Chrissa Nina Matthews 7/4/07-7/1/09

I don't even really know how to start. I have so many emotions running through me. I have this crushing sadness inside of me, I'm angry, I'm confused, I wish there were something that could help all of us to understand why this happened. The loss of any child is a horrible thing to go through for parents, family, and friends, but this one is particularly horrible because it was totally and completely preventable...



I guess I should start at the begining, the very begining. Junior has called me Chrissa forever... He had decided years ago that saying 'Christina' was just too much of a mouth full for him. He didn't want to use any nick name that I already had, he wanted to be unique. From then on I was known as Chrissa. Everyone at my karate school has grown accustomed to that name, and basically a lot of my karate family there, call me Chrissa.

Weeks before Sheri gave birth, I had been over at their house hanging out, and I had asked what they were going to name the new baby. Junior got a little smirk on his face and looked at Sheri, and Sheri looked at me and told me that they were considering naming her after me. They wanted to name her Chrissa. I never thought I'd ever be special enough to someone, or people, for them to ever name a child after me... but I was so honored that they had decided that's what they wanted to do.

Chrissa was born almost 2 years ago to the day. She came into this world healthy, and so tiny! I remember being at the hospital the day she was born. I sat and waited for a couple hours before they even brought her in the room. I remember getting there with my little bag in my hand, with a little yellow onesie inside with matching hat and socks, and being so incredibly excited for Junior and Sheri. Sheri was exhausted from just giving birth but they were more anxious than I was to have them bring her in the room, because they hadn't seen her since she was just born! They finally brought her in, and I have never seen such a beautiful face. She was so small... I remember being scared to hold her because I didn't want to break her. I remember taking a bazilion pictures of her tiny little hands and fingers. Her little feet and toes. She was ticklish right off the bat on her feet. Chrissa was a little early, not by much but if I remember right it was a few weeks. The baby shower was scheduled for just a few days after she was born. BOY did that girl rank in on the gifts!! They did it at the karate studio, and had the RV parked out front. It was FULL of gifts. The guest of honor was there to receive all her gifts from all the people who already were in love with her. She couldn't have asked for more loving grandparents, any cooler of a person to be her daddy, or for more genuine amazing close friends to her family to shower her with love, and spoil her with gifts.

Sheri and Junior went their separate ways in life, and a lot has gone on in their personal lives in the past 2 years. I won't get into details, but Junior and Sheri both had different visitation periods. Sheri was in charge of her yesterday afternoon. Sheri has a son named Andrew as well, who she had with a man before she met Junior. He is mentally handicapped, and is not capable to take care of himself in any way. I guess she had Andrew in the pool in the back yard. They have an above ground 3 foot pool. From what I have been told, the court had previously ordered that this pool be drained. or to put a gate up. There was no evidence of a gate that I could see or from what I've heard. So the pool should have been empty, but I guess they decided to fill it back up. So as Andrew was playing in the pool, Sheri said that Chrissa kept climbing the ladder and that she had grabbed her, and put her inside. After that she went to the restroom. Apparently Chrissa had walked outside after this, climbed up into the pool, and obviously since she is not even 2 and can't swim, was under water for a fair amount of time. I don't know any parent in their right mind who would 1. leave a 6 year old, mentally handicapped child in the pool by themselves, and take the other child inside, then leave that 6 year old in the pool alone and go to the bathroom 2. who would have actually left the room for that said child to be able to just walk right back outside and do what they were doing before. It's beyond me...

