Every family that receives support from Centrica Care Navigators can turn to a comprehensive team of specialists to help with day-to-day care of their loved one. Rob and Lynda Bauckham of Portage said the support of the entire team, from nurses to music therapists, helped their daughter Rey during her time in care.
“When the nurses left, they had tears in their eyes,” Rob said. “Rey would look forward to visits from the music therapists, even if she didn’t seem like she was feeling well. They would make up rap songs about Rey.”
When she was feeling strong enough, Rey enjoyed playing along with her music therapist during their visits. Each appointment ended with the classic song “You Are My Sunshine,” fitting given her family nickname, “Rey of Sunshine.”
Rey Bauckham died in December 2023 at age 30. She had Parkinsonism, a brain condition with symptoms like stiffness, tremors, and slow movement. It was an unusual condition for a patient of her age, and it progressed quickly. After only a short time, Rey was unable to walk, could only whisper a word or two, and had difficulty eating.
Her doctor initially recommended hospice care for her nearly two years before her death. The Bauckhams were already familiar with Centrica Care Navigators; Lynda’s mom had been a patient previously.
“Centrica was miraculous,” Lynda said. “They assessed her right away and put her on medications. She was able to start eating again.”
During her time in care, Rey recovered some of the weight and energy she lost because of her illness. The family was even able to take trips in southwest Michigan with the help of a wheelchair-accessible van. During the summer, Rey enjoyed Kalamazoo’s Root Beer Stand, and she also had cider and donuts at the apple orchard in the fall.
Rey and her parents made a visit to her sister and her sister’s family in Illinois. Centrica Care Navigators staff helped arrange emergency contacts if something happened while she was away from home.
Rey liked being outside, especially at the water’s edge in Portage Creek Bicentennial Park in Portage. She would sit on the bench near where canoes would start their journey down the creek and simply watch the water as the sun shone down.
Staying at home
As Rey’s illness progressed, she spent more and more time at home. Rob said the family appreciated the way the nurses focused on her needs so she could stay where she was.
Centrica Rose Arbor Place is an option for some of our patients, the ones who need around-the-clock care. Rob and Lynda considered bringing Rey there, but in the end the Centrica Care Navigators team was able to help them learn different ways to administer medication, and support her without a move.
“Rey’s nursing staff worked tirelessly to figure out a way we could keep Rey comfortable at home, which was always our goal,” Rob said. “Thanks to everyone’s perseverance and problem-solving, Rey was able to pass peacefully in her own bedroom. We never dreamed we would be able to spend as much time with Rey as we did.”
The Centrica Care Navigators staff helped in other ways too. When Rey became unable to swallow her pills, her medicine needed to be administered via a pump. One weekend, the pump stopped working correctly. It started giving an error beep every minute. The Bauckhams called their care team and got the pump fixed — until it happened again. By now it was Sunday evening, and Lynda was prepared to stay up until Monday morning to turn off the beeping each time it happened.
“They said, ‘You don’t have to do that,’” Rob said. “Late on Sunday a tech came out and replaced the pump.”
Remembering Rey
Lynda and Rob found a way to memorialize Rey after she died: they found an artisan in Hawaii who blended her ashes into glass suncatchers. The suncatchers are on display in the Bauckhams’ home; Lynda also has necklaces made by the same artist. They chose an orange-yellow color for their glass to honor their “Rey of Sunshine.”
They also started attending Centrica Grief Support meetings. They met with other families who had a child who died. The Bauckhams found they were not alone.
“It was such a supportive environment for us as we were trying to navigate the loss of Rey,” Rob said. “We met with other families grieving the loss of a child and discussed the ways we were all handling similar feelings. Losing a child is so different from other kinds of loss. It was helpful to see that everybody was having the same kind of experiences.”
The group became close; they continued meeting for 6 months after the official grief support group came to an end.
A note on the bench
In December 2024, a year after Rey’s death, Rob and Lynda put an envelope on Rey’s favorite bench next to the creek in Portage Creek Bicentennial Park. Inside the envelope was a note asking whoever picked it up to think of Rey. It also had some money inside, a special gift from the Bauckhams.
They left the note a few days before Christmas. On the morning of the 25th, they returned to see if anyone had picked it up. There was a note where they had left their envelope.
The man who found it wrote that he had given the money to an unhoused person sitting near the parking lot. He also said it was his first Christmas after losing his wife of 50 years. He thought his wife and Rey would have loved to know one another.
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