‘She is irreplaceable’: Thousands raised through GoFundMe for grieving family
A Bayside man reveals how he treasured his final moments with his wife and ‘soulmate’, who suffered a fatal stroke just one day before their 18 year anniversary.
North
Don't miss out on the headlines from North. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The bayside community in Brisbane’s north has raised more than $7000 to support the shell-shocked and grieving family of Alecia Trevithick, a mother, volunteer and soulmate who tragically passed away after a stroke.
Alecia was enjoying a normal Saturday morning, lounging in the living room with husband Peter, when she abruptly declared she wasn’t feeling well.
READ MORE
Catholic Church ordered to pay $100k after golf cart crashes into six-year-old student
Stirling Hinchliffe returns as Sandgate MP, and what it means for you
Family friend Tamara Walker said Peter could immediately tell by Alecia’s odd tone and facial expression that something was terribly wrong.
She was rushed to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, where doctors told the family she’d suffered a brain aneurysm, a life-threatening condition in which a weak spot on an artery in the brain balloons and fills with blood.
For a few days, it looked as though she might pull through.
“Peter and Alecia were supposed to celebrate their 18 year wedding anniversary on the Monday, and Peter told me she had been recovering so well,” Tamara said.
“He said it would have been the best wedding anniversary ever if she got to make it out of the ICU and into the high dependency unit.”
The night before they were supposed to celebrate, however, Alecia suffered a major stroke that ultimately took her life.
She passed away the following Thursday.
Peter, who met Alecia on a blind date more than 20 years ago, was shattered.
“The last days with Alecia in the hospital before she had the stroke was the most precious time of my life with her,” Peter said.
“Not knowing what the future held, and heartbroken to see my soulmate in this life or death situation … it made me treasure every minute.
“As a mother (to children Wynta and Reiid) and a wife, she will be irreplaceable.”
The two had a relationship “everyone would aspire to have”, according to Tamara.
“She was the yin to his yang, they didn’t have to say how they were feeling, the other would just know without words,” she said.
In a desperate attempt to help the family, who struggled to make ends meet during the coronavirus lockdowns, Tamara set up a GoFundMe, hopeful she might be able to raise enough money to help Peter, Wynta and Reiid fulfil Alecia’s final wishes and take her ashes back to her home country of New Zealand, once the borders reopen.
Peter said the family was “extremely grateful” for the community response, in which more than 70 people donated in under a week.
“I have been humbled by those who have shown their love and support and who will miss, and loved, Alecia as much as I do,” he said.