The Avonside mother always dreamed of travelling all over the country, making memories as a family of four before it was too late, and now that dream is almost coming true.
Last year, her eldest son Alize won a family trip to the Gold Coast in a competition run by radio station MoreFM for the kindness he showed his younger brother, Andre, who has periventricular leukomalacia – a terminal brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain – among other complications.
Covid-19 ground those plans to a halt this year, which was why Ms Rasmussen believed it was the perfect time to embark on the road trip of her dreams – but sourcing funding for it was a different story.
“I’ve always wanted to travel with the children and do something as a family, but I wanted to wait until they got older,” she said.
“We almost lost him [Andre] – I got to his room and he was completely purple. I thought it was his time to pass away.”
The life-threatening incident happened three weeks ago which she said put things into perspective.
“But he eventually started breathing again. A lot of things came into realisation at that point so we’ve decided to do the trip in September before it’s too late.”
She has set up a Givealittle page to cover the costs of the four-week trip, needing at least $10,000 for transport, accommodation food and any costs associated with Andre’s medical equipment.
She said the goal alone was at a minimum, which did not account for activities and any unexpected costs along the way.
“It’s important that we can have those fun memories with him anywhere in our homeland especially when he’s not with us anymore,” she said.
“There will be nothing worse than going to do those things and feeling that he missed out.”
In 2015 Ms Rasmussen was overjoyed to learn she was pregnant with triplets.
That joy quickly turned sour when a raft of complications arose, causing the loss of one of her babies during early pregnancy, with the other two babies born prematurely at 24 weeks.
The twins were “fighting for their lives” following an emergency Caesarean, but weighing in at 345gm, baby Ace did not survive.
Andre clung to life weighing 890g, undergoing serious operations to keep him alive, but he developed PVL while in the neonatal intensive care unit which caused brain damage, and was also born with chronic lung disease and epilepsy.
“It’s horrible watching him suffer,” she said.
Raising Alize, Andre and Avie Avana as a single mother of three was “very exhausting” at times, but the love she felt for them was what kept her going.
“As soon as I became a mum, I knew what I wanted to do in life,” she said.
“I’m doing the best I can, I want to be a good role model; I love them so much and I’m never giving up on my children.”
