After being diagnosed with Behcet Syndrome, my mom handled the news better than anyone else probably ever could. She didn't let it effect her life and instead continued to be one of the most positive and uplifting person I've ever known.
Side effects from tablets have her kidney failure. I remember being in primary school and her being yellow in a hospital bed and just being told she was poorly. Not long after that we're sorting out a cupboard in the house and watching a VHS video of someone explaining dialysis and how to work the machine etc. As young children we would help our mom up off the floor and we would help with so much around the house to help out.
Years of steroids definitely took its toll, especially towards the end of her life. Her bones would break by just walking. She had a heart attack one year which she was given an inhaler for, one day she used her inhaler and her fifth invertebrate snapped with mere millimetres of bone protecting her central nervous system. She was strapped to a bed for weeks and used a neck brace for months because it took so long to heal.
Her skin became so thin that the slightest touch would slice her open, but would be unable to use stitches or anything as it just wouldn't hold. So we had to hold skin in place to wrap it up and we ended up having nurses come to the house multiple times a week to patch up any cuts that had happened that week.
Her legs became so swollen they would leak liquid, they kind of looked like tree stumps. They also needed wrapping up constantly and she had special blow up cushions she needed to try and get some swelling down.
One thing I can definitely say about my mom though - she was always so positive. Everything that happened to her and to us as a family she would make us laughing about it. Her signature phrase was always 'I'll be alright' and that was also one of the final things she said to me 'I'll be alright me bab'.
Not only was she a positive influence to me and my sister, she was a positive influence to anyone who would meet her. She became a regular in Tesco, at the sandwich shop in town and even mecca bingo. If we were there instead of her then people would always ask how she was. Strangers asking me if my mom was okay was always something that made me feel so blessed. She touched many people's lives by just being herself. She was like a second mom and agony aunt to family, friends and neighbours that it really did show at her funeral how much she meant to people.
I miss her so much yet she still gives me strength every single day. I still hear her voice in my head reminding me to drink, eat and take my medication. When me and my sister fight I can still hear her giving me advice and when I feel like giving up on life, she is right there in my head reminding me that life is a blessing.
Judy Louise Richards has, and always will, touch the lives of the people who knew her. Things will happen which will always give people a reason to think of her in the moment. And it's always a happy moment that makes us think of her.
I love you mom. Thank you for the strength you have given to me and my sister. And for showing us what being a parent is all about.
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