- J
My name is Jennifer, I am the oldest sister of 8 children. Becky is the 5th one. My family Dave Relf, Bashawn Relf my brothers and sisters and I are asking for help to raise funeral and casket expenses for my sister Becky.
My sister was born in 1980 and by the time she was 6 years old she was diagnosed with an optical glioma tumor and we were told she would be terminal within one year she superseded the doctor's diagnosis and began to live her life beyond the age of 7 which was her life expectancy.
Shortly thereafter they determined that her spinal fluid was no longer draining from the brain and had to install a shunt.
She lived her life with the left side of her body paralyzed on the left side and blind in one eye due to a nicked carotid artery during surgery to remove the tumor which was unsuccessful.
By the age of 25 she went into a grand mal seizure that put her into stasis. They had to perform a hemispherectomy to stop the seizure activity. Once again we were told she would not wake up from her coma during this time and that she would not make it.
Once again Becky proved the doctors wrong and came out of the coma with her functions restored at the same level as before.
She lived her life with our mother who was her full-time caretaker her whole life.
She enjoyed the company of family and friends. She enjoyed going to the brain injury group that she belonged to in Puyallup and the activity club that she attended for disabled adults during the day in Tacoma.
She enjoyed going out to lunch we had a favorite spot that we went monthly until it closed for repairs. She loved arts and crafts was very verbal very social and very alive.
Thursday night she was then able to move or speak hardly at all. My mom went to check on her and found that she was unable to move and thought she just had another TIA. The ambulance came and in the beginning they thought it was just a TIA however over the course of the day Friday her speech became worse and she began to have seizures. She had an MRI that confircon firmed a stroke. Eventually she was unable to speak at all and when she tried to sign it was missing most of the letters for the word she was trying to speak with her hands she had seizures every hour on the hour all night Friday night and was in severe pain. Saturday the seizures continued about every 2 hours and still unsuccessful at eating or drinking and speaking the only time she woke was when she had seizures and was in excruciating pain. This was the activity that continued into Sunday as well as Monday. Finally it came down to deciding whether or not to put a tube in her stomach to feed a body that was in pain and seizing every couple of hours or to let her body pass on as it was trying to do. Per my sister's wishes my mother chose to let her body pass on and honor her request for a DNR.
We were fortunate to have the opportunity just last weekend on Sunday to have an enjoyable dinner with family cousins and uncles brothers and sisters and spend that time with Becky before this all occurred. She will be going home from the hospital on hospice so that she can be out of pain while her body passes away. She has been strong and amazing she has taught people to love and accept. She has taught patience and spirituality throughout her life to all those who had the pleasure of being able to meet and know her.
Anything will be appreciated. I simply came up with the number that I think it will cost to cover expenses for a casket and funeral. Thank you to all those willing and able to help and all those who are unable to help prayers are always appreciated and thank you for those as well.
Our sincerest thanks the Relf Family
My sister was born in 1980 and by the time she was 6 years old she was diagnosed with an optical glioma tumor and we were told she would be terminal within one year she superseded the doctor's diagnosis and began to live her life beyond the age of 7 which was her life expectancy.
Shortly thereafter they determined that her spinal fluid was no longer draining from the brain and had to install a shunt.
She lived her life with the left side of her body paralyzed on the left side and blind in one eye due to a nicked carotid artery during surgery to remove the tumor which was unsuccessful.
By the age of 25 she went into a grand mal seizure that put her into stasis. They had to perform a hemispherectomy to stop the seizure activity. Once again we were told she would not wake up from her coma during this time and that she would not make it.
Once again Becky proved the doctors wrong and came out of the coma with her functions restored at the same level as before.
She lived her life with our mother who was her full-time caretaker her whole life.
She enjoyed the company of family and friends. She enjoyed going to the brain injury group that she belonged to in Puyallup and the activity club that she attended for disabled adults during the day in Tacoma.
She enjoyed going out to lunch we had a favorite spot that we went monthly until it closed for repairs. She loved arts and crafts was very verbal very social and very alive.
Thursday night she was then able to move or speak hardly at all. My mom went to check on her and found that she was unable to move and thought she just had another TIA. The ambulance came and in the beginning they thought it was just a TIA however over the course of the day Friday her speech became worse and she began to have seizures. She had an MRI that confircon firmed a stroke. Eventually she was unable to speak at all and when she tried to sign it was missing most of the letters for the word she was trying to speak with her hands she had seizures every hour on the hour all night Friday night and was in severe pain. Saturday the seizures continued about every 2 hours and still unsuccessful at eating or drinking and speaking the only time she woke was when she had seizures and was in excruciating pain. This was the activity that continued into Sunday as well as Monday. Finally it came down to deciding whether or not to put a tube in her stomach to feed a body that was in pain and seizing every couple of hours or to let her body pass on as it was trying to do. Per my sister's wishes my mother chose to let her body pass on and honor her request for a DNR.
We were fortunate to have the opportunity just last weekend on Sunday to have an enjoyable dinner with family cousins and uncles brothers and sisters and spend that time with Becky before this all occurred. She will be going home from the hospital on hospice so that she can be out of pain while her body passes away. She has been strong and amazing she has taught people to love and accept. She has taught patience and spirituality throughout her life to all those who had the pleasure of being able to meet and know her.
Anything will be appreciated. I simply came up with the number that I think it will cost to cover expenses for a casket and funeral. Thank you to all those willing and able to help and all those who are unable to help prayers are always appreciated and thank you for those as well.
Our sincerest thanks the Relf Family
Organizer and beneficiary
David Relf
Beneficiary