She's up there, smiling down on us

Not a dry eye in the parking lot for this balloon release.

Members of the B-B-E Class of 2024 released balloons at the high school following funeral services this morning for their fallen classmate, Jocelyn Dickhoff.

Video of the balloon release, which happens after the 2:00 mark in the clip:

God bless her memory. We will never forget you, Jocelyn!

Our hearts are broken

A steady stream of friends and family attended the visitation for Jocelyn last night.

A tough morning ahead...the funeral for Jocelyn Dickhoff starts at 10:30. The set up at Grace Lutheran Church was touching and beautiful last night for her visitation.

Taken too soon

A photo of Jocelyn enjoying some ice cream, printed in the Oct. 9, 2007 Sauk Centre Herald. She was around 15 months old when this picture was taken.

The dark week at B-B-E continues as we prepare to lay rest to Jocelyn Dickhoff, who passed away on Saturday morning after a life-long battle with cancer (alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma). Funeral announcements are posted further below.

What is rhabdomyosarcoma?

Sarcomas are cancers that develop from connective tissues in the body, such as muscles, fat, membranes that line the joints, or blood vessels. Rhabdomyosarcoma is a cancer made up of cells that normally develop into skeletal muscles of the body, according to information from the American Cancer Society website.

Skeletal muscles first begin to form in embryos at about seven weeks. At that time, rhabdomyoblasts (cells that will eventually form muscles) begin to form. These are cells that can become malignant and develop into the cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma.

Because this is a cancer of embryonic cells, it is more common in younger people. Over 85 percent of rhabdomyosarcomas occur in infants, children and teenagers.

Treatment includes surgery for removal of the tumor, followed by chemotherapy and radiation.

Pink and purple

A message from Jocelyn's family, posted at her CaringBridge site:

Her favorite colors are pink and purple. Please feel free to dress in those colors on Thursday night and Friday. Come prepared to share with us a memory, quote, or story you have about her. If you can't make her services, please email me your favorite memory at kdickhoff@yahoo.com. Since her passing and even before we have had lots of memories shared with us and they only make us smile and laugh because if you knew her, she told it like it was! She didn't hold back! And we loved that about her. Spunky and sassy!! That was our girl!

Tributes to Jocelyn

The Dickhoff family is asking all friends and anyone who knew Jocelyn to e-mail them special memories and tributes they have of Jocelyn. The e-mail is:
kayladickhoff@icloud.com

Within the first hour of posting the link "Heaven's newest Angel" from this Jaguar Blog to the Sauk Herald Facebook page, over a hundred visitors had clicked through. Five hours after it was posted, over 750 had viewed the post. (All this while folks are on vacation and trying to enjoy the 4th of July weekend.)

Jocelyn now has similar popularity as Coach Rich Vos did at the time of his tragic death last October. She has touched so many lives at B-B-E, only God knows how far her life's story's reach will go.

https://www.facebook.com/saukherald

I found the link to our online version of the Sauk Centre Herald, and below is the link to Jocelyn's story in the July 4 issue. Newspaper subscribers to the Herald can access the full story.
http://saukherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=12&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=15289

Heaven's newest Angel

Jocelyn Irene Dickhoff, 2006-2013.

Heaven gained a spirited, friendly, courageous, outgoing and loving Angel this morning. Jocelyn Irene Dickhoff passed on to Heaven at 3:05 a.m. today at Rice Hospice Care in Willmar. Her life-long battle with cancer is now over. Jocelyn, who was born with a cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma, would have been an incoming second grader at B-B-E elementary school this fall and recently celebrated her 7th birthday, which was on June 12. At the start of this summer, Jocelyn was at home with family managing quite well after she relapsed with another round of cancer last fall. That changed on the eve of her 7th birthday, June 11, when her mother brought her to the hospital due to a very high fever. She was hospitalized and in hospice care from that night until she passed away this morning.

If you get a chance, Google "rhabdomyosarcoma" and read about it. It is a very awful form of cancer.

Posted by her family at her CaringBridge website this morning:
"About 3:05 this morning our sweet Jocelyn went to be with Jesus. She is now at peace, free from cancer and everything that came with it. We actually see the faint hint of a smile on her face which makes me happy to know she's finally resting comfortably."

Words shared by her grandmother, Judy Dickhoff, who works at the B-B-E elementary:
"She is now cancer free and singing with the angels. We are broken hearted and words can not express how we feel. She will be forever missed but our memories will always make us smile. Thank you for your prayers."

Jocelyn, you are deeply loved and will always be remembered by everyone in the B-B-E community.

The Dickhoff family is asking all friends and anyone who knew Jocelyn to e-mail them special memories and tributes they have of Jocelyn. The e-mail is:

kayladickhoff@icloud.com

I was extremely fortunate and blessed to have the chance to visit Jocelyn, Joe, Kayla and Judy at her hospice care room in Willmar on Wednesday. I knew her time with us was limited and wanted to make a special delivery of numerous copies of the July 4 issue of the Sauk Centre Herald to her family. Jocelyn was resting peacefully during the time I was there, and it was nice to see the school nurse, Dennis Peterson, stop by and see her as well. Dennis and Judy shared a few stories about Jocelyn while they visited, and they all yielded many laughs and smiles during a tremendously dark, difficult time for everyone. I will never forget Jocelyn or her brave, courageous battle with cancer.

One of those stories stands out in my mind that I'll share here.

Going back to the B-B-E elementary school open house last August 28, the Dickhoff family was busy touring the building and making stops at various rooms for their older children, including Jocelyn. They walked by the main office, and Jocelyn wanted to stop in to see if Mr. Gossen was there. He was indeed, and at that moment he was sitting at Jodi Carda's desk filling out some paperwork. Jocelyn peeked her head inside the door, looked at Mr. Gossen while pointing to him and stating, "Get to work!"

As Judy shared that story with Dennis, Dennis laughed out loud and said, "Boy, we sure could never get away with that!"

Page one of this week's Sauk Centre Herald, featuring Jocelyn's story.

Here's the link to the online version of Jocelyn's story in the July 4 issue, available to Sauk Herald subscribers:
http://saukherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=12&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=15289

Funeral-related announcements will be posted as they are released by the Dickhoff/Messer families. Nothing sports-related will be posted here until after her funeral. It's going to be a long, tough week in the news room.