A husband has revealed his heartache at losing his childhood sweetheart due to a brain aneurysm as he is left to raise three children alone.
Rayan Cosme went from being overjoyed by the birth of his daughter Grayan on November 20 2017 to heartbroken when his teenage sweetheart Arlene Padawag-Cosme suddenly collapsed from a brain aneurysm four days later.
Ms Padawag-Cosme, who had complained of a stiff neck and migraines, slipped into a 11-day coma before dying in hospital last December 5 aged just 37.
Her husband claims he ‘tried everything’ to wake Ms Padawag-Cosme, including renewing their wedding vows, christening their newborn daughter and serenading her to her favourite song, all by her hospital bedside.
Now left to raise their three daughters alone, Mr Cosme said: ‘I’ve just tried to be the best dad I can be to them.
‘Their smiles and laughter are what keep me going. Every time I look at them I see their mother and it always makes me smile.’
Widower Rayan Cosme has revealed the lengths he took to wake his comatose wife Arlene Padawag-Cosme, who died just days after giving birth to their daughter Grayan (all pictured)
The teenage sweethearts married in 2006 after first meeting on public transport in 1997
In an attempt to try and wake his wife, Mr Cosme and their family gathered around her bedside to renew the couple’s wedding vows. He also had their daughter christened in the hospital
‘She never woke up from the surgery’
Speaking of the birth of their youngest daughter, Mr Cosme, 38, an engineer, said: ‘We were so happy when we found out we were having another baby.
‘Arlene was such an amazing mother and to have three daughters was such a blessing.
‘She gave birth to our beautiful baby girl and we couldn’t have been happier. Everything just felt right and our family felt complete.’
Mr Cosme, who is also father to Gracie, 10, and Gwynnete, 6, added: ‘I never could have imagined anything like this would ever happen to her.
‘Arlene looked like such a healthy woman. That’s why I can’t understand it.
‘Looking back, she would often experience headaches and migraines, but we never thought too much of it.
‘Four days after having the baby, she had come home and I was saying goodbye to her as I left for work.
He added: ‘She told me she had a stiff neck, so I told her to rest and take care of herself but that afternoon she collapsed.
‘When I rushed there from work she was awake and I thought she was going to be alright, but just 30 minutes later she collapsed again.
‘She fell into a coma. Doctors operated on her brain straight away, but she never woke up from the surgery.’
The couple were overjoyed by the birth of their daughter, feeling their family was ‘complete’
Mr Cosme described his wife as an ‘amazing mother’ saying they ‘couldn’t be happier’
Although the birth went to plan, Ms Padawag-Cosme started to feel ill just days later
‘My whole world came crashing down’
Speaking of how he tried to wake his wife, Mr Cosme said: ‘I stayed by her bedside for 11 days until she died. I never lost hope that she might wake up.
‘I did everything I could think of to wake her up. I sang our favorite songs to her and played my guitar.
‘I had our daughter christened at her bedside.
‘The last thing I thought of was to renew our wedding vows. I thought it might keep her fighting and keep her alive.
‘I tried everything I could. But even though it didn’t wake her up, I still think it made her very happy in her last days.’
Despite staying by her side throughout her illness, Mr Cosme was not there when his wife passed away.
He said: ‘I’d come home to do a few things and then I got a call from the hospital telling me that Arlene had passed away.
‘My whole world came crashing down. I felt completely numb.
‘Nothing can ever prepare you for that. I didn’t know how I could raise my kids on my own.
‘I sat my daughters down and explained to them that they wouldn’t be seeing their mum anymore. We all just sat together hugging and crying.
‘I told them that their mum will always be in our memory and in our hearts.
‘My oldest daughter than asked me “what will we do if you die too, dad?” I broke down after that and just kept hugging them both.’
Ms Padawag-Cosme collapsed from a brain aneurysm and spent 11 days in a coma
Mr Cosme had to break it to their daughters that they would never see their mother again
The girls asked their father what they would do if he died as well as their mother
He claims his wife’s ‘beautiful spirit’ lives on in their three daughters
‘Her spirit lives on in my beautiful daughters’
Moving forward as a single father, Mr Cosme said: ‘I’ve just tried to focus on my job and my kids, and to be the best dad I can be to them.
‘It was hard to get used to, especially the first three months.
‘I wake them up, make breakfast, pack their lunches and send them to school.
‘They go to a family friend’s house after school and I’ll pick them up from work.
‘Then I’ll make dinner, wash their school uniforms, make sure their bathed and tuck them into bed. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to deal with this.
He added: ‘I think about Arlene every second. I miss her so much and I always find myself tearing up at random times.
‘She was such a beautiful person and her spirit lives on in my beautiful daughters.’
The married couple first met as teenagers in 1997 in their hometown of Baguio city, the Philippines.
Ms Padawag-Cosme was a regular passenger on Mr Cosme’s ‘jeepney’, an iconic Filipino public transport.
After discovering they attended the same university, they quickly became inseparable and eventually married in 2006.
The family moved to New Zealand with their two eldest daughters after Mr Cosme was offered a job there in 2014.