About Violet Francoise Andrews
Violet Françoise Andrews is named after the saints that have watched over Danielle and Scott as they fell in love, traveled the world, got married, and made a beautiful life together. Scott’s maternal grandmother Violet Heatley was a larger than life figure in his life and was always there for him. Françoise Doucet-Pandoli is Danielle’s amazing mother that taught her the values of patience, loyalty and how to love. This was the genesis of her beautiful name Violet Françoise.
Our little Violet had been perfectly healthy, through an ideal pregnancy. During pregnancy, Vio traveled to over 10 countries with us and even made the cross country move from Atlanta to California. She took fantastic family photos with us during Halloween and Christmas. We were overjoyed and so excited to meet her. Our due date was originally intended to be around the start of 2023. We were finally called in for induction on January 5th. While on night 2 of induction at the hospital, late on January 6th, Danielle required an emergency C-section. Violet had a sudden, sharp drop in her heart rate that alerted the team. We were shocked and terrified. Chaos then ensued.
My girls were losing a lot of blood in front of me. Danielle was wheeled out of the room, frantic, wondering if Vio would survive and if she would see me again. She was under and in surgery within 4 minutes. I tried to be optimistic but also assumed the worst after seeing the large amount of blood lost from Danielle and Vio. I didnt receive any updates as I frantically called friends in the middle of the night. Over 45 minutes passed as I cried and had horrific thoughts in my mind. It was the worst hour of our lives. I was blessed that Danielle survived and we would be able to rebuild and start healing together.
​
We experienced a rare, 1 in 5000 encounter with vasa previa. Violet lost too much blood. She required 16 minutes of compressions to keep her alive. We made the difficult choice to take her off of life support and she passed a day later on January 7th. Our perfectly healthy, full term baby girl was gone. We were able to hold her lifeless body for a few hours, and take photos which we will always treasure. She is beautiful, as you can see from the photos below. Luckily, she resembles her mother more than her father.
​
The first few months after her passing were some of the hardest days of our lives. Seeing Danielle in an empty, fully decorated nursery is something that Ill never forget. Things that use to cause us stress, or even things that seemed so important in the past, all seem like background noise after losing a child. We experienced fantastic support from our friends, family and communities. Our struggle with grief still comes in waves and likely will continue this way.
​
The Violet Movement is our opportunity to not just honor Violet's life, but to make a difference in the lives of others. Danielle has served as one of the top pediatric, critical care nurses for most of her career. Danielle is ECMO (heart bypass machine) certied and has dealt with some of the highest accuity patients in the U.S. Scott's rise in local government started with the humble roots of coaching, athletics and personal training. Both of us have always been deeply passionate about aiding youth, making a difference in our communities and preparing the next generation of leaders. The Violet Movement will allow us to accomplish all of these goals. We hope that you will get involved in the movement, build on our passions and help us deliver transformative change to these young adults. In Violet's name. It is our honor.
I was then told Danielle was in the recovery room and that the Doctor would come talk to us about Violet. That was the moment I was simultaneously beyond grateful to see my better half, yet devastated because I knew our daughter was in a health crisis, or dead.
Little Vio experienced a very rare complication called Vasa Previa. Vio lost too much blood to bounce back. She required 16 minutes of CPR, a lot of epinephrine, a team of medical staff, and high tech equipment to keep her alive for 16 hours. Simply stated, her brain and heart weren’t functioning due to the loss of oxygen and blood.
It was our decision to not let our baby girl struggle. We called friends to pray with us, and we even had her baptized about an hour before she met Jesus. She would come off the ventilator and other equipment and pass peacefully in our arms on the afternoon of January 7, 2023.
​
We were able to hold her for a few hours after her death to grieve. She is beautiful, looks perfect, like Danielle in her nose, eyes and delicate features. She has some huge feet and big ears like her Dad. At 8 lbs. 4oz, she could have been an engineer or a future WNBA star. We took some photos with our lifeless little angel. A few are shown here. They are hard to look at for some people, so we don’t fault you for not looking.
I never imagined filling out Violet’s birth and death certificate at the same time. I never thought the only time I’d hold, rock or sing to my little girl, would be with her pale, stiffening body. I never imagined sadness like I experienced seeing Danielle back at home in the nursery, without Violet.
Six months has now passed since our little butterfly flew away. We have gone back and forth between deep sadness, to raging anger, to complete numbness. The Violet Movement has been a labor of love. The creation of this cause, this board, this brand and all of the events to follow have been the fuel that has pushed me through dark, depressing times. Nothing will bring Danielle, Violet or I more joy than to award these scholarships each year in her name. Violet’s legacy will live on through the accomplishments of these stellar scholarship recipients.