Claire and Gerard’s Story (for Courtenay)
Claire and Gerard’s Story (for Courtenay)
Courtenay, or Courts as she is affectionately known to her family and friends, was intelligent, beautiful, sporty and full of life. The void she has left in our life is a forever reminder of her and is not only felt by us but by the many people who she touched and knew in her short life.
On the 27th December 2013 we left our home in Ashburton to go to our holiday house in Twizel for the Christmas New Year break. She casually mentioned she felt like she had hypothermia but not in any way that it raised any questions or alarms with me. She was happy to pack for the few days with us before going to stay at a friend’s home in Christchurch to spend New Year’s Eve. Courtenay slept most of the way down in the car which was unusual for her.
Courtenay got sick very quickly. Meningitis hits with speed, and sadly in our case hiding all commonly known symptoms. Courts was fully vaccinated receiving all vaccinations as recommended by the MOH. At the time of feeling unwell she was seen by a doctor 3 times. Her symptoms appeared to be a viral tummy bug, but in reality they were masking this deadly disease.
At 8.30 on the morning of the 31st December, Courtenay went from walking into the doctor’s surgery, to collapsing within moments. Her blood pressure had dropped so low, that much needed veins were almost non-existent. I was standing holding a lure in my daughter’s neck vein, the only one they could access, whilst trying to project a sense of calm for Courtenay. All the while our instincts, intuitions and fears were in overdrive. Finally stable enough, she was ambulanced to Timaru. By the time we got to the side of Lake Pukaki, 10 minutes out of Twizel, Courtenay had become very distressed and was in considerable pain from her legs. Her blood pressure was again dangerously low and by the time we reached Fairlie she was drifting in and out of consciousness. The Doctor in Fairlie met the ambulance and administered a tube of fluid directly into her mouth, shut the door to the ambulance and shouted “lights!” This was when we knew that this was very real.
At the door of Timaru Hospital, a team of 6 – 8 nurses and doctors met the ambulance and Courts was rushed into Emergency and we were told to wait. After half an hour of people rushing in and out to her, we were taken away to a side room and were told she is dying in front of their eyes and they don’t know why. Eventually stabilised enough Courtenay was sent to ICU and were told to gather her 3 brothers, 2 of whom were overseas at the time.
After 12 hours in Timaru Hospital’s ICU, it was decided that Courtenay would be air-lifted to Christchurch, as they still did not know what was wrong with her and she needed an emergency Fasciotomy to relieve the pressure the infection was causing to her feet and hands. She was more settled, but her blood pressure was still extremely low and her breathing was very laboured. Courts kept us all entertained, she made jokes and spoke with her brothers on the phone telling them she will be ok, she even joked to her male nurse that she hoped she was getting a bigger bed in a private room when she got to Christchurch because the one she was on was very uncomfortable. She talked almost non-stop as if knowing if she stopped, she would stop. She won the hearts of all the doctors and nurses in those few hours in Timaru.
Courtenay was finally Westpac’d to Christchurch Hospital’s ICU. When Courts was placed in the Westpac Helicopter just before 1am, neither of us were able to travel with her as the support equipment required for her flight took up all available space. We kissed her and told her we loved her and promised to see her very soon. She said she loved us too and then I heard her ask the paramedic nurse to please not put her to sleep forever. These were the last words we heard our daughter say.
At Christchurch hospital we were taken to the ICU unit where Courtenay had been placed in an induced coma, The head of ICU Dr George Downward told us the next 6 hours were crucial and that Courtenay was the most critically ill patient in Christchurch hospital.
She was surrounded by monitors, tubes, and equipment. All her vital organs had shut down; the body’s defence to protect the heart. Her lungs were not supporting her, her kidneys and liver had shut down, she was on permanent dialysis. Her blood pressure and temperature were one of the biggest concerns, as her blood pressure was so low and her body temperature so high at 41 and 43 degrees due to the infection she was trying desperately to fight. A team of nurses were with her at all times. For us, trying to find and connect with our daughter amongst all this chaos was immensely hard, whilst also trying to understand and take in every bit of information given to us and trying to control our emotions for our daughter. The patience shown by the team of doctors and nurses that cared for her was amazing and we will be forever grateful to them.
Courts miraculously made it through that first night. She had a medical team of 4 and a full surgical team, plus 2 permanent nurses. The complications her body was constantly fighting were immense, she was fully assisted to stay alive. They now suspected meningitis was the cause, but septicaemia was now her biggest risk. The next few days were a roller coaster of emotions. We went from counting every hour as a success, to every hour throwing up more hurdles and complications. Natural parental thoughts went to how we were going to work through the possible body image problems the scars would present to a young, beautiful teenage girl who was blessed with intelligence, a natural sporting ability and who had the most amazing long, toned and tanned legs.
Courtenay was a battler. She fought. Boy did she fight.
The extremes her body went through to fight this are indescribable, and on her last day with us, her medical team were talking about rehabilitation. Everyone was hopeful as she had breathed for a period overnight on her own. Then it all changed. We thought we had made some pretty hard decisions over the past few days but our hardest was to come. Waiting in the hospital chapel for the results of the MRI, we wished and prayed for time to stand still as she was still with us. Deep down we knew that this would be the end of Courtenay’s journey, that this disease had taken everything she needed to live. And then the results showed that the disease had entered her brain. The machines that were giving our child, our beautiful Courts, life, had to be turned off.
Of all those hard, impossible and incomprehensible decisions we had to make, living without our daughter is unbelievably the hardest thing we are having to try and do.
Courtenay left a permanent mark on this world; she will never be forgotten.
Her friends chose to honour her legacy and to turn a tragedy into a positive permanent reminder to raise awareness for meningitis and created the purple “EVERY SECOND COUNTS” wristbands. They have sold thousands nationally and internationally to raise funds for the Meningitis Foundation Aotearoa NZ.
We as a family have advocated with the Foundation for all vaccines including ACWY & B to be available free for all persons.
With the philosophy of giving back what we have received, we offer our support and guidance to other parents affected by meningitis or loss.
Click on the links below to read the Stuff.co.nz article written by Myles Hume or to read about the EVERY SECOND COUNTS wristbands.
