This is Vicky’s sister Tracy Costello. Vicky relied on you all for support during her struggles over the past few years. It was important to her to keep connected with you all and share with you details of her difficult, but heroic journey. I have seen myself and took comfort from the fact that you all gave her strength through your supportive comments. Unfortunately, I am posting this to give you one last update.
Vicky Betzig
Last Friday morning, Vicky was experiencing difficulty breathing and called 911. She coded on the way to the hospital and was revived after about 15 minutes of CPR. Unfortunately, after multiple scans and tests, the neurologist informed us that Vicky suffered severe and irreversible brain damage due to the lack of oxygen from when she coded. Although not considered legally brain dead, Vicky was not expected to regain any responsiveness or function or communication. We took the very difficult decision to take Vicky off the ventilator yesterday afternoon. This occurred at about 3:30pm.
She was kept comfortable and passed away around 9:30pm last night. She was surrounded by people she loved throughout the day including Pamela Ann and Lyndsey Marie who have been by her side helping her through the last few years. Me, Kelly M. Fletcher and John Betzig were with her at the end. She passed as peacefully as we could have hoped.
Vicky would not like a service but would like a party to celebrate her life and bring people she cared about together. This is her opportunity to host one final awesome event. This will take place on the 27th of June, probably around noon near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We will post more specific details shortly. We hope you can join us to give Vicky her final wish.
