Our father tells the following story:

Trish Campbell-Merchant was a Marriage and Family Therapist with a thriving practice in the Woodlands, Texas. I was a faculty member at the University of Texas, assigned to a Family Practice Residency Program located in Baytown, Texas. I was also in process of finishing my doctorate in Physical/Medical Anthropology at Texas A&M. Trish and I had a three-year-old son, Kristian, and in May of 1996, Trish was also four months pregnant with what we knew would be our daughter. Trish had been experiencing respiratory problems for about half of her pregnancy and had been given a diagnosis of pregnancy-induced asthma. On May 23rd, Trish had a seizure and a full medical work-up was properly conducted. She was diagnosed with non-small cell undifferentiated lung cancer. We were informed that Trish, a non-smoker, had less than six months to live. We were advised, in fact encouraged, by the doctors to abort the baby who would likely not thrive in any scenario so that Trish could receive adequate palliative care and enjoy her last few months with Kristian and me.  Trish opted otherwise, electing to do all she could to bring our daughter into the world before she died. Heroically, Trish withstood the growing intense pain, seizures, and gathering collection of dreadful symptoms that came with her condition. She lasted about one month before succumbing to the pain. During that period doctors worked to develop our daughter’s lungs so that she would have a fighting chance at survival upon birth. Anna was born June 23, 1996. She weighed just over three pounds and dipped quickly below that weight as she spent weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit much of the time not expected to live.

Trish died several weeks later. Anna survived, but needed comprehensive care. Kristian was lost, terrified and traumatized. I was at my limit. We had no family in the area. We did not belong to a church. We had few resources. The medical and hospital bills were unfathomable.

With assistance from a few close friends and family outside the state we were able to keep going. Through those very dark months and years I knew in my heart that I would one day find a way to help others who faced similar circumstances.

Anna graduated Magna Cum Laude from college in 2018. Kristian had graduated in 2015 and has been happily and gainfully employed since. I sensed that the timing was finally right, and I approached Anna and Kristian about the idea of creating a foundation to help children who lost their mother due to death, as well as helping the surviving spouse/partner. They, of course, jumped on board.

The name of the organization, Crazy Good, is derived from a dream I had months after Trish died. In the dream, Trish came to me and told me to keep going and not to worry or be sad for her because were she was is “Crazy Good.”  I had never heard that term before, but it stuck, and I held on to it especially in the dark of night.

And so here we are. The wonderful people I have asked to join the “Board” of the Crazy Good Foundation are a few family members and several close friends, some of whom knew Trish.