LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. (KOIN) — Thane Cleland said his niece, Nina Heidgerken, had an amazing heart, one filled with love.
Before Tuesday, no one thought that amazing heart would give out at the age of 18. But that’s the news they heard then, and the reality they faced on Saturday.
“She’d been to the doctor a few times and they released her,” Cleland said, “and Tuesday she went in and there was an infection in her heart.”
Nina, a senior at Lakeridge High School, passed away on Saturday from complications related to pneumonia.
“No one had any idea this was coming,” Cleland said.
On Easter Sunday, Cleland remembered his niece. She was a girl, full of energy, with a love for music and theater. She had a passion for the violin.
“I never saw her more excited or in her element then when she was in Mary Poppins,” Cleland said.
Faith was also a major part of Nina’s life. Nina, an aspiring teacher, sang in the choir at the Community of Faith Church in West Linn. She also participated in several mission trips.
“That played a big part in Nina’s life and in our family’s life and without that I wouldn’t be sitting here, and I don’t know how anyone would be standing up right now,” Cleland said.
Nina’s heart, the one that eventually gave out, knew no stranger.
“She went out of her way to talk to people nobody else was talking to,” Cleland said.
Faith is also something Nina’s family is trying to keep a day after her unexpected death. Cleland believes Nina, his energetic, loving niece, is now in a better place.
“The fact that his is Easter weekend is not lost on anybody in the family and it’s that incredible mix of emotion where you are so happy that’s she’s not in pain and in paradise with her father and Jesus,” Cleland said, “and we’re just down here missing her.”