McKenzie Kay Jensen

McKenzie was born in Boise, Idaho on December 21, 2020. In the words of her mother Kayla, her pregnancy was an “unexpected surprise, one that has been hard to wrap my head around. 3 kids in 3 years… But I have felt on multiple occasions that this baby is coming for a reason and that she is a sweet little blessing coming out of 2020.” And she truly was the greatest blessing to our family.

 

McKenzie brought an irreplaceable joy and energy to the family that often was accompanied by the cutest laugh. Even though she was still very young, Kenzie had already mastered the art of the sympathy laugh whenever Trevor made a dad joke. She was truly one-of-a-kind.

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McKenzie was well known for her sassy attitude and refusal to go by her given name. Instead, she insisted on going by Mac Daddy. She loved her sisters more than anything in the world and tried to emulate them every day. She adored her baby brother James and loved crawling in his crib with him to cuddle. She was her daddy’s best friend and quite literally a little miniature version of him, only much more beautiful. In reality though, she didn’t reserve her best friend status just for her dad. She warmed up to anyone, and quickly became best friends with them. 

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On the morning of December 5th, McKenzie woke up and appeared healthy and normal with the exception of skipping breakfast. Just an hour or two later, she complained of her stomach hurting while at preschool. Kayla brought her home to rest, where she remained all day. There was nothing abnormal about her sickness that would have clued us in to it being anything other than just a stomach bug. By that night she still hadn't improved, so she was brought in to sleep in our room. At around 2 o'clock in the morning of December 6th, she was so weak that she couldn't move any of her body. We quickly made the decision to take her to the emergency room, but she passed away peacefully in her mother's arms before we could even get ready.

 

We learned from the coroner later that day that her unexpected death was caused by a condition called volvulus, a twisted intestine which ultimately caused a septic infection and quickly took her life. It seems that while Kenzie was still forming in the womb, her intestines did not make the normal and required rotation so that, eventually, they risked possibly twisting around themselves and creating the volvulus.

 

McKenzie was an exceptionally special child of God whose purpose here in mortality was fulfilled in less than three years.  She will be forever missed!