COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Every butterfly that crosses Steve and Kathy Forsness's path will always remind them of a beautiful life that left this world too soon.
Their daughter, Jennifer Forsness, was 41 when she died from a severe stroke in early October 2017.
"I think of her as a butterfly that flew away," Kathy said, clearing flowers and gifts from the dining room table of their Hayden home. "She was a beautiful girl and I remember when she was born. We were so excited because we had a boy and then we got a girl six years later."
Jennifer's partner had found her unconscious on the floor of their Puyallup, Washington home Oct. 4. Steve and Kathy boarded an emergency flight and rushed to the Puyallup hospital where their daughter was on life support.
Because Jennifer and her partner, Dustin, were not married, her parents had to make the heartbreaking decision to pull their daughter off the life supporting equipment.
"It took me three days," Kathy said, tears in her eyes. "Finally, I went to her doctor and said, 'Is there any possibility that she can come back?' ... He said, 'No. No, she is not coming back.'
"They showed me her brain scan," she continued softly. "She wasn't coming back."
This was also the time to decide whether to donate Jennifer's organs. Doctors looked to Steve and Kathy because it was unclear if Jennifer was a registered donor. Her body was still alive, so her organs were still functioning and could save someone else's life.
"What most people don't know is, you could have 100 donors, but only one of them will actually be able to donate organs because that person has to be alive when they remove the organs. If you die in a car accident, it's too late," Steve said. "The donor people, there was like three of them there talking to us day and night. If we were there, they were there. They're very compassionate, helpful, understanding, because this is a complicated thing. Most people have no idea what it takes to donate an organ."
In the midst of their own hearts breaking, they chose to give what they could. Jennifer's kidneys were donated to two male patients, both in their 50s and with families. Her corneas, heart valves and soft tissue were also gifted to those in need.
It was a difficult but logical decision for the Forsness family to make. Steve had recently undergone a transplant while dealing with a potentially lethal heart condition.
"We felt it was important because he had been given the gift of receiving someone's heart valves," Kathy said. "It's kind of a turnaround that he received and we can give."
In November, Steve and Kathy received letters from unnamed recipients through the organ donation organization, LifeCenter Northwest, thanking them for their generosity and the unimaginable gifts that came from their daughter.
"I cried," Kathy said, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. "She lives on through what we were able to do."
Kathy contacted The Press to share this story after reading about Post Falls lung transplant survivor Alex Heisel, whose family expressed enormous gratitude for the donation she received.
"We were on the other side of the spectrum of Alex's story," Kathy said.
And yet, this story has a dark side. Jennifer's stroke did not naturally occur. She had high blood pressure, and the stroke was brought on because she smoked methamphetamine.
"I approached her in August because Dustin called me. He said, 'I can smell it; I can taste it. She's doing meth.' And she didn't look like the typical meth user. Her skin was beautiful," Kathy said. "When I approached her about it, she said, 'Oh Mom, I don't do enough to harm me.' Well, it took her life. And she'd only been taking it for three months."
Even though Jennifer's body and organs had not yet begun to show signs of the drug use, it was her blood pressure condition mixed with the meth that dealt the fatal blow.
"They knew what she died from," Kathy said. "Her blood pressure medication was sitting on the counter at home, so I don't know if she'd taken any. She knew she had high blood pressure, but she was of the type that, 'Nothing bad's going to happen to me.' That cost her her life.
"You don't mess with meth. It's very, very dangerous stuff. Yes, you will die from it."
Kathy said she wants to share this part of the story because she wants parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of using meth, even one time. She said people just don't know about hidden ailments they may have that could react with this powerful drug.
"Since this has happened, when I see young people, I can tell they're meth users because of the sores they have on their faces," she said. "I just want to shake them and say, 'You stupid fool, you're going to die. Don't do this to your parents. You're destroying your family.'"
Jennifer, a stay-at-home mom, left behind her parents, a brother and many friends. She also left her significant other, Dustin, to raise their child on his own.
Her parents described her as "flamboyant, very positive, outgoing, friendly." She left a colorful mark on their world, accompanied by an inescapable, heart-wrenching void.
"She had so much to live for," Kathy said. "There are times I yell at her: 'Jennifer, you had a job to do, you have a 9-year-old daughter, what were you thinking?'"
Kathy, a retired high school attendance secretary, said she hopes to soon speak to students in area schools about the dangers of even trying meth once.
As tragic as it is, she and Steve are glad that Jennifer was able to do one last thing for others by donating life-saving parts of herself before she was gone forever.
"Jennifer helped humanity," Kathy said. "In all of her faults, we were able to not make it right, but give something back."