Kelsey

See more about Kelsey at www.meapatronus.com

Published: Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 7:31 a.m.

Kelsey Renee Thomas, an avid reader and fast-talking 14-year-old who had amazed people with her language skills since early childhood, died Monday night at a San Rafael hospital while being treated for a blood clot in her leg.

The clot had been removed from her left leg, and Kelsey, who was awake during the procedure, had been “gabbing away” with the nurse, said her mother, Darcy Thomas of Petaluma.

Kelsey said, “I can’t breathe,” and then lost consciousness, her mother said. Physicians swarmed into the room but were unable to revive the girl, who had enrolled this fall at Rincon Valley Christian School in Santa Rosa.

“I’ve never seen doctors cry before,” Darcy Thomas said.

The coroner determined that Kelsey died of a massive blood clot in her lungs and surmised that she may have experienced blood clots for some time, her mother said.

“Nobody saw this coming,” Thomas said.

Kelsey fainted in a school hallway last year, but had been thoroughly tested and monitored since then, her mother said. Her left leg had swollen and turned purple on Monday, prompting the trip to the hospital.

Loreena Hester, who taught Kelsey in Sunday school at Sonoma Avenue Church of Christ in Santa Rosa, called her “a bright and shiny star for all of us.”

After Bible lessons at age 2 and 3, as the other kids moved on to play, Kelsey would arrange biblical figures on a flannel board and accurately retell the lesson.

“I never had any other student do that,” Hester said. “It was a joy to get to teach her.”

Kelsey’s abilities surfaced early, as she started walking at nine months and was speaking in complete sentences — and answering questions — by age 2, her mother said.

Reading on her own at 5, Kelsey developed a passion for literature, ranging from works by Jane Austen, C.S. Lewis and William Shakespeare to the lighter fare, such as the “Twilight” series of vampire tales.

Books were stacked by her bed and “she was always at the library getting more,” her mother said.

Kelsey also read and wrote poetry, loved movies and music, and had more than 1,200 songs on her iPod, everything from classics and jazz to techno-dance and rap, with plenty of Christian music.

A talented singer and actress, Kelsey performed in plays at Harvest Christian School in Petaluma, where she graduated from the eighth grade in June. She also spent two summers with a Petaluma theater company, performing “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.”

Her favorite school classes were English and history, and after starting Spanish at Rincon Valley this fall she asked her mother “why it was hard for everyone else.”

A keen-eyed photographer, Kelsey took close-up shots of visual elements that most people miss, her mother said. “She seemed to catch the details of everything,” Thomas said. “The nuances and subtleties of the world, and people, too.”

Kelsey, who went on a church mission trip to an orphanage in Ensenada, Mexico, last year, also enjoyed family travels to England and Costa Rica.

“She may have only had 14 years, but she was busy and they were powerful years,” her mother said.

A fiery-spirited girl, Kelsey had emerged from a period of stubborn behavior at ages 12 and 13 and was gaining maturity, including a kinder relationship with her brother, Devin, 11. “We were having such an amazing time,” Thomas said.

Survivors, in addition to her mother and brother, are Kelsey’s father, Mike Thomas of Petaluma; grandparents Clyde and Renie Thomas of Petaluma and Dev and Donna Ogle of Rohnert Park; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

A memorial service was held Saturday at Calvary Chapel of Petaluma, 1955 S. McDowell Blvd. Memorial donations may be made to Harvest Christian School, 3700 Lakeville Hwy., Petaluma, 94954.

— Guy Kovner, The Press Democrat