“Arms Around Amara” Coming Together in Support

Back Story
Amara came into this life at 5:15pm on 29 January 2020.  A beautiful and much welcomed baby daughter for Ashleigh Laughton and Dean Andrews (aka Nuggy), and a little sister for adorable Koen. 

Everything was perfect. It was a full-term pregnancy, the delivery went well and Amara was a healthy 3.9kg and perfectly beautiful in every way.

Amara was struggling to breath on her own, and six hours later the unimaginable happened and it rocked their world. Sadly and tragically, Amara just couldn’t keep up her brave battle for survival and died of unknown causes. 

Amara was surrounded by all her family, being hugged and kissed and in between an ocean of tears that were shed, she was told how much she is loved and cherished, and always will be.

“How and why could this possibly occur? It doesn’t seem fair that such a loving, caring, kind-hearted and innocent couple such as Ashleigh and Dean should have to experience this unbelievably heartbreaking event!”

Now
Understandably the family is shattered, heartbroken, distraught and no words can really describe the pain and emptiness they are feeling at this time, and how very much they miss their angel Amara.

They are doing it really tough and the days, weeks and months ahead are going to be challenging for Ashleigh and Dean as they struggle to come to terms with this, with what lies ahead, and the agonising wait to find out what happened. 

Financially, they can’t keep up, there will be significant funeral costs and basic living expenses without an income. Incoming work has been unsustainably low for some time and their debts have been mounting. Their family have provided much needed support to date, but the situation will soon become dire for them. 

I have known and loved Ashleigh since she was born, she is like a daughter to me. Ashleigh’s parents Sue and Mark Laughton are very dear and close friends. Your donation will go directly to Ashleigh, to assist them with Amara’s funeral costs, and while they get back on their feet again and Dean secures regular work, it will pay their weekly rent, food and basic living expenses for Ashleigh,Dean and son Koen.

The Future
It may take weeks or months to have an answer on Amara’s death, and unfortunately the why and how may never be understood or answered. 

It’s going to be some time before Ashleigh and Dean can even begin to start picking up the shattered pieces of their lives and start to heal. They will need all the love and support they can get as they shuffle through, one painful step at a time.

What Can You Do?
There is not a more deserving couple that needs our help. Let’s come together, all their friends, family and the community to donate whatever we can to alleviate the financial burden, so that they can focus on grieving for Amara, taking care of Koen and working through the challenges and long road ahead in picking up the pieces of their shattered and heartbroken lives.

Please show them how much you all care for and love Ashleigh, Dean and Koen and make a donation. No amount of money can bring Amara back. But your donation, no matter how small, Can and Will Make a Difference in their lives.

Please put your caring, loving and generous “Arms Around Amara” and give now!

The Events - In Ashleigh’s Words
“On Wednesday 29th January I went into labour naturally at 37+6. Waters broke at 12:15 at home. I arrived at the hospital at about 2:30pm, they checked me and confirmed waters had broken and put me on a monitor. When they checked me, I was 3cm dilated.

They got me into a room, Amara showed no signs of distress throughout the whole labour. I said I wanted to jump in the shower. When I got in there I had a big urge to push. It had maybe been 40 mins since they last checked me at 3cm. They checked me again and confirmed that it was time to push.

Soon after, at 5:15 pm, Amara was born and placed on my chest. She was unresponsive and did not cry or breath. They immediately took her and started CPR and called a code blue. From there a big team rushed in, they worked on her lifeless little body for quite some time and then took her to the special care unit where the NETS team and other specialists got involved. They were going to transfer her, but after five hours she was showing no signs of improvement. Her health slowly worsened.

They gave us the heart wrenching news that she was likely not going to make it, after being so sick for so long, and as her health was deteriorating fast, that she would likely have severe damage to her little organs and brain if a miracle was to happen and she was to somehow survive.

We made the heartbreaking decision to turn off the life support, and allow her to live her last moments free of machines, embraced in the loving arms of her mummy and daddy, feeling loved, and hearing the voices of her mummy and daddy telling her just how special she is and always will be. Amara, our little angel, took her last breaths on mummies chest at approx 11:15 pm and spent the night embraced in warm, loving arms, smothered in kisses from the people who love her the most”.....