By ANEEKA SIMONIS
IT was supposed to be a year of milestones and firsts.
Her first Mother’s Day, her daughter’s first birthday and the year she was to marry her long-term love.
She was even expecting her second child in October.
But all that was cut short on Tuesday 1 March, when 30-year-old Carli Watsford lost her life and the life of her unborn child in an horrific workplace accident.
The Garfield mum died just two weeks into her new job.
She was driving a dump truck at a Nyora quarry – something she took on eight months after giving birth to her daughter, Kira, and pregnant with her second child.
Her soon-to-be husband, Gary Dehaas, 31, also a quarry worker, recalled telling Carli about the job.
“She wanted to work. We were selling the place and she wanted to ease the financial burden,” he said.
The Coroner’s report found Carli was six weeks pregnant when she died.
Gary recalled the moment she told him.
“She only just told me on the February 10 that we were expecting again,” he said, holding Kira in his arms as he brushed back tears.
“I walked through the door one night and came to see this one (Kira) in a jumpsuit saying, ‘I’m going to be a big sister’.”
But instead, Gary’s soon-to-be family of four immediately became two – just he and Kira.
His voice cracks with pain and heartache as he tells how he would “do a deal with the devil” to have Carli and his unborn child back.
“I don’t want anything. I just want them back.”
Gary said he used to joke with Carli about having enough kids to start a basketball team and how his friends referred to him as ‘Fran’ due to his nanny-like tendencies.
“I always stick with the kids,” he said.
Tuesday 31 May was due to be Carli’s 31st birthday.
It was also going to be the day Gary wed his love of “10 years and two months”.
He was organising a surprise wedding at her parents’ home or at a park.
“I thought, I may as well surprise her. It was the only way I was going to get her to marry me,” is his bittersweet joke.
At about 1pm on Tuesday 1 March, Carli was preparing to dump a load in her dump truck when the ground at the edge of the quarry started to give way.
She tried to accelerate to get clear of the falling edge, but it was too late. Her truck tipped down the face of the quarry.
When it stopped sliding and Carli got out of her truck, the sand moved from beneath her feet and dragged her in front of the truck, which then tipped on top of her.
Gary first saw the accident on the news and tried desperately to contact Carli.
But he never heard her voice again.
“I saw the truck in the final resting place and then I got a call to head to the office. My dad was there. And no sooner did I walk in and my phone rang,” he said.
Gary and Kira are currently living at Gary’s father’s home in Pakenham, but will soon shift to a new place to start their new life together.
It will be hard, but Gary takes comfort looking at his daughter – the spitting image of Carli with her strawberry blonde hair, fair complexion and blue eyes.
“Watching what she does makes it easier,” he said.
Carli’s best friend Carolyn Burns, together with friend Lisa Baron, set up a fund-raising website to help support Gary and Kira on their new beginning.
Carolyn said it broke her heart to know her friend of 20 years would miss out on all the firsts to come, and urged the community to support the pair during the difficult journey ahead.
“Sunday should have been her first Mother’s Day and Kira will have her first birthday on June 12. It breaks my heart that she won’t get to do those things,” she said.
Anyone who wishes to donate can visit the Carli Watsford’s Family Go Fund Me page.
A fund-raiser will also be held at the Nar Nar Goon pub from 4pm on Sunday 25 June. It will kick off with children’s activities and entertainment followed by live music and a raffle. Entry $5.
