It is with a very heavy heart that I write this today. WWMG member and amazing MG warrior, Wendy Wyatt passed on yesterday.
Wendy was possibly the strongest MG warrior I ever met. Wendy has been my friend for years and she just never gave up. She fought battle after battle all while living alone and facing every bit of resistance you can possibly imagine from the medical community that had long since turned it’s back on helping her.
The truth is that even though she told us her passing was coming soon and gave us all the chance to speak to her and say goodbye in our own ways, she had survived so much, that there was this part of me that finds it hard to believe that Wendy is gone. I think we all just had this hope that Wendy would somehow rally again. But the truth is that medical neglect had left Wendy in a position where she had been suffering for a long time. I am grateful that she is no longer suffering and she is at peace.
I would hope that people would take the time to read Wendy’s blog and get to know this wonderful woman.
I would hope that the world would learn something from this. Learn that ALL life is valuable and that people shouldn’t be discarded just because they are chronically ill. It is a disgrace how we care for our disabled in many parts of this country, an absolute disgrace. Wendy and I often bonded over our mutual experiences with being denied medical care because our government had decided it was more cost effective to just let us die. “Death panels” are real and are happening every single day in this country while the healthy turn a blind eye.
If you feel that this is the wrong place for me to get on that “soapbox” and rally others to care more, invest more, and spend more time caring about what happens to the disabled…. well… then you didn’t know Wendy very well! 😉 Because Wendy was all about advocating for change.
Wendy was a woman of strong faith and strong spirit. She loved the outdoors and loved to talk about the times when she was able to do more. But even in her weakened state she worked hard to be useful to others and was active in our support group helping others who needed support and advice. She didn’t waste her time in this world. The medical community may not have seen Wendy’s value as a person, our government may not have seen Wendy’s value as a person as they repeatedly denied her life-sustaining care. But we did. We saw Wendy’s value and she saw ours.
I hope we meet again someday, on the other side, Wendy. I picture us barefoot and dancing. Free from MG and free from pain.
Until then, the rest of us will carry on the fight.
We love you, Wendy!
Words cannot express how much you will be missed!
Debbie Norman
founder and director of WWMG
WomenWithMG.org
Thank you for sharing this beautiful tribute to Wendy! She was an amazing woman and warrior
Thank you.
Oh, so sad. She will be dearly missed, and remembered. I am just happy she’s not suffering anymore, Praise God for his mercy on her. She battled so very long and hard, and yet so gracefully!
How very fortunate that Wendy had you as a friend, I only knew her a short time through MG but she made a very big impression on me and gave me very wise advice on a few occasions over the past 2 years, I was dumb struck to learn how many serious problems she had , yet she just kept going , mostly alone in a small apartment rashoning her meals. When she told me she had a a strong faith in God I knew that regardless she would eventually be receiving a new resurrected body free of pain and would be with Jesus safe in Heaven. Heaven is real and I am sure Wendy will not be disappointed. Free from it all
I have only known Wendy for a short time on the MG site. But just days before her passing she was giving me some advise. So unselfish of her. Rest In Peace Wendy. God Bless You
Sandra Ohman Garlisi
So sorry that Wendy is gone. I know that she is with Jesus and as you said Debbie, she is running around barefooted with the angels.
So sad to hear of her passing,but she is at rest now and with God. All the pain and suffering is over for her.She sounded like an amazing women.Prayers for her family.
Sad my heart aches no words …..
I just read her blog and I’m very upset that NO ONE tried to help her -this is absolutely uncalled for -it looks like she was in a 3 rd world country as far from civility as one could possibly be. I hope that if I ever get in that same state someone would come and help me …….
I read her blogs and felt sad for her too, no one to cook for her and change her sweat soaked beddings? But such courageous and caring woman, she apparently went beyond her own limits just to be an encouragement to others. She will be remembered for sure. <3
So sorry for her hard struggle
and fight, that was not successful here on earth, but
she can maybe be a strong influence from heaven for all
of us, still pushing on, through weakness of earthy
bodies . May she truly Rest In Peace and doing all the things she loved to do before her earthly body prevented her
Wendy was also a member of a group I started many years ago, West Nile Virus support group. We could always count on Wendy to give much needed advice to anyone of our members. She was one of our most ” popular” members. She offered wisdom and first hand knowledge like no other. She wAs a strong, curagious women and she will be greatly missed. I truly regret the fact that I didn’t get to meet her in person but she made one feel as if we’d known each other for years. I hope she felt the appreciation and love I had for her. Rest Easily now Wendy, you are free!
WENDY FLY HIGH
THANK YOU FOR ALWAYS LISTENING AND TALKING ME THROUGH MY WEST NILE FLARE UPS AND THROUGH IT ALL YOU WILL BE TRULY MISSED ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS
(BRAVE WINDY) LIVE IN HEAVEN
I saw Wendy in her hospital bed the night before she went Home. I felt like she was already on her way. I wanted so much to comfort her, to draw away her pain and sorrow, as she had for me so many times. But all I could do was speak to her, hoping she was hearing me on some level. She blinked her eyes open at me a few times, mostly unseeing, and made some soft sounds.
Her strongest response came when I told her about all of her FB friends, and how everyone was talking about her and praying for her. She found family here, and loved everyone so much! I think she knew how much we needed her, how special she was to all of us, and I told her so.
I also told her how very much we all love her. I couldn’t let her go without telling her that! Wendy was so special because she made each of us feel special! Didn’t she? She was clever and funny and good to visit with. She was always willing to help us out, and she was the first to come forward when there was someone new to the group.
Wendy was just good. I will miss her. I’m so happy she got to go Home. Now she can rest. Now she has no more pain. Now she can walk and run and laugh and do whatever her broken body would not let her do before. How can that be bad in any way?
I celebrate the gloriously lived life of Wendy S Wyatt! What a beautiful woman! What a life well lived!
Until we meet again, Wendy, at Jesus’ feet!
Dear Ruth, I am so glad you were able to visit her in the hospital and give her comfort! Thank you for being there. She was amazing, loving and giving, and the outpouring of love for her is testimony to that!
Rest in Peace, dear friend!
Thank you for posting this personal account. It is a help to bring closure to a relationship that many of us had with Wendy from afar. I came to know of her back when she was accompanying her daughter on the Appalachian Trail trek. We had had only a few personal exchanges over the years, but I never missed reading her blogs. Even under the worst of circumstances, it was always interesting to read, and I marveled at her ability to write with such clarity and correctness.
She was very special.
Virtual hugs,
Judie
Fly high, angel!
I never met Wendy and it’s been many years since we corresponded on a travelers forum I was a member of yet knowing her was a catalyst for my choosing to live a life off the grid.
I just learned she has died and I would like to celebrate the life of this courageous woman!
This calls me to remember how precious life is and the impact we have on others just by living it. I will be ever grateful for the empowering impact she had on mine.♡♡♡
Debbie,
What a beautifully written tribute to Wendy. She was a wonderful and support woman. It is disgraceful how she couldn’t get care. Such a preventable loss! We love you Wendy and will remember you always! Say hi to Jen for us!!!
Janine