CHENEY, Wash — Sara Edge believes that life shouldn’t be measured by dates, not by birth or death, but rather, what happens in between.
She believes in living your dash. In fact, it’s a strong family belief to the point where she and her husband Mark both have small dashes tattooed near their wrists.
“It’s our family thing to make our dash count and to live our best life,” Sara said.
It’s the dash of their son, Erik, that brought us to the Edge’s Cheney family home this fall.
“He was my sunshine," Sara said. "He just had a light that would transform any room.”
Seventeen-year-old Erik Edge was on summer break, the eve of his senior year at Gonzaga Prep, when he died unexpectedly from complications during a routine surgery.
His family determined that Erik’s light, his dash, was not done.
“When he was 14, I was able to take him with me on a mission trip to Honduras," Mark said. "He actually got to see what people didn’t have."
Wanting to hear Erik’s name and for people to remember his heart, the Edge’s are determined to build wells all over the world in Erik’s name.
“Sara had the great idea of 'why don’t we take all these funds that people are donating and develop a well in a country, dedicated in Erik’s name,' so we want to make an impact on his behalf,” Mark said.
After a fundraiser just months after Erik’s death, the family raised enough to build their first well and create a roadmap for more.
"We don’t want to stop with one or two," Sara said. "We’ll keep going as long as we can.”
Erik’s Gonzaga Prep family is grieving as well, but no one is surprised that Erik’s life has inspired great acts of kindness, for that's how the teen chose to live his life.
Erik’s friends and his family are encouraging people to say his name, remember his kindness and maybe even reshift their focus.
“I think Erik Edge is an excellent role model for that, that we can hold up as an example to people for how to be somebody for others that was living not just for himself and for his own benefit, but for the good of the world,“ Father J.K. Adams at Gonzaga Prep said.