Always in his heart

Raul Vijil wants to make one thing clear: Francis Rose Vijil Murguia’s life was a happy one.

Her life was also one that ended too soon.

Francis Rose was first diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome while she was still growing inside Raul’s sister Maria Shanna Vijil Murguia’s womb. Doctors detected the rare congenital heart defect – in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped – early enough to terminate the pregnancy. But Shanna wanted to give her baby a chance.

“I was devastated when I found out,” Shanna said. “I couldn’t drive home. I didn’t know what was going to happen. They told me my baby might not even make it through the pregnancy.

“But she was very planned and very wanted. I don’t believe in terminating pregnancies. I believe God has a plan.”

Shanna gave birth to Francis Rose, whom she called her little miracle, last Aug. 8.

Ten months later, Vijil – who was Francis Rose’s godfather – received a text message in the middle of the night.

“It said, ‘Francis Rose’s heart stopped,’ ” recalled the three-year Spokane Shock veteran receiver and former Eastern Washington University Eagle.

“I packed a bag and got ready to drive down there,” said the Pasco native. “But then they called me back and said she was going to be flown to Sacred Heart (Medical Center) and to wait here for her.”

Oscar Murguia, Shanna’s husband, had been putting the 10-month-old baby girl to bed that night – June 8 – when things took an unexpected and horrific turn.

Francis Rose had been fussy that day. She seemed uncomfortable and more tired than usual – which seemed strange considering a positive trip to the doctor’s office earlier that week.

“The latest news we had found out was that she had something called a fistula,” said Shanna.

The fistula, which is an abnormal connection or passageway between two epithelium-lined organs or vessels that normally do not connect, couldn’t be repaired in the surgery they attempted. They told the Murguia family that Francis Rose would eventually need a heart transplant.

“They told us it wouldn’t be for a while,” Shanna said. “They had to get the paperwork together and that it would take some time. But they told us that she was doing great and that she probably wouldn’t need it for another year, so it was really encouraging for our family.”

So when Shanna awoke to Oscar’s panicked voice calling for her from Francis Rose’s bedroom, she rushed in to find her husband holding their limp baby girl in his arms. Oscar had gone to check on Francis Rose because she was crying.

“When I got there she was lying motionless in his arms – her arms were hanging down, her head laying back,” Shanna said. “He had gone to check on her and when he picked her up, she looked at him and then her eyes rolled back into her head and she went limp.”

Oscar started CPR and Shanna called 911.

The police arrived 3 minutes later and took over for Oscar. The ambulance followed within a couple of minutes. They put a tube in her throat to try and get her oxygen saturations up. The paramedics did CPR for upward of half an hour until they thought she was stable enough to go to the hospital in Pasco.

It was then that Vijil was told to wait in Spokane.

It was then that Shanna and her family lost their little miracle.

“All I remember is sitting in a chair at the hospital thinking, ‘This is not happening,’ ” Shanna said. “We called Raul because I honestly believed that we would make it to Sacred Heart and that it would be fine, that this was just one of her episodes. I just remember looking up and the doctor came out and shook his head and said, ‘I’m sorry.’ ”

Francis Rose was declared dead on June 9 at 12:59 a.m., an hour after the family had called 911.

Raul and his longtime girlfriend Sara Reilly, a former EWU volleyball player, drove to Pasco. They arrived sometime around 2:30 in the morning. The close-knit family – which included Oscar and Shanna’s parents and brothers and sisters – held Francis Rose until 5 a.m. Her first birthday would have been a week from today.

“It was completely unexpected,” said an emotional Raul after the Shock (15-1) practiced Thursday for their first-round arenafootball2 playoff game against the Austin Wranglers (8-8) on Saturday at the Arena. “My sister has pictures of her the day before – she was as happy as ever, just a big smile on her face and looking completely healthy.

“That made it harder – we didn’t expect it at all.”

That Saturday, June 14, the Shock had a game in Kennewick against the Tri-Cities Fever. The funeral was that Friday. The entire Shock team, players and coaches, were there.

“It meant a lot – it’s a big part of this season actually,” Raul said. “It kind of bonded us as a team, because coach (Adam Shackleford) told me if I wanted to play that I could and if I didn’t that was fine, too. Then I got a call and he said that the team talked and that they all really wanted to be there.

“Everyone was really supportive.”

“To see all these football players come in wearing their blue warmups, and just come to support our family, it was really special,” Shanna said. “That team has a strong bond.”

It’s fitting that they were all there for Francis Rose. The little girl had always been there to watch her uncle play football. The Vijil and Murguia families come to all the Shock home games.

“She loved them – she was so happy watching those football games,” Shanna said. “The next game we went to (in Spokane) was really hard because our arms were empty.”

Their strong faith, though, is what makes them believe that their little miracle is still there, still watching those football games, still with a big smile on her face.

“She’s just in a better place now,” Raul said.