Some Sad News

[Bugdozer]

Hi,

It is with great sorrow that I posting some sad news. I learned from a friend today the LittleDragonErin passed away 2 months ago in a surfing accident. She was young and full of life and she was doing what she loved. VMK was such a close community that I knew others would want to know.

Bug :sad1::sad1:

[MountNittany]

Hi,

It is with great sorrow that I posting some sad news. I learned from a friend today the LittleDragonErin passed away 2 months ago in a surfing accident. She was young and full of life and she was doing what she loved. VMK was such a close community that I knew others would want to know.

Bug :sad1::sad1:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/sad06.gif

Aww... :cry:

I remember LDE

[disvaclub92]

Aww sorry to hear that. :(

[vmkfan13]

I can't believe it! There are LDE impersonators out there who will need to do some explaining.

[sophielouise]

ill always remember her, she welcomed me on my first day in vmk. and so was soo kind, her family will be in my prayers :)

[Matty D]

My deepest condolences to the family and friends during this difficult time.

[BobRichmond]

Below is a tribute to her that was posted on the SavvyPirates forum.
I wanted to pass along the information I received today from a close friend of LittleDragonErin's. She passed away a couple months ago from a surfing accident. He wanted all her VMK friends to know and was ready to share the news. Ladyvader has written a tribute to LittleDragonErin and we wanted to share it with you. We love you Erin and you'll always been in our hearts.

A Tribute to a Pirate and a Friend.
by Ladyvader on Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:23 pm

It is with such great sadness that I write this post to announce the loss of a good friend of mine, and one of the original members of Destinys Hand. My dear friend Orochi. She passed away a couple months ago from a surfing accident. I am sure that she was doing something that she loved passionately.

But that is the thing with Little Dragon Erin/Orochi everything she did in her short life she did with passion and a drive that I have never seen before in any person. She not only raised the bar for herself she raised it for everyone that she knew. I always considered myself lucky to know her.

She became a legend on VMK, there was not many people that did not know of her name on the game. Her high scores were always what all the VMK'r aspired to reach, and she helped many a player along the way, touching the lives of many in that Virtual Magic Kingdom. LDE was a rockstar for sure.

When POTCO began there was a handful of us that stayed together from VMK to form Destiny's Hand, in fact Orochi gave us our name. And gave us our logo. It was a perfect name for us. And now even more poignant. Destiny's Hand has taken away my friend Erin.

The world has turned into a funny place, where we are all finding friendships through virtual resources. Online games, Forums, etc, etc. And there are many of us that have never laid eyes on each other, much the same as I had never met Erin in real life.

But even though we never get that opportunity it does not lesson the fact that there are feelings of true friendship that bond us all as real friends. I love my virtual friends as much as any that I have here in my real world. And it is that bond that now makes me sit here crying over my loss. The loss of a young lady that at times I felt like she was my little sister, and her problems were mine, her triumphs were my joy. When she moved away, she never got to know how much I was going to miss her. But her opportunity to go and do something so wonderful I was just so happy for her. I never got to tell her goodbye. And now here I am saying goodbye for a last time.

So Erin, my little pirate sister. I love you. Aloha sweet pirate. Thank you for sailing with me for the short time we were allowed.

[wdwdreamin]

I never knew her personally but I do remember her. My condolences to her friends and family.

[Iris]

I am so sadden by this news. My thoughts and prayers go out to the entire family.

I knew her on VMK, sadly never saw her on Pirates.

So sorry her life ended too soon.

[VMK_KrazyLuke]

This is sad news. I was lucky enough to get to know her in VMK for quite some time. Unfortunately, our connection was dropped when VMK closed. She will always be in my prayers, as well as her family and close friends.

[aengus]

It feels like only yesterday... :(

LDE will never be forgotten.

