Lisa Curry has shared a moving tribute to her beloved daughter Jaimi Kenny six months after her death aged just 33.
Jaimi died at Sunshine Coast University Hospital on September 14 after a years-long battle with an eating disorder and alcoholism.
Curry, a champion swimmer who shared Jaimi with her ironman ex-husband Grant Kenny, remembered her on the weekend alongside former teammates.
‘Yesterday we had a reunion of our team that won the World Championships of Outrigger Canoeing in 2003. It’s a group of girls that trained hard, raced hard, and laughed hard together,’ she wrote on Instagram on Sunday.
Lisa Curry (left) has shared a moving tribute to her beloved daughter Jaimi Kenny (right) six months after her death aged just 33
Dozens of mourners at Jaimi Kenny’s funeral a pictured giving their final farewell to the beloved young woman
‘All of them knew our beautiful Jaimi as she grew up. Jaimi went to the World Sprints in Hawaii as well and often came to Hawaii with me. She and Morgan were both really good paddlers.
‘As we were walking down to have a look at Jaimi’s garden , Jazzy took a photo of me. It’s the most beautiful and bizarre photo to look at with the orb and ray of sun.’
Curry posted the photo alongside her tribute, plus another snaps of the two of them together and a close-up of Jaimi.
The Olympian wrote of how she kept the young woman’s memory alive to her three-year-old grandson, and Jaimi’s nephew, Flynn Melchior Gruell.
‘Six months ago right at this moment when you left us, we will always remember you my love. Flynn and I talk about you often. To him you are little Jaimi Wagtail… the bird that is always around wherever I go,’ she wrote.
‘Forever remembered, forever young, forever beautiful, forever free. We love you Jaimi.’
‘As we were walking down to have a look at Jaimi’s garden , Jazzy took a photo of me. It’s the most beautiful and bizarre photo to look at with the orb and ray of sun,’ Curry said of this photo she posted on Sunday
Curry posted the photo alongside her tribute, plus another snaps of the two of them together and a close-up of Jaimi (pictured)
Curry regularly posts about her late daughter as she works through her grief about her untimely death.
To get through it, she has leaned on her ‘incredibly supportive’ husband Mark Tabone who has helped his grieving wife ‘beyond words’.
‘Mark is warm, emotional and incredibly supportive. I’m not sure she could have survived this without him,’ a source told New Idea last month.
‘He’s her rock and has supported her and held her hand throughout this ordeal, rarely leaving her side.’
The source added: ‘She’s also utterly exhausted – [Lisa’s] grief is just so debilitating and draining. She’s just taking it day by day.’
The former competitive swimmer, 58, married her Elvis impersonator husband, Mark, 55, in 2018 in an intimate ceremony in Queensland.
Curry was married to Grant Kenny for 23 years before calling it quits in 2009. As well as being parents to Jaimi, they also share daughter Morgan and son Jett.
To get through it, she has leaned on her ‘incredibly supportive’ husband Mark Tabone (left, whith Curry on the right and Jaimi in the centre) who has helped his grieving wife ‘beyond words’
Last month, Curry announced on Instagram that she had a campervan ready to go on a romantic road trip with Mark, where she plans to do some of her regional and rural ‘Happy Healthy You’ workshops, while he will be ‘entertaining’.
Once they set off, she said the tour will be titled ‘On The Road Again’ – however, she doesn’t think she’s quite ready to be heading around Australia just yet.
‘Our new Happy Bus is ready to go as soon as I can get my head around being on stage again… but i feel like I’ve lost my sparkle,’ she wrote.
‘So need a bit more time to find it. I’m still crying at anytime… usually when I’m out in public when people give me beautiful tight hugs.
‘The tears just roll out… but I’m letting them. I’ve realised I can’t hold it in.’
Grief: Jaimi died on September 14 at Sunshine Coast University Hospital, after a long battle with alcoholism and an eating disorder
Family and friends of Jaimi Kenny are seen embracing each other at the conclusion of the heartbreaking funeral service
Curry announced Jaimi’s death in an emotional social media post on September 15.
‘Our beautiful daughter Jaimi has lost her battle with a long-term illness and passed away peacefully in hospital yesterday morning with her loving family by her side,’ she wrote at the time.
‘Our hearts are broken and the pain is unbearable but we cherish every wonderful moment we got to share with our treasured and so loved first child.’
Jaimi had been struggling for some time in the lead up to her tragic death, both with her eating disorder and a dependency on alcohol.
She first sought help for mental health ‘troubles’, including anxiety, when she was 14.
But in 2014, she was charged with high range drink driving after she was caught swerving between lanes on the Sunshine Coast Motorway.
Devastated: ‘Our beautiful daughter Jaimi has lost her battle with a long-term illness and passed away peacefully in hospital yesterday morning with her loving family by her side,’ Lisa wrote at the time
Police pulled her over, and she was required to appear in Maroochydore Magistrates Court, where the court heard she had consumed up to 16 bottles of Strongbow cider.
She recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.23 per cent at the scene – almost five times the legal limit.
Her lawyer at the time told the court she was getting help for her problems, and admitted that alcohol had become ‘a bit of a feature’ in her life since the deterioration of a romantic relationship in 2012.
Jaimi had been supported by her parents and siblings through many years of treatment at private clinic End ED, on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
Shattered staff at the clinic said they could not discuss Jaimi’s struggle, but told how she became part of the ‘family’ over the years.
For confidential support in Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit www.lifeline.org.au. Alternatively, call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800