Four year old Danny Stanton died in his sleep this past December. He died of SUDEP (Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy). His parents, Mike and Mariann Stanton,  founded The Danny Did Foundation on Facebook and dannydid.org less than a month after his death. They are committed to bringing SUDEP out of the shadows, eventually eliminating it, and searching for ways to ease the stress of night time seizures in the meantime. They do it by sharing their precious son with all of us in the most honest of ways. They share their pain too. It brings people to the foundation. It keeps us coming back. That, and the photos, memories, and spirit, of little Danny. We learn about SUDEP. We learn about love.

The Dany Did Foundation Facebook page has over 8400 fans in 5 months. There is support for their mission across the globe. Special support too for their broken hearts because the Stantons are brave enough to take us there with written words. They journal honestly about feelings on the website, even the darkest ones. It’s still the early stages of grieving. Easy to forget that sometimes with all the success they’ve had with the foundation.

I wondered why they did it so soon. Why, right after Danny died, they launched an effort to do something special in his name so quickly. I worried for them. Worried that it was happening too fast. That the support would feel bittersweet and perhaps even hurt because it would emotionally be a sorry replacement for little Danny. I wondered and I worried because I care. Even though I don’t know them as real life neighbors or friends, I know their hearts intimately, again, thanks to their openness.

But five months later, I feel something now that I didn’t before.

Danny Stanton’s irrepressible spirit is at work here. His parents have written that they don’t feel Danny yet like other people say they do.  I’ve been hoping for them to have that experience; To somehow feel Danny and find comfort in that feeling. But, I don’t think that’s what’s been missing, afterall.

I have come to believe that his parents were the very first to feel Danny’s spirit, almost immediately. That they agreed to move ahead with the foundation so quickly because the energy and joy of his beautiful spirit made that the ONLY right thing to do. In so many ways, they were doing what they’d ALWAYS done. They were nurturing Danny in a way that made sense for Danny. Loving him in the truest of ways, and marveling at his capacity to give and bring love to life….even now. Danny did. Danny DOES.