In late September of 2006, Deja was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a nasty brain tumor spider-webbed through her brain stem which is thought of as cancerous. As of 2006, these tumors were not operated on due to the complexity and life supporting functions in the brain stem. Still today, operations are extremely rare and experimental. DIPG is incurable, and most children will survive 2 years at best. With radiation, Deja was given 8-12 months. She died 10 months after her diagnosis. This website celebrates her very short life and all the people who were lucky enough to be a part of it. Thank you for stopping and meeting my precious angel!

Deja Jaleen

August 20, 2002
to
July 25, 2007

Deja passed away July 25th at 6:10pm. She went quickly and peacefully and was not in any pain. She was with her Mom, Angela, and Grandparents, Nana and Papa Coppock, and her Aunt Patti. Thank you to the special hospice workers who got us through the final days, and thank you to the community for all your support and prayers.

Services were held on August 3rd at Broadway Christian Church. The services were very beautiful. We want to personally thank our Church Family, Epic Christian Church, as well as Broadway Christian Church for lending us their beautiful Church for Deja's services. Thank you to all the volunteers. A very special thank you to the Bubik Family for their continued support, and to Justin and Margaret for their beautiful words during the service. Thank you to Deja's Godparents, Brandy and Rob and Rob's amazing reading of a precious poem written just for Deja by Stephanie Fortuna of NJ who has followed Deja's story from the beginning. A very special thank you to April, a true friend for life, for her beautiful video. Thank you to Pastor's Jeff and Mike from Epic, and a BIG THANK YOU to my mom and dad (Nana and Papa) and my sister and brother, Paul and Patti Stubberfield. Thank you to Target, Integrity Scaffolding, and Schaller Anderson for being such great employers and for being so understanding and supportive of your employees. I wish I could say the same for mine. Thank you to the community! I am so very proud to be a part of it! You all showed me that their are still good people in this world, and amazing things can happen when we help each other.

Letter from Mom:

I battle everyday with the reason I have been chosen for such a difficult journey. Maybe I volunteered for this before my life here started. Maybe the Lord just thinks I am strong enough. Maybe the Lord knew I would be a voice for these children. What ever the reason, all I know is that I do not want it to end forever. I do not want this to be for nothing. I have accepted the path that the Lord has chosen for me, whether it is difficult or easy because I trust him. I would never trade this time he has given me to know my daughter. I will keep you alive! Thank you to everyone, strangers and all, who have been unbelievably supportive. Your support has given me even more strength and motivation which has helped pull me through difficult days. I am proud to have you all in my life. I am proud of this community. I hope that on your difficult days, you remember my sweet Deja. Remember that all the way through to the end, she never complained. NEVER! And even when speaking became very difficult, she still insisted on saying "please" and "thank you". Live every day happily. Make someone else smile. Enjoy what you have, even if it is not what you expect. Embrace it!

Angela Scott
 AKA Deja's Mommy

Last Updated: 3/5/2020

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