Madison’s Room

February 24, 2021:

A daddy’s girl through and through, Madison Hair loved hanging out with her family. She also cherished the time she spent at home in her bedroom. Like many young people, it was the one place she could call her own; her sanctuary.

For seven years, Madison’s bedroom on Mary Louise Drive provided a safe place to express herself and be alone with her thoughts. The former high school cheerleader listened to music and played with her pet hamsters and Siamese cat, Sushi. She studied, sketched and penned letters to family and friends in the stillness of her room.

Jody Hair, Madison’s mother, lovingly remembers her daughter talking and laughing on the phone with friends for hours.

“Often, she would just lay on her bed and read or watch a movie,” said Jody, a science teacher at Mosley High School in Lynn Haven, Fla., where Madison attended classes. Joe Hair, Madison’s father, also teaches science at Mosley.

On June 22, 2012, Madison left her bedroom after preparing to have dinner at her boyfriend’s house.  She was involved in a fatal accident in northern Bay County while driving there. She was 19 years old and a registered organ donor who saved four lives through her gifts.

“We didn’t know who would receive Madison’s organs, but we knew that within days several deserving people would get a very special phone call,” Jody said.

In an instant, the bedroom where Madison had grown from pre-teen to college freshman became frozen in time, right down to a dog-eared page of The Hunger Games’ book she was reading the night before her accident.

In the weeks and months after Madison passed away, her family found it hard to be in the house without her. After all, it was Madison’s house, too, and it felt like she should still be there, just around the corner in the kitchen and especially in her bedroom, where every detail reflected her brief life.

“A part of me wanted to leave Madison’s room exactly the way it was, a time capsule of sorts,” Jody said.

Rather than sift through the painful memories of Madison’s belongings, Jody closed the door to her daughter’s bedroom and visited occasionally. At times, Madison’s bedroom was a place of comfort. At other times, it was too much for a grieving mother to bear.

“I could lay on her pillow and look around her room at all of her memories,” Jody said. “That is what we had now, memories.”

For nearly a year, Madison’s room stayed the same. Then her younger brother, Joey, dared to ask the unthinkable. Madison was the oldest child, so she had the larger bedroom. He wanted to make it his own.

“Madison now lived in heaven, and Joey wanted to enjoy the extra living space,” Jody said. She initially told her son ’no way’.”

How could a grieving mother change the bedroom where her daughter grew up? How could loving parents get rid of the personal touches that made their daughter’s room unique?

The answer is they had to.

“We knew we had to move on,” Jody said solemnly.

A dear family friend and co-worker of the Hairs, taught photography at Mosley High School. He agreed to memorialize Madison’s precious memories in photographs. The assignment was deeply personal to him. He had served as a chaperone on many of Madison’s class trips. He was also the first person to arrive at the hospital on the night of the accident and later led a memorial service for Madison in the school’s gymnasium.

Focusing on the intimate details of Madison’s life, he captured dozens of beautiful images from the jewelry on her dresser and inspirational quotes on her walls, to pictures with her friends and clothes hanging in her closet. He arranged and submitted the pictures to an online publishing company that assembled them in a hardback book as a keepsake.

Jody had found her time capsule. Perhaps most touching is a picture of Madison’s bedroom just as she left it after preparing for dinner that fateful night, a snapshot in time.

“The photobook was a perfect way to hold time in place,” Jody said. “We can open the book and always remember Madison’s bedroom just the way she left it.”

Images in the book reveal how Madison’s tastes changed over time. She traded her dark hand-me-down furniture in favor of antique white and added vivid pops of color to her room. Together, mother and daughter painted the walls orange sherbet. It was the perfect backdrop to Madison’s crowded corkboard and posters of her three favorite cities: London, Paris and New York.

The photobook celebrates Madison’s love of God, family and simple things. A picture of Sushi taped to her dresser mirror. A water globe from the Big Apple prominently displayed on a shelf.

However, the crowning jewel in Madison’s bedroom was a Bible verse painted prominently above her purple heirloom bed; 1: Corinthians, Ch. 13, verses 4-5.

Once the photobook was complete, Joey moved into Madison’s bedroom. He painted the walls smoky gray but left them bare. He kept an orange donor bracelet on his nightstand.

The photobook rests on a shelf in the Hair’s den where they can easily share it with family and guests. A bittersweet reminder of two donor heroes who gave the Gift of Life.

The Hair’s friend and co-worker who authored Madison’s photobook retired from teaching in 2016. He suffered fatal injuries when hit by a truck while riding his bicycle on the first day of the next school year. Like Madison, he was a registered organ donor. He shared the gifts of tissue and bone.

“This book, at times, will initiate tears, and at other times laughter,” Jody said. “While we are looking at it, we will often start sentences with ‘Remember when,’ ‘Just imagine,’ or ‘I wonder if’.”

To illustrate, Jody offered up the time she and Madison visited a feed store to buy a rabbit and came home with a kitten.

“We pulled into the driveway, and I told Madison not to say anything to her daddy yet, we would have to prepare him for our new pet,” Jody said. “Madison marched into the house and yelled, ‘Daddy we got a kitten’. So much for slowly breaking the news.”

A match made in heaven, Sushi slept on Madison’s bed and lounged on her windowsill from that day forward.

“Both lived until 19 years of age,” Jody said. “Sushi joined Madison in heaven in February 2019. She was a very special, spoiled cat, and Sushi knew all of Madison’s secrets.”

At first, it was difficult for the Hairs to imagine that their world would go on after losing their only daughter. Discovering a way to cope with their grief strengthened their bond to Madison, making it possible for them to move on with their lives.

“We knew that we would grieve over Madison’s death, and we agreed that grieving should be healthy,” Jody said.  “Looking at photos keeps Madison’s memory alive.”

The Hairs also host multiple assemblies each year to share their daughter’s donation story with hundreds of incoming freshmen at Mosley. LifeQuest staff frequently participate in the organ donor presentations.

“That we could honor Madison’s wishes and donate her organs was helpful with our grief,” Jody said. “When we speak to the students at our school, our goal is to encourage them to discuss organ donation with their family. We inform them on the process of registering to become an organ donor.”

“Each year, students will often display their new driver licenses proudly showing that they are registered organ donors.”