University of Oklahoma basketball player Renzi introduced himself to Lee Anne following a sorority water polo match. “There’s no better way to meet someone than in a bathing suit with an inner tube strapped around your waist,” remembers Lee Anne. The two began dating, and Renzi recalls that Lee Anne was “so smart and fun to be around.”
The relationship weathered a challenge when Lee Anne moved to Texas. “It was during this time that our relationship really strengthened,” says Lee Anne. “When you can only talk on the phone, you have to learn to communicate.”
Renzi says they took things slowly, dating five years. “We were able to have good dialogue about getting married. Frankly, I don’t think our relationship would be as strong if we hadn’t waited.”
Over the next few years, they welcomed two sons. “Jackson was just the perfect baby,” said Renzi. “He never cried and slept through the night, but Isaiah was the opposite. He was extremely fussy… we went months trying to get him comfortable. Doctors kept saying he had colic, but that didn’t seem right to us.”
When he was four months old, Isaiah had his first seizure. After numerous hospital stays and misdiagnoses, doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital diagnosed him with epilepsy. “We finally knew what was wrong, but they could never find the exact spot in his brain where the problem was. We were told we just needed to get our hands around the illness and find the right medication.” The period following Isaiah’s diagnosis was difficult. “It was a grueling, gut-wrenching period of our life. We didn’t know if we would be in the hospital, or if we were going to have a great day,” said Renzi. “If our marriage hadn’t been built on the foundation we had, it would not have held up.”
On May 16, 2010, the Stones faced the unimaginable. Isaiah died in his sleep from an apparent seizure. Lee Anne remembers, “The day he died, we chose to not put a spin on it, we were mad. In a private moment, Renzi grabbed my hand and said, ‘Don’t leave my side; we’re going to get through this.’ And, he was right. I thought, we have each other, and we have another child that needs us.”
While grief lingers, the couple maintains their faith in God’s plan for their family. Renzi says, “We are both more aware of our priorities. We are aware of the importance of embracing every single day.”
Adds Lee Anne, “Isaiah taught us that we are stronger than we ever thought we could be. When you think you’re at your lowest, you have to push through it… you can’t live your life in regrets and nostalgia. You have to live your life in the now.”