Kaylie Marie Hogue
July 16, 1988 – June 5, 2013
Kaylie Marie Hogue, 24, was born on July 16, 1988, the only child of Deborah Marie (Brockway) and Jeffrey Hogue. Deb and Jeff separated when Kaylie was just shy of 5 years old, but both remained very active in her life.
Her mother, Deb, married Scott Hadley. They made their home in Sleepy Eye, MN with Kaylie, Josh, and Jessi (Scott’s children) and Tyler (their child together). Her father, Jeff, married Shelly Esser. They made their home in New Ulm, MN with Kaylie, and their three children Dani, Maddie, and Jordan.
Kaylie graduated from Sleepy Eye High School in 2007, and Minnesota State University, Mankato, in 2010 with a degree in English. She was a teacher at Martin County West High School in Sherburn, MN, where she taught English, student council, speech, theatre, and a variety of classes. She was loved beyond loved by both students and staff. Her home was in Sherburn and she was proud of it.
In 2010, after graduating from MSU, Kaylie was diagnosed with epilepsy when she had her first grand mal seizure on a trip with her mother and grandma coming home from Chicago. She only had seizures when she woke up from sleeping, but they were always long and very intense. Her family often worried that she would stop breathing
While in Sherburn she met Kurt Muhl. He was from Granite Falls and a student at MSU. They became engaged to be married with a wedding date set for January 25, 2014. We were ecstatic to welcome Kurt into our family. They were a perfect fit!
On June 5, 2013, she was packed and ready to move home to Sleepy Eye to start teaching summer school and finalizing her wedding plans. She resigned from her teaching position at MCW as she was getting married and relocating to the metro area. After attending a going away party with staff, she went to her apartment, called numerous friends, and we suspect she laid down for a nap before making the trip home to Sleepy Eye.
We will never know, but we believe that Kaylie woke up from her nap and went into a seizure. This would be her last seizure and the fight would be over. She did not come home. The seizure claimed her life and Kaylie died of cardiac arrest. It is known as SUDEP: Sudden Unexpected Death from Epilepsy. This is when a perfectly normal person with epilepsy has their seizures under control through medication but dies for no apparent reason.
We were left in shock and saddened and her family vowed to fight epilepsy and make it their life’s mission so other families would not go through this hardship – but 9 months ad 2 days later the unthinkable happened and their mission changed.