Paramedics were called and she was unresponsive. She had no pulse, wasn't breathing and was rushed to the hospital. They were able to resuscitate her but her brain was already beginning to swell. She was transported to Sunrise, and Junior called to tell Bobby what was going on. Bobby came home to pick me up and we went to the hospital to be with them. When we got there, Mrs. Matthews said that the Dr. told them that she wouldn't survive for longer than 2 days. This news was crushing... We were there most of the night, every one's eyes were red and swollen from crying, It was so hard. There were so many people from our karate family there to support the Matthews. Nothing you can say to a person in this situation can make them feel any better, but I think us all just being there for support spoke more than anything any of us could have said. While she was in ICU, only certain people were allowed to see her. Those that were allowed to see her, weren't allowed to talk to her, couldn't hug her, couldn't touch her, they just had to sit in that room silent. The doctors didn't want any brain stimulation... We took Junior and Christine, Junior's fiance, home around midnight. We got home, and in bed, and a little after one we were informed that Chrissa had passed away. We didn't sleep well the rest of the night, hardly slept at all actually... tossed and turned and cried and hugged each other... I just can't believe that little life is just... it's gone. So many things that she will never experience. This child, this baby, wasn't even 2 yet... She doesn't get to grow up and be a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher or anything. There's no words that can come close to expressing how crushing and how horrible this reality is.

When we got to the Matthews house this morning, they had her pictures pulled down from various shelves and had them in front of the fire place, with her Elmo chair, and her little shoes... Mr. Matthews had to go out and do all of the arrangements, so he left with his brother, and Kelly, and they brought Chrissa's little white and yellow dress with her little yellow socks and her little white dress shoes. Her pictures all over her grandparent's house, they loved that little girl more than life... the hospital nurses made imprints of her hands and feet and those were on the table. Such little hands and feet... little fingers and tiny toes.

I cry as I write this because this shouldn't be what's happening. That little girl should be laughing and smiling right now. No parent should EVER have to go through losing their child. No parent should have to sit and try to make sense of WHY something like this would happen. I'm disgusted by the lack of common sense in this whole situation. You DON'T leave kids alone! You DON'T put them in the house, and then expect them to not go back outside and leave them while you go to the bathroom or God only knows what it was that really happened. Junior just told me the autopsy revealed that she was under water for SEVERAL minutes. I don't care what the excuse is, there is NO EXCUSE. You DONT leave children in the POOL! Children are curious, they want to explore and find out new things. As someone who has had a small child in my life I've had to learn these things and realize that kids DON'T listen! You tell them don't touch, they want to touch it just because you said no! But what happens when that time you say don't touch and turn your head, they are reaching for the iron you just put down. Or you tell them not to play with scissors, and you walk out of the room, what is that child going to want to do? They are going to grab the scissors! It's just KIDS! It's what they DO! You can't just tell them no and expect them to listen! You tell them no and you take any deviation they might take to get around what you said and you ELIMINATE IT! I just can't believe this is something that happens on a near daily basis, especially in Vegas where damn near every house has a pool in the back yard, that people just don't have the common sense to protect their children. It's sickening....


This wasn't supposed to turn into a rant... I just think that everyone needs to re-evaluate what you hold important in your life, cherish it, take care of it. In the blink of an eye things can change. weather it be due to your stupidity and irresponsibility, or someone else's. We must protect our children and think of them before we think of ourselves. This little girl touched so many lives, and so many people love her, and were captivated by her smile and charm. This is a sad day in all of our lives who were touched by this beautiful little girl. May she live on in our hearts and memories forever.

EDIT: I've added a few things and made a few things a bit more clear, as I've had a week to let this sink in... There have been a lot of comments on this post. Some good, some that have upset me, and one even from a reporter. I am but a person who loves the Matthews family and consider them to be part of my own family, and I'm not someone who knows every single detail on the lives of the people involved. A lot of that information that some people are wanting is private, and not for me to divulge and lay out on the table. If the family wishes for certain information to be made public, than that decision will be made by them. This post I made almost a week ago, was more for me to get out my feelings and try to make sense of the situation. It has been an extremely hard week for myself to get through, I can't even imagine what Junior and his parents are going through, if I'm this upset over the situation. I'm still angry, I'm still confused, and it still hurts so much... but I am comforted in knowing that she is with Jesus right now, and that she's not in pain, she isn't suffering... Junior is probably the strongest most loyal friend I've ever had in my life. He has helped me through countless 'bad times' in my life, and I just want to be there for him and his family in anything they need during this horrible time in their lives.