RIP Doreen 01.03.32 - 21.06.20

This morning when I woke up I said to Gavin how will we know if there is any change in his mum's condition, and he replied that the hospital has him and his brother in Canada as the contacts for their mum so we will hear from them. Imagine our surprise when later that morning we got a call from his cousin to say that his uncle had been phoned this morning and asked to go to the hospital, and when he got there was told that she had passed away last night. Last night!!

Communication with the hospital has always been a bit difficult, but I was very annoyed that they did not phone us last night to let us know. She died of pneumonia followed by a heart attack - and we still have not got the results of her Covid test. If she did not die of the virus then the circumstances certainly aided the cause - she was so disappointed when the pandemic struck and Gavin had to cancel his trip to see her in March, then his brother had to cancel his trip to see her in May, and then we had to cancel our family trip to see her in July. Life is not fun when you are in lockdown in a frail care home and cannot see any loved ones for the foreseeable future.

This photo was taken in October 2016 on one of our trips to visit her. She always loved colour and I like this photo as she is wearing a colourful outfit and the background of Johannesburg looks lovely with the Jacaranda trees in bloom. She was a much loved person by family and friends alike, she had an enormous social circle of friends and until the latter years was always busy doing things with her friends and family. Which makes it so sad that she died alone and we were not even aware of it happening. She was one of the most positive people I knew, always looking at the bright side of life, a breath of fresh air and she could always cheer you up. 

She will be greatly missed. Our family is so sad that we could not see her as planned in July, particularly the boys who had not seen her for a couple of years - and now we don't know when we can have a funeral either. In this time of Coronavirus it looks like it will have to be a memorial service next year, as both Gavin and his brother cannot travel to South Africa to be there.