Help Ease Funeral Costs for Ashley's Family

Hi, my name is Alisha. My beautiful cousin, Ashley Roach, just passed away yesterday at Anderson Hospital. First, allow me to tell you Ashley's story. She was born in the summer of 1985. Later that year in the winter, I was born. She and I grew up very close. We was always together. She was my very first best friend. Ashley grew up in Pendleton SC. She has two amazing parents, Sheila and Joe Roach. She has a little brother, Adam Roach. Ashley always made me laugh and smile no matter what the situation may be. She always had this glow about her, she could light up any room. She was silly and goofy and lifted everyone's spirits. She enjoyed laughing until we cried, talking until we fell asleep, dancing until our legs hurt, singing her heart out, Nanny Betty's amazing biscuits, listening to her Dad sing and play his guitar, helping others in need, taking pictures, she had an eye for glitter or anything that sparkled, she loved to dress up and she would do it all, makeup,hair and nails, she loved hanging out with her friends, she enjoyed just going for a drive, and most of all she loved spending time with her 4 beautiful kids. Ashley was a very beautiful woman. She is loved by so many people. She had struggles just like everyone else does but she never let those struggles get her down. She was upbeat, outspoken, she was a daddy's girl for sure, loud at times, she had this loud contagious laugh. She was so full of love and life and has touched the hearts of many. She was a daughter, a sister, a mother of 4, a granddaughter, a great granddaughter, a grandma (glam-ma as she called herself), a cousin, a aunt and most certainly my best friend ❤️

On January 25th 2024 Ashley was on her way to pick up her 2 oldest babies Braylen and Brooklyn. She never made it to pick her kids up bc as she was sitting at a red light waiting for the light to turn green, she was hit by a drunk driver that forever changed her life and ours. The drunk driver that hit her was an illegal immigrant. He was very drunk and speeding, and smashed right into Ashley's car, leaving her car completely totaled, and her back broken, and a busted head, broken and cracked ribs among other injuries. She was rushed to Anderson Hospital and was in a coma for a few weeks and was put on life support. We was told by the doctor that Ashley also had a stroke, and her heart stopped twice. The doctors said she needed surgery for her back injury so they placed some rods in her back. She also ended up developing pneumonia while she was in a coma. The doctors told us that the extent of her brain injury was hard to determine until she woke up from a coma. So at this point we was all waiting for her to open those big beautiful baby blue eyes of hers. It was so hard to watch her oldest son sit by her hospital bed balling his eyes out begging his momma to come back to him so she can meet her new grandson that was just born during all of this. After a few weeks, she finally opened her eyes. She was still on a ventilator so she was basically in and out of it. She would open her eyes then close them and sleep more. Her body suffered a great deal from the accident so she needed lots of rest. A couple more weeks later she finally woke up, and was alert of her surroundings. They moved her out of the ICU and put her in another room since she was showing some improvements. The doctors removed the ventilator but she still had a feeding tube and a catheter along with a big neck brace. She wasn't able to really talk at first bc of the neck brace she had to wear and her throat hurt from the ventilator. Although she wasn't on the ventilator anymore, her throat was still very sore from it. Then finally she was able to talk after a couple of days. Unfortunately bc of her brain injury, she suffered from memory loss. It was like all of her memories was scrambled. Everything she knew was scrambled. She recognized some faces and knew some of our names. She recognized me, my sister, her mom and dad, her brother, our Nanny Betty, her kids, my kids, and my mom and a few more people. She knew our names and who we was to her but had no memory of us and all our memories we shared. She remembered some things, and a lot of things she did not remember. She would mix words up whenever she would talk to us and some words she would repeat a lot. The doctors wasn't sure if she would ever be able to walk on her own again but she did. It took her some time but she done it. When the hospital discharged her she had to go home with our Nanny Betty. My Nanny Betty and I are the care takers of our family. I am already my mother's live in full time care taker, so our family decided the best place at that time for Ashley was at our Nanny Betty's house. Ashley's parents aren't in very good shape. Her mom, Sheila, has multiple health issues and she is disabled. Her Dad, Joe, also has multiple health issues. Her brother Adam works all the time to try to make ends meet. Ashley went through physical therapy to help her walk and to help her right arm regain strength. She needed help going to the bathroom, shower, food made, and other stuff too. She had a tube in her belly still bc the doctors said it was best to leave it in there for a little while longer in case she was to have a relapse. It was removed later on down the road but she had issues with her stomach every since it was removed. She was finally able to walk around the house on her own for the most part. But her memories was still blank. Her brain was kind of child-like to an extent. She was alive, and was getting better and that was all that mattered to us. About 3 weeks ago our Nanny Betty became ill and had a light heart attack and was unable to take care of Ashley. Ashley moved in with her parents and her brother. Nanny Betty was admitted into the ER and she had to have a procedure done, placed stints in her heart. She too ended up with pneumonia while she was in the hospital. Nanny Betty was in the hospital for a little more then a week before the doctor released her. They sent Nanny Betty home with a life vest to wear at all times to monitor her heart and can send electric shocks to her heart if need be. The following week, Ashley was carried by ambulance to Anderson Hospital bc she started not feeling well and complaining about her belly hurting really bad, which led to her vomiting a lot. She couldn't stop throwing up. At first the doctors didn't do their job and examine her correctly. Instead they sent her right back home. They said the cause of her vomiting was bc of her taking too much ibuprofen. A few hours after she was sent back home the ambulance brought her right back to the ER bc the vomiting had not subsided. This time they admitted her. They said there seemed to be an infection in her stomach somewhere. Then they said they believed she may have colitis. Her body started swelling, and all of a sudden they tell her mom that Ashley is sepsis. It spread very fast and they put her on life support again. 3 days later, they tell her mom that her brain is not responding at all and there was nothing more that they could do for her, and to gather up our family to come see her one last time. On June 16th (yesterday) they took her off life support and she passed soon after that. Our family is so devastated and heart broken. This year has taken a toll on my family. You see, that wreck took EVERYTHING from Ashley. It took her independence, her memories, her time, her essence that made her who she was, and eventually her life. She was only 39 years old. She had to leave behind 4 kids, 19, 18, 9, and her youngest baby is 4. Also she left behind 3 beautiful grandbabies that she will not be here to watch them as they grow up.

I have never made one of these before and I am not the type of person that asks people for help. But our family has and is suffering so much already with this, and I just wanted to try and do something like this to help my Aunt and Uncle with the funeral expenses bc as we all know it's not cheap by no means. So I'm kindly asking anyone that would like to help them out, it would be forever greatly appreciated. Any little bit helps. No parent should ever have to worry about funeral expenses for their child bc loosing their child is the worst thing that could possibly happen. Thank you so much for your time and thank you in advance to any of you that find it in your heart to help. All of the funds will go to her parents for funeral expenses.