Charlotte’s treasured message shared in family’s final goodbye
When Charlotte was little she would tell the story of how she was once an angel in heaven who only came down into the world when she saw her mumma needed her. On Friday, Charlotte’s mum could not fathom why her little angel had gone back to heaven so soon.
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When Charlotte was little she would tell the story of how she was once an angel in heaven who only came down into the world when she saw her mumma needed her.
On Friday, Charlotte’s mum could not fathom why her little angel had gone back to heaven so soon.
“You’d say you saw I needed you, so you popped into my belly. I don’t know why you went home, baby, because I still need you,” a grief-stricken Kelly said through her tears.
“I’ll never be okay without you, not even for a day.”
Kelly’s bond with her 12-year-old daughter was evident every day, in the jokes they shared, the pictures Charlotte would send her, the excited chatter about weekend plans, to the knowing smiles and eye rolls to the hugs.
It could not have been more evident on Friday as she clutched her little girl’s toy penguin and teddy bear.
Here now was Kelly, on her knees, at the front of the church, kissing the coffin covered in butterflies and purple flowers.
“Back then, I’d tell you I couldn’t wait to go to sleep so I could see you in the morning,” Kelly said. “Now, my angel, I can’t wait to go to sleep so I can see you in my dreams.”
A brave and broken Kelly carried the coffin into Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Bossley Park – the church where Charlotte made her first confession and had her first Holy Communion.
Kelly shared some ponderings of her creative, loving, kind-hearted little girl as she promised her she would “somehow get through all” their plans for the future.
“We know you would never want us to be broken. So we will live the best life we can for you,” Kelly said.
“I’ll get you to Disneyland and to Paris. We will have our hot dog in New York.
“We will never, ever forget you. You will be with us wherever we go, from your first breath to my last, I will always love you. This is a goodbye. It just means we get to love you as you are, forever.”
In little pink handwriting Charlotte wrote down the names of children she wanted at her funeral, names of students she said had made her “life too hard” and begged her mum to “tell the school please” in letters before she took her own life.
The message, though, that will be etched in the minds of Charlotte’s mum and dad – and the one that has given them the strength to push aside their raw gut instinct to grieve in private – is the note that said: “Mama, please share my story to raise awareness”.
On Friday Kelly told mourners who wore a touch of pink that “everything she did has meaning behind it, whether it was making a bracelet that was pink and blue … to organising the adults around her to throw me a surprise party for my 30th.”
“I’ll miss the way you wholeheartedly told me you loved me and that I was the best mama ever. I’ll miss every time we drove past McDonald’s. You’d tell me everybody wishes they had me as a mum, because I let you get two soft serves and flicking on my indicator because I got the hint.
“I’ll miss you coming down to kiss me goodnight, or waking up to a clean kitchen and a post-it note saying: ‘Guess who cleaned up’.
“I’ll miss the way you treated Will and teased dad. I will always grieve the life you’ve never had. I won’t just miss you on special occasions, on your birthday. I will miss you every day that end in Y.”
Charlotte’s dad Mat said “You only need to look around this room to see how loved you are. I have so many things that I want to say and not enough time to say it.
“What I want to say most is Thank you. Thank you for being you. Thank you for being so thoughtful. Thank you for being so kind. Thank you for being so brave.
“Thank you for letting me take your Mum out on our first date. I was under very clear instructions that I needed Charlotte’s approval, and thankfully, I received it. Thank you for giving me the greatest honour to be your dad.”
Earlier on Friday Kelly told The Saturday Telegraph: “Every child affected by Charlotte’s passing was failed. Every child that was allowed to continue their behaviour was failed. Every child a part of the toxic environment that was allowed to breed was failed. Their stories aren’t over.
“Even if the grief doesn’t affect them now, they will have children one day and the cross will no doubt become too hard to bear.
“We need change – not just for Charlotte, but for them. This tragedy could have been any one of those children. Unfortunately it happened to mine.
“The Lord chose her because he knows she had the strength to continue the fight, even in death.”
Lifeline 13 11 14
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Originally published as Charlotte’s treasured message shared in family’s final goodbye
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