Nobody who met or knew Kymberley, either for her lifetime or momentary, was left unaffected by her delight and love of life and people. Right from the beginning, after her birth, spending many months in ICU, she showed an immense sense of strength and bravery. At 16 weeks old, we were told by the Doctors she wouldn’t last the night, but as ever she had other ideas! We should have known then that she was going to be a complete force of nature, as the next 16 years showed!
Whatever difficulties she faced, she overcame them. We learned so much from watching her grow and develop into the wonderful person she was, being so full of fun, laughter and delightful mischievousness. She found her own way of communicating, with music being a huge part of this. Right from being a little tiny baby she loved music, Twinkle, Twinkle being a favourite. Music was one of the ways Kymberley shared her joy and love.
She gave amazing “love locks” where she would lock her arm around our necks and flick our eyes in her unique way of saying “I love you”. She would be so affectionate, praising and thanking people, whoever they were. Kymberley would clap her hands, hug and kiss people who helped her and shake with excitement when she saw people whom she knew. Even when critically ill this never waned! Nobody walked away from Kymberley unchanged; she brought joy wherever she went. Her sense of humour and comedic timing were legendary, smiling, laughing, sneezing and burping along! One of her other major talents was throwing and in this she could have been an Olympic champion!! With specially perfected right flick, she could throw anything and everything, always perfectly timed to make us laugh!
One of our recent favourite memories of Kymberley’s mischief was when she got the handset of her hospital bed and deliberately raised the head and foot of the bed until it concertinaed with her in the middle! She laughed so much! Kymberley loved slapstick and would laugh so loud when we went to Pantomimes, anyone falling over, spilling things etc would get her in hysterics. She loved it when you pretended to be asleep and she would poke your eyes until you “woke up”. She loved piggybacks and was so proud of herself when she learnt to jump on the trampoline.
Kymberley loved her clothes...especially bright pink ones...and loved her big JoJo bows! She also loved days out and holidays, her favourites being Lapland with the snow, the toboggan ride and playing catch with Santa! Wonderful trips to Alton Towers, Butlins, feeding the donkeys at the Donkey Sanctuary, Twin Lakes to name but a few. She loved fast rollercoasters and would laugh and laugh with delight, whilst we were hanging on for dear life! Her absolute favourite place to go was Disneyland Paris. Here she joined in with singing along with the parades, kissing all the characters, playing catch with Cruella Deville and playing peck a boo with the Mad Hatter! The fireworks, shows and rides added to an experience that she loved right from getting on the train at Newark!
Kymberley loved her school, (St Francis Special school in Lincoln) and her days and stays at Andy’s hospice. The buzz of being with people was another one of her all time favourite things!
Kymberley accepted people completely as they were, her humility and fiercely passionate, intelligent spirit left us all changed, transformed and humbled in sharing her life.
After all her battles and perseverance Kymberley slipped away peacefully at Bluebell Woods Children’s Hospice at the age 16.
Kymberley was a beautiful butterfly that, breaking through the prison bars of illness, is now flying free???
