Megan Short
Megan Short
Megan Short is a mother of three from Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania in Berks County, Pennsylvania. She was married to Mark Short.
The couple had three children, 2-year old Willow Short, 5-year-old Mark Jr., and 8-year-old Lianna. The family also had dog.
Megan's youngest child Willow Short had a heart condition and received a heart transplant. Megan had to provide her daughter with around the clock and adminster 15 different medications to her daughter.
Megan suffered Posttraumatic stress disorder from the stress of her daughters condition. She often had nightmares of making mistake with the Willow's medications and having her child die.
The family featured in a The New York Times article about the struggle to obtain Willow's specialty medications to maintain her health after her hear transplant.
The family lived together in a four bedroom, two and a half bath home worth more $400,000 home on Winding Brook Drive in the upscale Brookfield Manor subdivision.
Murder Suicide
On August 6, 2016 the bodies of Megan, her husband Mark Short, and their three children, all with gunshot wounds, were found in their Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania Winding Brook Drive home. The family's dog was also killed in the murder suicide.
District Attorney John Adams Prosecutor said a handwritten note that "appeared to be a 'murder/suicide' note" was found in the family's home.
Police found all five bodies in the living room after a relative of Megan called police after Megan missed a lunch date.
Megan was a a domestic abuse victim and had planned to leave her husband in the weeks before the attack.
Megan Short was planning to move to Yardley, Pennsylvania in Bucks County, Pennsylvania located about 100 miles east.
Medical Troubles
Megan's youngest child Willow was born with a defective heart and had to have heart surgery at only three days old.
Megan Short suffered from Posttraumatic stress disorder from the challenges of caring for her daughter.
After Megan's heart transplant in 2014 both Megan Short and her husband Mark became advocates for organ donation.
Willow suffered from hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare congenital birth defect, while a fetus Willow's heart was not fully formed and could not pump blood efficiently, threatening her life.
When Willow was three days old, she underwent her first open-heart surgery as doctors worked to repair her left ventricle and redirect her circulation.
During surgery, doctors found a tunnel defect and following the procedure, she bled so much she required 16 blood transfusions.
Willow was placed on a heart-and-lung bypass machine and was added to the National Transplant List, with her survival depending on a donation of another baby's heart.
Megan and her husband Mark Short were told there could be a three-to-six month wait and prepared for their baby girl to not survive the wait.
Three days after she was put on the waiting list another heart became available and she went into surgery.
The transplant was described as a 'remarkable success' and by May 29, Willow's heart was working so well doctors removed her from oxygen.
After her transplant, doctors were able to remove the breathing tube and Megan said 'Hearing her voice and seeing her face without all the tape is one of my favorite memories.'
Megan and Mark Short created a Facebook page called Willow's Heart Journey, where Megan posted frequent updates about Willow's condition following the transplant.