She could have discovered the cure for cancer, became the first woman president or just lived a normal life, but seven-month-old Claire Engholm was not given the chance to live out her life.

Her death from heatstroke has rocked the entire state after Claire was left in a minivan for nine hours before she was found dead by her mother, who forgot to drop her off at the babysitter’s.

The Perry woman who suffered this tragedy wasn’t use to taking her daughter to the babysitter’s; her husband had to work early at Iowa State, making it her responsibility that day.

She dropped her son off at day care, went to the hospital where she worked and handled the affairs of the day without having any thought about where her daughter was.

Imagine what was going through the mind of a mother who finds her daughter dead in the backseat.

It must have been one of the most devastating experiences anyone could have experienced.

It has left many people asking how someone failed to remember her child was in the back seat for an entire day.

It’s the same as a parent who accidentally forgot to pick their kid up from practice, a school event, work or anything else because he or she thought the other parent was going to pick up the child.

Unfortunately, though, this situation ended in death.

This death has hit the state hard because everyone knows a little boy or girl that this could have happened to. It is death that will forever leave scars on this state, as well as those people involved.

Knowing a little girl who is just six months old, I would be crushed if her last breath would be taken in a needless accident.

Claire will not be forgotten by some Iowans in the near future, especially by those who knew her for those seven months.

There is no way to predict an accident like this one, but hopefully every parent will remember this catastrophe whenever a child needs to be taken somewhere.

An unfortunate consequence of this situation is whether to place blame on the mother who left her child in the car.

There is little doubt it was the mother’s responsibility to make sure the child got safely to the sitter’s, but is this really a time to look at punishment for the mother?

The definition of neglect is “nonperformance of what should be done.”

Obviously this is what happened.

The legal definition of child neglect is not as simple.

Determining whether to hold someone accountable in accidental cases depends on each case, and this was an accident where no blame should be placed.

The mother will suffer the greatest consequence of all; she is going to have to live with what has happened to her daughter, despite the fact it was an accident, for the rest of her life.

The father of the family said he could never have imagined this happening.

He was involved in a very emotional press conference where he described his little baby as “perfect” and told people how Claire was learning how to crawl.

The father said his wife was a loving mother and his best friend.

This accident will not soon be forgotten by the members of Claire’s family, but it’s one everyone hopes will never repeat itself again.

Once I was told a story about prom in Perry, Iowa, where all the people in the town lined up and watched each of the couples walk into prom like a big Hollywood movie premiere.

Now there’s one girl who will never have a chance to walk into prom wearing a beautiful prom dress.

David Frost is a sophomore in pre journalism and mass communication from Des Moines.