The day our light dimmed – Ally’s story from her mum Tracie

On 1 December 2022, our world shifted in a way we never imagined possible.

I took Ally to the hospital after she had been vomiting throughout the day and feeling increasingly unwell. We thought we were being cautious, doing what any parent would do. We had no idea that within 48 hours, everything in our lives would change forever.

On 3 December 2022, we were asked the unthinkable – to give permission to turn off our daughter’s life support.

In that moment, time stopped. Ally passed away from bacterial meningoencephalitis caused by meningococcal disease, a fast-acting illness that took our bright, beautiful girl from us before we even had the chance to understand what was happening.

Ally was so much more than the way she died. She was funny, smart, outgoing, and full of life. She adored her family and friends and was adored just as deeply in return. She had just finished Year 12, proudly celebrated at her formal, and was excited about stepping into adulthood.

She talked often about her future, moving out with friends, building a career, one day having a family of her own. These were her dreams, and we believed she had her whole life ahead of her. Now those dreams will never become memories.

The day we lost Ally shattered us. It broke me, her dad, and her brother, and it devastated our extended family and the many friends who loved her like one of their own. The shock still sits in our chest; the disbelief still hits us in waves. How could this happen to our baby?

We had always believed that Ally, along with her brother and classmates, had been fully vaccinated against the deadly meningococcal disease through the school vaccination program. We trusted that they were protected. Only after losing Ally did we learn the truth – that the program covered Meningococcal ACWY, not Meningococcal B, the very strain that took her life.

Had we known this, had we been given the choice or even the knowledge that this protection was not included, we would have acted without hesitation. No parent would do otherwise.

Learning later that families in other states, like South Australia or Queensland, were offered the Meningococcal B vaccine through their school programs was a devastating blow. To realise that where we lived may have influenced whether our daughter lived or died is a pain we will carry forever.

It has now been three years since we lost Ally. People say time heals, but it hasn’t. The grief doesn’t soften; it shapes our days and shadows our milestones. The ache of her absence is constant. All we can do is speak her name, tell her story, and hope that no other family has to go through what we have endured.

Our light dimmed the day we lost Ally, and no matter how life moves forward, it will never shine with the brilliance she brought simply by being here.