(L-R) Leah Seneng and Laura Splotch.Photo:Laura Splotch
Laura Splotch
“To see her in that state was just devastating, just so upsetting,” Laura Splotch, a Fresno, California-based stained glass artist and spokesperson for Seneng’s family, tells PEOPLE.
Seneng, 60, an art teacher who taught at Bryant Middle School in Dos Palos, encountered a bat in October on the floor of her classroom early in the morning before her students arrived, Splotch previously toldCNN.
“She scooped it up and she took it outside,” Splotch said at the time. “I guess it bit her, or she maybe thought it scratched her or something, and then it took off. It flew away, and she didn’t think anything of it."
“So she got it out of the classroom, and then she just went about her day,” Splotch continued.
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Splotch toldABC affiliate KFSNthat Seneng initially didn’t exhibit any symptoms. However, Seneng became ill and was admitted to the hospital on Monday, Nov. 18. Four days later, Seneng died on Friday, Nov. 22, KFSN andThe Fresno Beereported.
(L-R) Leah Seneng and Laura Splotch.Laura Splotch
Splotch’s friendship with Seneng went back 15 years to when both their kids were in the first grade together at the Valley Arts and Science Academy in Fresno.
“We had a group of kids who were all friends and that’s how we Leah and I got close," Splotch tells PEOPLE. “We’d go to an art hop — it’s a First Thursday thing where they open art galleries for free for people to come in and look at the art and stuff. And she had shown some art there, too.”
Splotch describes Seneng as kind, spiritual and an “accomplished artist,” who later became an art teacher. “That was a big deal for her,” Splotch says. “So when she got her job in Dos Palos, she was very dedicated to her school.”
Additionally, Seneng “loved nature.”
“She lived out in the wilderness at one time,” Splotch says. “So she was used to animals. She’d always get strays and take home strays and things like that.”
Seneng also “loved” bats, according to her friend, who says she “thought they were cute and pretty and fancy little creatures.”
Splotch says she was unaware that her friend was sick until she received a text from Seneng’s daughter “the Friday she passed away.”
By then, her friend’s condition was grave, and Splotch says she “dropped everything and went straight to the hospital to see her.”
“I’d sing along and I could see her eyes fluttering,” Splotch says. “She could hear us, [that] was the point. I watched her husband and saw that every now and then when she would flutter or something like that, he would just start breaking down again.”
“We stayed a couple of hours then left together just before 8 p.m.,” she says.
But, about 90 minutes later, she got another message, letting her know that Seneg had died.
“They [the medical staff] say that rabies is too far gone and there’s not much they can do about it.” Splotch says. “They tried everything…but it just wasn’t enough.”
Splotch adds that Seneng was the main breadwinner in her family, “so it was kind of upsetting to think about what’s going to happen next.” She set up aGoFundMeon behalf of the family, which has raised over $7,500. “I just wanted to make sure they had what they needed,” Splotch says. “I love Leah, and I love her family.”
As for how she would like her friend to be remembered for, Splotch says it’s as a great artist and a kind and compassionate person. “She loved her own kid and her other kids [at the school],” she adds.
source: people.com
