Mark Short with his wife, Megan, and their children, Liana, Mark and Willow. 
 
 Five family members, including a 2-year-old toddler, were found dead in their home in a small Pennsylvania town in what authorities are describing as an apparent murder-suicide. 
 
 Authorities discovered the bodies Saturday afternoon in the family's home in the Berks County town of Sinking Spring, about 70 miles north of Philadelphia, according to the Berks County District Attorney's Office. 
 
 The victims, who all died of gunshot wounds, were identified by the District Attorney's Office Sunday as Mark Short, 40, his wife, Megan, 33, and their children Lianna, 8, Mark Jr., 5, and Willow, 2. Officials say the family dog was also shot and killed. 
 
 According to officials, police discovered a handgun near one of the deceased adults. A handwritten "murder-suicide" note was also found in the home. Officials also say their investigation revealed there had been "domestic issues" between Megan and Mark Short. 
 
 Police did not release any information on who fired the shots. 
 
 Police say they went to the home to check on the welfare of the family after receiving a call from a relative concerned that Megan Short had not shown up for a lunch date. 
 
 On Dec. 20, Mark Short posted a picture of the couple on his Facebook page. 
 
 "She's still the most beautiful girl that I've ever met," he wrote. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have her as my wife and the mother of my three amazing children." 
 
 But neighbors told a different story. 
 
 The Reading Eagle reported that neighbors said the couple was having marital trouble and Megan Short planned to leave her husband and move to Yardley. 
 
 She and a neighbor, Angie Burke, exchanged comments on Facebook on a July 15 Washington Post opinion piece about emotional abuse in a marriage. 
 
 "Burke's Facebook account shows that Megan Short commented, 'It really does a number on your mental health for sure,' " the newspaper reported 
 
 "Short commented later, 'This is why I am leaving my marriage Angie. 16 years.' " 
 
 According to a 2015 report by the New York Times, Willow had a heart transplant when she was just a week old. The family struggled to get the drugs necessary to keep her from rejecting the new heart. 
 
 One month, Megan Short discovered that her pharmacy had mistakenly sent only enough medication for Willow for just 14 days, not the 30 she was supposed to receive, leaving the mother rattled. 
 
 "Every single month it seems like it's something," she told the Times. 
 
 In a "Philly at Heart" blog post in April, Megan Short wrote about her experience dealing with post traumatic stress disorder throughout her ordeal with Willow. 
 
 She wrote that she suffered from "anxiety and nightmares" triggered by smells, hallways or even the beeping sound of a phone. 
 
 On the website, which is devoted to families dealing with congenital heart issues, she also wrote that she experienced "survivor's guilt" when children with similar problems from other families passed away. 
 
 "I don't think PTSD ever truly goes away but, with therapy, medication, and the right support, I have begun to loosen its grip on me," she wrote. "As I work on my own mental healing, I wanted to share my experience so that other heart parents know they are not alone." 
 
 Staff writer Mari A. Schaefer contrubited to this article, which also contains information from the Associated Press. ||||| In the wake of a family's murder-suicide that claimed the lives of three children, people are wondering what could've led to such a tragedy. NBC10's Drew Smith talked with a social worker about the pressures the family may have faced that led to the deaths. (Published Monday, Aug. 8, 2016) 
 
 UPDATE: Relatives of Mark Short spoke with NBC10, giving some insight into the couple's relationship. Read that story here. 
 
 A family of five, including three small children, was found dead in their Berks County, Pennsylvania, home on Saturday along with what authorities described as a handwritten "murder-suicide note." 
 
 Police in Sinking Spring, just outside Reading, responded to the family's home on Winding Brook Drive at about 2 p.m. Saturday after a concerned relative asked them to make a welfare check on the family, according to the Berks County District Attorney's Office. 
 
 Inside the home, police found 40-year-old Mark Jason Short Sr., his wife, Megan L. Short, 33, and the couple's three children, 8-year-old Liana, 5-year-old Mark Jr. and 2-year-old Willow, all dead of gunshot wounds. A dog was also found dead. Authorities said Megan Short was supposed to meet a relative for lunch Saturday, but never showed up and never answered her phone. 
 
