Celebrating Claudia

My name is Danica and my beautiful younger sister Claudia died on 01/10/21 at 22 years of age. Those of us who remain on this earth loving her from afar include her mum (Kerstin), dad (Shane), twin brother (Jasper), older sister (Sarah), brother-in-law (Matt), sister-in-law (Sheridan), and myself. Claudia is the brightest soul I have ever encountered and made everyone that met her a better person. She is extremely playful and cheeky, and she loved to play Barbies, board games, video games, and many silly made-up family games. She has always brought people together and loved to party - her DJ skills are unmatched! However, it is her compassion and kindness I will treasure the most. Her dream job was to sing lullabies to sick babies and pets, she took delicate care of her 8 baby dolls each day, and she was ALWAYS there when her family needed her.

Claudia was admitted to hospital in early August and spent time on multiple wards across 2 facilities, including roughly 3 weeks in ICU on ventilation. We still don't know what happened inside Claudia's body that made her so sick, but she suffered so much as she gradually lost the ability to walk, use her hands, then arms, and eventually could no longer eat or speak, and finally could not breathe on her own. She was so so so so brave throughout all of this, even when we could not be with her in ICU when she was conscious with a breathing tube in. She stayed so strong and never lost her sense of humour, intelligence, determination to be understood, and unconditional love for her family.

Prior to her admission to hospital Claudia was too scared to even get occasional blood tests, so one can only imagine the enormous fears she had to face & endure during her hospital stay. She is well and truly the most courageous person I will ever know. We are eternally grateful to the hospital staff that cared for her so gently and helped her die peacefully surrounded by her loving family.

This fundraiser is to help us (her family) with various costs relating to her death including her celebration of life (which will be held in November), thank-you gifts for the hospital, and keepsake jewellery containing her ashes. There is no rush to complete this fundraiser, and myself and mum (Kerstin) will be in charge of the funds.