LIFE changed forever for the Fitzsimons family when their daughter Nicole was killed in a recent scooter accident in Thailand.
A month after the tragedy they are thinking of how they can help others — in the long term and particularly in the coming holiday season.
To honour Nicole’s caring and passionate spirit they have set up a foundation to help gifted performing artists and sportspeople to achieve their potential.
Thanks to Nicole’s inspirational nature, her many friends and work colleagues have been generous with donations.
The Fitzsimons — Julie and Vince, and siblings Matt and Kate — also want to raise travel safety awareness, especially with Christmas holidays coming up. The message is: don’t take any risks with your safety and make sure you buy travel insurance.
Nicole’s sister Kate, 20, who is about to graduate with a business degree, has researched Australian deaths in Asia.
She said that on average, two Australians die in Thailand every week, although not all on the roads.
‘‘The unthinkable does happen,’’ she said.
She pointed out that road rules were often optional and young people on holiday tended to relax their usual safety standards. A large percentage travelled without insurance.
Nicole’s travel insurance had eased her parents’ journey to Thailand to bring her home after the accident by taking care of many of their expenses.
Nicole, 24, and partner Jamie Keith, who was driving the scooter, were doing all the right things on their 10-day holiday, but no one could have foreseen the overtaking driver behind them.
Mrs Fitzsimons, the local studies librarian at Hurstville Library, said her daughter was at a terrific point in her life when everything seemed to be coming together.
The ballerina who wanted to be a sports journalist had landed her dream job with Channel 9’s NRL Footy Show as a production assistant, she had just completed her last assignment for her journalism degree, her volunteer job with the Hawkesbury Radio rugby league commentary team was going well and she and Jamie were planning to get married.
And she finally got that tattoo she had threatened her parents with if the Dragons won the premiership in 2010 — a tat on her left foot saying ‘‘One Life One Team’’.
The Fitzsimons, of Sans Souci, chose St George Illawarra Stadium at Jubilee Oval for her memorial on November 2. About 2000 people attended.
Mrs Fitzsimons said they were thinking about turning the Nicole Fitzsimons Foundation into a registered charity.
‘‘Nicole always wanted to leave a footprint — this gives us something to focus on as a family,’’ she said.
Leave a tribute to Nicole or a message to her family below.
