Rachel Turner’s compassionate and caring spirit will continue on
By ALAN SHACKLETON
Rachel Turner’s memory will live on in the lives she has saved and those she will help in the future.
Turner, 22, died four days after being struck by a left-turning school bus while she was crossing Kingswood Road at Kingston Road late on the afternoon of Wednesday, Oct. 9. A Malvern Collegiate grad who grew up in the neighbourhood, Turner lived just one street east of where she was fatally struck by the school bus. She died in St. Michael’s Hospital on Sunday, Oct. 13.
Her parents Susan and Leon, younger siblings Lauren and Nathan, and the entire community have been devastated by her death.
In an interview with Beach Metro Community News last week, her parents talked about the importance of the support they have received from the community, Rachel’s life, her legacy and the immediate impact that her earlier decision to be an organ donor had on the lives of five other people.
“We want to thank the community for the outpouring of love and support,” said Leon.
“It’s a really special community. We’re overwhelmed by the support we’ve received. You know you’re going to get support but just the level of it…It’s like a small town here. People rallied around us,” he said.
Susan said neighbours on their street have been helping out in so many ways.
“People showing up and the random acts of kindness are really appreciated, and to see there’s still good people. You kind of lose a little bit of faith, but there’s so much good around us.”
A member of the Balmy Beach Club, Leon said the support of the club in organizing the recent Celebration of Life for Rachel meant the world to the family.
“When we had the Celebration of Life there were hundreds and hundreds of people,” said Susan. “You realize how many people you know and how many people knew Rachel. People on the street and from all around the community felt like she was their own child.”
Rachel’s parents said she was always a caring and compassionate person, both as a child and as a young woman.
After high school, Rachel attended Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo where she graduated in Business Administration. While in Waterloo she became involved with the university’s Mighty Hawks group which helps prepare young adults with developmental challenges to find jobs. She was also part of the Minor League Summer Baseball League in Waterloo, and recently served as its commissioner.
“She was trying to help people from a young age. She was very compassionate,” said Susan.
When she was a teenager, Rachel took a leadership role with members of her team at Tidal Wave cheerleading in making sure they were all doing well. She shared with her teammates a note on Keys to Success in which she wrote:
“These are just some of the ways that I’ve used to stay positive in a (sometimes) very negative world. Just know if any of you are ever struggling with anything, text me. Or come to me in practice. I will always be there to help you through whatever it is that might be going on. No problem is too big or too small. I love you all so very much and I’m so grateful to be on a team with so many talented, hard-working individuals,” she wrote.
“That age is hard for girls and we see she’s trying to be this motivational person for all the people on her team,” said Susan.
Rachel’s note and her Keys to Success were hand-written. “She wrote down a lot of things which people don’t do as much anymore,” said Leon.
“She wanted things to go back to the way it used to be,” said Susan. “She was saying to her boyfriend that when they were in Australia she’d go and walk through a park and say good day or how you going as they say there to people. She just liked to hear the stories and everyone has a story to tell if you actually just listen and stop being so disconnected from everything. Let’s get away from social media and let’s not be on Tik Tok and all that mindless scrolling. That’s how she was living.”
Her parents said Rachel’s trip to Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia with her boyfriend Matt, which she took earlier this year, was a wonderful experience.
“We’re so blessed that she did that. She truly did find the love of her life. They were just so connected in so many ways. Soulmates. She was just so happy on that trip and when you see the pictures she was truly happy,” said Susan.
Rachel was an intelligent, kind, caring, thoughtful and selfless soul, said the Go Fund Me campaign that was started to create the Rachel Turner Legacy Fund. So far, more than $150,000 has been raised to go towards causes that were important to Rachel. More than 1,000 people have made donations to the fund.
“It was so hard to even do the Go Fund Me,” said Susan of her decision to start the legacy fund.
“It was sort of shouting at me, and I would never for any other reason have thought of it… but I knew it had to be. I didn’t know why but I could hear her saying ‘It’s got to do something, it’s got to make a difference,’ so I was really adamant that we needed something to continue on what she wanted to do. I didn’t know the exact path because it was so fresh and so raw, but I knew it felt right to continue on her good work and her kindness.”
The fund is still in its early stages but the family and her boyfriend Matt are working to make it a foundation that will help others, especially young people, for years to come.
“All the money will go to good causes she would have supported and will make a difference,” said Leon.
Rachel’s death also resulted in the gift of a better life, or the chance for the continuation of life, for five people due to the donation of her organs.
A man with extensive liver damage and kidney disease was able to receive a liver and a kidney transplant. A woman with end stage renal disease, received a kidney and is now free from the many restrictions of their disease including the rigors of dialysis.
A woman received a pancreas and can now live without the difficulties of diabetes. Another woman received a lifesaving heart transplant. “Rachel’s heart beats on in this recipient,” said a letter to the Turner family from the Trillium Gift of Life Network.
Another man, who had terminal lung disease, received a double lung transplant. “Your daughter’s lungs now breathe the gift of life into this grateful recipient,” said the letter from the Trillium Gift of Life Network.
Her parents said they had not been aware that Rachel had signed the organ donation portion of her driver’s licence.
“I guess we might have talked about it before but I didn’t recall it, but her little sister said yes Rachel definitely had signed the organ donation,” said Leon. “She believed in it.”
“So she saved five lives with her organ donation,” said Susan. “They say it’s a rarity to have five people that can be saved, because of course it has to be just a brain injury. And that’s what it was. She was completely uninjured except other than her brain.”
The waiting at the hospital was agonizing for the family, but Susan and Leon wanted to thank the doctors and nurses at St. Michael’s Hospital for their kindness.
“For days you are just walking around there in horror and in tears,” said Susan. “The doctor came out and cried with us. To actually have a doctor come out and cry. He knew the pain we had been in.”
The family was also deeply touched by the actions of one of the nurses who put readings from Rachel’s heart rate monitor into small glass bottles for them.
“Someone that took the time to give us these little bottles with her actual heart rate. I just thought that was nice,” said Susan.
Also, Rachel’s family wanted to thank everyone who put flowers, cards, candles and other items on the memorial to her at Kingswood and Kingston. They also wanted to thank the local business owners who are taking care of the memorial site.
Her parents said Rachel will always be remembered for her compassion for others and her strength, and those qualities will continue on through her legacy fund.
To contribute to the Rachel Turner Legacy Fund, please go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/Rachel-Turner-Legacy-Fund
