Sitting around the kitchen table clutching childhood diaries and photos, Sara Briffa’s friends share their fond memories with her family, who are grappling with her loss.
Ms Briffa, 25, died suddenly of pulmonary embolism, a blockage of an artery in the lungs, during the early hours of last Monday leaving all those who knew her stunned by her abrupt sign-off from life.
News of her death went viral and tributes overloaded social networking sites in the past week, as those close to her attempted to find an explanation behind the loss of an apparently healthy young woman.
Taking a deep breath and looking up to stop the tears from falling, her 33-year-old brother, Mark, summons inner strength to recount how a week ago today his sister walked through the door of their parents’ home in Swieqi at about 11 p.m.
Ms Briffa complained of an upset stomach, but she did not look pale or ill. The siblings caught up on the day’s events and while he watched TV, she read the newspaper.
At 12.45 a.m. she was ready for bed and as she passed by her mother’s bedroom she popped in to share the exciting news that her two-year-old godson and nephew, John Paul, had blown her two kisses. That was the last time she was seen alive. Stirring at around 5.30 a.m., her mother, Grace, decided to look in on her daughter, except she did not find her in bed. Instead she was on the floor, partly hunched on the bed. Her mother froze and yelled for her son.
“I immediately realised she wasn’t breathing. I picked her up and her body just exhaled. I was like, no, this can’t be happening. My first aid instincts kicked in and I put my head against her chest, but there was no heartbeat. I tried to open her mouth to free any possible blockage, but she was already stiff,” Mr Briffa said with a sob.
His mother added: “I just sat on the bed like a zombie.”
Her other daughter, Anna Kristina Cachia, 31, who is a nurse, explained how pulmonary em-bolism is sudden and deadly with nonspecific signs and symptoms.
Her loss is a double blow to the family, after their father and husband, Mario, died seven years ago.
In between tears and some laughs, Ms Briffa’s family listen attentively to the anecdotes of her friends – Rachel Fabri, Carole Mizzi and Angela Bianchi – hanging on to their every word, and occasionally bringing their own recollections to the table.
Ms Briffa, who worked as a social worker at Zammit Clapp Hospital for the elderly, emerges as a loyal friend who fought fiercely for the vulnerable, condemned any form of cruelty to animals, and had a cheeky sense of humour.
Ms Cachia cannot resist re-counting the story of when together with her sister they visited their uncle, a priest in the UK, and he proudly showed them a glass statue of Jesus, adorned with laser lights. In between plenty of giggles, the two sisters quickly nicknamed the statue Disco Jesus.
Ms Briffa was also very considerate and adamant her mother would never be put in a home for the elderly. She often discussed this with her sister, insisting that since Ms Cachia was a nurse and a social worker, they would be able to handle the situation just fine.
Mrs Briffa said: “Every night before she went to sleep she would remove the dressing table stool from my path to prevent a fall and she even made me shorten the curtains so that I won’t slip in them. She was always very caring.”
The young woman was planning on pursuing an MA to become a counsellor, but above all she was thrilled at the prospect that her boyfriend of three years, David Xuereb, was planning to propose.
“Coping without her will be difficult. First you cry, then you cry some more. Luckily we have a good support network of friends and family around us. She changed our life and she will be sorely missed,” Mr Briffa said.