Message about Ely – please read
For everyone who knows Ely in the studio this is an important message from her daughter Aisha.
Ely is a much adored studio member whose health has recently been failing.
To all my Facebook friends who know my mom, Ely Apeldoorn.
I am posting this to share news about my mom’s current state of health. She has been on a journey of rapidly declining health, struggling with Cancer, and she is gracefully making her transition towards peace during the past month that she has come to live with Chris and I in our home, so she can be cared for and be close to family. It has been such a privilege to be with her and care for her during this time, and to be able to show her the same love that I was always given as she raised me. She is still raising me even now. I am so lucky she is my mum.
Those who know me well, know I rarely post on Facebook, but I thought to use this forum as a way to reach out to those who know my mom (as we share many friends), and wish to express any thoughts, memories, or wishes to her, while she is still able to receive them. This is not meant to be an ask, or a prompting in anyway. Grief is as personal as friendship, and since many of you are friends to my mom, I wanted to respectfully include you in this connection, so that you may have the opportunity to express yourself to my mom if you feel compelled to do so.
The tidiest way to organize the love that may be pouring in, I invite you to send your message via email,
elyapeldoorn@outlook.com
and I will read it aloud to her. I have done that with many other of her friends and it brings such a smile to her face, moving me beyond words. This would of course be a one-way message, that we will collect for her, and keep in her growing collection of loving letters from friends. In this unstable time we live in currently, a gathering of friends for a celebration of life is not an option, so this is the next best thing, and I thought why not do it while she’s still around to hear just how much she is loved. For us the family, we will continue to cherish those messages after her passing, as a beautiful tribute to the life she lived, touching so many. You are all important to her, and therefor important to me, to us.
I will address all of you again in kind to announce her passing and show my appreciation for all the messages she’s received. Thank you to all who are reading this. I hope it finds you in a good place, like we are, and mom is too. Love is all around, how lucky we are. 