Hannah
Hannah Helen Hasslen was born on December 1, 2001. One month before her 9th birthday, November 1, 2010, Hannah went to be in the arms of Jesus.
Feisty, talkative and smart beyond her years, Hannah was an absolute sweetheart who touched so many lives during her life and journey. Her boundless creativity and sometimes mischievous spirit kept those around her on their toes.
Hannah loved to be active and participate in events with her friends. She developed friendships at Allen Bible Church and Chase Oaks Church with not only other children but also her teachers. She served her community as a Girl Scout in Allen’s Troop #685. Hannah also loved sports! She played Upwards basketball, soccer, cheerleading and even golf.
Hannah had a passion for animals. She often talked of wanting to be a veterinarian when she grew up.
Through tough challenges with severe food allergies and a courageous battle with liver cancer she clung to a love of Jesus that provided her strength. Even on her weakest days, Hannah loved to watch over and pray for little children. She took great joy in watching the joyful play of the children around her.
That is just one of the great memories of Hannah that will stay with us until the day we’ll see her again in heaven.
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MEMORIES
**If you have a memory of Hannah that you would like to share, please put it in the comments and we will add it to this page**
SANTA
Hannah’s first visit with Santa was in Hudson, OH on a beautiful snowy day. Every year around the first week of December, Santa visits the Village Green in the center of town. Every child gets a visit and a free photo with Santa as well as a book from the local bookstore.
Hannah had just turned 1, and she screamed at the top of her lungs when she saw Santa, and continued to scream as he held her for the photo.
I’m Going to be a Big Sister!
When we found out that we were expecting Jacob, we had a custom sweatshirt made for Hannah to wear. She loved to wear the shirt around and loved the attention she would get when people read her shirt. She was so excited that she was going to have a little brother. She wanted to wear that sweatshirt all the time. Oh how she loves Jacob!
This Little Light of Mine
When Hannah was in the hospital she had to wear a pulse/ox to monitor her pulse rate and oxygen levels. The pulse/ox has a glowing light and wraps around your finger. I was sitting with Hannah at night and mentioned to her that she looked like E.T. (if you remember his glowing finger in the movie), to which she responded “What?” since she had never seen the movie. I didn’t think much else about it, but I woke up in the night and saw Hannah holding her finger up and I thought I could hear her singing. As I got closer to her I realized she was singing “This little light of mine”, and I realized that her thought about the “light” was so much better than mine.
101 Dalmations
Hannah loved the 101 Dalmations. She had several of the stuffed dogs from the Disney Store, but Penny & Lucky were her favorites. Penny (with her pink collar) went everywhere with Hannah…she slept with Penny and took her literally everywhere. One year at Disney World Hannah was very afraid that Cruella De Vil was going to steal Penny so she spent the entire trip hiding Penny from her. We saw Cruella in a couple of parades and walking around behind the scenes, and Hannah always put Penny in a bag or behind her back and really did not want Cruella to get a hold of Penny. Well, the last day of our trip we ran into Cruella and Hannah got to spend a little time with her. Cruella held and cuddled Penny and took lots of pictures with Hannah…she was so sweet that Hannah decided she had been rehabilitated.
That year one of Hannah’s precious puppies, Lucky, dissapeared on our trip. She looked everywhere for him before we left but could not find him, we decided that if he was going to be lost anywhere, that Disney World was definately the best place for him to be. The following year we stayed in the exact same room as the year before. As soon as we entered the room Hannah started a hunt for Lucky, we had no idea what she was doing…she looked in the shower, under the beds, behind the furniture, in all the drawers, on the balcony…she was all over the place. We finally asked what she was doing, and she said very matter a factly “I’m looking for Lucky!” Well, after we put some things away we headed downstairs to go out to the parks for the day. We ran into Theresa our tour guide from the year before in the Lobby and Hannah started telling her about looking for Lucky and that she hoped to find him. Well, when we got back to our room that night, there was Lucky sitting on the coffee table with a note that read “Hannah, I’ve missed you so much, please don’t ever leave me again. Love, Lucky”. Lucky was a little bigger and had sparkly ears, but Hannah was so excited that she decided that he had grown since it had been a year and after living at Disney World for a year he needed a little “bling”.
