The Anya Story

Anya P. Lazare was born on December 6, 2000, in Newport Beach, California. She brought a lot of joy and love to our family. She had a perfect love connection with her father that was indescribable.

Anya was a perfect child with an amazing learning ability. She started walking at 9-1/2 months. Due to all the golf tournaments her brother and sisters played during the year, she was always out there on the golf course. She had her own set of golf clubs, and even understood the concept of how to hold the club to putt the ball.

When Anya left us, we realized how naïve we humans can be. Losing a child is something we thought could never happen to us!! While we were busy doing unimportant things, something important like our beautiful daughter fell into our pool and nobody was there to save her. Yes, the pool that was created to give us pleasure became an abyss of heartbreak. Now we cannot even look at it. The pool was fully gated and some how one of the gates was not securely closed. We have since filled the pool with dirt and turned it into a putting green, because Anya loved to putt.

Anya’s brief life has been a puzzle for us. The first time we saw her was when the Doctor did the first ultrasound. The date was May 3, 2000. The last day we were with her was May 3, 2002. On one of the walls in her mother’s office, two weeks before her departure, she drew some lines and some numbers with a pencil. Later on we looked more closely at the pencil scribbles and clearly saw the numbers 513. After we calculated the days she was with us, it was exactly 513 days.

She was the happiest child that we have ever seen. She gave and showed us so much love that we never experienced before. Maybe all of these were accidental, but to us she was and is a Saint.

The pain that our family is going through is so massive that it compelled us to establish a foundation under her name. We hope to help save as many children’s lives as possible from home accidents, etc. by educating adults of the dangers that exist in their homes. We are in the process of creating a device that will be called the “Anya Device”, to be worn by parents and the child. The device will alert the parents if the child is more than 25’ – 30’ away. This will not only protect the child, but also help to stop a disaster from happening. It could be used in malls, shopping centers, parks, the store, and around the house.

We need help from everyone, to dedicate a few hours a week or a month, to alert their family, friends, neighbors, and anybody that has small children, and get a promise from them to do the same.

We loved and still love our little Angel Anya. We do not want other families to go through the unbearable pain we carry daily. Life is incredibly fragile and everyone thinks that nothing will happen to him or her or to their family. Through the Anya Foundation, we hope to dispel that notion to better safeguard our children.