About Libby
From the minute she entered the world, Libby was a force to be reckoned with. Look up the word spunky in the dictionary, and you’ll probably find a picture of Libby. As an infant strapped into her carrier, her little left leg was always bouncing, and as Libby got older, she continued to be a girl in motion. She joined the dance team, she played select soccer, she led water aerobics in Cabo San Lucas…and she charmed most everyone she met along the way.
Although she rarely said it out loud, the words “I’ve got a great idea” probably crossed her mind at least a dozen times a day. Sometimes those ideas were a bit…problematic. There was the time she sneaked into the kitchen and ate a whole batch of chocolate chip cookies, but then tattled on herself because she was so proud she’d gotten away with it. There was the time she charged several hundred dollars to her school lunch account because she decided her classmates all needed ice cream. As infuriating as they could sometimes be, her carefree spirit and blatant disregard for consequences were also pretty darn inspiring.
Libby fed us. She fed our bodies with hummus and cake pops and the world’s most ridiculously amazing cheesecake. She fed our hearts with endless hugs and smiles and laughter. (Unless, of course, you were the person who had to figure out how to discipline her for that lunch account incident.) She fed our spirits with beautiful wisdom in a way that nobody else ever could. “Don’t be a butt cheek.” “Never trust anyone who doesn’t like queso.” “Did you even brush your hair today?” In her own way, she encouraged us to do more, to be better.
Libby started having ‘spike’ headaches at the end of the summer 2018. They would last a few seconds then go away, sometimes being very, very painful. They started as one every few days and very quickly grew to be multiple times a day, then multiple times an hour. Several visits to the doctors with all the general tests, antibiotics, steroids, sinus cat scan. Nothing to pin the problem on. A neurology appointment was set up, but we would have to wait a few weeks for that. Then another visit to the doctors and blood work was done… then…an MRI.
No one ever thought the MRI would show anything. But it did. Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (a.k.a. DIPG) was the official diagnosis given in October 2018. And there the journey started. The journey was tough, and her disease did not follow the usual progression, instead spreading throughout her body. However, through each set of treatment her smile was there and the need to do more for others grew.
Life to Libby was about being part of a team and keeping the team positive, whether that be her dance team, her soccer team, or the team that battled with her. Her positive and giving nature was contagious and anyone who met her left feeling that they can make a difference.
Libby’s rules for life were pretty simple:
1. Be kind.
2. Do good things.
3. Be bold.
4. Do what you love.
5. Have fun.
Elizabeth Margaret Goodwin (a.k.a. Libby)
14 February, 2005 – 31 May, 2019
Beloved daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, cousin, friend, teammate, trickster, and baking buddy