Courtney Roteliuk

My name is Maxine Roteliuk and I have lost a daughter from meningitis.

She was a twin. Her twin brother is Curtis and she also has a 2-year-old sister. Courtney was always a very happy healthy little girl.

She was only 7 years old when this illness took her.

She was always so full of life that you just could not slow her down.

She and her brother always liked to go and spend Friday nights at a friend's place where they did what they called T.G.I.F. It was something they enjoyed doing every weekend. 

On the weekend of December 18/1999 my girlfriend called me at 9:30 in the morning and told me there was something wrong with my daughter. She was going into convulsions and what should she do. I told her to phone 911 and I would get there as soon as I could. I left and when I got there Courtney was laying on the floor with paramedics all around her. I knelt down at her side and placed my hand on her leg and the only words she spoke from then until the end was mama, mama. It was almost like she knew I was there.

They worked on her for a short time, after which they put her in the ambulance and took her to the Red Deer Regional Hospital. We arrived at the hospital at approximately 10:10 and they took her into a room where the doctors came and saw her. They tried every thing they could but did not get any response at all from Courtney.

They felt that she was brain dead at that point.

The doctor made arrangements to fly Courtney to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. She had lots of doctors but it did not matter at that point as they almost lost her in the flight. Courtney started with a little red rash then it went to purple then to black. 

The doctors thought I should think about letting her go but I could not reach her dad so they kept her alive until we finally reached her dad. He was working in Rainbow Lake at the time. When her dad got the news he rushed to Edmonton. He got there at about 11:30 or 12:30 so we spent some time with her together then we decided that it was time to let her go.

Courtney had turned very black by that time and was very dehydrated and very wrinkly and cold. This has taken a lot out of both me and her dad and siblings. Her twin brother took it very hard, as they were very close.
Maxine Roteliuk

This is the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. I lost my Grandmother just 14 days before this so Courtney's death was even harder for me. It has also put a big strain on my marriage as my husband feels that I should have been over it already. I am very thankful for all the support I did get from friends and family and her school. She was a very popular little girl in her school. Each class wrote something about her and presented this to me at her funeral, which was also very nice. I did it all in Barbie pink with pink flowers and peach flowers. She had 267 people attend her funeral. Some from her church as well. 

THIS IS MY STORY ABOUT MENINGITIS and it is still very painful.

MOM OF COURTNEY

MAXINE ROTELIUK

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