Cody's funeral
Funeral Service Booklet
A Celebration of the Life of Our Angel
Cody Darren Sheppard
Funeral readings by Cody's cousins
Dear Cody,
You are a very special little cousin to all of us. You brought happiness to our lives and we all have lots of special memories of you and here are some:
Laura – Your gorgeous smile
Molly – Watching you try hard at physio
Laura – The way you laughed when we tickled your legs
Molly – Meeting your friends and blowing bubbles for you at Malkara
Laura – Your spiky hair when it was gelled
Molly – You sitting up the back seat of your school bus like a toughy
Laura – Swimming with you in Aunty Deeks pool
Molly – You watching the wiggles with Benny
Laura – When you spit food all over us when we helped feed you
Molly – Your cuddles with Benny
Laura – Nursing you to sleep
Molly – Getting squashed by Benny when you sat in the bottom of your pram
Laura – Rubbing your head
Molly – Listening to your cute laugh when we talked to you on the phone
Laura – You laughing when we tickled you with our hair
Molly – Sleeping with you all night and not waking up until 10 in the morning
Cody,
You mean the world to all us cousins.
Your spirit and bravery is a part of us all.
And will stay strong within our hearts forever.
I know that being as strong and brave as you are you’ll be up there looking after your loving mummy and daddy, and your little brother Benny
We love you forever and always, you’re our little Codester.
Dear Cody,
I remember every Thursday when I came home from school and you would be lying on the lounge or on the ground across Mum’s legs, and Mum would be giving you lots of massages on your face, and you would be laughing.
I always read you heaps of books and you would laugh your little cute head off.
I will always miss feeding you through your tube and turning it off when it starts to beep.
I will miss giving you big cuddles, and always playing with you.
I remember when I use to do funny quick moves, and you would laugh and laugh.
I remember when I use to get all of these colourful necklaces and wave them in front of your face and you would giggle heaps and have a nice beautiful smile.
It was funny when I held a mirror in front of your face because you would look at yourself and laugh heaps.
I will miss you Cody. Rest in peace my beautiful special cousin.
Bye bye now Cody, I will always love and miss you.
Dear Cody,
I remember when you use to sleep at my house, under my bunk bed, and you kept me awake from snoring, and your lovely lullaby music, im going to miss that now.
I remember when you stunk us out with your smelly nappies, and mum sometimes needed to use my disposal gloves to change your nappy, (until we had none left).
You use to trick your mum and dad by letting off very smelly fluffs, and they would think that you had another dirty nappy. Your bottom and your Dads bottom are the same, poooooooo weeee.
I remember when you stayed at my house and Beck and I took you for a walk to sell chocolates for you, they were so easy to sell because everyone just loved and adored you and said you were so cute, and they would end up buying heaps.
It was funny when your mum would feed you weetbix and then you would sneeze and it would go everywhere.
Uncle Matt will miss his special head rubs with you, when you use to shrug your shoulders and smile, like this.
Aunty Liss will miss listening to the beep beep from your school bus when you would get dropped off at our house on Thursday’s.
You looked so cute in your school uniform; it made you look like a big boy.
We will all miss you, our little Codester boy.
Watch over us our special angel and star in heaven.
We love you.
Funeral reading by Cody's father
Our little Cody boy. Also known as little man, codestar, and cheeky boy. Born on the 28th April 2004 and is now resting in peace.
Cody had a condition called Cerebellar Hypoplasia, Cerebral Palsy and was vision impaired. Despite all this, we saw him as our beautiful little boy who was perfect the way he was. From day one he proved to us that he was such a little fighter. He battled through his life but always put on a brave face, and much to our amazement he never seemed to give up.
During Cody’s life we will always remember his 2nd home being the hospital. We are sure he would be looking down on us now and laughing at the fact of how many times he seemed to puzzle the medical staff as to what to do with him, he was our cheeky little boy.
Cody touched so many lives during his short life, and had such a huge impact on those that knew him. He changed people’s lives for the better. How could you not love our little Cody boy with his gorgeous smile, his beautiful laugh, and not to mention his looks taking after me off course, sorry darl I meant us. Cody loved to be touched and he also loved to be tickled. All his cousins were great at tickling him.
