Lisa Curry has revealed the heartbreaking details of some of the final images she received from her daughter, Jaimi, before she passed away.
The former swimmer appeared on The Healthy Her podcast and broke down in tears as she recalled how her daughter used to send photos of herself “covered in bruises”.
“She sent me every photo. We had this thing going where she would send me a photo of a little flower growing out of the concrete, or she’d send me a beautiful door, or her breakfast, or herself covered in bruises,” Lisa told podcast host Amelia Phillips.
“I mean, I’ve got photos on my phone where a couple of times I’ve looked at them and I’m thinking ‘hang on a minute, what happened here?’
“Because to me it looks like someone has bashed her,” the Olympian admitted.
“And I’m not quite a hundred per cent sure that that didn’t happen, because of the photos on my phone.
Jaimi passed away at the age of 33, following a long battle with an eating disorder and alcoholism.
Lisa explained that at the time, her daughter would tell her she fell over or bumped into a door, but now the former swimmer is not so sure that’s what happened.
“I knew some of the really dodgy people that were around her, and now when I look at the photos I think, ‘you don’t get a black eye from [bumping into something like that],” she said.
“I’m still trying to understand… and it’s really hard.”
Lisa shared that she was also navigating symptoms of perimenopause, while Jaimi was struggling with her health, which led to some conflict between the two.
“So it was for the next 18 years that we had to find the way that we could all keep moving forward as a family,” Lisa shared. “Keep turning up for work, keep trying to stay positive, trying to stay strong for the other kids.
“With all the ups and downs and hospital visits – there was a lot of screaming and misunderstanding and judgement and ‘you have no idea what I’m going through’, and as much as we tried… The medical system I feel really let us down.
“As good as they were and as great as they looked after [Jaimi], they didn’t have any answers and the amount of times they just sent her home…
“She was really, really unwell and we couldn’t save her,” Lisa reflected.
“And so I was going through that, and a marriage breakdown, and menopause all at once.”
The Olympian is now an advocate for women’s health and co-founder of Happy Healthy You, a health and lifestyle company, and is focused on trying to help people get through their loss.
“Every loss is a lesson of some sort,” she said.
“I’ve really tried hard to work out why I’m feeling the way that I’m feeling, what does it mean, where does it come from, how can I pass it on to other people in a more positive way,” she explained.
“How can I help people get through it.”
But, she admitted that at times she “didn’t know” how she got through it herself, and reflected that she wouldn’t be here if she wasn’t strong.
Images: Instagram