 A neighbor who did not want to be named confirmed that this photo, posted on Mark Short's Facebook page, shows Megan and Mark Short, along with their children Liana, Mark and Willow. 
 
 Photo credit: Facebook 
 
 The district attorney's office also said Sunday morning that responding officers discovered what appears to be a handwritten "murder-suicide" note in the home, as well as a handgun "near one of the deceased adults." 
 
 Authorities have not said what the note contained or who they think was the shooter, but noted that an investigation revealed the couple had been having "domestic issues." The family had also been grappling with a child's illness and post-traumatic stress. 
 
 A recent photo posted on Mark Short Sr.'s Facebook page shows him with his three children. 
 
 Photo credit: Facebook 
 
 Articles in The Reading Eagle in 2014 and The New York Times in 2015 profiled the family after Willow, the youngest of their three children, underwent a heart transplant as an infant. The news stories detailed the family's difficulties obtaining anti-rejection medication for Willow. 
 
 A blog post Megan Short wrote in April about her family's ordeal treating Willow's heart condition sheds some light on the struggles they faced. 
 
 In a post titled "Learning to Heal: My Experience with PTSD" on the Philly at Heart blog, Megan Short wrote of watching her daughter undergo heart surgery as a baby, and of the lasting impact the traumatic experience left on her. 
 
 "There are very few moments when you can clearly see your life as separated into the before and after," Megan Short wrote. "Having a child born with a severe congenital heart defect has been the most significant shift of my life." 
 
 Family Dead in Berks County Murder-Suicide 
 
 NBC10's Matt DeLucia is on the scene at a murder-suicide in Berks County. Five people, including three children, were killed inside their home in on Winding Brook Road in Sinking Spring. (Published Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016) 
 
 In the post, Megan Short recounts not being able to hold Willow until three days after she was born, before sending the baby to surgery. 
 
 "I can still feel the emotions and fear as the doctors told me that she would not survive the massive bleeding she was experiencing post-surgery," the mother wrote. "I still see her tiny heart beating through the dressing used to cover her open chest and all the tubes and wires and machines as I wondered if they would be able to keep her alive until a donor heart became available." 
 
 The mother chronicled the heartbreaking struggles she and her family faced as Willow underwent treatment for her heart condition and eventually came home, and she wrote about the affect it had on her as a mother and as a person. 
 
 "I have anxiety and nightmares. Certain smells and hallways trigger memories every single time ... None of this ever got easier," she wrote, adding that she began taking medication and going to therapy for PTSD. 
 
 "As I work on my own mental healing, I wanted to share my experience so that other parents know they are not alone," Megan Short wrote. "Sometimes you will feel even worse during the process, but keep going. It is worth it." 
 
 Despite the family's struggles, Mark Short's Facebook profile shows the couple and their three blond-haired children smiling in dozens of photos. 
 
 In another picture of him with his wife that he posted in December, the two grin in black and white. 
 
 "She's still the most beautiful girl that I've ever met," Mark Short Sr. wrote in a comment on the photo. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have her as my life and the mother of my three amazing children." 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this story. 
 
 If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. ||||| Sunday August 7, 2016 09:39 PM 
 
 A neighbor describes Facebook exchanges with Megan Short, in which she hinted at abuse, her plan to move out the day of the murder-suicide. 
 
 Counseling was made available Sunday and will be again Monday, Aug. 8, at the school where the Shorts' eldest daughter Liana would have been a third-grader this school year. Wilson School District Superintendent Curtis Baker, in a robo call message, asked district parents to include the Short family in their prayers, saying the tragic event has shaken the Wilson family. He said counselors were made available from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. They also will be available today starting at 9 a.m. at Green Valley Elementary School, 270 Green Valley Road, Sinking Spring, for parents or their children who feel they would benefit from speaking to a counselor or caring adult. 
 
 Sinking Spring, PA — 
 
 Megan Short reportedly made no secret of the fact that she planned to leave her husband. 
 
 About a week ago, Short posted on Facebook that she needed a few people to help her move from her Brookfield Manor home Aug. 6, according to Angie Burke, who resides on the same Sinking Spring street as Short. 
 