[scrump]

I did not know her, but I am sorry to hear this. :sad1:

[rickyratsmom]

Oh, so sorry to hear this news! LDE was so sweet and helpful. My condolenses to all her family and friends. She was a true joy to know ( even if it was only on VMK ), you should be very proud of her!

[Disney Dreams]

Although LDE and I didn't know each other much, when I had heard about her passing through a friend, I was saddened. We were a small community which she was part of it in many ways. My thoughts go out to her family and friends.

- Dreams

[Jackoman]

That's terrible! Prayers to her family and friends. :sad1:

[Diva of Dragons]

This is such sad news!:sad1: I remember her well from VMK! From what I've been reading about her, she lived life to the fullest and is admired for her generous spirit! She will be very missed.

Here are a couple of YouTube VMK videos she did, so we can remember......

YouTube - VMK - Dream On Beta (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyDU1L6YZ1o)

YouTube - Dream On - VMK (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVcrqTq2VRc&feature=related)

[VMKaddict]

This is very sad! Even though I only got to see her once on VMK, she was one of the nicest people I ever met. I'll miss her alot :sad1:

[PrincessNoelle]

I am so sorry to hear this. I remember her as being the best of the best. My heart goes out to her family and friends. I hope they know she had a virtual world that loved her too.

[Babypandaroo]

It's sad that she had to pass away. I'll always remember that time she was with us in that picture. She was a good player and loved playing on vmk and pirates. I hope she is at peace. :angel:

[monsterkitty]

Erin was an incredible and amazing young woman. She was highly ambitious and competitive, striving to be the best she could be. Erin was the best-of-the-best, but only because she competed against herself. Once she set a goal for herself, she didn't stop until she reached the goal. We all marveled at her collection of "rare" and all of her Dancing Inferno magic pins.

Erin was also a very kind and giving player. I will never forget the day she gave one of our friends an Inferno pin. Doll was over the moon. Erin would also go out of her way to help any of us, and complete strangers as well, complete a task or obtain wanted item. She didn't even yell at me when I had discovered that I had accidently sold back my baggie green shorts I had bought for my original player, the one item she desperately wanted but never obtained when VMK closed.

Dragon, I will forever miss you and your generosity. You are indeed a VMK angel looking down on us.

My heart goes out to her family and to Monkey. :hug:

Hockey

[aengus]

A very good friend of Erin's named Joe sent me a pm with something he thought friends of LDE might like to read in memorium of our beloved vmk friend.

For those that don't know me, I knew Erin since we were in Jr. High. Although she was only a year younger than me, she's always been that little sister I never had. Since I've known her, she's always been a gamer. I think of all the time I've spent hanging out with her, more than 75% of it was either at an arcade or playing console/computer games. I guess I kind of suckered her into VMK during one fateful trip to Disneyland, and that of course down the road led to POTCO.

After VMK closed, it's all she would talk about. Her friends there and how much she would miss them and all the fun times. The game, she could care less about. I think that's why she really didn't want to spend time on VMK during it's closing days. It hurt her a lot to know that a world where she met so many wonderful friends was closing forever. Contrary to what many thought, she didn't care about all the stuff she got. It was just something to keep her busy while she hung out with some great people. I knew the side of her that also was a perfectionist. Competition was always her strength. And not necessarily against anybody else, but against herself. She would set goals for herself and then push herself to reach them. It wasn't about being the best or being popular. It was about seeing what she was capable of.

Moving to POTCO, she was disappointed that the social aspect wasn't the same as VMK's. She was happy that many of her VMK friends were still reachable however. But of course, that perfectionist in her pushed her to play through to the end game. I remember she stopped playing POTCO to focus on the closing days of VMK. And when she returned she kicked herself a lot seeing many of her friends having already reached 40, while she was left behind at 20. It wasn't a rivalry or a race to reach that cap, but rather just her competing against herself. She was known within DH and Seafurys as one who would try to solo everything. She always wanted to see what she was capable of on her own before asking others for help. On the flip side, she would drop everything if asked for help from another.

