08/13/2026
Posting for some dear feiends of ours.
Our family has been walking through the unimaginable. My brother in law Jesse Fortenberry wrote this about his daughter Aurora, and he asked me to share it. Please read it. Then, if you feel moved, the details for her memorial service and how to help her parents are at the bottom.
♥ A letter from Aurora's Daddy ♥
On Tuesday, 8/4/2026, there was a crash. Aurora was unresponsive at the scene. Britnee was hurt worse than we first realized. Aurora was taken to the ICU at Scottish Rite in Atlanta, where the doctors told us to brace for bad news.
For those who didn't get a chance to meet her yet: Aurora was our sweet baby girl, three months old, already getting chunky and happy. She had these little thick feet. People mistook her for a baby doll. We would politely laugh and say thank you, then pump our fists once we were out of earshot. She had just learned to smile at us, and it gave us some very cute pictures. She was so wiggly and always had somewhere to go. We spent dusks on the deck listening to the crickets while Rory cooed the cutest little sounds. She loved the sun. She had deep ocean eyes. I couldn't believe our baby had blue eyes. We talked every day about whether they would stick.
She gave me purpose and a new love for the future. She gave Britnee a joy she hadn't felt in nine years, through everything we went through with infertility. Rory filled that hole after we finally made it through IVF. We clawed and scraped our way to her.
The days in the ICU felt like waves. Each one pushed us under, and each time somebody pulled us up to breathe. Our family came. Friends came. This hospital showed up in a way we will remember for the rest of our lives. We had a hundred conversations with doctors, nurses, and specialists, and the scans and the news never got better.
We fought. We fought so hard. We grabbed ourselves by the nape of the neck and forced ourselves to hope that a miracle was on its way. We begged for forty-eight hours more than what is standard, just to see if she would heal. We were prepared to live the rest of our lives in that hospital if we had to.
Britnee took Rory on adventures at night. They were fairies riding cardinals. They swam to the depths of the sea as mermaids. They wore pants with a lot of pockets to store everything they found along the way.
I spent the days whispering in Rory's ear, asking her to come back to her mother. Begging her to rescue her mom.
Our last hope was a blood perfusion study. If there was any blood in her brain, she could heal. We got the results, there was no blood in her brain stem. There was no blood in Rory's brain at all.
They let us say goodbye outside, in a garden, holding our baby in the sun. She got to bask in the sun she loved one more time.
The days after were a mix of holding out for a Hail Mary and slowly starting to accept the truth. The miracle we wanted never came.
But the miracle we didn't expect did.
Aurora was healthy. Everything but her brain was in great shape. Because of her age, eight organs could go to other babies waiting on the transplant list.
It dawned on us that we had the chance to save eight other mothers and fathers from the pain we were feeling right then. We could keep the world from going cold and empty for them. We couldn't save our daughter. But our daughter could save them.
Thank you, Aurora. Thank you for making me a Daddy, a role I never knew I wanted so much. Thank you for making your mother whole after she was broken for so long. And thank you for saving other parents from the depths we now understand so well.
We are not okay. We are not going to be okay for a long time. This letter was hard to write, but my hope is that it saturates every corner of our social lives so you don't have to ask how we are. You can just say her name.
She was here. She was ours. And she was worth all of it.
— Jesse Fortenberry
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🕊 MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR AURORA
Saturday, August 15th, 2026
7:00–8:30 PM
3105 Clarks Bridge Rd, Gainesville, GA 30506
Olympic Tower Side
All who loved Aurora, or who love Jesse and Britnee, are welcome.
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💙 HOW TO HELP
Many have asked what they can do. A fund has been set up to help Jesse and Britnee Fortenberry with hospital bills not covered by insurance, funeral expenses, and time away from work to grieve.
https://gofund.me/8093f077d
If you're not able to give, sharing this post is just as meaningful. And when you see Jesse and Britnee, you don't have to ask how they are. Just say her name. Aurora.
On Tuesday, August 11th, my brother and sister in law Jesse & Britnee sa… Paul Johnson needs your support for For Aurora: Supporting the Fortenberry Family
