Daughter, Twin, Sister, Wife, Mother, Aunt, Sister-in-law. Shelley was all that and as beautiful on the inside as she was out.
From the first signs of something being seriously wrong, until her last moments, it only took 14 days to lose our youngest sister to bacterial meningitis. For the rest of us watching her suffer through the madness and chaos, it felt like a lifetime.
November 16th, 2022 was when we received the first phone call to say that Shelley was extremely ill and needed to be transferred to a bigger city hospital. The docs had already given her a spinal tap, suspected meningitis and administered antibiotics before they moved her. I received two photos on my cell. One of her hands and one of her feet. Both were covered in purple patches. Having no idea what that meant I reached out to a nurse friend who explained what was happening. It wasn’t good. There are many, many details that I won’t go into, as this is painful enough to write. We all gathered at the hospital as quickly as possible where we then spent the next 2 weeks watching and waiting. She did perk up at one point, which gave us all a little reprieve, however, that did not last long as her condition worsened daily until there was nothing else the docs could do. Although they did their very best, and looking back on the events that conspired, we believe they already knew what her fate would be.
Only 44 years old when she passed, Shelley was the youngest of 4 girls and also a twin to her best friend for life, her equally beautiful sister Kerri. She was our Mom and Dad’s baby. Although the four of us sisters always remained close, there was no comparison for the love, honour and respect Shelley and Kerri had for each other. Their lifelong attachment and incredible bond they shared could only be understood by them. It was quite something to live with five strong women under one roof, never a dull moment.
Shelley was strong, independant, hard-working and very intelligent. She had a big heart and loved deeply. Her husband Nate, her young children Lucas and Leilah (ages 6 and 10 at the time) were her world. She went out of her way to protect them from anything that life threw at them. She beamed with pride over her adoring family and had many future plans for them. They enjoyed camping all summer, then attending hockey games and gymnastics classes all winter. They were busy, but she loved every single second of it. She was a caring and supportive Mama Bear, as well as an understanding and fun-loving wife.
It’s been a tough year and a half (already) since Shelley passed. I still haven’t figured out what the reason was for this or what I’m supposed to take away from our experience with bacterial meningitis, except for what we’ve learned about this terrible infection itself and to do our best to protect our loved ones from it. Life is hard and really not fair at all and I wonder if given the vaccine, would she still be celebrating life with us now.
May you rest in peace, our beautiful soul. Enjoy your reconnection with our loving Mom. We miss and love you everyday, Dad and Lesley, Walt, Kelly, Sam and Sadie, Scott, Lori, Abby and Carter, Kerri, Jay and James, Nate, Lucas, Leilah, Mark and Meredith.