The Sky Says Goodbye
April 1, 2026
Many members of Crescent Cove’s care team are asked how they manage the emotional weight of helping a family say good-bye to a child. For many of our staff, art is one way of processing that experience — through drawing, journaling, or, for our nurse Erika, through music. In 2024, one family came into Erika’s life that inspired a song she would later call “Salmon Sunset.”
On a brisk March afternoon, Andrew and Britta arrived at Crescent Cove with their 7-month old baby, Cassian, for his end-of-life stay. Months earlier, Cassian had been diagnosed with Krabbe Disease, a rare autosomal recessive condition with a short lifespan. As they processed this devastating news, they began preparing for the painful reality that they would soon lose their beautiful baby boy. They learned about Crescent Cove from their physician, and after touring our Home, determined that Crescent Cove would be where they wanted to spend Cassian’s final days together, alongside his older brother, Soren.
Like many families who come to Crescent Cove for end-of-life care, Andrew and Britta arrived with both relief and uncertainty — relief to have support, and uncertainty about what the coming days and weeks would bring. They became close with the care team, especially Erika, an RN, who connected deeply with both Cassian and his family.
During Cassian’s intake, Cassian’s parents chose Cassian’s favorite color as salmon and his favorite animal a jelly fish, because he was wearing a salmon-colored shirt with a jellyfish on it. Of course, at only 7 months old, Cassian did not yet have favorites of his own — these details became part of the family’s memory-making, symbols they could hold onto as they loved him through his final days and after.
Just a few days before Cassian’s passing, Erika noticed a breathtaking sunset over Twin Lake, which she pointed out to Britta and Andrew. They all marveled at the salmon-colored sky, and talked about how the sky and earth were already remembering Cassian.
Not long after that, Erika was holding Cassian while standing in our sensory room which overlooks Twin Lake. This had become her ritual, to hold him and talk with him while his parents enjoyed the evening meal in peace. In hospice care, families and clinicians sometimes notice that a child seems to wait until a parent steps out of the room before taking their final breath. During earlier private moments with Cassian, Erika would offer him permission to go. But this moment felt different.
“I didn’t say anything to him, this moment felt unique because I truly remembered being conscious about the fact that he and I were existing together,” recalls Erika. “I was listening to him breathing and looking out at the lake. I visualized sending him off a canoe and letting the canoe drift out onto the lake. It was so peaceful.”
Cassian took one big breath in, and did not take another out.
“I knew he was gone in that moment,” says Erika.
Erika let his parents know that Cassian had died. Andrew and Britta held him one last time and said their final good-byes. They asked Erika and the other nurse on duty if they would prepare Cassian’s body to leave Crescent Cove. The nurses took Cassian into the parent suite and shut the blinds in the room as a symbol of dignity of the moment. Shortly after, Cassian’s dad returned and told them excitedly, “Did you see it? Did you see it? There’s a salmon sunset!”
Erika quickly opened the blind, revealing a breathtaking salmon-colored sky.
That evening, the team held an honor walk for Cassian and his parents, helping them begin the long journey of grief after losing their baby boy. After the goodbyes were said, Erika carried the experience with her in a new way.
“This was the first time a child had died while I was holding him, it was really profound for me personally,” Erika says. “Music is a tool I use to express myself, and two days later, this song flowed out of me, it was almost effortless.”
Erika symbolically released the song two years later, on the anniversary of Cassian’s death. That evening, while spending time at his memorial bench, a brilliant salmon sunset painted the sky, like a scene from a movie.
We are grateful to Cassian’s parents, Andrew and Britta, for their willingness to share Cassian’s story with our readers, and to Erika, whose musical gifts turned her experience into a beautiful song.
Listen to "Salmon Sunset" on Spotify
