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Dad's heartbreaking Internet plea spurs strangers

 
This combination photo of two images shows a family photo of Sophia Steffel, left, and a retouched version by Jillian Johnston of Mountain View, Calif. Days after the infant daughter of Nathen Steffel died in a Cincinnati hospital from complications from a tumor in her liver, he asked users on the Reddit website if someone could alter the hospital photo. "Since she was in the hospital her whole life we never were able to get a photo without all her tubes," he wrote. Johnston's work was one of hundreds sent in response. (AP Photo) CD101
This combination photo of two images shows a family photo of Sophia Steffel, left, and a retouched version by Jillian Johnston of Mountain View, Calif. Days after the infant daughter of Nathen Steffel died in a Cincinnati hospital from complications from a tumor in her liver, he asked users on the Reddit website if someone could alter the hospital photo. "Since she was in the hospital her whole life we never were able to get a photo without all her tubes," he wrote. Johnston's work was one of hundreds sent in response. (AP Photo) CD101
Published July 17, 2014

TOLEDO, Ohio — Days after his infant daughter's death, Nathen Steffel asked strangers on the Internet for one thing: He and his wife wanted a photo of their daughter without the breathing tubes and tape that masked her little face.

The response has been overwhelming.

Hundreds of photos, sketches and paintings have poured into the family's northwestern Ohio home and their inbox.

"I'm getting messages in languages from all over the world," Steffel said Wednesday. "It's more than I can count."

His daughter, Sophia, died last Thursday at a Cincinnati hospital from complications of a tumor in her liver, six weeks after she was born in Columbus. She was awaiting a transplant.

Her father posted a message on Reddit asking if anyone could use their photo of Sophia in the hospital and remove the tubes attached to her face and wrist. "Since she was in the hospital her whole life we never were able to get a photo without all her tubes," he wrote.

The family has received thousands of messages expressing support and hundreds of photos. Someone is sending a woven blanket with Sophia's picture.

Steffel, who lives in the village of Kalida with his wife, Emily, and their two sons, said his family now has more memories of their daughter than they could have imagined.