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Girl Scouts
Hannah’s sweet Girl Scout troop planted a tree in her memory at the Allen Public Library. The tree and the plaque are beautiful and will be a wonderful reminder of our sweet Hannah to everyone who sees it.
To read a newspaper article about the planting click the link: http://bit.ly/f76wuy
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Little Children
Friends came to visit Hannah in the hospital, and even at her most ill Hannah still loved on little children. Hannah was tired and not happy that we had made her go outside of the hospital, but when she saw little Sarah she stopped, bent over and ever so sweetly talked to her.
Dogs
One of Hannah’s greatest passions was animals, she especially loves dogs of all kinds. She was thrilled the first time she saw the dogs walking around in the hospital, and she absolutely loved when the therapy dogs came around her floor and stopped by her room in the hospital. Hannah was so sweet and loving with the dogs. Each dog brought her such joy, and it was wonderful to watch her with them.
Basketball
Hannah played Upward Basketball in the Winter of 2009. Her favorite part of practice and even the games was socializing with the other girls. It was hard to get her to pay attention at times, as she was much more interested in visiting with her friends. Then came the first game of the season, with no points scored by either team, Hannah gets the ball in the paint, turns around and throws the ball in – Swish! Nothing But Net! The look on her face was priceless as she turned and ran back down the court.
Thanks Dee Dee for the great Hannah memory – Hannah always had to wear goggles while swimming (she would have worn them in the shower too if we had let her). Every time she put her goggles on, she would then push the strap up on the back of her head and her hair would poof up and would look like a 1950′s bouffant style. She looked so funny…but so very cute. Dee Dee said she put on goggles the other day and accidently pushed her hair up the same way, and found out how much more comfortable the goggles were. Thanks to Donna for finding a picture of Hannah wearing her goggles.
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Puppets
Hannah looks so beautiful in the picture with the dogs!
She was just as sweet and helpful with Anna as she was with Sarah. I remember her trying to lift Anna into the swing?! Just a little mommy herself! And she was so sweet and patient, always kindly inviting Anna to come play with her at Life Group when they were just getting to know each other.
One of Anna’s memories is from the first evening you guys came for dinner and the kids all made paper bag puppets and put on a show for us. Its a shame you can’t see sweet Hannah in the picture- just her puppet. – Julie Bridgeforth :)
STITCHES
In October of 2009 Hannah & Jacob were playing on our putting green, just practicing putting golf balls. When suddenly Jacob decided to take a full swing with his club as Hannah bent down to pick up a golf ball…and wham right in the forehead. Hannah came running out of the room screaming with Jacob right behind her looking terrified. We didn’t know what was going on until we saw the trail of blood down the hallway. A trip to Acute Kids and 5 stitches later Hannah was all better. She was so brave and picked some pretty blue stitches to match her beautiful eyes. By the time we got home Jacob had fallen asleep on the couch. Hannah enjoyed being the celebrity of the day at our homeschool co-op the next day, and got to tell her story to everyone (she even found a mom who had also gotten stitches after being hit in the head with a golf club by her brother).
American Girl
Hannah loved American Girl dolls. Her prized possessions were her Kirsten and Kaya dolls, she loved to take them with her everywhere. She was so excited to finally get to take the American Girl class at N-Tech (homeschool co-op) and to carry her doll around in her backpack. The last day of her earthly life we stopped at the American Girl store on our way to the hospital. We picked up a new doll that had been given to her by friends and found out that someone else had offered to buy her anything in the store that she wanted. The store also wanted her to come in and have tea when she was up to it. Even as tired as she was that day, her eyes lit up when she heard all of this…it made her feel so good that people really cared about her.
Hannahisms
Smidge – a little of something or to move ever so slightly.
Scooch – similar to smidge, used to ask someone to move…usually closer.
Concoction – a favorite drink of Hannah’s that was a mixture of whatever fun juices, sodas and fruits we had available.
