GRATEFUL WE GOT TO SAY GOODBYE
Devastated Toowoomba family says ‘thank-you’
NINE-month-old Lucas Elliot Wockner never woke up from his normal morning nap leaving his family devastated.
However, rather than dwell on the tragedy, Lucas’ parents and extended family are just grateful medical staff and emergency services personnel were able to keep the much-loved happy little boy alive long enough so they could say a proper goodbye.
The family has organised a gofundme page to raise funds for the emergency services groups involved.
WHILE a young Toowoomba family mourns the tragic death of their baby son, their grief is tempered by the extraordinary efforts of emergency services personnel who worked so hard to revive him.
For as yet unknown reasons, nine-month-old Lucas Wockner failed to wake from his morning nap at his daycare centre last Thursday.
After finding him unresponsive, daycare staff worked frantically trying to resuscitate him while an ambulance raced to the scene.
Lucas’ parents were notified and were at Toowoomba Hospital along with his grandmothers when their son arrived.
“He was unresponsive but they resuscitated him and stabilised him before he was airlifted by the LifeFlight recovery team to the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital,” Lucas’ mother Kathy Wockner said.
“But nothing could be done to save him.”
Lucas passed away surrounded by family on Friday.
Mrs Wockner said her family was ever grateful to the efforts of the various emergency services crews who helped resuscitate Lucas to the point that family members were able to say their goodbyes before he passed away.
“Lucas was surrounded by his family including both sets of grandparents and all his aunts and uncles,” Mrs Wockner said.
“We are absolutely grateful for the care Lucas received.
“We were able to say our goodbyes and we were able to start processing it all before Lucas passed.
“No-one is to blame and thanks to them (various medical staff ) we have no ‘what ifs’... his fate was his fate.”
Mrs Wockner’s sister Stacey Brosnan said the family was very grateful for the support of all the hospital staff both at Toowoomba Hospital and Lady Cilento ICU.
“We wouldn’t have been able to begin to get through this without such great support,” she said.
“They were so accommodating to us all, with up to 18 family members present at times.
“There were so many family members coming in and out of the ward but they just did their job and allowed us to be there with him.”
Mrs Wockner said the family could “never be able to repay all the emergency services for the precious time that they allowed our family to spend with our dear boy in his final moments and the opportunity to share more love before we said our final goodbyes”.
The family has set up a gofundme page in the hope of raising $10,000 or more to allow them to give back to the various emergency services teams as a thank-you from the family and to allow them to continue to provide the amazing services to other families who might be faced with similar tragedies.
“We wish to support Queensland Ambulance Service, Toowoomba Hospital, LifeFlight, Lady Cilento ICU and Ronald McDonald House,” the gofundme page states.
“We want to give back to them because if this happened to someone else those resources would be needed to help them,” Mrs Wockner said.
Lucas was the much-loved baby brother to Scott and Kathy Wockner’s three-yearold daughter Elouise.
“His sister knows Lucas is now with the angels even though she didn’t want him to go with the angels and she’s asked if we can go and visit him with the angels,” Mrs Wockner said.
“They were very close.”
If you would like to donate to the family’s gofundme page, go to https://www.gofundme. com/in-honour-oflucas-elliot-wockner