 Burke said she met Short through neighborhood events such as the annual Christmas ornament exchange or Halloween parties, and they kept in contact, mostly through Facebook. 
 
 Burke wasn't able to help with the move because she was planning to host a birthday party for her husband and had family coming in from out of town. 
 
 On the way back from the bakery with the birthday cake, Burke saw emergency vehicles in front of the Short home, and her heart sank. 
 
 "I drove past the house about 4:15 in the afternoon, and I saw firefighters and police activity at her house and I just got sick," she said Sunday morning. "I walked down there to see if anybody had any news. Then I came back here and tried to put on my happy face." 
 
 The bodies of Megan Short, 33; her husband, Mark Short, 40; and their children Liana, 8, Mark, 5, and Willow, 2, were found by borough and Spring Township police in the home in the first block of Winding Brook Drive, according to investigators with the Berks County district attorney's office. 
 
 All died of gunshots in what investigators said appears to have been a murder-suicide. 
 
 Investigators said a gun was found near one of the adults, but they did not specify which one. 
 
 Police also found a handwritten note. They did not reveal its contents but described it as a "murder/suicide" note. 
 
 Police learned from a family member that Megan Short missed a lunch date and could not be contacted on her home or cellphone, Chief County Detective Michael J. Gombar said Sunday. 
 
 The family member contacted police, who later revealed that Megan and Mark Short had had "domestic issues," investigators said. 
 
 No one at the residence answered when police arrived for a welfare check, so officers broke into the home and found the five bodies, as well as the body of a dog that had been shot to death. 
 
 Berks County Deputy Coroner Joel Bonilla pronounced the Shorts dead shortly after 6 p.m. An autopsy for Mark Short is scheduled for this afternoon. No autopsies are planned for Megan Short or the children, Assistant Chief Deputy Coroner Michael Fizz said. 
 
 The scene Sunday morning in the quiet development of large homes off Reedy Road on the edge of the borough was far different from Saturday afternoon after the bodies were discovered. Nearly a dozen marked and unmarked police and coroner vehicles filled parts of Winding Brook Drive and part of Brook Hollow Drive on Saturday. 
 
 On Sunday, motorists and bicyclists crept through the block, scanning the two-story home and staring at the news crews assembled across the street from it. 
 
 Neighbors express sadness 
 
 Neighbors close to the Short home declined to comment Sunday morning, other than to express horror and sadness over the tragedy. 
 
 Sophie Zientek, 18, of Wernersville drove by the home after learning about the murder of a young girl she knew to be quiet but joyful. 
 
 "I knew the little girl, Liana, through Wilson (School District) cheerleading camp," said Zientek, a recent Wilson graduate. "She was a beautiful, sweet girl." 
 
 Zientek said she didn't know Liana well but still felt the need to pay her respects. 
 
 Burke said she had a sense that Megan Short was unhappy in her relationship. Megan Short attended most social functions without her husband, but Burke figured that perhaps he was uncomfortable at social functions. 
 
 "I can't say I spoke much to Mark, maybe waved," she said. "He would pull the kids in a wagon, and you would never know. But that's the thing, you don't know." 
 
 She planned to leave 
 
 On July 23, Megan Short commented on a link to an online article by Leigh Stein titled, "He didn't hit me. It was still abuse," that Burke posted on her Facebook page. The author, who has a forthcoming memoir, described the degradation, fear and humiliation she suffered at the hands of an ex-boyfriend who used manipulation and isolation to keep her a virtual prisoner. 
 
 Burke's Facebook account shows that Megan Short commented, "It really does a number on your mental health for sure." 
 
 Short commented later, "This is why I am leaving my marriage Angie. 16 years." 
 
 Burke provided screen grabs that showed another part of the July 23 conversation: 
 
 Angie Burke: "Oh Megan (includes middle and last name) I didn't know you were leaving but suspected something was up! I'm so very sorry and please call me if you need somebody to lean on! I can help you out with whatever you need! Big hugs sweetie!!! You are strong and I commend you for taking this big step!!!" 
 
 Megan Short: "Thank you. I found a rental today. Hoping I get approved. Hard being a stay at home mom." 
 
