Remembering Lyn

This morning I read the article in the Good Weekend about Chris O'Brien's fight with brain cancer. What an amazing man and what energy, passion and devotion he has to caring for people with cancer. About six weeks after Chris was diagnosed with this cancer my friend Rhonda's cousin Lyn was diagnosed with the same type of cancer.

Rhonda's family is Lebanese, so to know Rhonda means you get to know all her family, so I have gotten to know Lyn over the last seventeen years. Rhonda's husband Phil and Rhonda were with Lyn when she passed out suddenly in "the Shop", the family business and were able to revive her. It was just after Christmas and they were not in Sydney. After being rushed to the local hospital and a CT scan, where the cancer showed its ugly head, Rhonda accompanied Lyn to Sydney.

It was the start of a nightmare of tests, surgery, chemo and radiotherapy and waiting for results. Lyn faced this sudden tragedy with much dignity and a deep trust in her God. She was cared for by a large extended family who were prepared to do anything for her and walked with her.

Lyn returned home in late February with her Mum to try to return to her life, however she could. Last week, Lyn's fight ended and she died very peacefully, with most of her family around her bedside. Rhonda rang me with this news a few hours later. At church the week before, she had told me that Lyn had been taken into hospital and wouldn't be going home.

A few months ago I was going through one of my black holes that consists of boxes of disorganised photographs from the last twenty years. I was attempting to create order out of chaos when I found a photo of Lyn with my children and Rhonda's children from a number of years ago. it captures an essence of Lyn - she loved all people and loved getting to know people - both big and small, so she would take time to chat to children and adults alike. Lyn was playing a game with the children and they were all having fun. Thee was much laughter and frivolity. She was incredibly cheerful and fun to be around - she enjoyed her life: her work in the family business, her visits to Sydney to buy clothes - she had such good taste in clothes and a fantastic eye for colour which she shares with Rhonda. She would put colours together that just seemed to work.

Rhonda started making patchwork quilts a few years ago. After a trip to New Zealand she bought a collection of fabrics to make something to remind her and her family of their family holiday. They sat in her cupboard for a year until I visited one day and she got them out to show me again. I lent her a book of ideas and instantly she was inspired and set to work. Lyn must have been visiting around this time, as she got inspired too to learn all about patchwork. She also had some New Zealand fabrics, she bought herself a machine and started work - she chose a design of a square in a square - simple but effective.

Rhonda completed her quilt very quickly and then made a second with the scraps left over - both are exquisite and show Rhonda's clever use of colour. I often asked how Lyn's quilt was going, but her progress was much slower. In hindsight, Rhonda wonders whether her tumour affected her ability to sew which went unnoticed.

One of Lyn's friends finished piecing her quilt and then quilted it earlier this year. Many of Lyn's friends and family signed the back of the quilt which she was able to enjoy these last few weeks. Rhonda told me that it was spectacular in its simplicity and use of colour. They were going to place the quilt over Lyn's coffin. Lyn has left us with far more than just this quilt. Her friends and family have many memories of a woman who "feared the Lord", who cared for many people in her church and local community and brought colour into their lives with her cheerfulness, her passion and enthusiasm for life.