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Teenager Samantha Garner's fight for life has ended three weeks after a crash that killed her brother and her friend Kayla Rose.
At 1pm on Monday, her family surrounded her bed in Starship Hospital as doctors removed the tubes keeping her alive.
Within 20 minutes the 14-year-old Tauranga Girls' College student had died.
Raewyn Garner said her daughter's body had been shutting down after battling serious injuries and infections.
"She had started progressing, doing all these little miracles, then everything stopped," she said.
"The doctors decided they would remove the tubes and we would let her pass.
"She wasn't going to have any quality of life. It was a decision that was made for us, but it was something Samantha wanted. Her body was shutting down. She won't be suffering any more."
Samantha was critically injured in a crash on June 15 when her brother, Joshua Garner, lost control of his Holden as he exited the Maungatapu roundabout on to State Highway 29 heading towards Welcome Bay.
The Garners had their hopes lifted for Samantha when she was brought out of a medically-induced coma last week and started moving her arms.
But Mrs Garner said that was as far as Samantha's recovery went.
"I told her she could go, that it was all right. Her brother was waiting for her.
"But she was far too young."
Mrs Garner and her husband Craig were joined at Samantha's bedside by her five siblings, grandparents and close friends.
They are now preparing for their second funeral in three weeks.
Samantha was being brought home yesterday and a funeral was likely to be held by the end of the week, Mrs Garner said.
Kayla's older sister Becks Doney said her family's thoughts were with the Garners following Samantha's death.
Pauline Cowens, Principal of Tauranga Girls' College, said Samantha was a "lively, out-going" girl who would be missed by her peers and teachers.
A memorial service organised by students will be held for Kayla during the first week of next term.
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
