Shout out to Captain Jack Portraits for making a plan come true . Always wanted a photo of a much loved friend and Godfather to all of the children but never found the time . We all love it xx

More than 450 relatives of organ donors declined permission to donate as they were unsure of their relatives’ wishes in 2018.

To my family: I AM a Registered donor. When I die, I am done. Give my organs to someone who needs them.

I am an organ donor ❤️

If you are an organ donor please copy and paste

First week back at work – not without a few tears but generally pretty good .

Helps that I have a great work place .

Also stoked that I found a portable Bluetooth speaker when I tidied Shelbs room 🙂 . It now has pride of place on my desk and in between calls or paperwork I can listen to her favourite tunes .

It’s not going to be easy and I would really love to win lotto and be able to retire to the beach but I’m going to be able to battle on because of where I work and the people I work with xx

When you lose a loved one it’s like taking the boat out when you haven’t checked the weather . You don’t know if your going to have calm waters or a storm .

You could on that day have all manner of water . Ten foot waves and then a milk pond .

Make sure you have good life jackets . My Life Jackets (friends and family) have been and continue to be amazing .

Just yesterday my niece showed up with a surprise for me . Stickers with one of Shelbis sayings “don’t be shit” and one of the major food groups 🙂 .

Thanks beautiful- it was a rainbow in my day

Meet Slothy and Squiz . Sloth is the Manchester Supporter (Isaack)and Squiz (Or squeaky or SHELBI) Squiz was made by our Daughter Samantha- she has a heart beat and sings in Shelbs voice . Slothy has a heart beat says “I love you” and smells faintly of Vanilla Coke – a – made for his mum with the help of his wonderful friends .Vanilla coke favourite drink of Shelbis . These two bears give us mum’s some comfort .

Today has been a great day – established the blog . So happy with it . Met with the wonderful people at Organ Donation Tas and have set the wheels in motion in regards to what I can do to make a difference.

Being a Donor is a choice and I’m not going to badger anyone into doing it but if you have considered it contact me if your not sure how to do it . (It’s not a box on your license anymore xx)

Thanks Rosie for your help in establishing this page . It is really appreciated xx

This Blog is being written because on the 27th of December 2018 our lives changed forever. The mere definition of the words forever and never were defined for us when our daughter was taken from us by a car accident.

Shelbi was driving and by all accounts of witnesses there was nothing particularly unusual about her driving and nothing has come from any testing to suggest she had been drinking or consumed anything that would have led to the accident. It was “just” a senseless accident that took her life and the life of her boyfriend of 12 moths – the love of her life . They were 18.

Her Boyfriend died instantly. Shelbi fought hard to stay but her body was just too broken and we had to say goodbye on the 30th of December – 26 days after her 18th birthday.

Her Father (Rob Berechree) and I along with her step parents Laurie Gill and Karen Williams all agreed to Organ Donation. Shelbi lived her life helping others and always put others before herself. We knew she would want us to do this. Her poor body had been broken and we weren’t entirely sure what she could do to help but all I could see was her beautiful brown eyes. I wanted them to still be able to see the world. This page is hopefully going to be her legacy . Shelbi’s story can’t end here – she had too much living to do. She had a future . She had a job lined up – she was a childcarer with 7 units left to complete before she completed Certificate 3. She owned her car, had savings and had plans for her and her boyfriend.

I have found writing to her on Facebook therapeutic and I have decided that I need to continue to spread the word about organ donation for Shelbi which is one of the main reasons I am writing this blog.

Shelb always said “be somebody who makes everyone feel like somebody” so this page will also hopefully become a place were people who have had similar journeys can come and read and comment.

I look forward to this journey together.

Tania & Family 🙂 xx

The last month has been full of highs and lows for us . I have been writing in a diary I found in Shelbi’s room . Her step sister Sam has been keeping a journal and her other step sister Sarah has got a tattoo, so have I.

I had the task of sorting out her room . I love her to the moon and back but she was like most teenagers and it had to be tidied. I actually found the task relatively easy. I found things that had been long lost and actually talked to her while I cleaned.

We also had a letter from the Organ Donation team and can smile knowing that part of her had been able to give new life to someone. Keep someone from going through what we are all going through. Ours became a no win situation. Shelb couldn’t have survived her injuries . If her situation had been less catastrophic and we could of been organ recipients we would been so grateful.

I won’t lie. The process isn’t easy. There are additional forms and questions but for me I believe we did exactly what Shelb would have wanted . I have recently spoken to the Organ Donation Team and I am keen to get involved in community and charity events.

This is for Shelb but also for me.

Tania xx