Fly My Love - Let’s Send Roxana Home

Here are the facts. We are a small collective of people in arts, and we have just lost an extraordinary friend; how extraordinary she really was we were yet to learn. Her name was Roxana. She was 38. She had a stroke on Christmas day, singing her heart out with her musician friends. She was rushed into a hospital and operated on. She stayed with us for 2 more weeks in deep coma, during which time we were coming to see her: singing her songs, drawing for her, praying for her, laughing and crying for her. We loved her until she passed away peacefully in our presence.

We need funds to send Roxana home, to the people who have loved her and known her before us. For them to be able to say goodbye to this extraordinary person, whom we had the honour and privilege to know and accompany with our love, music, and song till her last moments of life. We have grounds to believe that she expressed a wish to rest together with her mother, whom she lost when she was small, and her grandmother, both resting in a family vault in Romania. Any proceeds from this collection that will not be used to that aim will be passed to a chosen charity in Romania or the UK, for people who, like Roxi being “differently able”, need a special set-up to lead a full life; and also towards a commemorative bench and tree on Hampstead Heath. Remembering that she left her native country in a spirit of courage and defiance that was so much hers to look for opportunities to live independently, we think that it would be the best tribute to her memory and our love for her.

Let us tell you about Roxana. She was born in Romania, not far from Bucharest, in a family of 3 children. She was one of a pair of twins, of which one died, and the chances of Roxana’s survival were estimated small. She survived though, setting a pattern for life that of not being defined by her circumstances. Despite her mother’s early death, despite her wheelchair, despite failing kidneys and the necessity of constant dialysis she went on studying, singing, working, meeting new people and making new friends. In 2013 she came to London, as she wanted a full life: and the British infrastructure would and did allow her that. She got a kidney transplant and assistance; she drove her lovely little yellow car that she called the Bee to concerts. She often picked us up; she was fiercely independent.

We have known her for 3 years only, and yet what years were those! She was a fiery soul, a passionate being, in love with life. She had a beautiful voice, able to transform even a dreary venue into a cosy, cushioned 1940s club. She felt music to her core and it was incredible to watch. She would drive to parties and wild bonfires deep in the woods to listen to songs (even after a day of dialysis) and sing them, too. Other days, she was a calm presence listening to everyone, accepting everyone, and watching out for everyone. She was beautiful and proud, too, knowing who she was. She wrote songs and poems conveying an incredible power of self-acceptance.

We would like to honour her wishes and return her to the place she was born.