Cody was given everything he could possibly be given. He was given love, kisses, cuddles, attention, and therapy. Our home was renovated to accommodate his needs, and one thing we will never forget is the generosity of Isobel and Paco at Crown Kitchens for assisting us with these renovations.
During the last year he also had the opportunity to attend school at Malkara, and what an absolute amazing school Malkara is. Cody caught the bus to and from school. We will never forget the bus pulling up and beeping its horn for Cody. Sonia will never forget the special kids on the bus and how they used to wave good bye to her from the front of the driveway.
We will never forget the day we took Cody fishing and when we held the rod to help him pull his fish in. I think I was more excited then Cody, but at least we gave him the chance to catch that one fish. Cody loved the sun and loved to be outside. He loved being in his swing under our pergola and that we will miss. He loved the water and loved doing his hydro therapy at school every Thursday morning.
Cody would be so proud today to see how many people turned up to pay their respect, and to celebrate the tough life that he had. I can picture him now in my head looking down on us all with that beautiful smile that he had and his amazing laugh.
The amount of support from everyone during the various fundraising events we had for him was incredible, and all of these events wouldn’t of happened without the dedicated work from all of those that were on the ACT Cerebellar Hypoplasia Support network committee. Cody was so lucky to have such wonderful support from the Canberra Community and surrounding areas. He was given all the required equipment that he needed to give him the best quality of life. Some of you are aware that recently we received a wheel chair and hart walker for Cody. We were so proud of him and the small things he achieved in life. He was making small progress in the Hart Walker, and was starting to feel very comfortable in the wheel chair. We are happy knowing that this equipment will benefit other children.
We will never forget all the physio therapy that he had to do. He loved his physio therapist even if he did like to vomit on her in the earlier days. Cody did so well to tolerate his hour of physio at his weekly sessions. After the hour of physio he would close his eyes, and pretend to be asleep until he was clear of Michelle who was his physio therapist. We are sure that Cody would be loving where he is now because he doesn’t have to work so hard and he doesn’t have to do any more physio, standing in his standing frame, or his Hart Walker.
We will never forget the first week he had his feeding tube in, and we were very nervous as it was all new to us. Well his little brother Benny ripped it out of his stomach within the week of him having it in, and milk was pouring out the hole in his stomach like a little milk fountain. Even if Benny did try to poke his eyes out a couple of times and ripped his feeding tube out, he loved Cody to bits. He loved to rub Codys head and he always wiped Codys mouth when he had dribble around it. Only yesterday we put Cody’s special chair under his table and Ben dragged it back over near the TV which is where it usually was with Cody in it, and Ben sat in it. Ben has been looking for Cody, and has been sitting on his bed quiet a bit. We have so many photos and video footage of Ben with Cody that we will cherish for ever.
If Cody had to leave us we wouldn’t have had it any other way then the way we spent his last day with him in the Intensive Care Unit at the Canberra Hospital. He was surrounded by family and friends, and he passed away so peacefully. We took lots of photos of our gorgeous little boy and told him that it was time for him to rest now. He is so deserving of where he is now as he was so brave and had so many challenges in life. He is up with all the angels now, and there are plenty of family and friends that would be spoiling him right now until we meet him again. Rest in peace Cody.
On a finishing note can I thank you all for coming today to pay your respect, and ask that you all remember how lucky you are to have know our special little Cody boy. Please continue to support other children with special needs in the Canberra community.
And now I would like to say a few words about my wife…
From the day I met Sonia I knew she was a special woman. I’m proud to be able to share our lives as parents with someone as fantastic as her. When it comes to Sonia, actions definitely speak louder than words. Every time Cody was in hospital she never left his side. Even when things got too tough for me, Sonia was brave enough to be by his side.
We loved Cody with all our heart and think about him every moment of the day. But, one of my finest memories of Cody’s life is the courage and commitment of my Sonia who dedicated her life to support him.
Our heart aches that Cody is gone, but the loving bond of our family lives on. We thank Cody for this, and I thank my wife Sonia with all my heart for her strength, her support, and her love for our kids.
I’ll always love you Sonia, Cody, and Ben forever.
Thankyou.
God bless you son with all my heart… see you in “Cody’s corner”.
Funeral photos
Click on the photos to enlarge
Thank You cards
Click on the photos to enlarge
