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IN LOVING MEMORY

In Loving Memory of our precious daughter Rebbecca ( Bec )  

Born 11/7/1977 Passed Away 24/4/2008

Rebbecca suffered a severe Pulmonary Embolus developed from Deep Vein Thrombosis resulting from her injured ankle causing her to have a Cardiac Arrest which in turn caused the Severe Hypoxic Brain Damage.

She was not only our daughter, she was a devoted wife, sister and friend tp Angela, Tanya and Emily. An aunty to Mike and Jake, sister in-law to Scott and a great friend and source of guidance to Craig, Emily's boyfriend.

She was the perfect daughter and wife an inspiration to all around her and all who knew her, she lived life to the max no matter what obstacle was sent her way she overcame it, carried on with a smile and a laugh.

We love her from the deepest part of our hearts and she has left a hole in our lives that cannot ever be filled, she is greatly missed.

We all Love you dearly Bec and we miss you so much. You will always live on in our hearts and our memories.

May you be blessed with the wings of an Angel for this you now deserve.

"Some only dream of Angels

I held one in my arms"!

If you would like to light a candle for Rebbecca please click here

Sadly my mother Elizabeth ( Born 23/04/1926  Passed Away 1/07/2008 ) Bec's grandmother joined her in Heaven on the 1st July 2008, after suffering with Parkinson's Disease for many years.

You are loved and sadly missed by all your family.

 If you would like to light a candle for my mother Elizabeth please click here

Our two Angels are now watching over us.

 Bereavement centre's rely totally on donations, so they can be there for people like my family and myself and so many others who need the support and comfort during their darkest hours. If you wish to donate to any one of the centre's please feel free to contact them directly.

Your support will help guide and light the way for the many like ourselves who are lost in the darkness of grief.

The Compassionate Friends is a bereaved parent and sibling support and information centre

Grieving...Healing...Growing

 www.compassionatefriendsvictoria.org.au/default.htm

Bereaved parents sharing real grief issues

www.mychildlossgrief.org

Dealing with Grief - Grief Support, Grief Courses

www.selfhealingexpressions.com/dealing_with_grief.shtml

Grief Healing Discussion Groups

http://hovforum.ipbhost.com

Sharing a part of Bec's life
When I was 20 weeks pregnant my waters broke and was told I was going to loose my baby. I told God not to take my child, and miraculously she went full term. A bouncing bubbly healthy 8lb 13oz bundle of joy.

Bec always seemed to cop everything, at 2 years old she was bitten in the eye by a dog and had to have surgery to put in an artificial tear duct until her own grew back. At aged 3 years she was playing happily with some children when she fell over and broke her arm, tonsils removed at 5. In her last year of Primary School she fell and broke her ankle, months later she had to have a cyst removed from that ankle. In her early 20's she had the ankle reconstructed as it was never right after she had broken it.

Back in 2003 Bec and her fiancé started to purchase their first home. On 7th January 2006 her father and I walked her down the isle to marry her fiancé Mark, they had been living together just on 11 years. In January this year Bec was suffering severe migraine like symptoms in her eye, she was hospitalized and pumped full of cortisone for the pain and swelling. Later on that month she was diagnosed with MS and was in the very early stages and being monitored. Three weeks before Bec's death she tore the ligaments in her already damaged ankle, about a week after she slipped on the ramp going into the doctors and further damaged it. She kept complaining how much her ankle hurt but the doctor just gave her pain killers. On Tuesday 22nd of April 2008 Bec and her husband came for a visit. When I kissed her and hugged her goodbye I had no idea what lay ahead.

At about 2.30am on Wednesday 23rd of April the Police came and woke us to tell us our daughter had suffered a massive coronary and she was in the Dandenong Hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital's emergency I expected her to be awake and on a drip, not lying there looking so sick, hooked up to a ventilator already in an induced coma. The nurses told us her heart had only stopped beating for around 4 to 5 minutes, which we thought it shouldn't be too serious. We were told she would be comatosed for the next 24 to 48 hours. At around 6.30am my two other daughters Angela, Emily and I headed for home and my husband John left to go to work straight from the hospital, being positive she was in good hands. My daughter Angela went to work but ended up coming home a few hours later as she felt too upset, my youngest Emily decided to go to work as she said she copes better whilst working, shortly after Angela arrived home just as I'd got off the phone to the hospital. I had been told Bec was getting admitted to ICU give it a couple of hours so they could settle her in, I was told that her heart had stopped beating for 40 to 50 minutes. I knew in my heart that this was bad news. When Angela and I arrived in ICU they told us Bec may have brain damage and they were trying to bring her out of the induced coma to which she was responding too slowly. We popped out for a short time so they could do some more tests. On arriving back at the hospital car park we were greeted by my third born Tanya and her husband Scott, my eldest sister Olga and my niece Debbie (Olga's daughter). When we got into ICU and I was told Bec had fluid on the brain and the outlook was looking grim.

Later that afternoon Mark (Bec's husband), Angela, Tanya and I were called into a private room, the consulting doctor called us together to deliver the horrific, tragic news Bec wasn't going to make it through the night. Craig (Emily's boyfriend) arrived at the hospital, followed by Emily and John. We sat by her side hour after hour and eventually her blood pressure become unstable. I was going to loose my daughter. I could hear myself screaming, crying uncontrollably - yes, this was a child my husband and I had bought into this world, raised and were now going to loose her.

That whole day into the night was so traumatic, so surreal - like this isn't supposed to be happening, not me, not my child, not to my family. We all stayed around her bedside throughout that night. We had a priest called in to read her last rights.

 Late that night John and Mark gave consent for the Gift of Life people to take her organs as this was her wish.

At 12.40am on the 24/4/08 Bec was legally pronounced brain dead, the day after her Grandmother's Birthday, even though we knew deep within out hearts she passed away on her Grandmother's Birthday.
They kept her body warm until they found recipients for her organs. By the time they released her body and we could make funeral arrangements it was eleven days before we could lay her to rest. She came into this world on a Monday and we said goodbye to her on a Monday 5th May 2008.

We had Bec's viewing so immediate family could say their goodbyes. I will never forget walking into the viewing room at the funeral home, seeing her laying there in her casket so cold, still, lifeless and just collapsing, screaming out  No, No, No, not my child! My child, my flesh and blood was dead, gone forever from this earth. Never to hold her again, talk to her, we had no chance to say goodbye, tell her how much I love her, life is just too cruel!

Since that day my heart has been shattered, I feel empty, angry, have so much fear and anxiety. Nothing matters much anymore as life is so fragile and I don't trust it.
I know I still have three other daughters but a huge part of me is gone too and I know they are missing a part of their mother. I miss my Bec so much as I know John, Angela, Tanya and Emily do too. I never realized till this happened how much love you have for your children. I would gladly trade places with her in a heartbeat.
 Thank you for taking the time to read a glimpse of the life and death of my beautiful daughter