In loving memory of Blake Chown ️

No amount of time or answers will be able to find what we are looking for, life is already so different without you here. Blake Chown, father of three year old Sophia and two year old Samson, and long term partner of Ebonie Dowdy passed away peacefully surrounded by his loved ones on 28/06/2023. Blake presented to hospital on 23/06/2023 with suspected tonsillitis. He was given a steroid injection and sent home to present if unable to swallow or if any concerns were to arise. He had a swab taken while in hospital and formal bloods, which after indicated a significant infection. Fast forward to early hours 24/06/2023, Blake drove to the hospital as he was having difficulty breathing and did not wish to wake his young family. No less than 40 minutes later, he was sent home to follow up with simple analgesia. Blake drove himself home and woke his partner gasping for breath and went to use the toilet no more than 20 minutes after arriving home. While on the phone to emergency services, Blake collapsed and became lifeless. Ebonie immediately commenced CPR, while their three year old witnessed this. Intensive Care Paramedics and continued to work on Blake while he was rushed to hospital in a very critical condition. Upon arrival to the hospital for the third time, our family were told that Blake had epiglotitis and the swelling had obstructed Blake’s airway leading to a PEA cardiac arrest (with a 1-2% survival rate to even make it to the hospital). Blake continued to show deteriorating signs while his family sat out around his bedside for 4 days waiting for a little sign of improvement. Extensive tests continued to show that Blake was not responding despite extensive efforts from the ICU team and the many tears and hope shared from his family and friends. Blake has suffered significant brain damage as a result of lack of oxygen during his cardiac arrest and Blake passed peacefully on 28/06/2023 at 12:12pm. Despite our pain and grief, our family decided to donate Blake’s entire organs to DonateLife. The team was flown down from Sydney and the care they provided to Blake, but also to our family was outstanding. This was something that Blake had never discussed with his family, so it is very bittersweet because of our loss of Blake, that other families will be able to take their loved ones home again. Blake celebrated his 25th birthday in hospital fighting for his life when all he wanted to do was go fishing. Now, we are planning his funeral. As a family, we will never understand how someone with no previous medical history was denied the help he needed twice and was dismissed as having a self-limiting disease and just needed to rest. Patients believe and trust the opinions of health professionals, though Blake was let down, and now it has robbed him and our family of the next 60-80 years of his life with his children. How does this happen? If you are able to share amongst your family and friends or may be in position to assist with donating to support us to pay for a funeral and ongoing life expenses that Ebonie will encounter in the coming weeks and months ahead with now only one income, our family will be forever thankful. We wish you were here. We miss you. We love you. And we hope the beers are cold and the fishing is on.