Indy Grace Spain passed away on November 22, 2022 at the age of 135 days in Dallas, TX. She was born on July 11, 2022 to Austin and Shannon Spain. Indy Grace was born second to her twin sister Eleanor Rose Spain at 29 weeks gestation.

Indy Grace was a very special baby girl. When people hear her name, most ask how we came up with it. We always wanted a name that had meaning behind it. Indy means independent which she was, and Grace, “sweet surprise”. With the news we may never have kids of our own, God blessed us with our sweet surprise, Indy Grace, our twin girl B. Words cannot express the joy of the news. As they grew in the womb, Indy Grace fell behind her sister and needed to come early. Every doctor warned us of her unlikely chance of survival, but we held hope God would deliver. Indy fought harder than anyone could’ve asked and was just the right size that allowed the doctors to support her outside the womb. Through the next four months we saw her encounter several life-threatening health issues. She required emergency surgery twice for perforations in her intestines, several different machines to help her breathe, Indy Grace was transferred to a higher level of care due to the complex health issues, she broke records of the highest bilirubin the Children’s in Dallas had ever seen, and eventually was diagnosed with an aggressive leukemia that took her life.

We only had a short time with our baby girl, but she taught us so much. Indy Grace was the happiest baby despite the constant pain she endured every day. We loved seeing her beautiful eyes and feel her tiny hand wrapped around our finger. She loved head rubs from Mom and Dad and sweet talked. Indy Grace knew how to make us laugh with her wild tongue wiggling around. Indy Grace would stare at her contrast cards above her bed like she had a test the next day. We couldn’t get her to look away half the time; her favorite was a picture of a cow. Each and every memory we have of her, we carry with joy and expectation of seeing her again soon. The four months we had with her we wouldn’t trade for the world and thank the Lord for each and every moment.

But we also wanted to thank you.

Thank you to all the nurses, doctors, RTs, NPs, child life specialists, music therapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists for giving our sweet surprise a fighting chance. She loved y’all so much. We wish you could have seen her discharged and watched her grow.

Thank you to all the people who followed her story, prayed during our hardest moments, fought alongside us when we felt hopeless, and offered support. She was such a special girl; we are grateful that other people could experience her joy while she was here. Know that even though the ending was sooner than we wanted, your prayers saved our girls life several times and gave us so much longer with her. We are eternally grateful for that.

Indy Grace may be gone, but her memory is still with us. Even though we would like to hold her longer, no time would be enough, and the Lord’s arms are so much more sufficient. One day we will see her again. We will hold her in heaven.

Indy Grace, we loved you more than you will ever know. We will miss you for the rest of our lives and honor your memory. Your sister will know all about you when she is older. We are sorry y’all never got the chance to team up on us or do all the normal twin things. We would give anything to hold you again, watch you play soccer or volleyball, watch you get ready for Prom and intimidate the boys you brought by. We wish we got to see you fall in love and walk you down the aisle; to watch you have kids of your own and love them the way we loved you. We wish we got to see your passions and how you choose to spend your days. But most of all we wish we got to see you fall in love with Jesus and see you glorify Him. You’ve done more in four months than we have in 28 years. You’re a miracle, a gift, a sweet, sweet surprise. Words will never be enough for your memory and a memory will never be enough for us. We love you.