathi, Jim & Ryan,
Lindsay’s Mom, Dad & Brother