In Honor of Liz's Life and Legacy

My mom, Elizabeth O'Connell, dedicated over 40 years of her life to public service and housing justice. After her partner (and my birth mom) Loretta passed away in 2015, Liz worked tirelessly to address her many health challenges. Her dream was to retire to a life of travel, spoiling her grandkids, writing late into the night, and befriending puppies of all ages.

The pandemic hit and barriers to medical access multiplied. She slowly became immobile and lost use of her hands, eyes, and words, but determinedly fought to keep working, living, and enjoying her family and passions.

Navigating an inaccessible apartment during a global pandemic was no small feat. She worked hard to manage her doctors, lawyering, and affairs, determined to ensure everything was in order before retirement.

Even after she suffered her first stroke and endured an emergency C-spine fusion, her focus remained on helping others. When doctors first uttered the word dementia, she immediately reflected on the years she spent caring for her own mother who had early-onset dementia. She vowed to finalize her affairs before she lost the ability to do such—and she came very close to succeeding.

Even while living in a skilled yet understaffed nursing facility, she still needed supplemental private health care aides to assist in daily life activities. She continued to work because it brought her joy, and she continued to pay exorbitant rent on her primary residence, as Medicare is both expensive and oft unpredictable. Eldercare in the U.S. is horrific, but that is a conversation for another time.

One of the last things she said to me before losing her ability to speak was:

"What good am I doing for the world? Am I doing any good?"

I reassured her, listing all the ways she’d made a difference—and she fell asleep after rolling her eyes at me. I'll very much miss those eye-rolls! Those words were some of the last I'd hear her speak aloud and they both haunt and drive me. I promised her then, and again as she took her final breaths, that we would carry out her wishes to the best of our ability and that she would keep doing good for the world long after she passed on.

We’ve managed to cover her memorial and her taxes owed, but there are still expenses tied to her final wishes that we want to honor.

We're raising funds to cover:

As these immediate needs are handled, we can shift our focus to what she truly wanted: leaving the world better than we all found it and carrying on her legacy of service and kindness in the good deeds we do for others.

Here is a moment of joy, where Liz was granted one of her final wishes: a visit from a good dog named Simon from the Good Dog Foundation the night before she died. She lit up with joy, and this was hands-down one of the most memorable moments of my life.

While I know Liz would have been both shy and a bit annoyed that I was doing fundraising, I know that she would be more upset if her contractual obligations weren't met, both as a public finance authority and as a lawyer. She ran out of time, so I'm running across the finish line with her good life baton in hand.

Thank you for helping us honor an incredible human. She touched so many lives throughout her time on Earth and we are determined to close her life's last chapter with grace and dignity.