Grief-stricken husband of woman who died in Fiji speaks out. Source: 9 News
Family and friends united to pay tribute to Sydney nurse Kelly Clarke whose life was cruelly cut short after she was struck down with double pneumonia while honeymooning in Fiji.
More than 300 mourners packed Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Forestville to honour the memory of the 24-year-old, particularly her "warmth and kindness", at a funeral presided over by father Joy Thomas on Tuesday.
Guests including nurses who worked with the preoperative nurse from Sydney's The Children's Hospital Westmead arrived to the soundtrack of Ed Sheeran's Perfect, the couple's wedding song played only six months ago.
Chase Clarke, in black, paid an emotional tribute to his wife Kelly. Photo / News Corp Australia
In an emotional tribute, her husband carpenter Chase Clarke, 28, said his wife had made him a better person.
Practising his eulogy in the sun-dappled street outside the church, Chase told theDaily Telegraph: "Thanks to my beautiful wife, I know things shouldn't have turned out this way, you were everything I wanted in a woman.
"I'm sorry for the fights and stubbornness, but I can't even remember them. You were warm and kind and were comforting when you treated your patients.
"You would have been the best mother to our kids. I'm sorry that didn't come to be. That was our dream.
"My last memory was of you doing ballerina poses by the pool in Fiji. And the turtle we saw while we kayaked from Treasure Island to Beachcomber.
"I know this isn't goodbye and I know I will talk to you every day and will see you again, I just don't know when."
Earlier he had said he was highlighting his wife's death to shed light on the "disgusting" hospital conditions in Fijian hospitals.
Chase Clarke with his wedding tattoo and Kelly's wedding ring. Photo / News Corp Australia
"We need to improve hospital conditions, medicines and equipment in the impoverished country.
"Change needs to happen, the conditions are disgusting in Fiji," he said.
Urging holiday-makers not to visit the hospitals if sick, he added: "If you're scared to go because you're sick, don't risk it, it's not worth your life."
Fighting back the tears, her father, businessman Ian Shaw, delivered a eulogy saying the untimely death on October 7 of his daughter, whom he had called "an angel", had shattered the family.
The couple were in Sigatoka for a friend's wedding and their honeymoon when she contracted severe bilateral pneumonia, a fungal infection affecting both lungs, and was pronounced dead two days later.
She was rushed to Lautoka Hospital, north of Nadi, where she was told she had contracted typhoid but blood tests ruled that out.
She was placed in an induced coma because of organ failure and septicaemia and went into cardiac arrest five times in an hour.
Although she had been diagnosed with lupus this year, the chronic auto-immune disease was not cited as a cause of death.
She suffered three minor complications but Clarke said the family wanted to keep those private.
Eulogies were also delivered by the couple's best man Daniel Hickey, as well as close friends Imogen Payter, Tam Brown and Chase Clarke's mother Linda.
Mourners were later invited to a private wake in Forestville before Kelly Clarke is cremated in North Ryde tomorrow.