And of course that was her in other aspects of life too. Dance and Martial Arts were her other passions. And she attacked them with the same energy as she did in games. A very infectious one full of fun and excitement. I think that's what made her so special. And what attracted many to her, myself included. You couldn't help but get sucked into her world. She always had a fun take on life. Even if she was mad or upset about something, it was still entertaining to hear her rant about it. It was who she was. (Anybody who's read her blogs knows what I mean.)

Less than two months ago, Erin was surfing, caught a huge wave that sucked her under, hit some rocks, went into a coma and was rushed to the hospital. She never came out of it. And although it seems like a tragic accident, don't feel as though she didn't deserve to die that way. It's the way she wanted to go. She always talked about life as an adventure. And attacked it with a lot of energy. Her passions were dancing, martial arts and surfing. She had just started her rise as a stuntwoman in the film and tv industry. She liked living on the edge and knew the risks she took. Yeah, she still had a lot of life ahead of her, but the life she did live was never wasted as far as I saw. She took full advantage of every second of it.

The last time I talked to her, about a week or so before the accident, we actually spent a good chunk of time talking about getting back on Pirates. I myself have been busy playing World of Warcraft. She was taking time away from the gaming scene to surf and just enjoy life unplugged. But in the end I think we had every intention of coming back at some point.

I do remember once, while VMK was still at its peak, we came up with a hypothetical, what if LittleDragonErin ceased to exist. She brought up the question of how all these people who followed her around would take it, as she knew most of them were kids. She wondered how her closest friends would find out. She liked being anonymous behind the avatar. Yes, much of her life lately was spent kind of in the spotlight, dancing on stage, in music videos, filming movies and tv shows...but she liked to keep her gaming persona seperate from her real life.

I think deep down inside, she liked the anonymity that came from helping those around her without anybody truly knowing who she was. She always was one of the nicest people you'd ever meet and constantly doing random acts of kindness. She always believed that things came full circle in life. How you treated others would some day come back to you. She felt blessed to always come across so many wonderful and giving people in the gaming world whose faces she would never see. Whose voices she would never hear. Practically strangers yet as close as any family member. As often as she talked about all of you, it was clear that she treasured every friendship, regardless of having never actually met the person behind the avatar. And from the response to this news, I'm happy that the feeling was mutual.

I also hope they don't mind that I share a video with you all that was posted on intercot

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a134/kababa0/?action=view&current=81b10fa2.pbr

[mom2cookies]

I remember LDE mostly for seeing her name on the top score lists on VMK. What a talented person to have suffered such a tragedy.

Hugs and prayers to her family and friends.

[angelcake170]

I met her once, and she was a quite lovely lovely person.
This is so heartbreaking.
But she is in a better place now, we should all remember.
She's probably smiling down on us to know that we care.
God bless her and her family, they're in my prayers.

[SorcererDonald16]

I'm not on the game forum much anymore, but I happened to notice this thread title when I was scrolling through the main DIS page... opened up the thread, and my jaw just dropped. How awful. :sad1: I played against her in (I think...) Fireworks a couple of times, and I saw her in Host games off and on as well. Seemed like a really sweet person. Didn't she occasionally post here on the DIS as well?

Thoughts and prayers to her family and friends.

[BriarRosie]

I am so sad to see this news. I've met her in VMK every so often, as she was usually a "friend of a friend" of mine in VMK. She will be greatly missed.

[the_jedi_master]

What a tragedy. My prayers are with her family and friends.

[Peri]

I join in wishing Little Dragon Erin's family the warmest condolences - how proud they must be of such a wonderful, achieving and beloved young woman. A role model to many kids on VMK and a kind friend, like Briar, I would see her when visiting other friends, and she was invariably kind and helpful.

Goodbye sweet girl.