 Angie Burke: "Are you staying in the area?" 
 
 Megan Short: "No. Yardley, hopefully." 
 
 Angie Burke: "Well I do hope you get it and everything works out." 
 
 Burke said she was in a past long-term emotionally abusive relationship when she was in her teens to early 20s and finally found the courage to leave after someone shared a flier describing the cycle of abuse in domestic violence. 
 
 "I wasn't that close with her (Megan Short), but I knew her probably from Facebook as much as anything else," she said. "I knew she was an eloquent writer and a big advocate for organ donation - she was very outspoken that way. So I followed her on Facebook, and that was, you know, predominantly our relationship, so when she commented on this article I posted it really struck a chord for me." 
 
 Illness spurred action 
 
 Megan Short was active in raising awareness for congenital heart disease, regularly promoting it on her Facebook page. 
 
 Willow's story was shared in local and national news. 
 
 Megan wrote for Phillyheart.com, a website associated with the nonprofit Mended Hearts Inc., that shares the stories of families battling congenital heart defects. 
 
 She once described having to deal with the post-traumatic stress of having her daughter undergo a heart transplant after only six days of life. 
 
 The family was featured in an October 2014 story in the Reading Eagle. Willow, then 5 months old, had undergone a heart transplant at 1 week old, and her condition had been improving. 
 
 The page Willow's Heart Journey tracked Willow's progress after the transplant. The most recent post - May 27 - celebrated that Willow received a zero rejection grade for her heart transplant. 
 
 The profile picture shows Willow dressed in a Minnie Mouse dress and ears, and a Minnie Mouse cake for her second birthday. 
 
 'Luckiest guy in the world' 
 
 On Facebook, Mark and Megan shared dozens of photos of their children with friends and family. Mark's cover photo is a side-by-side with his wife. 
 
 "She's still the most beautiful girl that I've ever met," Mark wrote in a comment on the picture. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have her as my wife and the mother of my three amazing children!" 
 
 Many of the posts on Willow's Heart Journey appear to be written by Megan, and while the page was meant to inspire hope, it also captured Willow's hardship. 
 
 Posts tracked days in the hospital, the fear of a parent whose child is sick and the daily burden on the family's shoulders. 
 
 The New York Times published a feature story on the family in July 2015. It detailed the family's struggles with specialty pharmacies and obtaining anti-rejection medication for Willow. 
 
 Burke, who is also a stay-at-home mom, would wave or chat with Megan Short as they walked their children to the nearby playground for the summer playground program. 
 
 "A lot of kids in this neighborhood have grown up together," she said. "They may not have been close friends, but they saw her (Megan Short and her children). It's another thing: How do you explain this to a child?" 
 
 The Shorts were parishioners at St. Ignatius Loyola Parish, the church's pastor, the Rev. Thomas Bortz said during Masses on Sunday, asking prayers "for the holy repose of their souls." 
 
 Contact Steven Henshaw: 610-371-5024 or shenshaw@readingeagle.com.
– In May of 2014, Willow Short received a heart transplant when she was just six days old. On Saturday, she was found shot to death along with the rest of her family in what police believe was a murder-suicide. The bodies of Mark Short, 40, Megan Short, 33, and children Willow, 2, Mark Jr., 5, and Lianna, 8, were found in their home in Sinking Spring, Pa., on Saturday afternoon when a relative called police after Megan didn't show up for a lunch date. Cops haven't revealed which parent they believe was responsible for the unfathomable crime, but they say a handwritten suicide note was found in the home and a handgun was found near the body of one of the adults, NBC Philadelphia reports. Police say the couple had "domestic issues," and a friend in the neighborhood tells the Reading Eagle that Megan was planning to leave Mark and had been open about it, posting on Facebook that she needed people to help her move out on Friday. In 2014, the Eagle reported on Willow's struggle to survive her first week of life. In 2015, the Shorts and their struggle to obtain anti-rejection medicine for Willow were featured in a New York Times story. In April, Megan wrote a blog post about dealing with PTSD after Willow's illness, saying she still suffered from anxiety and nightmares and it had taken her two years to realize how badly she had been impacted by the ordeal, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.