A few days ago, Shannen Rissel and her husband Connor were looking forward to a future as a family.
The couple, who lived in Gorokon, Australia, on the Central Coast of New South Wales, was celebrating the recent news that Shannen was pregnant, according to the UK Daily Mail.
But she wrote on Facebook, all that changed Thursday.
“It is with the heaviest heart that I write these words. My husband, Connor passed away unexpectedly in his sleep yesterday morning,” she wrote.
“Connor was the love of my life, he was the best husband, the best friend, the best family member, the best fur baby Diddy and he was also going to become a father this year in August. We are expecting baby Rissel – our baby bugle and he was so so excited to share this with everyone,” she wrote.
Pregnant widow Shannen Rissel letter to husband Connor after he dies in Gorokon on NSW Central Coast | Daily Mail Online https://t.co/M0lQV2dq4l
— Andi ??? (@peachypuk) January 20, 2023
As she wrote, she thought of her husband, who she married in September.
“Words can’t describe the feeling this morning – the air is fresh and he loved the early morning so it feels right to share this news at his favourite time of day. He loved surfing, he loved being in the water at the beach, he loved a coffee and a choccie, he was so much fun to travel with, to have a laugh with friends and family, he was always trying to live an exciting life that he was proud of, trying new things like fly fishing,” she wrote.
She said her husband “worked hard, he loved being creative with his art and music and he gave his whole heart to those he loved and had such a huge heart, empathy and care for people he met. He was the most rare person you could meet and I am so proud that I got to become his wife and spend 5 years, and 4 months with him.”
She said their child will grow up without seeing Connor, but will know him in other ways.
“The memories that we have I will cherish forever and I will live the rest of my days reflecting on ways I can be more like him. And when I welcome our baby into the world he or she will be surrounded by everyone that loved him, to share memories about how beautiful of a person he was and his memories will live on,” she wrote.
Amid an outpouring of support, she followed up with a second post.
“I am so overwhelmed and appreciative of all the love and support everyone has shown towards Connor, baby, our family, and myself over the past days. Thank you so much for your messages, calls, food, beautiful flowers, the go fund me page. I can’t begin to tell you how overwhelmingly special it is to know just how much you care and just how much he was loved by so many.”
“From the bottom of my heart I’ll never be able to tell you how grateful I am,” she wrote.
She added information about her husband’s passing.
“Connor’s death was unexpected. He had become unwell, and unfortunately, his health declined over the past week. However, never did we expect this to happen. Some of his last words to me were ‘I’ll be okay beet, I just need to get over this sickness and we’ll have a happy life.’
“I am so lost in how this is real and how this happened. I won’t have an explanation until the results of his autopsy, which may not be for some time,” she wrote.
Kirsty Watson who created a GoFundMe page to assist Shannen Rissel with her expenses, noted on the page, “We didn’t only lose a husband, a brother, a friend but a soon-to-be father.”
“Connor would have had his 30th birthday this year, he would have become a father for the first time and he would have celebrated a first year of marriage. It’s so hard to comprehend why this has happened, as it happened so suddenly and has come as a huge shock to all that knew him,” she wrote.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
