Around a kitchen table scattered with family photos, the Patla family laughs softly at old snapshots. They point out grandpa’s beard, grandma’s smile, and the beach selfies Olivia loved to take. It’s a bittersweet ritual – a way to keep her close.
“She just lit up the room,” said Rene Patla, Olivia’s mother. “She was ready to go into the world and follow her brother Jacob everywhere. And she was beautiful – absolutely stunning inside and out.”
We died with her that same day. To see your daughter on a stretcher – it’s an image you can never get out of your head…