Strength, Love, and Hope

This blog is the ongoing story of

The Tandon Family of Chico...

Amit and Deepika Tandon married on December 28 of 2007. They were best friends and loved each other deeply. Ask anyone who had the pleasure of meeting them...She loved him so much and he loved her absolutely...They laughed and smiled, the kindness they showed each other and everyone they met warmed the heart. Amit was magnetic and charismatic, Deepika, kind and warm. Amit and Deepika came to know they would be parents in the spring of 2008...If only one could have taken a snapshot in that one moment...I can only imagine that Amit must have been just about ready to burst...For the next months, Amit cared for Deepika...protecting her, taking care of her, preparing for their life as parents.

On August 6th, 2008 tragedy struck when the life of Amit Tandon was stolen by Drunk Driver Troy Hovey of Chico. Deepika was five months pregnant...they had only just found out two days prior that they were having a boy. Deepika was heartbroken...there are no words to describe the emotions...to feel your heart torn from your body...to know your love will never walk through the door again, that she will never feel his embrace...the struggle to come to terms with such tragedy and heartbreak. Deepika grieved and still does...Chico grieves with her.

Tragedy continued when Troy Hovey's actions went unpunished. Judge Glusman sentenced Hovey to only 180 days in jail (of which he served less than half, being let out early to go to alcohol rehab) three years probation, and only losing his driver's license for one year. I will not talk more of Hovey and such terrible things...To read more about these actions, please see the blog "Taking Action"...I have included the majority of the statement that Deepika had read in court, news contacts and links, and additional information and facts that people have shared on comment pages.

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In this blog I will keep everyone updated as to the health of Deepika and her baby boy. She has named him Jevesh, meaning Courageous.

Jevesh was born a week early, on 12/09/08 at 0200 ...he weighed 7lbs and was 20 inches long...less than 24 hours later, Jevesh was losing oxygen. Instead of 80-90% oxygen saturation in his blood, he was at 40%. Thanks to Deepika, she had him evaluated and the doctors put Jevesh on oxygen. The doctor's at Enloe proceeded with an echocardiogram (a picture of the heart). The results showed a defect of the heart. Doctor's at Stanford were contacted and Jevesh was life-flighted to the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. A friend drove Deepika down to the hospital...Deepika is staying at the hospital (they have sleeping arrangements for parents) and is on a waiting list to get in to the Ronald McDonald House.

Here is one of the first pics of Deepika and Amit's Beautiful Jevesh (my heart breaks for this family)...