Alison and her husband were expecting their first child. She was overdue and admitted to the hospital where she was given medicine to prepare the cervix for delivery the next morning. After a few hours, Alison’s water broke and she went into hard labor. When the medical professionals began having trouble hearing the baby’s heartbeat, it was decided to do an emergency Cesarean. Alison signed the consent form and the baby was delivered and a “code blue” was called for the baby girl. She was revived and immediately prepared for a helicopter ride to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis. In the meantime, Alison was being stitched up and they noticed blood oozing from her stitches. She had gone into DIC (Dissimanated Intravascular Coagulation) where the blood stops clotting. Because of the bleeding, a hysterectomy was performed but the bleeding continued. Although she received many units of blood and blood products and CPR, Alison did not survive.
Their beautiful baby girl, Eleanor was airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Minnesota. She was put on a cooling mat for three days to keep possible swelling down in her brain. She was on a breathing machine and monitors and IV feeding. After the cooling mat was discontinued, tests were done and the results were not good. Machines were removed and she passed away and was buried in her mother’s arms. 
Alison was unique and deeply cared for people. She was a speech therapist and worked with both children and adults. Her legacy continues for not only those who knew her and loved her but also to strangers alike. Wanting to do something to honor Alison her bosses and coworkers established a scholarship for students in speech therapy in Alison’s name. About a year after she died, a dinner and silent auction was held to raise funds for the scholarship. The following year another event in Alison’s hometown added enough funds to make her scholarship fund “endowed” meaning the interest is given away but the main fund will continue indefinitely.