LIGHT can shine from life’s darkest corners, as Wagga’s Webster family is discovering.
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The family has been thrust into the centre of an unthinkable tragedy in recent days after the passing of father-of-four Craig.
Mr Webster returned home from a party on Friday night feeling unwell.
Soon after, he suffered a massive asthma attack, which triggered a massive heart attack.
The otherwise fit and healthy 44-year-old was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Wagga hospital.
His tragic passing came just months after the birth of his baby girl Marley, now a gorgeous five-month-old.
But her beaming smile belies the battle she has endured to get here.
Marley and mum Belinda were both locked in a life-or-death fight shortly after Marley’s birth, five weeks premature.
It’s a fight they won but unlike lightning, tragedy can strike twice.
The four young Webster children are now left to make sense of a world without their father, and Mrs Webster has suddenly become a sole parent.
How one family can be subjected to such torment is enough to make anyone lose faith in a higher power.
But we should never forget the power a compassionate community wields.
The morning after Mr Webster’s passing, a GoFundMe account was swiftly set up.
By Monday morning, it had raised more than $6500.
The Webster children’s school, Holy Trinity Primary, had waived school fees and a local mowing and cleaning service had offered their services to the family, who are due to move house.
Mrs Webster was also deluged with gifts of food.
The support has been magnified by the ability of social media to connect with people’s hearts by clicking a mouse.
And how could any of us with a family not feel anything but empathy and sorrow for the Websters?
We’re all closer than we think to despair – a grim diagnosis, a job loss, an accident.
It’s comforting to know that if a life-changing event was to befall us, we would have the support of the extended family that is the Wagga community.
We should never forget that charity begins at home.
And we should never forget how lucky we are to live in such a compassionate place.