Tragedy as ‘warm and bubbly’ young mum dies on operating table during surgery to relieve painful condition
- A 34-year-old mum has died during her third spinal surgery
- Rebecca Kovalik had celebrated her birthday eight days before
- Her loved ones are in the dark about how she ‘bled out’ and died
A 34-year-old mother ‘who lit up the room’ has suddenly died on the operating table during surgery to relieve painful nerve damage on her back.
Rebecca Kovalik was admitted to hospital in NSW on June 9 for the operation – which was her third surgery on her spine.
But the mum from south-west Sydney tragically bled to death during the procedure, leaving behind her husband Jay and their three-year-old son Orlando.
Her devastated loved ones are still in the dark over what caused the ‘warm and bubbly’ mum to lose her life.
Friend and work colleague Ally Skelly said they will have to wait for the coroner’s report to find out exactly what happened.
Mum of one Rebecca Kovalik (pictured) tragically bled to death during the procedure, leaving behind her husband Jay and their three-year-old son Orlando.
The childhood educator leaves behind her husband Jay and their three-year-old son Orlando (pictured, together)
‘Essentially there was something that caused her to bleed and it was just too much and she bled out,’ Ms Skelly told Yahoo News Australia.
‘Obviously there are risks with any surgery but at the end of the day you don’t really think that someone’s going to die.
‘You think there’s a possibility of paralysis, you don’t expect death.’
Ms Kovalik, who conceived her son Orlando through IVF, was planning to undergo it again for a second child when she recovered from this latest surgery.
She and Jay had struggled ‘for a long time’ to have their son and had one embryo left.
Ms Skelly said the childhood educator loved kids and always had great activity ideas to do with the children.
Heartbroken friends and family posted tributes to the swimming instructor calling her ‘the best mum’ with ‘an infectious laugh’.
‘I know it sounds cliche, but Bec did light up the room,’ one friend posted to social media on Friday.
‘[She] had an infectious laugh and once she started, she couldn’t stop. She was full of love… for everyone.’
The friend added her fondest memory is when Jay popped the question in such an amazing way that he ‘showed up every man proposing to his partner’.
‘We love and miss you so much Bec. Gone far too soon but will forever hold a permanent place in our hearts,’ her friend Ally Skelly wrote on her GoFundMe page (pictured, Ms Kovalik with a younger Orlando)
‘These two were the epitome of a true love story,’ she wrote.
‘Thank you for all the laughs and friendship. This doesn’t feel real.’
Her older brother Jeff Trevena remembered her as being great at organising huge family dos which were no easy task.
‘[She had a] passion for her nieces and nephews and always wanting to ensure that she got all the family together … aunts, uncles and cousins and grandparents,’ he said.
Ms Skelly started up a GoFundMe page to give her friend ‘the send off she deserves’, while supporting Jay and Orlando with medical expenses and mortgage repayments.
‘And everything else that comes with these horrible tragedies,’ she said.
The crowdfunding page had garnered a whopping $19,083 by Saturday, smashing past its $15,000 goal.
Ms Skelly posted a heartwarming tribute to the mum on the page.
‘We love and miss you so much Bec. Gone far too soon but will forever hold a permanent place in our hearts,’ she wrote.
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