"We had our own business so it kind of separated us," Angie said. "We lost our business and our home, and lived in the parking lot," of the hospital when they weren't living at the Ronald McDonald House. "But what we went through was nothing compared to what Brooklyn did."

The couple said they are grateful that doctors and nurses still remember them, and especially their daughter. "The staff here is absolutely amazing," Brad said. "They became our family and they're still our family. It helps to come and see them and today that was one of the highlights."

Jean Mannela couldn't praise hospital personnel enough following her experiences there. She lost two daughters, six years apart, at Primary Children's to a pulmonary condition whose origin was never determined, but doctors are looking at a genetic connection, she said. Rowelena was 6 years old and died during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Jolyn was 14 and died in April 2008.

Teams of doctors, nurses, social workers and child-life staff worked together to help ease her family through both daughters' treatment, Mannela said, praising the hospital's new palliative care team that was organized after Rowelena's death but in time to help them make decisions about Jolyn's end-of-life care.

Her lungs were failing and the final option was to list her for a double lung transplant. Her parents didn't feel good about it. "She agreed that it wouldn't be the best thing as well, and we were able to make that decision together. The palliative team helped us see things we didn't want to see and understand things we needed to understand."

"We were treated like gold. … If I could choose a place for my children to die, it would be Primary Children's. As hard as death is, it was a beautiful experience here. … The things they arranged for us. I can't tell you how grateful I am."

Orley Bills, the palliative care team leader, said the program was organized two years ago. While grieving for both children and adults is individual, he does see some similarities.

"Guilt is huge. (Parents) feel there is something they should be doing or didn't do that caused (the child's death). And all parents feel helpless. They try to control whatever they can control."

His job is difficult, as he helps people walk through the dying process and loses children he has become close to, Bills said. But the chance to "bear witness" of small lives that make a difference in the world is priceless.

"I bear witness every day to pain, to kindness, to grief and to love. That's my job, to bear witness to people's stories."

E-mail: carrie@desnews.com