12/11/2020
My dear “baby”sister Sara died in my arms and surrounded by her sweet daughters Lizzy and Leah on Saturday November 22, at 1:15 pm. Sara was born on May 1, 1960, A beautiful little May baby and was really the love of all of our hearts in our family. Sara was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the age of 59, on October 18, 2018 in Palm Beach Gardens,Florida where she had lived for many years since young adulthood. These final years, presented a very difficult road for my dear sister but she faced the struggle with grace and gratitude for every day she had to live her life and be with her family. Her daughter, Lizzy Brach, provided day in and out support, love, care and endless caregiving during these two difficult years. Lizzy was often the only one who could help her mom due to the restrictions of the covid virus and most of her family living in other states. Sara’s wish was to come north and be back home in the Midwest where she had planned to initiate new treatment with the Cancer Carbone center in Madison Wisconsin. But she never got that chance. She planned the move in a 30 foot RV driven by our wonderful cousin Lisa who is pretty much a superwoman. But the traveling caravan was delayed on her moving trip at a hospital in Atlanta Where they stopped for IV fluids only to find out that Sara had only 24 to 48 hours to live. She had developed complications from the cancer that were moving things along very quickly. We were afraid she would pass away at the hospital in Atlanta and our hearts were broken. My cousin Lisa Gundersen, her partner Wilbur, Sara’s daughters Lizzy and Leah, myself and my son Aaron rallied all our resources together in Atlanta. We were prepared to help her pass away at the hospital in Atlanta which was a huge loss for all of us especially Sara. But Just as we planned how to bring “Home” to Sara at the hospital there,the physicians miraculously were able to get her stabilized. Two days later on November 16, We flew her home from Atlanta to Madison on a high speed private jet air ambulance called Angel Medflight. We sped through a moonless night overflowing with stars, at 600 mph and flying almost 50,000 feet through presidential aerospace. She had a critical care nurse and an EMT and two skilled pilots the entire way. I was able to fly with her on this amazing trip.Sara and I looked out the window together and were amazed to see all of the stars of Orion‘s constellation out of the tiny little window of the jet. I will never forget the beauty and grace of that night flight with my sister as we jettisoned her home to her beloved Wisconsin. An ambulance took us directly from the Angel Medflight to my home in Madison and slid her softly into her warm and waiting bed. This was the same bed that our mom Ruth slept in for many many years so It brought much comfort to my sister. I covered her with the “wedding ring quilt” handed down from our great grandmother Susan Skillestaad. For the next 10 days Lizzy, Leah, myself, and cousin Lisa provided hour by hour care for every need. We Loved her. Sang to her. Played lullabies and bagpipe music and Debussy for her. slept by her. We filled her room with candles and beautiful flowers and hundreds of pictures of family and friends. We washed her with rosewater, we massage her soft feet and hands and arms with cherry and almond scented lotion. The entire room was filled with the most beautiful scent of flowers. She spoke and sometimes visited with many beloved family and friends during this time. So many of you who loved her and whose hearts were breaking for the loss of her. ...All of you need to know that she received every single one of your messages of love and support, music that you sent, poetry you sent, and silly little memories that you sent were all read to her. Your prayers were read to her. She received all of that as she gently let go of the world. She knew how much we all loved her. We said goodbye to our dear sister, mom, and friend on Saturday November 22 at 1:15pm when she took her final breath.  Thank you dear friends for all that you are to us and have been to her. We love you all and hope to see you in the spring at a celebration of life for Sara. The date and time will be somewhere around May 1 in honor of Sara‘s birthday and of course of May Day — a time for joy and the time of new growth and beauty. We will be in touch with all of you when we finalize the date and time.Love to all of you and so much gratitude, Liz
