Elise was a junior at General McLane High School in Edinboro, PA where she was looking forward to her Senior year. Elise was a wonderful and loving young woman. Her character was a great mix of both of her parents as well as her older brothers. She was dedicated, and hard-working like her Dad, loving and compassionate like her Mom, intelligent and creative like her brother Luke, and care-free and artistic like her oldest brother Jake. Elise had such a witty sense of humor as well and she developed that all by herself! Whether she was at home hanging out or at her favorite vacation destination, the beach, she loved to be with her family. She enjoyed baking and cooking and took great pride in serving others her creations. Elise spent a lot of time doing creative projects to decorate her room or to give to her friends and family. She loved to make beach themed art that hung on the wall and she was always thinking of ways to make her room feel like she was at the beach. At holidays she would always make decorative name tags or other art to help welcome our family and friends. She just loved to create things. She even had the chance to take a watercolor painting class at school and
We now have some beautiful paintings of hers that will be cherished forever. If it wasn’t family she was with, she loved to hang out with her friends. Whether going to a home football or basketball game, or a school dance, she loved to spend time with her friends. The one aspect of Elise’s life that she really showed passion for, was her faith in Jesus. Elise loved to attend worship and was especially fond of the music. She attended several Christian music concerts over the years and they always brought her great joy. Elise was a special gift from God and we love and miss her so very much.
On July 27th, 2021 Elise lost her life to complications after undergoing surgery for a brain aneurysm. It was around Mother’s Day that she started to experience severe migraine headaches. Weeks after, a CT scan was ordered where a rare dolichoectatic fusiform aneurysm was discovered. This was devastating news for Elise, and our family, and we knew that our faith and prayer was the only thing that was going to help us through this. Elise had to stay very strong to endure the intense headaches, but we were hopeful that the doctors could come up with a plan to help her situation. Ultimately her condition started to worsen and surgery was the only option to try and save her. The surgeons devised a by-pass strategy to try and work around the aneurysm, which at that point had actually grown in size. Elise had to make a very grown up decision for a 17-year-old but she knew it was the only chance. The surgery was very long and arduous, but it turned out that the aneurysm was a lot worse than what they had seen on scans. On the night of July 27th, Elise passed away and went to be with Jesus in Heaven. We know that we will see her again someday, but in the meantime we want to do everything that we can to help others to not experience this same pain.
Elise McEldowney Ride for Brain Aneurysm Awareness
$1,147OF OUR $2,000 GOAL
Elise McEldowney Ride for Brain Aneurysm Awareness