[MuskratSusie]

I've never posted on this forum on this account, I did have another account here, but I do remember seeing LittleDragonErin around VMK. I am deeply saddened by this news, and I just found out about it. Having read more of this in detail, this is such a tragic accident to have happen to her. This did bring tears to my eyes, and she was a great person. I myself didn't know her personally, I did however see her with friends that knew her in VMK. I loved seeing all of her wonderful rooms, and I'll always remember the lanyard of Inferno's she had on all of the time, also her Green Baggy Pants and with her Green Flips while being on VMK. The high scores of the Jungle Cruise game, and of course before they made changes to the Fireworks game on VMK, the scores were amazing. She was an amazing person, she was so nice and very helpful to anyone and everyone who knew her throughout VMK.

My deepest condolences to her family and to her friends that are very saddened by this news of her death. May she forever R.I.P.

R.I.P. LittleDragonErin

[FlyingPegasus]

So sorry to hear about this. :sad2::sad2:

Fly

[cteddiesgirl]

OMG.

I'm so sorry to hear this. I remember seeing her on the Jungle Cruise dock sometimes and meeting her a couple of times. I do remember also that she did what she could to try to help everyone. She's the one that made the video of her playing Jungle Cruise to show how to increase everyone's scores.


Condolences to all of her friends and family. I'm sure she's bringing to the afterlife what she brought in life.

[Renpener]

Reading this was a complete shock to me.

LittleDragonErin was one of the kindest people I've met on VMK. She was a friend of many friends of mine, and I saw and talked with her very often. She always spared her time to help others, dropping whatever she was doing for someone else. Many of her accomplishments made her a role model to me, and I've always been stunned by her incredible determination to reach a goal.

I send my thoughts and prayers to her family.

[Horse]

So sad to hear about this news. My prayers and thoughts go out to her friends and family. Such a loss of a lovely girl.

[Belle1997]

Such sad news. Thank you for posting the letter from her friend. She was such a nice person. Condolences to the family.

[MomsGoneGoofy]

What sad news. Thank you for posting the link for the video Anegus. It was remarkable. Such incredible talent in a young woman. I had encountered her a few times in VMK and she was a very friendly helping person. Her passing is such a loss to very one she has touched in her sort life. My heart goes out to her family.

[ihavewaycutecats]

I had heard about LDE's passing on several other forums I am a member of but I did not know it was a surfing accident which took her life. I didn't know her personally but I know she was a very wonderful person, it is so sad to hear this news. :( My prayers are with her family.

[Melp]

I never really knew her, though saw her occasionally in VMK. I loved how she was willing to make the jungle cruise video to help others have a chance at reaching her scores. I never made it quite as high as her but with her help I did learn how to get some of my best scores.

She touched many of us in some way and it is sad to hear of her passing. The only bright point is that she did pass doing something she loved.

My thoughts go out to her family

[Imagineer_Tech]

My heart goes to her family. I just am heartbroken to hear this news. She was such a good person and she will be missed dearly.

[redbaybound]

I am so sorry for her family! What a loss. My condolences and prayers go out to them. :sad1:

[TinkPinkPoem]

I just came across this...:guilty:. This is such sad news.

My sincere condolence's to LDE's family.:sad1:

I too remember seeing her frequently on the Jungle Cruise Dock and her name on the high scores list. She had also made a great Jungle Cruise guide on how to obtain big scores, to help all us DISers with completing the gruelling
Blackheart's Quest.

May she rest in peace and may her family and friends find comfort in the memories made and the time shared.:hug:

[TikiKrissy]

So very sad.
I didn't know LDE very well. Not personally anyway. But she was always very kind to me when our paths crossed.
I hope her family knows how special she was to the VMK community.
May she rest in peace. At least she passed while doing something she loved.

TikiKrissy

[Tampa]

I almost refuse to believe it. That's what was so great about VMK, it's yours to make with how you wish, and for me, she will live on.

A legend who paved a legacy. :sad1:

[jasonpwns]

Wow me and her were good friends on VMK, This is really sad to hear :( I will miss her.