PROVO, Utah – Sunday brought a heartbreaking update on Elsie Mahe, the 3-year-old daughter of BYU running backs coach Reno Mahe, who has been in the hospital after an accident at home.
Elsie’s mother, Sunny Mahe, posted an update on Facebook Sunday saying the family has met with medical staff to discuss organ donation. The update comes after the family requested prayers from the community to help them know the "will of the Lord" for their daughter.
Mahe stated in part:
"The miraculous healing we have been praying for is not FOR Elsie, but FROM Elsie. We met this morning with a representative from the hospital organ donation team and feel confident that this is the Lord's will for Elsie - to be a life saving miracle for others. It is not the miracle that we wanted, but it is the one we got. It is still a miracle."
Mahe also said her daughter is comfortable and not in pain, and they said they are grateful for the prayers and fasting on their behalf from the community.
"My friends of all faiths, thank you for your sustaining love, support, prayers and fasts," Mahe stated. "I believe it to be the reason I have not fallen to pieces and am able to be a strength to my family. May the Lord bless each of you for your caring and kindness to my family."
Saturday night during BYU’s game against USU, hundreds of people in the crowd wore pink as a show of love and support for the young girl.
BYU running back Jamaal Williams gave Reno Mahe a game ball afterward, and he said it was an emotional experience.
“Reno and his wife, they said that they already went through their grieving stage, but, for me, I didn't have one, and when I seen her, Reno's wife and him, I just started crying,” Williams said.
He added: "He's just family, you know? Reno is family, his whole family is family, so when they hurt: we hurt."
Head Coach Kalani Sitake also spoke.
"I love seeing our players have so much charity in their hearts for others," he said.
Earlier in the week, the BYU women's basketball team marked their wrists with the initials EM as a show of support for Elsie Mahe.
Elsie Mahe was found tangled up in cords from a window blind in her home earlier this month. Her mother performed CPR and the girl was flown to Primary Children’s Hospital, where her condition has continued to decline.
