Named Donna L. Offill, I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 22, 1952. I was a typical child but short in stature. I enjoyed school and even played 'teacher' to several of the neighborhood kids during the summers. I attended 9th and 10th grade in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when my dad was transferred there. We moved back to St. Louis and I graduated from Bayless High School in 1970. Since I still hadn't grown much, I was the first one down the aisle at the graduation. My final height- 4 feet 10 inches. Short and sweet!

I started college at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, about 90 minutes from St. Louis. Far enough to be on my own but still close enough to home. My plans all along were to major in elementary education. I stayed in the dorm and got along well with the girls on my floor. I enjoyed all my classes?.except history. I never liked that subject and now I was really having trouble understanding what my professor was talking about. I pulled an 'all-nighter' studying for his final exam and still failed the class. I did well in all my other classes but that F depressed me.

I met Jim Boley at a party right before the Christmas break. I liked him the minute I saw him. He was handsome with hazel eyes and short light brown hair that laid in beautiful waves. We were apart for the break but talked on the phone several times. When school resumed in 1971, Jim and I became inseparable. We dated during the spring semester and visited during the summer. I had a job in St. Louis and Jim had a job at his old high school near Sikeston, Missouri. The summer was long and the phone bill was high. In November of 1971 Jim asked me to marry him.

We married in July, 1972. We had a fun-filled honeymoon at Penn Hills in the Poconos of Pennsylvania. We bought a house in Sikeston and Jim was going to teach at his elementary school. I dropped out of school to try to get a job to help with the finances. I was unsuccessful in finding one, so I returned to school in the summer of '73. Jim was starting work on his masters degree. I commuted to college and graduated in December, 1974. I started working as a teacher assistant in January

Stephen was born in 1976 and Christopher in 1979. I had a job teaching 8th grade math in Sikeston. Life was good. Jim had his masters and was now a high school counselor. In 1987 he announced one day that he would like to apply for a counseling job in St. Louis a friend had told him about. He got the job and we packed and moved in 10 days. I was able to secure a middle school job three weeks after we moved.

We were able to buy a house in 1989, get out of the apartment, and move the rest of our things out of storage. My job at Normandy and Jim's job at Maplewood was going good. Both boys were involved in scouts. Steve was involved in the band at school and Chris was playing little league ball. I was happy and I thought Jim was too. I was dead wrong- almost.

In August of 1991 I started feeling bad. I thought it was a sinus infection but, even with antibiotics, I didn't feel much better. I began to have cramping in my stomach and I couldn't keep food down. My primary physician sent me to a gastroenterologist to get the opinion of a specialist. He performed the upper and lower GI tests and finally told me he thought I had IBS- irritable bowel syndrome. He gave me some pain medication and told me I would just have to live with it. I was not happy with the diagnosis but, at least, my symptoms now had a name.

I was sick off and on that entire school year. When my illness flared up, I would have to take a two days off school, not eat, take the pain pills, and lie flat on my stomach with no pillow. That was the only way I could get some relief. One thing I couldn't understand was why my hair was getting so thin.

My illness seemed to subside during the summer of 1992. I assumed stress had caused my IBS to flare up during the school year. My summers were usually pretty much stress-free. But, in August, I started getting sick again. I had the same cramping and flu-like symptoms. My mom suggested I go to my gynecologist. He did an ultrasound and found a cyst on one of my ovaries. Surgery was scheduled for Thursday at the end of September. I became violently ill and ended up in the hospital the Monday before the scheduled surgery. My fever shot up to 105, I became unconscious, and was packed in ice. When I awoke, it was Wednesday. My fever still wasn't normal but it was a lot lower. I decided to go ahead with the surgery the next morning. I wanted to get this cyst removed so I my health would improve.

The surgery went fine. My doctor gave me a hysterectomy and removed everything but my good ovary. Luckily the cyst was benign but my doctor told me it had an abnormal appearance. But I had major problems. When I came to, I was in the surgical intensive care and hooked up to the life support equipment. It seems something in my system had conflicted with the anesthetic and my body had shut down. I was on life support for ten days and came very close to death. I returned home very weak and only weighing 80 pounds. I was out of school until after Thanksgiving. My strength returned and I was able to eat again. I had no bouts of pain for the rest of that school year and my hair quit falling out. I felt I had finally found the reason for my poor health and was not going to have any more problems. I was wrong.

In late August of 1993 I started getting sick with the same cramping and flu-like symptoms. I was so frustrated that my problems had returned. School started and it was all I could do to get ready in the morning and drive out there. I was too weak to teach so I would give my students review worksheets to keep them busy. I sat with my head on my desk while they worked. The Friday after Labor Day my doctor took one look at me and admitted me to the hospital. More specialists were called in and I had more tests run, including a painful bone marrow test. Though I didn't quite fit all the criteria, I was told I had lupus. I was given medication and sent home six days later.

I returned to school the following Monday not feeling much better. My legs were so swollen that I could hardly get my stretch pants on. I was losing feeling in my arms and legs. On Thursday of that week I literally crawled up the back stairs to go to my room. My principal saw me and told me to go home. I complied and never returned for the rest of the school year. Saturday evening I was back in the hospital fighting for my life. I was told later that, if I had waited one more hour to come in, I wouldn't have made it.

While in the hospital room I had five seizures and died twice. They brought me back with the shock paddles. I became paralyzed from the nose down and I was moved to the intensive care. A tracheotomy was done and I was put on a respirator. A stomach tube was also inserted.

What had happened?