Katrina came to the United States with us, in 1994, aged 11. She went
to school here. It was difficult at first as she was very lonely. She
had attended a Gaelscoil [Irish speaking school] in Cork prior to this.
We
all stayed even though we were so lonely for Ireland. Katrina worked so
hard and was loved by so many people. She was ill in April 2014 and
she ended up in ICU in Rhode Island for five or six days.
She had
instructions to follow up with Endocrinology, GI and, I believe,
Cardiology. I spoke with her and Skyped her many times and insisted she
call the recommended specialists to make an appointment.
Unfortunately, the first question she was asked was “What insurance
do you have?” Katrina worked in the hospitality industry and did not
have any health insurance.
I now know that the Irish Pastoral
Centre in Boston helps emigrants with various problems, including not
having health coverage. Katrina didn't know that.
I would like to let other emigrants know this and if people wish to, they can make a donation in her name to The Irish Pastoral Centre, 15 Rita Road, Dorchester, MA 02124.
We miss her so much we want to do something good in her name.
My computer gave up in early November so we weren’t able to Skype,
but as I was coming to the US to spend Christmas and New Year with
Katrina and her brother I decided to wait to get it fixed or get a new
one. I use a Mac and Katrina said she would take me to the Apple store
in Providence Mall. Our correspondence was then by phone and WhatsApp.
Everything seemed fine.
I had booked to arrive in to Boston
on December 4 and she said she would be around to pick me up for sure
as she always did. I had spoken to her about trying to get on Obamacare
when I arrived or otherwise she could come back home to Ireland and we
could get her health taken care of. I knew there had to be some severe
underlying problem that had caused her to be in ICU for such a long
period of time.
Of course she was 31 and invincible and said I was being dramatic.
When neither her brother, sister nor I had heard from her for Thanksgiving
we knew something must be wrong, but nothing could have prepared us for
the awful news that no parent should ever hear. Katrina was found dead
in her apartment on November 28. We will not have the results of autopsy
for up to three months.
We waked her in Boston and took her home to be laid to rest with her Granny (my mother) in beautiful Connemara, County Galway. She had a very strong faith and always put such a lot of faith in her Granny in times of strife.
The
journey to Logan Airport that evening after the wake at the Boston
funeral home and the Aer Lingus flight with our baby were heartbreaking.
We arrived at Shannon Airport at 5.30am and our local undertaker met us
there. All my brothers and close family were there. We then all drove
after the hearse for around 150 miles to my brother's house in Connemara. On the way out through the mountains and lakes to his house we saw two double rainbows; I had never seen that before.
We
lay Katrina in his front living room for her wake. That house was my
home place and it is fairly a rural area, but we could not believe all
the people who came from all around. Hundreds of people passed through
the house that night.
The priests came and we said the Rosary and
next morning the priests came again. We had two priests as Fr. Joe, a
local man who was a missionary priest for many years, happened to be in
the area for a while. I asked him the night of her wake as we both stood
by her coffin, "WHY, why did God take her? I would have gladly gone in
her place."
I'll never forget his words. He put his arm around me
and said "Ah, you'll probably go with the old people, God needed someone
young, there are no old angels."
She was certainly a better
person than I. She often brought food from the restaurant down to the
homeless shelter after she finished work at maybe 3am. I worried about
her going there at that late hour. I once said, "Can you not do it next
day?" She got mad at me and said, "The food would not be fresh then.
Just because they are homeless they not going to eat old food."
She
would be the first one to say, "Stop Mom, you're making me sound like a
saint," if she could see what I've written. She didn't smoke and went
to the gym, but she loved the craic and loved to drink a Guinness and
Magners. She did Irish dancing and played the fiddle when she was young.
She loved life.
The Mass was really beautiful. Her sister Lisa and brother Robert
both spoke. I honestly don't know how they did it. I kept praying that
they would not totally break down. They were tearful but did a lovely
job.
They got a standing applause after. Fr. Ronnie spoke to me
and the family. He said that there is a name for someone who loses their
wife or husband and for someone who loses their parents, but there is
no name for someone who loses a child. I don't recall ever hearing that
before.
We had local traditional musicians play and sing. They
played a lot beautiful traditional airs and they sang "The Water is
Wide" and "The Boston Rose" and the final one was "Dreams of Home." Her
brother Robbie and her uncles and her first cousins carried her coffin.
We don't have professional grave diggers where I come from. Local men
dig the grave and they prepared my baby's grave so beautifully. They
lined it all with greenery and ivy and my uncles and Robbie lowered her
into it.
Then all the family members were given a shovel of dirt
to drop on the coffin as well as white and yellow roses. Then all local
men take turns covering the coffin. The graveyard overlooks the
Atlantic.
I’m back in Rhode Island until end of January. Hopefully
we will have the results of the autopsy by then. I don’t know if it
will make me feel any different when we get the results and I know it
won’t bring her back or mend our broken hearts. We are totally
devastated and finding it so hard to think of life without her beautiful
smile and wicked sense of humor.
I wish I could do something in
her name to help others. She was such a giving person. My only bit of
comfort now is that she is with her Granny and I know she will take care
of her.
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