Did you know this about Neil Armstrong?

[Tim]

In the summer of last year I became aware of a family that lives not too far away who were in the process of losing their daughter. She was dying of DIPG, or Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma. It is a cancer that predominantly affects children, and is always fatal. There is no cure. Tragically, little Isla died last July, aged 7. I have become friends with Katherine and Simon, her parents, and see them from time to time, and we engage in painting rocks and pebbles to raise awareness of DIPG, and we share these on the Facebook group #islastones.

Tonight Katherine shared this story concerning Neil Armstrong, whose 2 year old daughter also died of DIPG. I thought some of you may appreciate this:

Remembering Karen ‘Muffy’ Armstrong, daughter of the astronaut Neil Armstrong, who passed away from dipg in 1962 at the age of just two and a half. After a fall and problems with her eyes and speech Muffy was diagnosed with dipg. She didn’t do well with radiation treatment and the Armstrong’s took her home where she died only a few months later. Her death is listed as weakened health which led to pneumonia.

It is not known if Neil went into the moon landing project before Muffy died but he certainly wanted to invest in something positive. 
Muffy passed away fifty seven years ago and it’s awful to think that we are not really much further on in the treatment for dipg, standard protocol is still radiation and go home and make memories. It’s a sobering thought.

I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul … we’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream” – Neil Armstrong.

Below is a story about Muffy and the baby crater on the moon.

(From Sweet Pea Project founder, Stephanie Paige Cole.) My 6 year old son taught me something this morning. It was before I'd even had my first cup of coffee, and I cannot stop thinking about it. Here's our conversation:

B: Mom, do you know about Neil Armstrong?
Me: Yes, first person to walk on the moon, right?
B: Well, yeah, of course, but do you know that his daughter died?
Me (surprised): No, I didn't. Recently? Where did you hear that?
B: No. A long long time ago. She was 2. She had a tumor in her brain and she died at Christmas time. I read it in my biography book. He quit flying test planes and became an astronaut a few months after she died. 
Me: I never knew that.
B: Yeah, he had 2 boys but she was his only daughter. And her name was Karen but he called her Muffie, and they were very close. And he never talked about her after she died, like, at all. And then he decided to fly to the moon. I think he was trying to feel better. I think he was trying to fly away from feeling so sad.
Me: Wow. Do you think it worked?
B: No, probably not. You can't really fly away from being sad. I think he probably just thought about her a lot on the moon.
Me: (I nod but say nothing. He's SIX years old. I try not to cry.)

I cannot stop thinking about this. And I bet Ben is right. He probably did think about her a lot on the moon.

*Updated, as our conversation and research continued after school.

This stayed on my mind all day. I emailed my uncle, an astronomer who has worked with NASA, and told him about our conversation. He wrote back and told me to read the email with Ben when he got home from school, because he was absolutely right to think Neil Armstrong thought about his daughter a lot on the moon.

"There was one other remembrance. Very special and dear to Neil, a part of an unfinished life he so wanted to leave on the Moon, and he did.
He (Neil) quickly abandoned any thoughts of trying to reach and inspect the football-field-sized crater he had to avoid during landing. But there was a smaller crater he’d flown over only about 200 feet away.

'A baby crater,' Neil thought, 'Muffie’s Crater.' He smiled, quietly remembering the 2-year-old he and Janet had lost to a brain tumor, and he permitted himself a moment. He stood there, remembering how Muffie would have loved sliding down into the pit. He had an overwhelming urge to do it for her. But then better judgment grabbed him. He settled for taking pictures and describing what he saw before heading back."

Ben and I read it together. I hugged him and said, "You were right, he really was thinking about her on the moon."

He nodded, smiled, snuggled into me, and said, "I know."

I am in awe of his beautiful heart and gentle, intuitive spirit. And I will never look at the moon the same way again.

#DefeatDipg #DefeatDipg

[carastro]

?

Very sad

[barkis]

@Tim  I remember you revealing to us at another time about the Pebble Painting, and the reason  too, which was quite heart warming.  I did not know about Neil Armstrong losing his child to to the same Illness as your friends young daughter. This a very poignant  story, and the great sadness that affects the nearest and dearest must be unbearable.  However, strength is usually gathered from friends and relatives.      The crater is a nice touch too, but was it actually named after Neil's little girl Muffie?

 

Ron.

 

[Guest]

Hello

I noticed this post as it mentions Neil Armstrong. The Apollo landings have always fascinated me, and spaceflight in general. Anyway, I watched "First Man" recently at the cinema and loved it. The final scene were he let's his daughters bracelet tumble into the crater had me in tears. I have kids myself and no matter who we are or what we do, that love is always with us.