The family of four-year-old Everest Reign Velasco-Raralio is looking to share her story and legacy with the community, following her untimely passing in late October.
Everest, better known as Everoo to her family and friends, was born on Dec. 4, 2019. Her parents, Emilly Velasco and Neil Raralio, said that she was the youngest of four children. According to kids in the neighbourhood, she was just as sweet as a strawberry.
“All she wanted to do was to love and to be loved,” Velasco said. “She was just the sweetest little baby sister, her siblings loved her so much, they continue to love her, and just it was beautiful to see the individual dynamic she had with each and every one of them, as well as the dynamic as a group of four siblings.”
The family, originally from Brampton, Ontario, decided to move to Alberta after hoping to find a new home that would give their children more space to grow, while also providing a slower pace of life.
“We discovered that in Cochrane, and we’re just glad that in the last year of our baby girl’s life, she was able to really experience the fun and freedom of childhood that we wanted our kids to experience,” Raralio said.
From experiences in nature, mountain views, and family road trips to visit relatives in B.C., Raralio said that Everest had a beautiful time in the last year-and-a-half she spent with her family.
“And we’re fortunate enough that she was able to have started school here, which she could not have waited to start school,” he said. “In retrospect, we’re just glad that things transpired the way that they did. As it turns out, she was too young to start school last year, but that gave us some extra time to enjoy her company.”
Medical Emergency, Urgent Care Centre closed
On Oct. 27, Raralio said that their family decided to spend the day at the SLS Centre’s Trunk or Treat Halloween event, where Everest and her siblings would dress up and spend time with her cousins.
“She had so much fun,” Raralio said. “We’re just glad that in her last couple of days she had so much fun.”
Following the festivities, Raralio explained that both him and a close friend in town were left wondering if any of the kids would get sick after exposed to so many children.
“Sure enough, Everest expressed some cold symptoms,” he said. “Myself, I’m a NICU nurse at South Health Campus and a former pediatric nurse. And so, I’m no stranger to monitoring the health of my children.”
With a history of respiratory issues in the past, Raralio explained that both Everest and her siblings contracted pneumonia in Ontario. Whenever Everest showed signs of any respiratory issues, Raralio said they would be able to treat them through the guidance of a doctor and medical puffers.
“I managed her sickness with just over the counter medications and her puffers throughout the day, and it was nothing out of the ordinary,” he said.
During the night, that’s when Everest began to start feeling uncomfortable.
“She expressed to me that she was having difficulty with her congestion, so I gave her a warm bath, and she felt better and wanted to go to sleep close to me, which I agreed,” he said. “Her mother, Emilly is a flight attendant, [and] at the time, she was away on a layover in British Columbia.”
Following her bath, Everest slept on their living room couch while Raralio completed housework around 1:30 a.m.
“[Everest] woke up a little more uncomfortable, and I asked her if she was able to breathe and she said no,” he said. “So, I gave her [the] puffers again, and then I was assessing her with my stethoscope. She had good air entry, and I decided [that] I wasn’t going to wait for this problem to get worse.”
“I left my other kids sleeping upstairs and called my best friend to come over and take care of the kids while I drove Everest to Urgent Care. I wasn’t aware of their hours of operation; all I was thinking about was getting her care as soon as possible.”
On the drive to the Cochrane Urgent Care Centre, Raralio said Everest was still communicating with him and verbally confirming that she was still OK.
“I was speeding, naturally, and we got there I saw that it had closed, and she told me that she had thrown up,” Raralio said.
Unable to find help at the Urgent Care Centre, Raralio told Everest that they would return home and call an ambulance.
“On my drive home with her, she wasn’t verbally responding to me at one point, so I pulled into the […] PetSmart parking lot near the Urgent Care Centre.” he said. “She was still breathing and I thought she just fallen asleep, given that it was quite late/early at this point, close to 2 a.m.”
No more than four minutes later, they returned home.
“She was no longer breathing, so I called 911,” Raralio said. “I brought her into the house as quickly as possible, and started CPR on her. At this point in time, the 911 operator was counting compressions for me, and shortly after, paramedics arrived.
“I was unable to resuscitate her, the paramedics arrived [and] they were unable to resuscitate her. She still had a pulse, the defibrillator was not advising a shock, and at that point the ambulance stabilized her for transport and continued CPR in the ambulance on the way to the Alberta Children’s [Hospital].”
Upon their arrival to the hospital, doctors and nurses took over the dire situation and attempted to save Everest.
“They were doing everything that they could, everything was done right,” Raralio said. “I’ve been present in situations like this in the past due to my job.
“I’ve helped resuscitate children in the past, I’ve seen children pass, and to have the knowledge that I have was quite the curse to witness what was happening at the time.”
As a healthcare professional, Raralio understood the situation very well. Although he continued to ask doctors to do their best to save their child, he knew it was a long shot if Everest were to make it.
“Unfortunately, she passed and I was unable to get in contact with Emilly at the time,” Raralio said. “We were finally in touch with each other, and that’s when she found out and rushed home.
“And now. We’re just really doing our best to live with the grief of losing our little girl.”
The family agreed to have an autopsy done to find out what led to this tragic event. Looking back, Raralio said it most likely involved when Everest vomited.
“At some point between that time I pulled over in the parking lot and time we left the Urgent Care parking lot, she must have aspirated her vomit, and if it got into her already distressed lungs, that could have caused her condition to worsen,” he said. “That’s probably what, physiologically, caused her to pass, although we can’t know for sure.”
Following the interview, the family shared preliminary findings by a medical examiner which uncovered that at the time of Everest’s death, she had suffered an acute asthmatic attack, and had signs of an upper respiratory viral infection.
Community support and Everest’s legacy
With overwhelming support from friends, family, and the community, Raralio said it all played a deep role in helping their family mourn their loss.
“There’s really no way we’d overcome this tragedy without all the love and support from our family and community,” he said. “When it rains, it pours, and we’re continuing to experience loss and grief at this time, as we’ve had Emilly’s uncle just pass away this morning.
“Our family is grieving that now in the middle of everything, and we’re just gaining strength from each other, our community, from our faith.”
A GoFundMe was created to support the family, but outside of immediate financial assistance, Raralio said the family plans to do something with the money that will honour the memory of their daughter.
Velasco and Raralio said they will continue to honour Everest and her legacy by continuing to spread the same love and joy she shared with the community.
“We just want to emphasize Everest’s message to everyone, which was – to be gentle, to be loving, to be kind, to laugh, and to have fun, to allow your children to guide you in this lifetime,” Velasco read from the final part of Everest’s Eulogy. “There’s so much wisdom in each and every one of them, that if you take a moment to listen, they will light up your life, making you a source of light and love for others.
“They’re a beautiful reminder that we all come from love. Let them change the world with you and through you.”
Velasco added that their family is truly grateful for the life they had with Everest, and for the unique perspective she had in finding the beauty in life.
“She pointed out all the little details you wouldn’t even notice,” Velasco said. “She guided us, [and] paid attention to things that make people unique. And to just look closer at things to appreciate their finer details. She was just very special in that way.”
In a speech by Everest’s older sister Ayla, she said that her family will miss her very much, but she will never leave the hearts of everyone she touched.
“Everest provided happiness and joy to everyone who knew her, because just getting to know her your whole life, or even one minute, you would know – Wow, she’s full of love,” Ayla wrote.
