Bay Harbour: June 15, 2022

Bay Harbour News Wednesday June 15 2022
6
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
A mother’s story of loss, grief and
A mother who has
experienced tragedy
still manages to find
joy in the small things.
After losing her 13-dayold
baby and being
diagnosed with stage
four ovarian cancer
with a life expectancy
prognosis of five to 15
years, Sarah Luxon uses
her blog to write about
the “messy things” in
life. Emily Moorhouse
reports
FOUR YEARS ago Sarah Luxon,
34, gave birth to what appeared
to be a perfectly healthy baby girl
named Mackenzie.
However, the second week into
Mackenzie’s life, Sarah noticed
she was becoming quite grizzly
but after a check up from the
LOSS: (Above left) – Sarah Luxon lost her baby Mackenzie to a heart defect when she
was 13-days-old. Since then Sarah has raised more than $3000 for Kenzie’s Gift, a charity
that supports families through grief and loss. (Above) – Sarah and husband Greg, along
with daughters Hazel, 7, Willa, 2, and step-daughter Tayla, 19, travel to Tekapo each year
on the anniversary of Mackenzie’s death to connect as a family during what can be a
difficult time.
midwife, was told everything
was okay.
A few days later, feeling like
something wasn’t right, Sarah
took Mackenzie to an after hours
medical centre.
Within minutes of arriving,
Mackenzie’s heart stopped
beating.
“It was horrible, just watching
my wee baby being resuscitated
and having to call my husband
to tell him that her heart had
stopped and to come in,” Sarah
said.
“She passed away very
suddenly and I had no idea what
had happened until the postmortem
came back, and it took
months.”
Mackenzie died from a heart
defect where a hole in her
heart, known as a patent ductus
arteriosus, hadn’t properly closed
over after being born as well as
having high blood pressure in
her lungs.
Sarah said while the hospital
staff did an incredible job at
trying to help Mackenzie, it was
too much for her little body to
handle and she died at 13-daysold.
“She coped with what ended
up being fatal very well right up
until her body went: ‘We can’t do
this anymore’.”
Afterwards, Sarah felt there
was a lack of mental health
support offered with no funded
clinical psychologists or counsellors
to talk to.
She attended a support
group but said she would have
benefited much more from
one-on-one therapy, and feels
as though her seven-year-old
daughter, who was two at the
time would have benefited from
this as well.
Thank you for
helping your
community
Fall Zones
Notice and Growth limit zones
B
A
If you have had your trees trimmed recently,
thank you for reducing the risk of power cuts in your
community. And if it’s still on your to-do list, now’s the
time to do it, as winter sets in. Check out our website for
info on safety, regulations and guidelines.
You’re our priority.
Power line voltage A. Growth limit zone B. Notice zone
66,000 volts 4.0m 5.0m
33,000 volts 2.5m 3.5m
11,000 volts 1.6m 2.6m
400/230 volts 0.5m 1.5m
03 363 9898 | 0800 363 9898
oriongroup.co.nz
Orion operates, and maintains, the electricity
distribution network that provides power to central
Canterbury. We are always here to help if you have
any questions or concerns about the network.