| Birth: | unknown | | Death: | Feb. 8, 2007
Birmingham
Jefferson County
Alabama, USA | 
Jacob Christian Snelling, age 2, of Ohatchee will be Monday at 2 p.m. at Anniston Memorial Funeral Home with Bro. Robert Angles and Dr. Rees Oliver officiating. Burial will be in Union Methodist Cemetery in Wellington. The family will receive friends Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the funeral home. Jacob earned his angel wings Thursday at Childrenís Hospital in Birmingham.
Survivors include his parents, Gary and Trovia Snelling, of Ohatchee; two brothers, Wesley and Austin; grandparents, Gary and Alice Harper, of Anniston and Wayne and Rhonda Snelling, of Ohatchee; great-grandmother, Vivian Sparks, of Anniston and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins. Pallbearers will be Patrick Grammer, Dustin Grammer, Andrew Grammer, Wesley Hammett and Frank Yeager.
Jacob was a true miracle and touched many lives. He overcame many medical obstacles and was an inspiration to us all. He received love and excellent care from his parents and grandparents on a daily basis. He has made us appreciate the life we are given and helped us to make the most of each moment. His love will live with us forever. Please remember God has been with Jacob from day one, and today he is running, talking and playing in heaven with his new friends and old. We rejoice in this fact.
Jacob Snelling was born with little expectation that he would survive delivery, but the event that led to the death of the 2 year old this week was a complete surprise, his parents said Saturday.
Jacob died Thursday after suffering a stroke Feb. 3.
"It was totally unexpected," said his father, Gary Snelling of Ohatchee. "It even surprised the doctors in a child this young."
Jacob was born without kidneys and with underdeveloped lungs, a condition called pulmonary hypoplasia.
He was not expected by doctors to make it out of the delivery room, but for more than two and a half years he defied the odds, cared for at home by his parents and grandparents, his siblings and nurses, maintained by dialysis and feeding tubes.
Until the stroke, Jacob had been doing well, his parents said. "Friday night and early Saturday he was awake, jibber-jabbering away. It was real sudden," Gary Snelling said.
"He was babbling and talking and having a good time," said his mother, Trovia Snelling. "At 10 he was watching Mickey Mouse and he went back to sleep. I always let him sleep in on Saturday. I got him up after lunch, that's when he comes off dialysis. I couldn't get him to fully wake up."
Jacob was taken to Children's Hospital in Birmingham, where doctors determined that bleeding into his brain had damaged it beyond repair. He died Thursday night.
In December, Jacob made it to the top of a kidney transplant list in California. He died before a kidney became available.
But while he couldn't benefit from a transplant, Jacob was able to help other waiting children.
"He was able to donate his liver, heart valves and corneas," Gary Snelling said Saturday. "His liver went directly to Florida to a little girl."
"It was a blessing to me that he could donate his organs," Trovia Snelling said. "It put me at peace … It's a blessing in a way, because he's in a better place and he could give to other children, too."
Survivors besides his parents include two brothers, Wesley and Austin, his grandparents, Gary and Alice Harper of Anniston and Wayne and Rhonda Snelling of Ohatchee, and a great-grandmother, Vivian Sparks of Anniston.
| | | Burial:
Union United Methodist Church Cemetery
Wellington
Calhoun County
Alabama, USA |
Created by: Claudetta
Record added: Feb 11, 2007
Find A Grave Memorial# 17892551 |
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