Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
FARMINGTON — Toddler twin daughters, a husband and countless others are mourning the loss of a woman gone too soon.
LayCee Barnett, 28, who had just learned she was expecting another child, felt what her husband Josh Barnett described as flu-like symptoms on Jan. 10. Days later, she got news that shook her world — and then immediately took her from it.
"The Wednesday before the 15th, LayCee started getting sick, so we waited a couple of days with things not changing," Josh Barnett recalled. "Fevering started happening and then her legs got really weak, so we went to the Instacare, and there wasn't much they could do there."
He explained that, at that time, doctors were also unable to find a heart beat for the couple's unborn child, and his wife began miscarrying. The next day, on Sunday (Jan. 14), when her symptoms didn't improve, she went to the emergency room, where her blood was tested and acute myeloid leukemia was discovered.
The American Cancer Society describes acute myeloid leukemia as a fast growing form of leukemia that starts in the bone marrow and quickly moves to the blood, often spreading to lymph nodes, liver, spleen and the central nervous system. Josh Barnett said doctors explained his wife's type of cancer was curable, but it was the most extreme case they had seen. They took no time admitting her to LDS Hospital for treatment that began that very night.
"I went home that Sunday night to get some rest and be back with my girls for a moment before I headed back to the hospital," Barnett recalled. "That night, the doctors explained that they were going to do two types of chemotherapy to treat it because she had no more immune system. They were going to keep her in the hospital for about a month and a half."
There wouldn't be much time for treatments or even to process what was happening because on the evening of Jan. 15 — just one day after being admitted to the hospital — LayCee Barnett passed away.
The life I was creating with LayCee just shattered.
–Josh Barnett
"I was just processing that my wife would be in the hospital getting cancer treatments, and the next day, I had to process that my wife is no longer going to be here," he said.
Barnett said life was looking up. The two of them had 3-year-old twin girls, had just purchased a home and were growing their family.
"She was five weeks pregnant, so we were just starting to grow our family and we were excited about that," he said.
Hopes shattered
Josh and LayCee Barnett met in 2012 when they were attending different high schools. He was at Bountiful High School and she attended Wasatch High. Josh Barnett went on a two-year Latter-day Saint church mission, and the two picked up where they left off when he returned. Their courtship lasted two years and they were married in April 2018.
Barnett said being a wife and mother was fulfilling for his wife, as was her love of dance.
"Dancing was her passion," he said. "She started when she was 3 and never stopped. She graduated from Southern Utah University as a dance major, and she's performed and taught for many companies. Her specialty was contemporary and modern dance. She even danced when she was pregnant with the twins, and that was also a rough pregnancy because we were told that one of the babies wasn't going to make it from the beginning."
He said his wife was kind to all who knew her and he described her as his best friend. He said moving forward without her and facing raising their daughters without their mother is going to be really hard.
"All I can think of is good things about her," he said. "I've met hundreds of people at the viewing and funeral, where so many told me that she was a special hearted person. To me, she was my best friend who I was always able to talk to. It feels weird not having her around, and I wish she was here with me and the girls. … Now I need to learn how to be a full-time parent. I mean, she was the parent and it was easier for me to just go to work, come home for 2½ hours or so and help take care of them, put them to bed and then do the same thing the next day.
"Now, I can have a little taste of what she's going through: constant kids climbing on her and wanting attention. It's definitely something she was great at."
Barnett said he believes his wife isn't far away, as experiences he holds close to his heart have confirmed. He said, even with those feelings, the fact she is gone and the life they were building together has, in many ways, shattered.
"It feels much like when I'm finishing a puzzle and I have one piece left and my toddler throws the whole puzzle down, and I've got to start picking up the pieces again try to figure it out," he explained. "The life I was creating with LayCee just shattered."
Looking for silver linings is what gets many people through hard times, and he is doing his best to do just that. Barnett said even though his wife is gone, he is happy it happened how it did.
"I'm glad that she didn't have to suffer for a long time, compared to others," he said. "I hope that she would have been able to beat the cancer, but I'm really glad she didn't have to suffer."
A GoFundMe* account has been set up to help with hospital, funeral and living expenses for Barnett and his two daughters. A memorial service was held for LayCee Barnett on Monday, Jan, 22 in Heber City.
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
