Kim and Robert Innes don’t sleep very much these days, haunted by dreams of dark water and tragic loss.
It’s less than six weeks since their vibrant, talented daughter Morgan — only 14 but already a rising star of Australian ice skating — was snatched by the calamitous Sydney Harbour ferry crash.
For five endless days after the accident, police and maritime services searched for Kim and Robert’s “shining light”. Hour after agonising hour, her parents sat and waited while hope ebbed away.
When Morgan’s body was finally found, close to the accident site beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the discovery was almost a relief.
“It was the most desperate feeling, to watch a clock and know that every minute you were less likely to get your daughter back,” her anguished father recalls.
“We actually reached the point where finding our girl’s body in the water was almost a relief. Until then, it was a living hell.”
More than anything, the family wants their popular, pretty, would-be physiotherapist daughter — “a girl who would walk in and light up the room” — to be remembered.
“If anyone said to me in 10 years’ time, ‘Morgan who?’ it would be too much to bear,” explains her father. “She achieved a lot of things, but she had the potential to do so much more and she never got to realise those dreams. I just want to leave a legacy for her.”
That’s why, six days after the collision, Robert started planning The Morgan Innes Foundation, raising funds for scholarships to present to promising young skaters and to help disadvantaged children enjoy the fun of an ice rink.
“We’re just trying to make the best out of a horrible situation,” he says. “People ask how I am able to do this; I must be grieving terribly. But we only have one opportunity to set up a Foundation like this …
“We have the rest of our lives to grieve for Morgan, because it’s never going to go away. If you have a child, give them an extra big hug and just appreciate every moment.”
For the full story, see this week’s issue of Woman’s Day (on-sale May 7).
Donate to the Morgan Innes Foundation at any branch of the Commonwealth Bank (BSB 064 417, account number 1059 6519) or go to www.morganinnes.com
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
