Tonight a Belize City family is in the deep throes of grief after an unimaginable loss.
And the tragedy of today starts with the events of yesterday.
Imagine a mother frantically rushing through traffic, damaging her vehicle to get her dying youngest child to the emergency room.
It is only a small snapshot of the tragic events that played out yesterday leading to the sudden and almost inexplicable death of a 9 year old girl.
Today Jomarie Lanza spoke to the mother who gave us more details on how her world stopped spinning when she realized her little girl had passed away.
Every parent knows that their active and energetic children are often prone to bumps, bruises, and even stitches in the worst cases. Children will get hurt while playing, it's an inevitable part of childhood. A large percentage of parents will also tell you that when it comes to their little ones, things can happen in the blink of an eye, and take a turn for the worst in a matter of seconds. And that's exactly what happened yesterday in this household. Little 9 year old Amylie Augustine had gotten this bicycle for Christmas. Her mom says she was glued to her bike everyday after school, all up until her life was cut short due to unforeseen circumstances.
Voice of: Corretta Apolonio, Mother of deceased
"Like any other day Amylie got a bicycle for her birthday gift and this bicycle is all Amylie does every evening she comes in, switch off and rides the bike. We just got our street fixed and so it's like a highway, you know it's just something that she does. So it's a regular day she came in and asked Mom can I go and ride my bicycle and I said okay sure no problem. And then about five or ten minutes she came back in and said some white people are out on the field with those kids I come change my pants cause I need to look good. So that's her she is the star she is a diva. So she came in and changed her clothes and went back out. My brother has a stall in the front so he usually you know just supervise or chaperon when she's out there and about 20-30 minutes after that she came in and said she knocked her belly. It's growing pains you get knocked with the bike and I assumed she just got the wind knocked out from her and so I told her you know drink some water and catch your breathe and revive. She came upstairs told my dad she knocked her belly and came down back but there was like no urgency there was no signs to say this is an emergency these are things that happen to kids we scrape out foot we buck our toe we get hurt. But like five minutes after that my nephew said came and said aunty Amylie is throwing up in the hammock so when I came out she was getting up out from the hammock to come to me and like she collapsed so I was trying to revive her, I wet her and she just wasn't responding how she should. So I started to give her CPR and my next daughter came the same time and I said we need to take Amylie to the hospital and so we got in the vehicle and I told my baby give your sister CPR, give her chest compressions and blow in her mouth."
Several desperate attempts were made to revive Amylie but by the time medical staff was able to work on her it was already too late. And still through it all, Apolonio says her little girl showed no signs of serious physical pain or injury.
Corretta Apolonio, Mother of deceased
"While going in my rush I had an accident between Racoon street and Central American boulevard and just kept going but the vehicle got damaged. I came out and I was frantic and a mobile came and took us to the hospital. When we got there she had a very low pulse and they tried their best and to the end we were told that she had internal bleeding. You know and within the timeline I want people to understand this happened in like 20 minutes you know this is not two hours and me not being attentive. This happened in 20 minutes, and they tried their best to revive her but it was too late."
Jo
"And when she came inside everything seemed fine? She didn't tell you you know Ma I feel bad or I feel dizzy."
Corretta Apolonio, Mother of deceased
"No No there was nothing in terms of Ma I'm in severe pain or I feel bad. And she talks a lot she could advocate she could share you know so it wasn't like I was in any pain she was trying to brush it off. She got knocked everyone gets knocked you know but it wasn't to that urgency that I got knocked and I need to go to the hospital now it was never that. The type of parent that I am I wouldn't overlook that."
Today would have been the Holy Redeemer STD 3 student's sports day which she spent days prepping for. And not a single soul suspected that this bubbly little girl's life would have been cut short, from doing the one thing that she loved passionately.
Corretta Apolonio, Mother of deceased
"She was ready for this sports day ready to go and win up these medals and. Her teacher will put her in relay and she called yesterday about 2:00 that her teacher needs an once box and you have to take it today so I said alright uncle has an ice box. When I came home she had on a swimsuit she was washing out the icebox in case she got wet she put on a bath suit. That's the type of person she is you know. So she was looking forward to today for todays sports day. We had matching shirts we already gone through the rules because last year I didn't play any games but this year won't be the same thing. That is the type of person that she is, she is just always on the go."
Jo
"For you as a mom how would you want to remember your baby?"
Corretta Apolonio, Mother of deceased
"My Broke bestfriend! She is my diva she is saucy she just brings you she keeps you on your toes and she just brings that light and love real. If you come in here on a dull moment all you need to do is just interact with Amylie for two minutes and you won't have a dull moment anymore. She has something funny to say. She is a dancer she is a TikTok queen, she likes YouTube she is just full of life this is just crazy to me."
Amylie was a standard three student at Holy Redeemer.
