Tessa Joy Davis
Jan 25, 1997 – Jan 7, 2015
Tessa Joy Davis was born a precious bundle of Joy on Jan 25th of 1997. She passed away colossal bundle of joy just shy of her 18th birthday and high school graduation on Jan 7, 2015. In 2019 she would have celebrated her 22nd birthday and college graduation. A rare lung cancer…
I know that you read “Lung Cancer” and you silently almost automatically ask yourself, “How did she get lung cancer? Did she smoke? Secondhand smoke? Radon? Asbestos?” The answer is no to all of the common questions. I know there is a stigma associated with Lung Cancer, but in fact lung cancer amongst non-smokers accounts for about 20% of the cases, and a majority of them are women.
Tessa got this cancer for reasons that can’t be explained. In fact, I would say that Tessa had as clean a life and upbringing as anyone I know. She is a perfect example of a non-smoking lung cancer that we’re seeing more of these days, and as far as I know, she sadly might be the youngest case on record with her type of cancer.
Tessa was our 3rd child, a child of the Loma Prieta Mountain, a small and wonderful community in the mountains above Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. Fresh air, sunshine, great schools, plenty of nature and room to roam made it an idyllic setting for us to raise our children.
We loved our life, and Tessa loved her life. She was one of those rare kids who was always happy and just appreciated her place in the universe and where she got to live. She was outgoing and was a friend to everyone, a great sister, and most of all, the best daughter a parent could ever hope for.
Our family had many adventures that we have all grown to treasure.
We camped, we skied, we went on wilderness whitewater adventures, we sailed in foreign countries…
We hiked as a family to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite, we played in the sand and swam at the beach, we rode our bikes.
We laughed together a lot, we played games, we traveled to Europe. Sometimes we felt like the Super Family! You get the picture…
